We recently connected with Ariane Callender and have shared our conversation below.

Ariane, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

So many things, but I’ll try to narrow it down to a few. My parents exemplify two traits I think are very important in building a life or career: creating and executing a vision. My dad is a proponent of visualizing the things you want – if you want to score the goal, visualize the ball going into the net kind of thing, to put it simply. In doing this, you see yourself achieving the thing which gets you in the mindset of believing you can achieve the thing. So vision and belief, the first half of the equation. Execution brings the vision to life, and execution is my mom’s middle name. She is the to-do list master, get-it-done queen! When she wants something for herself or her family, there’s nothing stopping her. From her, I learned to make a plan and persevere. But you can see that one without the other – e.g., vision without execution or execution without vision – and a dream falls flat. Seeing this “equation” in practice through my parents from a young age has given me the confidence to go after the things I want in life. I wholeheartedly know I can make any dream come true.

Ariane, 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?

Absolutely! I’m an abstract artist based in Seattle, and I’m not shy about using bright colors in my work. I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana and have been exposed to art, in many forms, from a young age. I think New Orleans profoundly influenced my creative spirit with its vibrant history, culture, and traditions. Growing up, I was always creating something – writing a fictional short story, painting or drawing, or concocting a slime-like substance in the half bath. I mean, it seemed like my imagination ran wild! I think I particularly latched onto art because of the colors, and the endless combinations of colors that could exist. Even at a young age, I started to associate colors with emotions and became fascinated with how art could make you feel.

For many years, art served me in this way; I loved how creating art made me feel. As I pursued a more technical, left-brained corporate career, I found myself coming back to art when I needed it most. Whether it was getting through a rigorous engineering curriculum or navigating the corporate world, art was the thing that lifted my spirits and flooded me with happiness.

The next time I found myself “needing” art again was during the height of the pandemic and BLM movement. I know I’m not alone in saying it was a scary time where emotions of fear, sadness, stress, etc. just felt so much more intense and amplified. Art was an escape. So I painted. And painted and painted. I painted my way back to hope in humankind and a happy outlook on the world. It was a transformative experience, and I felt like bits of hope and happiness were in each of my paintings. They were jovial and bright, and, all of a sudden, I felt strongly about sharing my work with the world.

I started with an Instagram page, participated in outdoor neighborhood art walks, and, eventually, put on art shows myself. Most people purchase my work because of the bright colors, and they can see it complimenting their home decor, but every once in a while, there’s a buyer who has a visceral reaction to a piece and that’s the real magic moment. These interactions are the best because it’s always my hope that people have an emotional reaction to and connection with my work since they’re created with so much emotion. I want joy and positivity to literally jump out of the canvas at people and that be all they feel when they see my abstracts.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

This is going to sound silly, but the most rewarding aspect for me where I am in my art journey now is gift wrapping a piece with a handwritten thank you note. I know, it’s a cheesy answer, but I love it! It’s so rewarding because, right now, there’s no middlemen, and I get to have that direct interaction with my buyers. I think the unboxing of a piece of art is an opportunity to do something delightful for my buyers as it’s a special part of their purchasing journey, and I’m happy that I get to be so hands-on with that experience for them.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Good question! One lesson I’m currently unlearning is striving for perfection. What is perfection anyways?! Who/what/how is it even defined?! It just seems illogical to me lately, and it often stifles progress or just getting started. When I first started sharing my work publicly, I cared a lot about things being perfect – is this piece perfect and ready to share? Is my website perfect and ready for people to view it? It slowed me down when, inhttps://canvasrebel.com/meet-ariane-callender/ reality, the only people who knew about my work at that time were my immensely supportive friends and family who thought everything I created was beautiful. What I strive for now is growth and progress.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://arianearts.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artby_ariane/
• Other: Join the mailing list: https://arianearts.com/pages/join-the-list?contact%5Btags%5D=newsletter&form_type=customer#contact_form

Image Credits
Images courtesy of Sanjana Udupa Photography, Adrian Melo Photography, and/or provided by Ariane Callender