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

Janelle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I learned through lots of classes, self-teaching, observation, and relentless experimentation. I studied the work of artists I admired—breaking down their techniques, understanding their choices, and then trying to replicate or reinterpret what they did in my own way. Over time, I developed my own voice. Art school helped with discipline and critique, but the bulk of my growth came from just doing the work—failing often, learning from it, and pushing past comfort zones.

I don’t think there is much that can speed up the learning process with art, the most important thing is putting in the time. The more time I put into my art through my own exploration or through studying from others, the more I grow.

The most essential skills in my opinion are observation, discipline and technical skills such as color theory, composition, anatomy, or perspective. For me learning these skills and then applying them through my own process have help me to cultivate my art.

Self-doubt is the biggest obstacle. When I am in a rhythm, consistently putting in the time I can push past it. I also feel like if I compare myself to much to others it gets in the way. I have to stay focused on my path and do the work.

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?

I am a Philadelphia area based artist who specializes in oil paintings featuring animals. I grew up on the West Coast and moved to the East Coast in 2010. After a successful corporate career, I pursued my love of art by enrolling in several art courses while living in London. After many years of art classes in cities such as Boston, San Francisco, London and New York I earned a degree in Studio Arts at Delaware County Community College. One of the first things I wanted to paint was animals. While in school my graduate painting was of my own dog. Shortly after school, my daughter started riding horses so I started pulling out a camera and snapping shots of them to paint. I painted several horses, posted them online and from there I had a couple people ask if I could paint their dog. From there my career of being an animal portrait artists organically unfolded. Now and what I am most proud of is I am commissioned continuously to paint client’s dogs or other animals, I show in an art gallery at a famous horse show (The Devon Horse Show) every year, and I was a featured artist at a local Philadelphia area restaurant (The White Dog Cafe, Chester Springs) where I was selected to paint over 40 dogs.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist for me and this is mostly because of the subject that I paint, but for me it is the connection with my clients and being able to capture on canvas something that is cherished by them. I often have shed tears with clients over the lost pet that I painted for them or over the surprise given to them by a loved one.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I am still slowly building my social media audience, is a constant process but it definitely has lead to lots of business. I think the moments that have given me the most media presence was posting of people receiving a surprise painting and having their reaction caught on film. Connecting is important not just with clients for social media presence. Letting people in the social media community be a part of the story.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.westcoasteastcoastpainter.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westcoasteastcoastpainter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westcoasteastcoastpainter