We recently connected with Darcy Goedecke and have shared our conversation below.

Darcy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

My art career started at the perfect time for me.

I had always wanted to be an artist and went to college in pursuit of my dream. I had had the same retail job for most of college and when I graduated I decided to step into a managerial role. I then rose a couple more levels of management and wound up in a job I LOVED.

I loved this job and company so much that one day I thought “If I’m not going to pursue art (which felt like what I was meant to do), I would be happy working for this company for the rest of my life”. And so I kind of settled in, energetically.

Shortly after this thought, the universe threw me a curve ball and made a big change in my job. I was heartbroken, but decided to speak up about how I felt and what I wanted my job to be. I remember that moment so vividly. I felt like I was running off a cliff with a flying leap and a giant smile. Not knowing if I would fall or fly. It felt invigorating and scary as hell.

Well, what I wanted to do just wouldn’t fit with the company, so I got let go. I was certainly sad but 85% of what I felt was just relief.

When I went home and cried to my partner, he just told me, “Well, maybe this is the perfect time for you to pursue your art and give it a full go”.

And it so was. Luckily, right before I had been let go I had joined an artist co-op, so I had a community to support me, an avenue to sell my art, and most importantly deadlines to make new work.

I found my animal niche pretty quickly after starting my business and things took off from there.

Looking back, that sudden change in my job after I said I could do it forever was the Universe’s way of saying “No girl. You gotta go do your art”. And I’m so grateful for that. Sometimes you get a no or hit a roadblock because it’s just not what you’re meant to be doing. Trust that the Universe has a grander plan for you and is leading you there. But also know you have to hike that path and make big moves for yourself.

Darcy, 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?

I’ve loved making art since I was a child and also loved animals. My summers were spent playing in my parents’ gardens and trees, talking to animals, making dandelion flower crowns, and collecting all sorts of trinkets I found.

I actually went to college in pursuit of photography but started painting and quickly fell in love. I also learned a lot about writing during this time, which has come in handy for my own blog posts about chasing joy and easing anxiety.

I didn’t finish a single painting after I graduated college until 6 years later when I left my corporate job and pursued my art full-time. I started out at a co-op gallery (which I cannot recommend highly enough). It enabled me to show a wide variety of paintings from college and get real-time feedback about what people liked.

It surprised me that everyone gravitated toward my animal artwork (specifically my 5-foot tall paintings of baby chickens). They made people so happy and I realized that unlike my other work that had been made through angst or serenity, these paintings were created out of pure joy. And that joy somehow transmitted through the work to the viewer.

This began my journey of painting animals, which never ceases to fill my heart with glee (other than those moments we all have where you want to burn down your entire studio because of one misbehaving painting).

It’s rather the perfect fit because I’ve always felt a very strong connection with animals, nature, and my spiritual side. I see the magical souls of animals and such beauty, grandiosity, and connection in all elements of nature — from the veins on a leaf to the foggy snow caps of my PNW mountains. Pure perfection.

I think my paintings serve as a connection point to this magical world (which we’re also a part of) and bring that joy into our homes and every day lives.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

To not take myself or my art so seriously.

I went to art school where we made art, learned art theory, critiqued work, wrote about the meaning behind art, and learned how to apply to galleries. Over and over. We lived and breathed Art for four years and I loved every second of it.

But all of these things can make art feel so serious and adds a lot of pressure.

When I actually went out into the real world, I thought I’d be selling my loftier work — the work with deep meaning. I think I still have all those paintings. What actually sold was my “silly” paintings of animals. Which were a lot more fun to make but didn’t feel like they had a specific meaning behind them. I made them out of joy.

I also thought that selling original paintings in galleries would be my bread and butter, but it’s actually been selling smaller things like greeting cards and stickers.

So I had to get over:

1. Thinking my art had to be serious, lofty, or have some deep meaning behind it. It’s okay to make art that’s fun.
2. Feeling like my art was unworthy because it wasn’t “gallery work”.

It’s taken me a long time to unlearn that and I still think of my current work as silly animal paintings. But I’m actually okay with that.

My greatest validation as an artist has been when someone recognizes my work and tells me they have one of my greeting cards someone gave them hanging above their desk and it makes them smile every day.

This really changed my mission from being a high-brow gallery artist to just getting as much of my art out into the world as I can to bring joy to as many people as I can.

Have you ever had to pivot?

For the first several years of my business, the majority of my business was custom pet portraits. My calendar was booked solid with them. And while I love dogs and cats, after years of painting them I really wanted to focus on creating my own work, which focused on other animals.

But every time I told myself I was going to stop doing pet portraits, I’d get multiple more requests for them.

One day I put my foot down and officially stopped taking on any more. The FOMO was strong though, so I created a pet portrait wait-list form on my website just in case people didn’t buy the work I wanted to make.

That was 5 years ago and I haven’t looked back.

I’ve now removed all but a couple pets from my lineup of art prints I offer and am much happier getting to explore all the other species out there! My audience has adjusted easily too so there’s been no worries there!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.darcygoedecke.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/darcygoedecke
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/darcygoedecke

Image Credits
Darcy Goedecke