Sharing the story of The Colored Petal is the culmination of my and my wife’s life.

As told by Troy Devine, owner of The Colored Petal
Upon reflection, this story is rooted back to me as a third grader selling hand-drawn doodles to classmates for 50 cents. I didn’t know it at the time but that was my first experience as a “working artist” and an entrepreneur. I noticed what others liked and allowed my creativity to lead me to produce a desirable product. These are the types of memories I enjoy looking back on but many are less pleasant to reflect upon but there just as important to shaping who I am and what our company is today.

Being a child of a broken home I understood the escape that art could bring. There wasn’t available peace in the house and I was forever walking on eggshells but there was always access to a pencil and a sheet of paper.

As I grew up and shunned my creativity side thinking that art class in high school was for hippies and weirdos I found a new escape in drugs and alcohol. These became the perfect tool for numbing the fact my mom had committed suicide and I believed it was my fault. A new pattern formed but unlike escaping to creativity which grows awareness of the beautiful world around us, I escaped into bars and house parties just trying to bury all the guilt and shame I had accumulated over the years.

My passion for art was rediscovered when I went to college for visual arts where in the classrooms I felt the pull of a creative purpose. Now there was a war, a battle for my future; will I continue to drown in alcohol or rise out of depression fueled by a creative passion? It would be many years of war until rehab and a renewed life would emerge. Faith and creativity have saved my life and that’s the foundation on which The Colored Petal stands.

I was invited in and mentored by a fellow IndieMe artist Sondra Gerber who showed me what my life could be if I leaned into that creative calling.

My wife and I have a serious mission to be a creative-based business that employs those who have been BORN to create but may have lost their way and need direction. We love creating bright colorful pieces of art because, in a small way, it’s a metaphor. Each sculpture shows that with love, a plan, and a purpose what can come from a plain sheet of acrylic.