We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ginnie Cappaert. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ginnie below.

Alright, Ginnie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I have been fortunate enough to earn a living from my full-time creative work for the past decade and my path to get to that point happened exactly as it was supposed to. My creative journey started part time when I was raising three young children. My husband at the time agreed to me leaving my full time Court Office position to stay home and raise our children and do my creative business ‘part time’. I am a driven personality and continued to work harder and more passionately in my art while my kids grew up. I found as they got older I had more time to pursue my career in the arts and as I had more time each year my business continued to grow. I don’t feel I would have sped up the process in anyway because being at home with my kids was just as important as my art. I did my best to fit it all in. As my children got into school age I started to do art fairs to sell my work and eventually galleries. Eight years ago I followed a life long dream of mine to own my own gallery in Door County, Wisconsin. I took a leap of faith and have successfully run my own gallery as well as continue to be represented by five galleries across the country including Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida and Santa Fe, New Mexico. My art is my business and my life.

Ginnie, 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?

Being a full time visual artist and owning my own gallery which represents 40 other artists has proven to be a beautiful life and one I do not take for granted. My surroundings of nature and my travels inspire and influence the oil and mixed media paintings that I have become known for. I raised my family in the beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan where the forests and waters surrounded me and I now live in the artistic communities which make up the Door County Peninsula in Wisconsin. I enjoy spending part of my winter in Santa Fe, New Mexico where I have been represented in Santa Fe for almost ten years. I feel compelled to interpret the landscape that surrounds me in an abstracted, intuitive and playful manner.

My study of art history and experimentation of the oil medium has broadened my personal techniques to art making. I use cold wax medium to mix with oil paints creating a more spreadable and textured paint that I can extensively layer, add and remove or unearth to expose ‘history’ within the painting. It is this in-depth process that allows a subtle marking and layers to emerge into the finished painting which is an abstracted minimalist version of a landscape. The process includes a lot of exploration from deep within and is a constant push-pull with color and texture. Some may call me a ‘colorist’ as I naturally explore and emphasize the color relationships pulled from nature and my imagination. I am creating a sense of place from my memory that is open for interpretation by the viewer. I continue to strive to find a balance in my work between abstraction and landscape.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative individual is the people I meet and the friendships I have gained on this path. Life isn’t always about the money you make. My heart is full because of my connections and friends.

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?

Art is hard. Not only the marketing of it all but the actual creating. You put your heart and soul into everything you create. Sometimes I think people think we are just lazy or playing but making art takes every ounce of your emotional, physical and mental energy that you have. Those who are true artists do it because it is all they can do. Nothing else makes them happy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gcappaert.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginniecappaert/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ginnie.cappaert/
• Other: https://www.cappaertcontemporary.com/ Also represented at: https://www.globefineart.com/cappaert https://edgewoodorchard.com/artist-page/?id=357406&fn=ginnie&ln=cappaert https://www.lafontsee.us/ginnie-cappaert

Image Credits
All photo images credit of xome studio Sorry I put all the photos in one section