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

Solita , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I’ve known my whole life really, but I think the first moment that really solidified it for me was when I was 4 years old. My Dad woke me up in the middle of the night to “go party with him,” which became kind of a ritual for us where we would just sit on the floor and draw. I remember how he taught me shading techniques with contrast and color, and different ways to blend graphite specifically, and taught me about translating the real world into my art. I wanted to try every medium I could, and at that point I didn’t have paint yet so I would go out to our back yard and crush up blackberries and use Fox-and-Cub flowers and Buttercups as paint brushes. After enough blackberry stains on my school clothes my parents ended up getting me watercolors, and I was just so fascinated. I spent a lot of our art nights asking how I could be a professional artist when I grew up, and would always get told to “just keep practicing.” So I did. And I never stopped. The art nights with my dad didn’t last long, maybe a couple months, but it was all I needed to get a wildfire going in my mind and solidify my life mission. I lost a lot of sleep and missed a lot of events growing up just to practice drawing and painting. And I never really stopped losing sleep or missing events either, but it’s absolutely worth it. It’s really wild to think about how the little 4 year old version of me would think I’m just the bees knees.

Solita , 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 mission is to make art accessible for everyone. I don’t believe that quality original art should be considered a “Luxury Item” just for the rich. Original art is a necessity. I grew up struggling, taking care of my younger sisters, and trying to make the best of the life we were growing up in. And a lot of that came from decorating our rooms in drawings that reminded us of the brighter sides of life. Artwork that my sisters, our friends, or I made that took us to a place of joy and warmth. Art for me can be an escape, or it can be a grounding technique, or it can be gritty, dirty, catharsis. And I make art to suit all of those needs for myself and hope that it resonates with others. I do a lot of commission work in hopes to create those therapeutic scenes tailored specifically to my clients. I work with everyones budgets and needs, because I know what it is to struggle – I still struggle often – and I think in those vulnerable moments is when we need art the most. I also teach classes and workshops to help people turn their creative spark into a fire in them by teaching techniques I use. Some of these techniques and tricks took me years to figure out on my own, and if I can show someone in ten minutes and give them a jump start on their creative journey then I feel wildly accomplished. And I really can’t say I’m completely self taught; I owe a lot of credit to my high school art teacher, Mrs. Wilson. She’s the first one to ever really believe in me, and have faith in a kid with a crazy pipe dream. She inspired me a lot, and gave me the encouragement and confidence in myself that I desperately needed. A lot of my core memories in life came from her art classes.

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

The most rewarding aspect for me is meeting people that remind me of myself years ago when I was at my lowest, and seeing their faces light up when they see my work. Seeing peoples reactions to portraits of their loved ones and pets that their friends or family commissioned as gifts. Just seeing people have emotional reactions in general to my work hits me in such a deep way and really keeps me going. And hearing someone talk about the tiniest details that I genuinely didn’t think anyone would ever notice is incredibly rewarding. I used to get really sad because I realized I’d spend so many hours on the tiniest details that no one would ever notice or appreciate, and every now and then someone surprises me with pointing out the most obscure piece of detail and it’s very heartwarming.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

So many times I’ve started completely from scratch with nothing but the clothes on my back. Lost all of my finished pieces and works in progress and supplies, felt completely broken, but still hopped back into it. I guess out of spite in those moments. Like my way of telling the Universe, “good try, but not this time!” I was working 7 days a week, 3rd shift at a factory at one point without a single day off for 6 months – and I was definitely losing my mind a little bit – but I was so determined to rebuild my little empire of paintings I just couldn’t stop. I lost so much sleep trying to recreate paintings that I’d lost prior to that. I’ve got a lot of horror stories about my life and upbringing, but just in general knowing how many times I’ve started completely over after having everything lost or destroyed and kept going just to build it all back stronger, really reminds me of my inner strength and determination. And to anyone reading this; it’s worth it to keep going. Take breaks when you need to, but come back stronger with more energy.

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