We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rebekah Delmatto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rebekah , thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Earning income as an artist always seemed like a far fetch idea when I was in art school. The graphic design side seem to have a more practical approach right out of school and it translated pretty easily into the professional world. I am such a hands on artist that working solely on my computer wasn’t a path I wanted to take. However, prior to this year of working for myself I was in the restaurant world like many post art school graduates. I always stayed creative but kind of gave up on the idea of it being my career. A friend encouraged me to try and start an Instagram. After a few donated murals to promote myself I got a few people interested in one for themselves. I feel very lucky that Cincinnati is a such a tight knit community that word of mouth has been my biggest advertisement. I started following other working artist to get inspired as to how to promote, price, learn tricks, and present myself as a professional. There’s a pretty large community of artists that believe in bring transparent about their process and how to price your work and it’s super inspiring. Learning to price your work is a hard thing to get to and probably a year from now I’ll look back on how I priced and find a better system. You have to think of the work done prior to painting, supplies, skill, and time installing the art itself. Confidence is key as well as not taking “no’s” as a discouraging thing. Not everyone is going to have the same budget or desire for a mural and that’s okay. I’m always told it’s a numbers game and the more people you reach out to the more chances there are for a “yes.” Once I start talking to a potential client I try to be upfront about pricing, deposit, and the process first. It’s never great as a working artist to put time into the design and then find out they can’t afford the work. It’s a practical side of being a working artist and it saves your time and efforts from being wasted.

Rebekah , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Rebekah Delmatto or “ The Cincy Wallflower” and I am a custom mural artist. I paint a little of everything and everywhere from bathrooms, dining rooms, restaurant & bars, commercial businesses, you name it! I describe myself as a custom mural artist because I incorporate the client into every design. Each design becomes personal to whoever I’m painting for. It’s in their bedroom, their bar, or for their business. I take in account each person/business’ style and needs for the mural and every client gets to be apart of the process as much as they want as well as seeing the final design in a digital mock up to make sure they love it!

Working with both commercial and residential clients can be very different. Residential murals are often about finding the style of your client and what works best in the room/space. I’ll look at the furniture they have, colors they like, and layout of the room to customize the design to fit their space. A fun reason murals are great for home is they do the design work for you! The statement piece you never knew you needed,

For commercial spaces the design process is a bit different. I’m very conscious of the marketing factor of a mural in a business. It’s important to do my research to get to know each their business as an individual. The mural can be a background for an “Instagram moment” or it can be informative on the company’s ethos. Either way a mural for a business is great way to use art to create an environment that their employees love working in, brings new customers in and makes a lasting memory that brings them back!

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I think the biggest resource that I wasn’t aware of was other artists and entrepreneurs! I kind of viewed being an artist as a battle of you against the world and it really isn’t. There is so much to learn from and be inspired by and it’s crazy how supportive other people are. I follow so many other mural artists and it’s so fun to see the work they are up to and how they problem solve throughout each job. Working as a mural artist is crazy and sometimes problems arise on sight that are so far from simply being an artist. It’s assuring to see other working artist have hurdles to jump over and have to resolve to create beautiful pieces of work. It definitely puts things in perspective and encourages you to continue this crazy path to do what we love to do – paint fun things on walls and bring some excitement to world and people’s lives.

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

For me, the most rewarding aspect of my career is being able to transform spaces for people. I think the world is a crazy place and it’s so important to claim a space as yours. I absolutely love working with people and making that happen for them and see how that impacts their daily life and/or business. Choosing to change your room and design intentional really can have an impact on your happiness and how people interact in the space. Murals can be just that. Intentionality and expression to claim a space and bring joy to you and everyone that walks in,

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thecincywallflower.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/cincywallflower
• Other: Interested in a mural? Send me an email: thecincywallflower@gmail.com

Image Credits
Larrison photography