About me
February 4th, 2012
Hi, I’m Glenda – welcome to my blog.
I am an artist and designer and followed my creative muse ten years ago when I changed direction from computing to art.
In the late ’90s I left my corporate job with Sun Microsystems and took a year out, working as a volunteer for Oxfam and studying art and design part time at my local college. I passed my course with a Distinction and began to sell hand painted giftware at local events and craft fairs. I called my company Graphicus which is a latin adjective which translates as
worthy of painting | perfect of kind; exquisite; picturesque| artistic
I soon found that I had a handful of bestsellers that I had to keep on repeating and that didn’t suit my curious, experimental nature, so I moved into demonstrating and selling craft supplies and built a website.
In early 2002, I bought a stamp company and started the Elusive Images line of rubber stamps. The following year I braved the world of shopping TV and spent the next seven years demonstrating Elusive Images stamps on Ideal World and Create and Craft TV. My husband Adrian took voluntary redundancy in 2005 and joined me full time in running the business.
In 2010 we faced a year of personal upheaval, grief and massive change and coupled with changes in the economic climate, we knew that Graphicus could not continue and reluctantly closed the company down.
With dependent elderly relatives to take care of, we designed a new business with the flexibility to cope with our caring responsibilities and in April 2011, the phoenix arose from the ashes and Chocolate Baroque was born.
We now focus on getting the work-life balance right – it’s a constant work in progress, but these days we are laughing more, seeing our family more and experiencing something perilously close to a social life.
I believe in honesty and integrity and looking for the positive in every situation. I have been sharing my story since 2006 and hope that you find something here to inspire or uplift you.
