We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hannah Bladh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hannah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Something I recently did was participate in the Strada Easel Challenge – where you are supposed to paint from life (not from a photo, but with the setup actually in front of you) every day for 30 days. I’ve done this challenge before a couple other times, but this time was different because 3 months ago I became a mom. My beautiful little girl, Olive, was born in June. This daily painting project was really helpful for me to get back in the swing of things with my art and to feel that fire of creation again. It was really good for me to have a daily challenge to help me find place for my art practice alongside all my new responsibilities and joys of being a mother. I see this challenge as a starting point of figuring out my new way of balancing my art career and being a mom, so it was really meaningful to me. A new chapter begininning, if you will. I’m excited to continue to explore the intertwining of those two very important parts of myself in a way that’s sustainable and fulfilling.

Hannah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was one of those kids who always loved drawing or painting and creative things in general, and my interest never fell away and only got stronger as I grew up. When it came time to pick my major in college I knew right away that I wanted to study art! I studied at BYU-Idaho and I loved it. The more I learned about painting, the more interesting it got to me! I’m really into still life lately, but I also love portraits and landscapes. I love to romanticize ordinary, everyday things. My art is all about noticing the beauty all around us in life. I love to make art for the sentimental, nostalgic person. Memorializing moments, things and places is so fun to me! It’s so awesome how art can be so powerful and just transport you right to a moment or memory and get you all in your feelings. I just think it’s so cool to know what is special for some people and the story of why. I think that surrounding yourself with art of the things that are important to you can really have an effect on your life! I did a big painting of the ice cream aisle in H-E-B and I had it hanging in my kitchen and wasn’t ready to put it out there for sale for a long time because it made me so happy!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Honestly, I feel like the vulnerability it takes to put art out into the world over and over makes it 100% necessary to have resilience to just be a creative. So, I don’t feel like I have one particular story from my journey that illustrates my resilience, but I do feel like just the act of putting my heart into a painting and then asking the world if they like it or if they think it’s important enough to pay for it and own it takes resilience. There will always be people who don’t like your art or who think it costs too much or something that can feel kind of painful, but you have to be able to recover quickly from that so that you can continue to find the people that it matters to. You have to keep reminding yourself that what you are doing really does make a difference and it’s important and good. That can feel hard sometimes.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist for me is seeing my paintings make people happy. It’s simple, but it really is such a good feeling.

Contact Info:

• Website: hannahbladhfineart.com
• Instagram: @hannahbladh_art