We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Raegan Rowland. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Raegan below.

Raegan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Well, to start I have to acknowledge the fact that I would not be who I am today without my parents and my family and I can’t thank them enough for always supporting me and just being there to be my sounding board from childhood to now. This question is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. The older I get, the more I get to know myself and one thing I see looking back through my twenties and decisions I made: I’m not gonna settle for just good enough. I have a history of changing my mind a time or two, personally and professionally. I began my college career as an Engineering student and ended with an Art degree. I’ve worked several different jobs since graduating- graphic design, retail, nannying, finance, wedding painter. I used to feel insecure about this and think “Why can’t I just stick to one thing?’ but now as a 30 year old I’ve realized that I should be proud of myself for not sticking myself into a box and not being afraid to try new things. I know that “if it doesn’t work out, you can always change direction and that’s okay,” because my parents instilled that in me. Of course I thought I was disappointing them when I decided to pursue an Art degree over an Engineering one, but they knew that’s what I should’ve been doing all along. Looking back, I’m so glad I made that change because it changed the trajectory of everything. I’m very close with my parents and together we are the best problem solvers. When life gets bumpy I know I can call on them and we can make a plan to get back on track together. They did a lot of things right, but I can’t thank them enough for listening to me, supporting my ideas, even the really wild ones and passing down a strong spirit that never gives up.

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

I do a little bit of everything over here! First and foremost, I’m and Artist based out of Atlanta, Georgia. I grew up in Macon, Georgia not too far away. I’m close to my family and we all live here so I never had many aspirations to move to another state. Being creative has been a part of my identity since I can remember. My favorite toys as a young kid were the art supplies and Art was always my best subject and most-looked-forward-to class in school. I can still recall making drawings for my dad to hang on his desk at work and even drawing them digitally in Microsoft Paint as a kid so he could make it his desktop background and think it’s really crazy how I still do stuff like that all the time today. I always knew I had a passion to “make things pretty” whether that was through drawing, painting or graphic design, but I didn’t exactly see it as a career path. When I started working after college, I knew pretty early on that I would one day have my own business. I worked for a small business in my college town and got to learn all about their creative process and built my own system from there. I started out designing signage- everything from simple yard signs to more complex architectural elements, like neighborhood monuments. I had a few jobs in this industry and liked it enough, but always had the intention of doing my own thing one day. Then Covid happened. March of 2020 changed everything and made me really think about what I wanted to do with my life. I did a lot of thinking and writing and reflecting, as I’m sure all of us did, and I realized that if I wanted to start my own business, nobody had to give me permission- the only person I was waiting on was myself. I started thinking of things I could make for my friends and pitching it to them. I would draw these cute little sketches on my iPad on my lunch break and I think I sold them to my friends for around $10. I would post them on Instagram and then more people would see them and want one too.. so I’d draw more, and then I’d get asked to do something a little different, so I’d do something different and then post about it and then people would ask again. Until eventually, it wasn’t just friends and family but people who I’d never met were asking for my art. And that’s how my Art business started. As soon as I started working from home during Covid, I was painting every chance I could. I mean, there was really nothing else to do. I had TIME to create and post about it, and as crazy as the world was during that time, I’m so thankful for it because I think I would’ve just kept working and never had that time to be present on social media and market myself and make art. Flash forward to now, a few years later and a few different jobs here and there- I make those same little sketches, the ones I made for my friends on my iPad, for wedding guests! Except with pen and watercolor now. And I do it much faster. With people watching me. I still make other art sometimes too, like house paintings or dog paintings, and I paint wedding ceremony paintings on canvas, but my main bookings are “Live Wedding Guest Portraits.” I built a business called The Painted Party Creative Studio and it’s all about putting “The Art in Party,” through giving your guests the gift of a personalized piece of art just for them. I do a lot of weddings, but I also paint at birthday parties, corporate events, luncheons, etc. There are some really incredible artists in this space, but I think one thing that sets me apart is the fact that I am both business-minded and creative. Unfortunately, being a good artist is only a portion of what it takes to sell your work and really build a business around your art. I learned a lot the hard way and learned how it’s so much more of a mental game than I was prepared for. You’re not a salesman selling a product, you’re a salesman selling yourself… and that can be really challenging if you don’t do what it takes to get your mind right. I’m really proud of where I’m at right now in my career and I owe a lot of it to my therapist and my support system. And my team! Pitching yourself and your work to the world every single day can be so draining. I’m just thankful I have other people to help me in all ways, whether it’s professionally, mentally or emotionally.

How did you build your audience on social media?

The best advice I can give to anyone just starting out is:

1. Keep posting authentically and consistently. It’s a long game!
2. Don’t consume more than you’re putting out. For example, I post a lot on TikTok but I pretty much get on to post and then I get off to avoid burnout. I have my notifications turned off specifically for that app and I only check it when I’m ready to post again or engage.
3. Be intentional with what you’re posting. You may think only a small amount of people will see it when you first start out, but it’s still on the internet, completely public. I’ve gone viral a few times and once one of your videos goes viral, old videos go viral too. So you never know where one will end up.

My audience is not very big, I don’t even have 2,000 followers on Instagram yet, and I have about 4,500 on TikTok, but I still get leads all the time from Instagram. I’ve built my audience over the years by doing projects, sharing them, tagging everyone involved, posting almost every single day since 2020 and pushing my posts out to other platforms as well. Everything I share on TikTok is also shared on YouTube. Everything shared on Instagram is also posted on Pinterest. The more content you have out there the higher your chances are of people finding you and what you offer.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Hmm, this one is tough but I think I’d have to say: having a built-in way of self-entertaining by making something out of nothing. Let me explain. Any time I start to feel “bored,” I just start drawing. Whether it’s on my iPad, or a napkin, or the back of a receipt or in a notebook, I doodle. It’s usually just some funky shapes making up a composition but it’s an idea. And maybe it’s nothing, or maybe next time I draw, I draw the same thing again but I build off of it. Or maybe the next time I start an abstract painting I call back to that composition and try to make it again, just bigger this time. There’s always these ideas building in my head and I’m waiting until the next time I can get it on paper. Because of this, I very rarely get bored. I don’t have to be glued to my phone to be entertained as long as I have a pen and paper. It’s taken me a while to be able to completely lean into without thinking about being on my phone or doing other tasks, but now that I’ve learned to use it as a tool to autocorrect my anxiety, it’s been pretty life-changing. For example, I used to have the worst F.O.M.O. (Fear of missing out), and would get so anxious any time I was home alone, just thinking about what everyone else was doing without me. Today, I love being home alone, because I learned to start creating and get into that flow state as soon as I start feeling anxious, and it all goes away. I’m passionate about creating because it’s my safe place. If you’ve ever been in a creative flow, you get it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.the-painted-party.com
• Instagram: @raeganarowland @the.painatedparty
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@raegan_the_artist

Image Credits

Fagan Kennedy Photography