We were lucky to catch up with Ariane O’Day recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ariane, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I went to college to get an art degree. I originally wanted to be an art teacher, but I ended up becoming an elementary teacher and left art to be a hobby. I taught for nine years before leaving education to bartend full time.

My life was quickly consumed with long, long hours behind the bar, missing out on countless holidays and get togethers with friends ands family. At 4:16 one morning, I received a call from the hospital that my dad had a heart attack and would not pull through. Two months later, my grandma passed away as well. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, life changes and you do not get any of that time back. I regret working long hours for someone else instead of spending quality time with the people that matter the most.

A year and a half later, I joined several other artists in Mexico to paint a mural together, I was beyond nervous as the last time I drew on a wall, I was a child and got grounded for doing so! Surrounding myself with other artists that do this full time opened my eyes to the fact that I CAN do this as a career, I can create my own schedule and block out times when I would rather spend time with friends and family. Because of this, I wish I would’ve started on this path years ago. I wish I would’ve followed my heart and made art the career, not the hobby. I am currently building art to be my full time job and creating the life of freedom that I desire! Life is meant for living after all!

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?

My mother will tell you that I did not show any kind of interest in learning how to cook when I was growing up because I was always in the other room drawing a picture. Art has always been a passion for me! I frequently make hand painted gifts at Christmas time or for birthdays. It’s always been a part of my life, but I kept it as a hobby.

I learned about a group called The Artist Academy where the leader, Andrea, teaches you how to make art an actual career. She hosts annual Mural Meetups where artists come together and paint a mural as a group. I learned the basics along with tips and tricks to paint on a larger scale compared to a small canvas. After doing this, and then teaming up with other artists to work on jobs elsewhere, I started posting about it on socials. The power of social media is amazing. More and more people started noticing and inquiring about jobs and the ball started slowly rolling.

I have painted in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Florida, Arkansas, and all over Missouri. No two walls are ever the same. There have been smooth, fresh walls to brick on the side of buildings requiring a lift, to wonky walls inside of a cave in a pool. There is always a challenge and there is always something that I learn and take away from each job.

I love creating murals for businesses and air bnb’s that will draw social media engagement for their clients. I currently do painting parties, paint pet portraits, and paint murals. I love working with the client to help make their ideas come to life!!

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

The Artist Academy has been the best group for building my art career. It is full of other artists and you can always bounce questions and ideas off of one another. There are tutorials and tips aplenty as well. The leader/creator of the group, Andrea Ehrhardt Sanders also has a podcast where she interviews other artists as well as a book called Mural Money. It can be easy to get discouraged or lack a plan as to how to even build a business with art, but all of these resources have helped me tremendously.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think that sometimes people do not realize how much time goes into creating a design to bring their ideas to life. Brainstorming, creating drafts, and making edits is all part of our work day, not just when the brush hits the wall. I think non-creatives think we can come up with ideas on the fly and with very little time involved. There is a lot of time invested to even get to that point! Research goes into finding out what will be needed for the job as far as scaffoldings, lifts, paint, projectors, etc.. As an artist, it is important to charge a design fee or include in total price due so we are paid for the countless hours we put in for that. Typically, I require half down along with a signed contract before work actually starts. This protects BOTH parties and ensures that the job will get finished in a timely matter, as the client envisions, with everything laid out in the open. Both parties are on the same page and invested in the job at hand.

Contact Info:

• Website: artbyaoday.mypixieset.com
• Instagram: a.o.day