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

Amanda, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I’ve been working at rooting my brick-and-mortar studio space for the better part of the last decade. When I opened my first studio space, my daughter, Ada, was starting kindergarten and my son, Eli, was still nursing. I think back on that season of life and cannot fathom how I renovated a space, navigated the logistics of starting a business and still managed to show up to workshops and teach. It was a gorgeous, creek-side space with a little hammock swing on the porch where I’d rock fussy kids to nap so I could paint. As much as I loved that space and its light, my time there was short-lived; I found out the building was being sold the same week my divorce was final. I reflect on this very difficult period as one of the greatest of my life. I got a job working for the Commonwealth of Kentucky as a technical writer within the court system and went to work daily in a little, cubicle with a photographer of Joan Didion leaning against her Stingray watching over me until I gathered the strength to try again. My second attempt at studio space was a spirited yet ill-timed endeavor, with an opening date the week the world closed down due to the Covid 19 epidemic. I spent the next few years working wherever I could find space: the dining room table, the garage, the driveway and in a creepy basement until the cave crickets were too much for me to tolerate. I am not a little over six-months into a new studio space and though it has been gorgeously grueling to make it all work, I’m never above a late-night search of Indeed.

Am I happy as a business owner? I think we mistakenly elevate happiness as the pursuit. Rather than saying I’m happy, I’d say I am vividly alive as a business owner. There are overlooked symbols of wealth to be celebrated even when I’m not paying myself as I hoped, like waking up without an alarm clock or lingering in meaningful conversation with other folks who come to create alongside me at the studio. I feel confident that I’m doing work that matters, which was something that weighed heavily on me as I spent many days in a cubicle trying to look busy or useful. I work much, much harder as a business owner than I ever did on someone’s clock but I sleep easier, too.

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

I started my career as a creative director for Kentucky Monthly magazine, where I wrote a monthly column about traveling to remote parts of the state to find unique, human-interest stories. In hindsight, it was a column that was timed right before social media exploded so it was like the last chance for a classic, American roadtrip experience before everything became Instagramable. My travels were turned into the book, “Kentucky A to Z: A Bluegrass Travel Memoir” in 2012. My painting career must be credited to my son, Eli, a fellow Gemini who came into the world frustrated with his limited ability to articulate everything happening within him. We spent the afternoon of his toddler years finding ease and expression through painting. With time, a language started developing for me that untangled all of the unarticulated energies in me and people started asking me to paint for them, as well. I opened my first studio believing that spending time at a paint-splattered table, no matter your age or experience level, was universally healing and good work. I’ve been working at it ever since.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I do a lot of work with domestic violence survivors through my studio using art and journaling as a way to build confidence in our intuition and I come back, over and over again, to how important it is for there to be funding for women-owned businesses. We don’t discuss enough how financial abuse can impact generations of women trying to get their feet on solid ground. My journey of being a business owner has been much more difficult because of an early lack of financial literacy or opportunities.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

My funding came originally from my mom and grandma, two women with a lot of moxie who have scraped together whatever possible to keep the lights on and paint flowing. They both understand we live in a region where arts education is not available every school in our county so it’s a rebellious and worthwhile endeavor to keep going. We started with about $5,000 to stock and open the studio and started day one with $0 left in the bank. Thankfully, our community has rallied around us and we stay busy with art camps, workshops for all ages and art parties which allows me to have a working art studio to continue painting and writing.

I share this because not everyone has access to a great business loan or large investments. When I get overwhelmed or worried, I find myself humming that line from Billy Joel’s “Vienna” that goes, “…you can’t be everything you want to be before your time, although it’s so romantic on the borderline tonight.” I try to romanticize the work as best I can. There’s a magic in the building if you pay attention and don’t let the fear wrestle you down.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.colorspellcreativestudio.com
• Instagram: @amandastiltnerart
• Other: Tiktok: @amandastiltnerart