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

Alright, Anne thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I have earned my living as a full-time artist for over 25 years. It’s not the easiest route to take, but like any other small business, if you put in the hours and develop your business relationships, you will be successful. Of course, most importantly is offering a high quality, unique product that you stand behind.

I specialize in large format oil paintings of the Western Landscape. I do a lot of commission work and put a lot of emphasis on cultivating long-term relationships with my clients. I want them to think of me first when they want a painting that will truly define the ambience of their home. Since I focus on the local landscape of the Boulder – Denver area, many collectors choose to work with me because they can bring the natural beauty of the area right into their homes.

I give them detailed estimates and time lines at the start of the project, and keep them informed along the way, so that there are no surprises (except good ones like when they see their painting completed for the first time!)

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I create large scale original oil paintings of the Western landscape designed to hang in contemporary mountain homes. My clients commission me to paint some of their favorite places, and I approach each project as a collaboration. I want the paintings to bring them joy every time they look at them, so I take special care to understand what they are looking for at the start of the project. I ask questions like “why is the place you want me to paint special to you?”, and “what colors appeal to you?” and “where will this painting hang in your home?” Their answers allow me to create something that is visually inspiring to them, something they can see every day and find something new each time they look at it.

While other artists may find collaboration limiting to their creativity, I actually love the challenge of capturing the mood and sensibilities my clients desire. I put a lot of energy and expression into my work, and clients who hire me know that they are going to get a highly expressive, richly textured end result that is unique and fresh. They know that their role is to provide me with the information I need to capture their vision, once they’ve done that, it is my role to bring that vision to life on canvas.

I also choose to work with clients who truly understand the creative process and who trust that I will use my artistic skills to translate the visual message they want to convey. I’m not afraid to walk away from a project if I don’t think it is the right fit for me, or if a client seems like they wish to dictate every stroke I put on the canvas. A commissioned painting is a collaboration, the artist and client have to be able to work together seamlessly allowing one another to fulfill their roles in the process, otherwise neither’s vision can be fully realized.

Drawing and painting have always been my favorite things to do. I was never going to be anything other than an artist! My earliest memories are of drawing and coloring with colored pencils, crayons, watercolor sets, and even oil paints when I got to be a little older. Drawing has always come naturally to me, I just look at the subject and make the shapes on paper, it’s actually a very meditative yet invigorating experience for me to create art.

I studied both graphic design and fine art in college, along with a concentration in art history. I love looking at art, all sorts, and by studying art history, it opened up all the possibilities of ways to be expressive. As a child and even as a teenager, I would look at something and try to make it look just like it looked in real life. Over time, that migrated to using the subject as a departure point and then simply trying to capture the essence of it with as few strokes as possible. My work these days is very gesturally precise–it isn’t realistic in the sense of photorealism, but it is based on accurate drawing in terms of perspective, proportion, and values, and it always has balanced color harmony and composition. I like to think of it as a 50-50 mix of abstraction and realism. I am happy with how my work has evolved, and I discover new things all the time, I think it is important to keep growing creatively in order to keep the work looking fresh.

I have been financially supporting myself fully as a professional artist for over 25 years. Creating the work is the easy part, marketing, staying within budget, and keeping a stream of work flowing is where the challenge lies. I’ve lived most of my life on the East Coast, most recently in Philadelphia where I primarily painted and exhibited urban landscapes. I also spent a lot of time painting and exhibiting in New York City where I was fortunate to have been selected as a Painter-in-Residence at Bryant Park, and as a participant in the Metropolitan Museum’s Copyist Program.

Now that I am living in Colorado, I have found inspiration in the western landscape and a strong market for my large scale landscapes. I also enjoy teaching and have had wonderful opportunities teaching at venues such as the Princeton University Art Museum, Edward Hopper House, and in France and Italy where I have conducted plein air painting workshops.

So all in all, I have had a very colorful career and I look forward to continuing this chapter of it painting the Rocky Mountains and beyond, perhaps expanding all way to the west coast in the near future.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The start of the pandemic was a time when everyone had to make some sort of pivot, for me, it was learning how to offer my drawing and painting classes online. I started teaching on Zoom in March of 2020, and as a result, my student audience has grown tremendously. Now students don’t need to be local in order to take my classes, and I am able to live wherever I want to and reach a global audience of art students.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is a necessary part of any business’s marketing strategy these days. It can get overwhelming to manage it all while trying to run the day to day aspects of your business. I have found that if I put myself on a schedule and use the tools available to share posts across platforms, it makes it a lot more manageable.

In terms of content, I try to vary things with a mix of paintings, tips for artists and collectors, videos of work in progress, and other things I think my audience will find interesting.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kullaf.com
• Instagram: @kullaf
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anne.Kullaf.Paintings