We were lucky to catch up with Daniela Hundley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Daniela, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

As long as I can remember (and the drawings my mom saved) I have been a creative flower child. I remember that in high school (I wasn’t a huge academic) art was always something I pursued. This one specific on in Chemistry class I knew nothing that was on that test and so I felt like if I was going to fail it was at least going to be with a pretty drawing. My teacher cheekily said “Nice art piece, but you still got a F.” back in the day we passed notes and so drawing the best intro to your note was considered big stuff. and other students would pay me to draw on their letters, envelopes and notes. After high school some trauma happened that made me quit art for over 10 years and honestly I didn’t think I would ever draw again. When the 2020 Covid crises hit I felt so out of control that I thought to pick up art again to channel how I was feeling. I originally was an ink and colored pencil artist, but that just felt way too focused and not something I could handle. I chose to learn Watercolor because I felt like the water would tell me what to do and it would help me be able to flow with everything. Little did I know that many do feel that watercolor is one of the hardest mediums to master and lets’ be honest.. the first few months to a year were super frustrating. Once I learned how much I loved watercolor the illustration side of me came back and now I am a Watercolor mixed media artist. In 2022 after producing so much art I realized I wanted to make this a FT job and went back to school for art on top of opening up a store. I now still show in galleries but have a brick and mortar where I sell my art. I figured I needed to give it my all and if I don’t bet on myself nobody else will.

Daniela, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My love of illustration has always been a huge part of me because I never wanted to truly grow up. I remember (and even now) watching a Disney movie waiting for the opening credits of the shooting star across the castle and feeling that magic it evokes. When I create my illustrations I try to give that feeling to the characters that I am bringing to life and hoping I can bring others that type of joy. Many of my art pieces have a back story, name, and a life I have created in my imagination. I tend to laugh, giggle and talk to my paintings as if they were truly alive. I understand that for many illustration is considered low brow art, but to me it’s what lives on in our dreams, what we share with our children and sometimes what gets us through a hard day. When I am not creating illustration work and want to cleanse the mind I create Abstract pieces. Even within my abstracts I use a sense of magic and wonder with the color pallets that I choose. Many have said that my style is original and I think that is true because I left the canvas or paper tell me what the piece will be. I would love my future clients/followers/fans to know that each piece really is original and that I put my heart and soul into the pieces. I aim to create pieces that you can hand down for generations, or gift to a friend who needs a smile.. I want my paintings to have new lives and homes to let them live on.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Not to get too personal but I deal with functional depression and so art is the pocket of joy that I display. Looking at my artwork nobody would know that I lost a child when I was 19 and had a lot of trauma in my life because of it. I for a long time thought that my creative spirit died with my child and it has been a fight to get back to being creative. I do have my ups and downs with my own art but I know I must paint because it helps bring some version of peace in the moment. Life isn’t what you expect it to be when you are young and all you can do is find a way to make it through the storm. I have never been this personal before on a public platform, but I want others to know that you can have depression, live years without creating and it too can come back to you. Sometimes creating anything, even if it’s horrible is better than not creating at all.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I would love to get to the point that I sell enough art to be able to donate to charity on a constant basis. I see homelessness, over crowding of shelters, school programs and so much more I want to donate too. As a Latina I would also love to be able to make art my FT income and donate my time to lower income schools to teach other children how to process their life through art. Art shouldn’t be for just the rich, it should be accessible to everyone and an outlet to process life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.changingleavesartstudiio.com
• Instagram: Changing_Leaves_Art_Studio
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/daniela-hundley