Shopping Local: Queens Loft Studios

We all have our ways of making it through the hard times we face.  For Colette Shelby, art has been a lifeboat in stormy waters.  And although the arts have always played an important part in her life, Queens Loft Studios is a stepping stone for Colette's art to reach and inspire anyone who comes across it.



You might say that creativity runs in Colette's family.  Her mother always took refuge in writing and her father is a musician who composes and preforms his own music.  So it comes as no surprise that her first memory is of her and her sister dressing up and putting on elaborate performances, creating worlds of their own from just their imagination.  These performances would often last days or weeks.

A colorful Zendoodle by Colette

Going to Grandma Betty's house invariably meant more chances to create.  For Grandma Betty, making messes were just part of the fun.  They'd construct doll houses that spanned entire rooms.  A stack of books became a doll couch.  A piece of tissue became a wedding dress. A nail polish bottle became a lamp.  Anything that was on hand was fair game in her pretend play world.  Grandma Betty taught Colette a number of stimulating activities including how to knit.

A Zendoodle reminiscent of quilting, one of Colette's many skills.

Early on, drawing came naturally to Colette.  She moved a lot and being the new kid was never easy.  Laughingly, Colette will tell you that she loves writing as well, but doesn't have the attention span to write much more than a short story.  At age 13 she began journalling and writing poems.  By age 14 she was working her first job as a page at the Lisle Library.  Her days quickly filled with school and work, but she always made time for art journalling.  Journals filled with words and drawings and later served as an early inspiration for the smash books that Colette still loves.

A current smash book project features art from Colette's grand children

By age 19 Colette was married and two children came soon after.  While transitioning into being a wife, mother and homemaker, she still made sure creativity was a part of the household.  Colette still took on new crafts like teaching herself to sew.  She made matching dresses for her and her daughter and eventually made curtains to adorn her home.  She added her own stylistic touches all around her home.  As in the days of being at Grandma Betty's, every room and every piece of furniture was a blank canvas.  A bookshelf was decoupaged with Asian newspapers.  A faux stained glass window was painted on the ceiling.  A regular yard was turned into a beautiful blooming garden.

A flower inspired Zendoodle

As her children became adults and started lives of there own, Colette had more space in her home to experiment with new mediums, like large scale canvass, paper art, altered books, and painting to name a few.  She also had time to focus on what she wanted to do as a career, librarian.  A lifelong lover of books, being a librarian was less about a career choice though, and more about passion. Over time her creativity became a part of her work as well through creating displays.  These displays started small and became large scale multimedia innovations that caught the eye of the patrons and her bosses.  She now channels her creative energy to dream up displays for more than one library.

Colette, from Queens Loft Sudio is in her element among the stacks.

Queens Loft Studio is all about innovation and passion, but it came into existence by chance.  A chance conversation with a coworker at a convention, and a single sentence stuck in Colette's mind.  "I draw to clear the clutter in my mind."  Fresh fire was lit and she came home and began to draw, inspired anew.  Simple doodles at first.  Another coworker introduced her to Zentangle.  Zentangle turned into her own style of drawing, Zendoodle.  Through a family crisis and through the stresses of the day to day, Zendoodle was Colette's own artistic therapy.

Art Therapy

Colette's favorite tools are simply a pen and her sketch pad.  Her Zendoodle designs when started, become a world of their own, not unlike the pretend play worlds she enjoyed years ago.  She loves knowing that things that she can do with paper are endless.  She always carries the supplies for a smash book or any other project in her purse, constantly collecting found items.

It's all about making art accessible to everyone for Colette. Queens Loft Studio is offering Zendoodle classes to groups in the Northwestern Illinois area.  Her 1.5-2 hour classes are perfect for a girls or couples night in, assisted living homes, teens and of course libraries.  Queens Loft Studio also offers several other easy to follow crafting classes.  Contact queensloftstudios@gmail.com to schedule your groups next class!