Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anna Bruursema. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Anna thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
In December of 2022, with no solid plan, I quite my stable corporate job to be an artist.
My entire life, I have known I was an artist. This took on different forms over the years; a creative, a designer, a photographer… but my truest love has always been in the fine arts. However, being a professional artist never even came into my realm of possibility as a career direction… I remember a specific moment when my dad, a serial entrepreneur, told me that painting could always be a hobby but I should have a career in something with more stability. I struggled to decide on a creative career direction, eventually landing in graphic design. But that was short-lived and I spent the majority of my corporate career in marketing roles. I also spent a lot of my “free time” freelancing and doing additional creative jobs on the side which included photography, and even some fine art. When my husband and I bought our first house, we renovated the entire thing top to bottom. There was a distinct moment of truth and clarity that happened to me when I picked up a paintbrush to paint our walls, as I dipped the brush into the paint and slathered it on the wall a feeling overtook me which I would later compare to the feeling I had when I held my newborn baby for the first time.
There have been several times in my professional life where I’ve been asked “If you could do anything/be anything what would it be?” Easy. “I’d be an artist. Specifically a painter.” was my answer. It was an amusing thought so far from the reality I was living in. A reality that looked like an extremely demanding career, two small children and a husband who had to travel for work 80% of the time. Which meant I was juggling it all during that time. And hanging on by a thread. And then my dad was diagnosed with stage IV Cancer and given an 18-24 month prognosis. And then, 6 months later almost as if it was a cruel joke from the universe, my mom got diagnosed with stage IV Cancer too. But life didn’t stop – we kept powering through daily responsibilities and obligations with an even heavier burden looming over us.
But there is a shift that occurs – or at least it did for me – when someone close to you gets that type of diagnosis. I was confronted with my own choices, the path I was on, my own dreams, desires, regrets and fears, actions and inactions. The reality of them became more a part of my daily conscious awareness. And I soon became blatantly aware of how out of alignment life and my career had become to my souls purpose.
During that season, I spent a lot of time prioritizing painting. I’d notice myself urning to paint when I was sitting at my desk working. Wishing I could spend my days at the canvas. It had always been where I felt the most at peace, which was a feeling that had become so foreign to me.
When my mom was heading into the final stages of her Cancer journey and my mental and emotional stressload was too much, I knew it was time to take a risk. I woke up one day and just knew that I had to quit my corporate job. And I did – almost impulsively before I talked myself out of the decision. With literally no plan except to be present with my mom and able to care for her during her final moments and to spend time trying to figure out how to make a living as an artist, doing what brought me into inner alignment — painting. I knew that we could probably get by living on savings for about 1 year while I figured the rest out. 6 months later, truly no closer to a plan I stumbled into the world of live wedding painting. It captivated me and got me excited in a way nothing else really had so I took chance and tried it out. And I LOVED IT. I immediately decided to dive right in as a live painter. At the beginning I thought it would be a little side-gig while I figured out what else I was going to do but I spent the following year and a half focused solely on building a sustainable business around it.
Anna, 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?
I am Anna, a live wedding painter in Kansas City. I have spent most of my life as a “creative”. Even through my career in marketing, I was doing freelance photography, graphic design, and commissioned paintings on the side. Painting was always my first love. In recent years, I started to sell some of my original mixed media artwork and get more frequent commission requests to do custom art pieces for others. And then, soon after quitting my corporate job and in the midst of plotting out my artistic future — which included a deep desire to create a collection of original artwork for shows and galleries and online sales — I stumbled into live wedding painting. I offered to do my first one for free to test it out and I was quickly hooked — and also derailed from any previous artistic direction I was heading in. I have been live painting for the past 1.5 years. I still take on commissioned projects as well, and still have plans of one day soon, creating a collection of original artwork but live wedding painting has been my main focus.
Live painting in general has a rich history as an art form. But for those unfamiliar, live wedding painting has recently become a trendy element to have at weddings where special moments and scenes from the wedding are painted right there on the spot as they happen on wedding day. It provides both live entertainment for the guests, getting to watch the painting come together over the course of the event, and it is a memorable and lasting keepsake for the wedding couple to cherish forever.
Art is by nature subjective. Clients are usually drawn to hire me for their weddings because they are particularly drawn to my painting style. In a very niche industry/market where much of the work can be seen as cookie-cutter, rinse and repeat, I strive to offer an authentic style that is a bit outside of the norm. It’s a cross between impressionism and realism but I aim for the finished piece to look like a work of art, not a reproduction of a photograph.
With weddings, along with any custom commissioned artwork that I do, I pride myself on fully understanding client’s (sometimes complex) vision and being able to bring it to life, with finesse, under pressure and within a tight timeframe and a lot of moving parts and pieces, and still managing to go above and beyond their expectations in the execution.
It is the greatest honor to be invited in to be a part of these important occasions and entrusted to artistically capture these precious moments in time.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Hands-down, it is seeing the impact and joy that my work has on others. Being able to create something physical and tangible that lights them up and brings them a sense of happiness — an energy that they get to live with and tap into forever. The biggest compliment that I receive is when someone comments on the energy of a painting or says to me “I can feel the energy in your work”. It proves to me time and time again that original art is more than visual or physical. The act of creation infuses it with something greater and it is the greatest honor for someone to connect with it at a level that they want to invite it into their home.
About 20 years ago, after years of studying art history and developing a fond respect for the masters, I can honestly say that Picasso’s style was not my vibe. I wouldn’t exactly love that style of art hanging on my walls. However, When at the Musee National Picasso in Paris, standing in a room surrounded by his work and staring at one piece in particular I had what felt like a spiritual experience. The energy radiating in the space and from his artwork was palpable. And I remember thinking “I would absolutely live with this.” My understanding of the power of art shifted in that moment from purely visual or intellectually conceptual to something energetic and even spiritual.
It has been the greatest honor to be able to create even a sliver of a similar experience for others to connect to through the art I create. It is validation to me that I am on the right path, this work is important and it has purpose in the world and in the lives of others.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had this notion — fantasy maybe — that leaving the corporate world and becoming an artist meant that I’d be spending all day everyday in a peaceful creative flow, making art. That all of the stress and demands of the “business world” would fall away. That life would be full of flexibility and freedom. But starting a business is not for the faint of heart. I underestimated just how much time would be spent on the “business” side vs. the creative side. That I would be needing to do a lot of the same things I had in my marketing job, just without the team of specialized experts supporting me. I also had to discover how I’m most productive without external demands, expectations and deadlines. I am someone who needs a certain amount of structure in my day however, it didn’t work for me to have my day blocked off into consistent increments between business and artistic goals. Instead I needed large chunks of time to focus on each in order to get fully immersed and in a productive flow. This usually looks like spending 2 or 3 weeks creating art and spend the next 2-3 weeks working on business tasks. It’s how I best operate and thankfully I’ve had the ability to figure that out, honor it and make the shift, even though it was hard at first and seemingly went against a lot of best practices for discipline and success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.AnnaTheArtist.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anna.bruursema
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abruurse
