Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Darrion Holland. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Darrion, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I started drawing at a young age. Members of my family are artists as well so I remember growing up looking through my grandmothers sketchbook. I have an Aunt who was an art teacher and a painter. She taught me a lot. One of my favorite memories was when she took me with her to paint a mural for our church. I come from a long live of creatives. I also took quite a few art classes. But for the most part I am a self taught artist now that I am an adult. I think if I would have found an art college to go to that would have helped speed up my learning process. I like being self taught but sometimes if you’re learning something new it’s better to have structure. That way you know where to start and where you should end. I think patience is a very important skill when it comes to art. My art has taught me to be a lot more patient actually. I use to rush through my work and now I know that’s it’s okay to watch a piece come together over time. I would say the biggest obstacle I faced was allowing myself to stay in my comfort zone and put myself out there more. Being in the creative field has its intimidating moments and I allowed them to stop me from pursuing my passion at one point.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an acrylic painter. I like to sketch a lot. I also make handmade jewelry and candles. My art has always been an escape for me or very personal because I use to only do it when I was upset. Now I have learned that I can do it all the time. I am someone who also loves Art Therapy so I wanted a place to showcase my art and I wanted to help others on their own healing journeys. So I created Gaias Garden.

At Gaias Garden, we celebrate the profound connection between spirituality and nature. Our name represents our deep reverence for the Earth and our belief in its wisdom and healing power.
A lot of the art you will see is nature inspired or has something to do with healing and spirituality. I use my art as a healing tool and my business is based on healing and nature. I want to create things for others that helps them on their journey or I like to allow my customers to come on my journey with me. I eventually want to offer classes for beginner artists or people that just need a little art therapy. I’m most proud of my consistency as of recently. I use to not take my art as serious. It was something I knew I was good at but I didn’t think to really try putting my all into. But now I know it’s really all I want to do. If I had a choice I would solely paint the rest of my life.

I am always accepting commissions. I can be found on Instagram, Facebook or Etsy. My website is www.ShopwithGaia.com.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The goal is to leave my mark and help others. The cool thing about art is that if you get it in the right places it can live forever. I’d love to have my art in a museum or sold to an art collector. It is such a good feeling walking in someone’s home or establishment and seeing artwork on their walls that you did. Art makes me happy and that’s all I want to be is happy. So I’m trying to do what I can to make sure I can get away from a 9-5 and be a full time artist.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I started on Facebook. I think the most important thing is promoting yourself constantly. When I first start posting my work I would only post the finished products and then I learned people actually like to watch the process of you creating the piece. So I would post how to videos or videos just showing me and my methods. Once I received some interaction on Facebook I made a business Instagram and I tried to target fellow artists and creatives. Which led me to find customers wishing that same audience. Consistency is also another big thing. You have to stay consistent with social media because it’s so fast paced. I’ve noticed it also builds a trust with your audience. They feel like they can trust that you know what you’re doing because they watch you do it so much.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ShopwithGaia.com
• Instagram: Gaias.Garden_
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/stainedessence