We were lucky to catch up with Aniya Hall recently and have shared our conversation below.

Aniya, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Since I was young, I’ve always had an eye for art & a lot of creative ideas in mind, but over the past few years, specifically, towards the end of 2019 going into 2020, is when I really grew more conscience of my ability to create art and had fallen in love with bringing those same ideas to life. Creating pieces that speak to me!

starting from my grade 12 visual art class, surprising myself, with the freestyled work I’d come up with for class assignments. Then going into the pandemic, which was a sticky time for the majority of us. With all the kids being at home from school, and everyone in the household feeling stressed due to the hard adjusting to newer, tougher times, almost growing tired of each other, my family decided to have a week full of family-oriented activities. Either in the afternoons or the evenings.

One of those nights was a family paint night. That night was the night, my parents & I knew art was a path was going down. Whether it was the only path or just one of many… & as I went on, I realized how effortless it became to tap into that tunnel vision-like focus once an idea for a new piece popped into my head. I also realized that not only was I creating just for my own satisfaction, but for others also. So I decided to start selling my art!

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

Slimzz Palette is a business run by 1, but supported by many! & was established in March 2020. Although I already touched on my introduction to art, I can still say so much.

Growing up, When it came down to Mother’s/Father’s Day, Christmas, & my parents’ birthdays. I was never the type of kid to ask a parent to go out shopping for the other, in terms of gifts. Instead, I would grab any crafty things around my house I could possibly get my hands on, & create something entirely new. Anything from D.I.Y. cards, and picture storybooks to handmade jewellery & jewellery boxes/holders.

Suppose I had to describe my art style in one word. I would say ‘mixed’. I don’t have just one specific art style that I stick to. I tend to teeter-totter from abstract pieces to cartoon remakes of people, stencil art, and quote/word art, just to name a few. How I think people perceive my art, depending on the piece, some might say ‘expressive, unfiltered but charming’. & that’s what I feel sets me apart from other artists.

What has made me the most proud during the years of running my small business, is bringing smiles to people’s faces & their ideas to life. For example, When I was asked to create a memorial piece for a woman from a nearby neighbourhood, who had recently lost her son. From the moment I received the order, to the moment I got to reveal what I came up with for her, honoured, & pride were all I could say I felt.

That was when I knew, that was a feeling I could never grow tired of. I could do this for years! Slimzz Palette is here to stay.

As of right now, Slimzz Palette’s only service is producing pre-designed, by me or custom-designed paintings by the customer on canvases. However, I’m planning on expanding my content & turning some other things into my canvas, like, painting designs on shoes, clothing, accessories like handbags & purses, face painting for kids, & even wall murals.

My goal is for myself & others to see my artwork in galleries around the city & country and for my hard work & efforts to be acknowledged & paying off.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When it comes to building a business and starting off with the first few bricks can be, & usually is one of the hardest, disappointing times in a person’s life as a small business owner.

Investing money into something that isn’t 100% certain to come back to you, Understanding who your target audience should be based on your goods or services, then having to build up your audience starting from just friends & family. That is to only name a few expected struggles.

Within the first month of me establishing my business, & displaying it to the public, my first few orders were for close friends and family. However, because there were still so many details about my business I haven’t yet figured out, I didn’t know whether I was only creating and putting up for sale or if I wanted to have an open commission to take custom orders. I didn’t know what my set prices were going to be, how many custom orders I could handle taking on per month, or how I was going to keep track of all my orders. Slowly, but surely I began to organize these thoughts and business ideas. during the first year, It came to a point where I had my whole apartment filled with different-sized canvases. Some finished, some unfinished. There was no flow, finished paintings weren’t selling & unfinished paintings were taking forever to complete & those waiting eventually stopped waiting. feeling like all my money spent on inventory had been slowly going down the drain. It became very frustrating, given I was the only person running this business. I had almost felt like giving up and keeping painting as just a hobby.

Although I still had my business pages up, for the next year I stopped spending money on inventory, No orders came in, and I had stopped working to finish any unfinished pieces that were laying around. I started growing tired of seeing them everywhere. Throughout that same year, I had to take myself back to the drawing board if I wanted to see any growth, progress or success in my business.

I decided that I would rotate my art routine by the month. For a certain period, I would have my commissions open, and for another, I would have them closed & strictly sell finished pieces only. I established the maximum amount of orders I would take on at once, & I also. I stepped up my level of seriousness & professionalism. I gained my flow.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

In my high school English class, we were given a book to read & review. It was ‘The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F***’ By Mark Manson. A part of the task was to create a list of concepts he made reference to in his book that I agreed with, as well as those I didn’t entirely agree with. & Although there were certain points I didn’t quite agree with, for example, his negative view on affirmations & manifesting in life. There was one idea that I found stuck with me after high school, & impacted my business management, entrepreneurial thinking & philosophy, was his concept of ‘the feedback loop from h***’

” …You’re so worried about doing the right thing all the time that you become worried about how much you’re worrying. Or you feel guilty for every mistake you make, that you begin to feel guilty about how guilty you’re feeling.” “The feedback loop from h*** has become a borderline epidemic making many of us overly stressed, overly neurotic, and overly self-loathing.”
The same went for sadness, anger & frustration.

When it came to starting my business & exploring my artistic abilities, as I went along, I realized how easy it was for me to be sucked into the feedback loop from h***. I was my biggest critic as my dad would say every time he’d witness me going through it. It would begin with me starting a project I haven’t attempted before, preparing for a new process of trial & error. Especially when it was a piece expected by a customer, I start off feeling guilty for not already being experienced in what my first customer in months might be interested in, in the first place. Then, when I would come across the expected roadblocks in that trial & error process. I would feel guilty about the amount of inventory & supplies I would be using up & the extra time I would be taking to complete it versus if I hadn’t made any mistakes at all. Thus, I would again, feel guilty and get frustrated. However, I would then remember that as an artist, I’m supposed to embrace every mistake created & slowly fall in love with my artistic flaws. but I didn’t find myself doing that. So that would make me feel even more guilty about feeling guilt in the first place, & would get frustrated with myself for feeling so in the first place. Instead of working with or through it.

Mark’s response to his own concept was “This is part of the beauty of being human. Very few animals on earth have the ability to think cogent thoughts, to begin with, but we humans have the luxury of being able to have thoughts about our thoughts… Ah, The miracle of consciousness!”

Just the simple fact that I am even able to create such ideas in my mind that are not only visually pleasing but also consist of deep, resonating meaning and substance, & to bring them to life. Reading his book has made me more conscious about the emotions I feel as I paint, & the energy I know I want to push out as I do what I love. I took into account that the energy that I feel as I paint, is the same energy I would be exserting into the very thing I’m working on.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gallea.ca/en/artists/slimzz-palette
• Instagram: @slimzz.palette_
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@slimzzPalette
• Other: TIKTOK Tag: @slimzz.palette Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@slimzz.services

Image Credits
Photographer: @shygirlmedia_t.o