We recently connected with Chele Ramos and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Chele thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I used to draw a bit when I was a kid, but didn’t start painting until my mid thirties. Painting has opened my mind to a new world that I often wish I had found earlier.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Chele Ramos, and I am a Madison Wisconsin area Portrait Painter and Visual Artist. I didn’t start painting until about six years ago, my mid thirties. As a child, I loved to draw; always people, and always black and white. It was an expression of myself then just as it is now. But during my twenties, I basically stopped making art altogether. I was busy exploring other things in life like other cities, college, a career in massage therapy, and more. I put art on the wayside. After going to college, getting married, and having a couple of kids, I felt it was time to pursue art once again. I had small children at the time, and being a parent was sucking a lot of my energy. I needed something that was “just for me”, and so I went back to the thing that brought me so much joy as a child.
As an adult, I was ready to try something new. I thought painting would be just the thing. I started painting with a good friend of mine once per week at her house. We called it “Paint Night”, and it became a regular social gathering where I honed my skills. After a while, I decided to try selling a piece of my art to a local restaurant. I was successful! This prompted me to create enough pieces to participate in my first group art show. At the same time, I decided to sign up for a drawing class to get my drawing skills back up to a place I was happy with.
I had a great experience with my first art show and from there was motivated to continue painting, learning, creating, and pursuing opportunities. I started painting at a local painting studio where I learned new skills and met other local artists. Opportunities started to open up for me, and I felt ready to paint a full series for my first solo art show. I called the right people and made it happen. This show led to sales, commissions, and more opportunities. Not before long, I decided to get more involved in the Madison art scene. I took a job at DAMA (Developing Artists Murals and Alliances). There, I worked in the schools, with kids, to facilitate school murals, and I also took part in creating several murals in and around Madison.
I felt like Art was really becoming my career at this point. Opportunities were opening up for me left and right. My well being was also benefiting greatly from making art, and finding a community of artists that I felt like I belonged to. Mental Health was always something that I struggled with, and Art was my avenue to well-being. I wanted to help others to achieve this feeling too.
I continued to paint Portraits, but now Mental Health was more of a theme within my work. I created a series of Portraits of local Artists and Artisans, people who I believe make our world a more beautiful, bearable place to be, and began to book shows. This was going well! I had shown my work at several venues when I received an email from The Overture Center in Madison! They wanted me to participate in an Art show there! This was my dream come true!
I come to this point now in my career where I need to make some decisions about what I’d like to pursue the most. Opportunities are coming at me so thickly that I need to pick and choose what I agree to do! I am showing at Art Fairs selling paintings and prints of my work, I am steadily participating in Art Shows, I am teaching Workshops, I am working on Commissions, and more.
I am proud to say that Art is now my career, and that I am doing my part to make this world a better place.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

What can our society do to best support us as Artists? Supporting Artists starts with buying local Art, and hiring local Artists. Instead of searching out a cheap, generic piece of art for your walls, go to your local Art Fair and buy some things from the Artists! Instead of playing records, hire a local Musician for your next party, Go to Art shows, Commission a painting from an Artist you like, etc.
If you are a business owner, buy art for your walls from local Artists. Hire Musicians to have music shows. These things benefit you and the artists.
If you can’t afford to buy something, you can still offer your support for artists you like. Share their work and information on social media!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part of being an Artist is the feeling I get when I’ve created something I love. When I’ve put my all into something and it turns out better than I expected, or at least just as good as I expected, I feel happy and proud. If I can create something I love and others love as well,.. bonus!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/chele.ramos.7
• Facebook: facebook.com/cheleramos.art
• Youtube: portraits by chele ramos