Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Constance Zemcik. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Constance thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us a story about a time you failed?

In 2019, my husband and I quit our dead end jobs to pursue my art career. we packed up all of our belongings and moved to the West Coast of Florida. we started selling my artwork at work shows and festivals. We would sell little knickknacks that I painted on but none of the large canvases. Since the art shows and festivals were so expensive, we were really counting on selling the canvases to make a living. After a couple of months, we had spent all of our savings and had nothing to show for it. We had come to the realization that I was painting to pay for the shows and not making an income. we decided to move back to the East Coast of Florida and go back to dead end jobs. That was the biggest failure that I have experienced in my art career and I was devastated that it didn’t work out. But I didn’t give up Hope. I knew one day that I would become a full-time artist. On the east coast I started painting holiday windows, then from there started painting, sales windows, and mural windows. My first wall mural was an eye-opener. It was small and I had some complications with the paint but overall the mural came out beautiful. with my husband’s support. Once again, I quit my dead end job to pursue an art career as a muralist. There were a lot of ups and downs, and it’s not always easy finding mural jobs but I am happy that we took the risk because now I can say I’m a full-time artist.

Constance, 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?

Since I was a child I always wanted to be an artist. I never really thought of doing anything else. Painting and drawing came easily for me. In high school friends and family would ask me to draw stuff for them portraits stickers and such. As I got older more and more people started asking me to paint for them. When I was about 20 or so I started painting wine glasses for a local shop. Then one day a local shop asked me to paint there windows for Christmas. Window painting blew up for me there. I started painting sales windows and murals on windows. And then from there moved onto wall murals.
A lot of the work that I provide is Florida themed art. And in the great state of Florida it’s hot, so having your windows painted helps during the summer with cooling costs also helps with people noticing local business when they see beautiful artwork on the windows. The main thing that I want to portray is that I really want to help local businesses I wouldn’t be here without their support.
I’m really proud of the of The painting that i do because it makes people happy. Some of the paintings that I do are personal. helping someone relive a memory or honor a loved one that has passed away. I’m extremely grateful to be apart of that.
There are not a lot of window painters in the town that I live in, but there are a lot of muralists. What sets me apart from them is the ability to adapt to whatever the customer wants painted. if someone wants me to paint something that I don’t know how to paint I will study it until I do. As an artist, it is all about learning new ways, new techniques. Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

My side hustle was window painting. I had been working seven jobs not art related for the last 10 years or so. painting windows on the side. It was a little hard, working seven days a week, but I never wanted to give up the window painting. That’s where I have fun. Eventually I got too busy painting windows so I had to quit my job.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

My reputation started by word of mouth. I live in a small town, so a lot of the people that I grew up with knew that I was an artist. When I started painting murals, and window murals they started to talk. I don’t think that social media helped that much with my reputation. speaking face-to-face with somebody helps to build reputation. Because Humans are social creatures.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandy_mermaid__/?hl=en#
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConnieZWhimsicalArtCreations