Bohemian Habits

365 DoC - Day 4 - Artisan Spotlight: BohemianHabits

Destiny brought Cassi Jo and Casey Perez together one night through a sharpie tattoo fest at a party, and each being artists in their own right, a relationship and a business partnership both evolved - and as Cassi Jo put it, "the rest is history."


Bohemian Habits is the collective effort born out of that relationship.  An eclectic collection of art styles and decor pieces, this shop is full of surprises at every turn.  I asked Cassi Jo to answer a few questions so we could learn a little more about these artists and their shop and I have the pleasure of sharing her responses with you here:

Tell us how you decided on your shop name.  

A lot of people selling their art on etsy have names such as "so and so's gallery" or something to those lines. Since both Casey and my art is what makes up our shop, we couldn't use one of our names. The types of things we may be inspired to create may not always be paintings. For example, silk screening is something we've introduced to our shop and something we plan on expanding on. Not wanting to limit our shop to a particular theme or genre, Bohemian Habits explains more of a life style, a free creative attitude towards life.

Most people have something or someone they look to for inspiration - what or who is yours?

Nature, wildlife and the environment definitely have a huge impact on our art and inspiration. We both love to travel, which impacts our art a lot. We recently went to India and went on an extended safari seeing deer, elephants, and a tiger. Nothing compares to seeing an animal that magnificent in the wild. And we'll be leaving for an African safari in the summer time. Casey has been greatly inspired by classical artists such as Winslow Homer, Wilhelm Kuhnert, and Bob Kuhn. My favorite artist is Vladimir Kush, although it can be hard to pick! There are so many inspiring people in the world!

What do you think has been the most intriguing movement/era in art?

Personally, I think that all movements in art have some sort of intrigue about them and have importance in one form or another, from the baroque era, to impressionism, to American illustration. There's something to gain from every movement in art. The beautiful thing about our era is that it is so easy to look at the various eras of art in the past due to technology and pick and choose elements of various movements that restate the most with you to create your own artistic style.

How would you classify your style of painting/drawing?

For Casey, he would describe his style as mainly traditional fine art and illustration. He enjoys traditional mediums such as watercolor, acyclic and oil paints and prefers to paint or draw from life, whether that be at the zoo or on location. For me, though inspired by realistic art and paintings, my art has more of a design and stylized aspect. Being strongly inspired by interior design, how my painting will look in someones living room is something I consider while painting.

Name one thing that not many people know about you.

To match our animal inspired art, we have a zoo at home! The proud parents of two overactive beagles, two chinchillas, and an albino rosy boa constrictor.

What surprised you most about the business side of crafting/selling your art?

We've looked into various local venues for exhibiting our art, but we've really connected with community of artists we found on Etsy. Our art has now be able to find homes all throughout the United States and even internationally into Canada. We really hope to expand and have our art seen all over the world. It brings us a lot of satisfaction to hear about a customer really treasuring a piece of art they've purchased. It's nice to think about someone waking up in the morning, walking into their living room, and the first thing they see is something you created hanging on their wall.

What would be a better weekend getaway for you - Cabin in the woods on a wintry day or a romp on the beach on a warm sunny day?

That is a hard question! Living in Sacramento, we are only an hour and a half away from the Northern California beach and only an hour or two from the Sierra Nevada's. Both are beautiful and we try to camp in both as much as possible! I would say (on behalf of both of us) we would like a misty day at the beach and a warm day in the woods!

So there you have it - two young artists living and sharing a dream... and sharing their artistic talents with the world through BohemianHabits.

I hope you'll explore their shop soon, reveling in the wonderful animal and travel themed work you'll find there.  Of course there's a smattering of other themes just to keep things interesting, so head on over to find out what surprises await!

xo,