An evening of colourful art, wine, and gratitude with Sandra Gale

Sandra Gale speaking at the event, standing in front of her ‘Strong, Smart, Creative’ banner

Behind every great creative who launches a business—well, the luckiest ones at least—is a vocal group of beautifully supportive, highly encouraging friends and family cheering them on, lifting them up, and helping them through.

In March 2022, I got to celebrate my lovely new business with many of the (very many) people who have supported me and shared this amazing journey with me. I’m grateful to every one of you.

Starting a business is big, scary, and hard

I’m an artist. I always have been. But until April 2020, when I first launched my website (scary) and business page on Facebook (even scarier!), I’d never been a business owner. This was (and still is) new territory for me, and it’s big, scary, and hard. But from the time I first floated the idea with my support crew, they’ve all been completely onboard, unbelievably encouraging, and the best darn cheerleaders a gal could ever hope for.

From family and friends to ex-employers and other amazing women in business, I’m so grateful for all the support I’ve received from people I’ve connected with in all areas of my life. It’s humbling, smile-inducing, and incredibly touching, and I’m oh-so-grateful.

Adele and Jamie from Intrinsic chatting over the bar with Newton (aka Dad)

From employers to cheerleaders

Those who knew me before I launched Sandra Gale Studio will know I spent many, many happy years working for colourful creatives Adele and Jamie at Intrinsic. I loved the time I spent with them as an illustrator and graphic designer. It was the perfect job for me in that season of my life as Brian (hubby) and I raised our gorgeous children over the course of those 14 years.

When it came time for me to move on and spread my wings, Adele and Jamie were right there with me, whole-heartedly cheering me on and encouraging me to jump out of their cosy, warm nest so I could start flapping my wings.

My inspiration for the ‘girls’ weekend’ collection – (most of) my beautiful besties

Inspirational friendships

Behind every great woman there’s an incredible bunch of strong, supportive women who constantly have her back, enthusiastically cheer her on, and whose hearts and minds inspire her. Every. Single. Day. This is my beautiful bunch (minus one and including my sister Roxy). With their colourful personalities and fun-loving natures, these glorious gals were the inspiration for my ‘Girls’ Weekend’ collection.

As these wonderful women and I have gradually been turning 50, we’ve been going away for girls’ weekends to celebrate. As chance and luck would have it, we’ve managed to get away for one 50th each year, with two more to go before (after a small break) we start rolling into the 60th’s. I’m so grateful for these women, and so thankful to have this super-cool group of supportive friends. They’ve never asked me why I’m so weird or questioned my ideas. Instead they’ve given me nothing but love and 100% encouragement. They’ve always been willing to listen to me, they’ve come to all my events and markets, they’ve liked and commented on my business’ posts and filled their homes and wardrobes with my colourful art. What beautiful gems they are!

My WOW woman

This is Jo. She’s one of my besties, the inspiration for my ‘wow’ t-shirts, and the organiser of all the best parties and celebrations I’ve ever been too.

When I realised ‘An evening with Sandra Gale’ and my first ever 'Cut, Paste, and Sip with Sandra' creative workshop were taking place within two days of each other, I had a moment of sheer panic and overwhelm (just imagine these emojis rotating through in the place where my face should be and you’ll pretty much get the picture: 😬😳🫣😵). But then I remembered I had a secret weapon – I had Jo!

Jo helped organise this whole event, and I want to give her an extra-special shout out to show my gratitude and appreciation for her. I asked her to run with it and she did, and it was fabulous. And, because it takes a village to raise a business AND because every amazing woman knows when to ask for help when she needs it, Jo roped in her parents, Christine and George, whenever she needed some extra pairs of hands. This evening wouldn’t have happened without her. Thanks Jo. xxx

Family – the love and support your born with – or marry into!

We are family

If you were there on the night, chances are high you would have been served a tasty beverage by one of these adorable faces. Mum and Dad, aka Sue and Newton, were kind enough to work the bar for me for the evening. It’s just the latest example of how these two wonderful humans continuously support and encourage me, and I couldn’t love them more!

And then we have another adorable face – my hubby, Brian. He’s ever supportive, always there for me to bounce ideas off or to help out with an extra pair of legs or arms if I need them, and the rest of him’s pretty darn great too.

My sister Roxy is my greatest cheerleader and best friend. She’s always encouraged me and pushed me, making sure I reach for the stars even when I’m doubting how high I can fly. And my other sister (the ‘in-law’ and ‘in-heart’ one), Leeanne, is my absolute saviour when it comes to all things bookkeeping. As a numbers-adverse creative, it’s an absolute dream to have someone who loves making numbers balance and do all the other things that numbers need to do. It’s a job I really, really dislike, so I really, really love that Leeanne’s there to do it for me.

And finally, my delightful, inspirational, beautiful kids – Emily, Jack, and Tess. You are my heart and soul – thank you all for your support, your love, and for making me one of the proudest mum’s out there.

Thank you. Thank you. A thousand times thank you.

I’m so grateful to every single person who, over the course of my journey so far, has cheered me on and supported me. Whether you’ve given me a kind smile, words of encouragement, or sound business advice, attended one of my market stalls, interacted with my social media in some way, come along to a workshop, or bought one of my prints, candles, or cards – thank you. I’m so grateful and always will be, because without you, I wouldn’t be here, living my dream of bringing colour and positivity to the world.

Thank you.

Sandra xxx

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