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

Alai, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

The beginning of my career was super sudden and accidental. At the time, I was not choosing to pursue art. I was hoping to study a bit more at university and maybe get a different job, but definitely not to work for myself and be my own boss. I was not planning to become an artist or to teach art to a global community. I thought I wouldn’t be happy being a creative because I believed it required so many skills, involved so much work, and had too many tasks. It isn’t just training; you have to build your brand.

Being an artist, you have to do so many things at the same time. You have to be a business owner. You have to take care of your customers. You have to take care of social media. It requires planning a lot of content, going to art fairs, planning a lot of trips, brand deals, retreats, courses, shipping stuff, Patreon, and many many other things. And I didn’t think this would make me happy or the happiest. But honestly, from experience, whenever I’m NOT painting, that’s when I’m the most miserable.

And, dont get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t enjoy all the extra things, I’m super grateful for all the experiences, but the rest of the activities around this creative and intangible job are super easy to get you to burn out. So if it wasn’t for the painting, I don’t think I would be happier doing this. Now that I’ve chosen this path and have been doing it for six years, whenever all these extra tasks get to be burnt loads and im overloaded, I know that I have to sit down and paint because that’s the only thing that’s going to clear my mind. It’s the only thing that gives me peace and makes everything worth it.

I have an app on my phone that tracks my heart rate and its variability. My “emotional battery” can drain really fast during the day, but I have found that when I sit down to paint, my stress levels and heart rate drop so low that my emotional battery recharges. And now, because I use this app, I can literally see my battery recharge; the data tells me I’m “in the zone”. So it has to be true!

I think that as long as I get to paint, whether I am making courses, retreats, or even YouTube videos, I’m happier than if I were working a regular job.

Alai, 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?

I am a full-time painter and educator, who became just that by accident. I’ve always pursued science as a career, and had a weird family life, but you know the saying, when life gives you lemons… I ended up painting them!

I started sharing my art on social media, and people started to relate to it. But with that, commissions came, orders, plans, and suddenly, I became a full-time painter. It was not planned, but I decided to join the ride.

I’d like my supporters to know that:

1- Anyone can pursue art, no matter their level, and their background can shape how they learn about art. Because I studied physics and science, I love how light behaves in paintings. A journalist could incorporate incredible narrative skills in their art pieces; a cook might be more careful with texture and paint consistency. People usually want to start from a blank slate on this journey, or don’t even start because it is too late, but it’s never too late.

2- There’s no room for perfection in the joyful path of artistic creation. I embrace the accidents paint gives me and explore with no judgment. When I was at university doing a fine arts degree, I was painting hyperrealism, but I realized that the only skill needed is practice and time, time and more time. It was in my last year that I started to unlearn all that to find my artistic voice, far from perfect replicas but full of expression.

3-I try to enhance reality with what I learned about science and color theory. When I started painting for myself, I quickly noticed I tended to treat colors differently. Light fascinates me, and I love to study its behavior in every painting. Transparencies, reflections, textures… it is all a new playground to explore colors.

When people started relating to my art, that’s when I made it my mission to show that anyone can paint and have fun with colors. I teach online and offline, and the community is growing bigger and more beautiful. But I also put a lot of effort into my personal art career, attending art fairs, doing shows, and exploring the traditional artist path. Evolving as an artist is my main goal, but I found something beautiful in my Academia, so I take the time to enjoy it too.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Art for me is a safe space. It has helped me during difficult times, and I think the same can be true for everyone. I love making things easy and simple, and I don’t think you need talent or something special to paint. You just need to have the passion or interest. So that is one of my missions, sharing the idea that art is better done than perfect. Not because we look for mediocre results, but because, thanks to those “accidental and fresh” methods, magic happens, and you learn from that. I put a lot of focus on the community. I think it is an important factor in why I love what I do.

So what drives my creative journey is not only attending art fairs and exhibitions, although it’s great exposure, but teaching art is so rewarding. Preparing courses and retreats for my students is something I love.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my audience on social media by accident. I was trying to force myself to paint every day and explore. I wasn’t happy at university, I didn’t like what I was creating there, and I needed to paint for myself. I started painting small things and posting every day, with no judgment. I quickly found a lot of people that aslo started like this. Small paintings, not perfect, just finished. I realize now that this is a key point for overcoming art block, as I explain in one of my courses. Painting and painting every day, I quickly started growing.

I am lucky to also love data, and I studied my insights with objectivity. If a painting doesn’t perform, it may be because it is not good enough, or just because it is not the right moment for it. Many variables. I studied how social media works and adapted the paintings to be square and small, so they can be photographed in a way people will enjoy on their phones. It contradicts what galleries ask, but at the time,I knew what worked for what I was doing. Painting, posting, repeating. It became something big.

My advice is to take one thing at a time. I wanted to make my courses, but first I learned and mastered YouTube. And before YouTube, I learned Patreon. Short reels made me skilled at recording longer videos for Patreon. Then I started learning how to edit videos, and I got better and better with a camera. And that gave me the skills to record my courses. One step at a time.

And dont be discouraged if a post goes wrong. It may not be you, but the platform. Just analyze the data and keep exploring.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://alaiganuza.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/alaiganuza
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/alaiganuza
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/alaiganuza
• Other: https://tiktok.com/@alaiganuza