How I got my Start in Art

I’ve always been creative and entrepreneurial. When I was 11, I was enterprising to the point where my teacher said, “No more businesses in class.” Gone were the days of selling lanyard to my classmates, candy during lunch period, or the partnership I’d started with two classmates - we were caught crocheting products under our desks during class.

This spirit would stick with me and be both my blessing and burden.

During my early 20’s, I started/stopped various businesses like photography, professional organizing, an after-school enrichment club for children, web design, and lastly a t-shirt brand (which also led to my Art Appreciation Collection - but more on that later). Every time I started something I’d get the business cards, the flyers, and start about getting customers, but my efforts never formulated into cash quickly enough to meet my share of the expenses, and so after every 3-month run I’d go back to something “stable” and “reliable” which also means EMPLOYED.

I’ll admit to being a bad employee in my youth. My bosses had different priorities than I did. I focused on results and happy customers and they valued what time I arrived and how well I fit into the rules and routines. I think some of us are just built differently; we’d rather starve and strive for something than see our dreams die on the vine while working for someone else.

Torn between honoring myself and wanting to meet the "shoulds" and expectations of my then-husband, I continued this yo-yo of enterprising followed by employment for most of my 20s, but in August of 2012, my whole life changed when my marriage ended and my father passed away within the SAME WEEK.

Before that time I’d barely touched paint or a canvas for any creative project or great length of time. I thought painting and Art were for classically trained artists, people with high-brow taste, and higher education. I never saw abstract art growing up. I was exposed to paintings of still-life fruit, fox hunting scenes, rolling hills, and Victorian women – works that didn’t resonate for me.

I did have one canvas, however, that had been my slice of calm on occasion. It was my outlet, my one place of FREEDOM where I took all the rules off and allowed myself to use any medium and make any marks that I wanted. It was something I could do that I didn’t have to think about or verbalize, I could just feel it and let it flow.

This canvas took a backseat until after that insane week in early 2013 when I moved into the home that used to belong to my father. A house I’d lived in as a teenager. At 28 years old I’d never lived on my own, never been truly independent, and now for the first time, I had no male figure in my life dictating my every move. I had freedom.

What I didn’t understand was how much things would cost, the life I was stepping into, or what I was going to do to put food on my plate. This was when I picked up that canvas again.

Forgoing social activities for Netflix, I sat on the couch with my canvases and crafts and wondered how I was going to survive. What could I do to make money? I was back in a rural town where the only people I knew were people I didn’t want to know anymore. I wanted to lay low, make new friends, and find my way.

I painted a lot during this time. Again, accessing that freedom of expression, and melting the stress down one painting at a time.

I did keep a few people close during this time, and one of them happened to be Mindy, the granddaughter of my neighbor, who was close to me in age. Mindy had a boyfriend, who I also trusted. I will never forget the day when he knocked on my door and asked '“Do you still have that painting that Mindy likes?” I jokingly replied, “Yeah, why, you wanna buy it?” He replied “Yeah” with an honest smile and asked “how much?” (I’m almost in tears even recalling this moment, it was poignant for sure) I charged him whatever number seemed fair at the time, which he agreed to.

I still remember the buzzing I felt the moment he handed me that payment and I closed my front door behind him. I stood there holding the payment in my hand, staring at it, and asked myself “How many of these would I have to sell in a month to survive?” I calculated that I’d have to find 10 clients every month at that price in order to survive, and thinking that would be an easy task- I set my heart on it. I didn’t know yet that my calculations were way off, that goal number would only pay for the roof over my head and not even the oil or electricity to keep it heated.

No one told me how hard the art world is, or that ANY business is a hard business if you don’t know what you’re doing, have no advisors, mentors, partners, start-up capital, or savings to fall back on.

I was just a girl with a GED, a dream, and enough conviction to make sure it happened, and this time no one was going to stop me.

Every day since then has been a learning experience about money, business, love, failure, self-expression, boundaries, advertising, courage, perseverance, and honestly … humanity.

I’m grateful Mindy’s boyfriend came over that day to ask about buying the painting - and yes, Mindy loved it - it was her birthday gift that year and it still hangs in their home today.

That very first canvas I painted on? The one that started this whole story? I named it “Love in Progress” and my best friend purchased it when she bought her first home.

So many of my paintings have personal stories attached. Life lessons, and things I wish to teach, or even just express - moments frozen in time - or in this case … paint. The point is, I’m always evolving, and my work will evolve with me.

Whatever pieces you own, you’ll have a part of my life on your wall, and you’ll be a part of that journey along with me.

Thank you for the part you play in allowing me to reach for my dreams. My career wouldn’t be possible without you: my friends, fans, and clients.