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

Jesse, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

There’s no way around it, my Mom was my first customer… (Thanks Mom!)

But for real, to answer your question as you phrase it: I hadn’t painted more than 10 paintings at the time, so I figured it was time to open up an Etsy shop! SO many options already for people to pick from.

Well, took about a month and a half or so, of no sales or interest at all, and those reoccurring thoughts of “oh maybe the paintings aren’t good enough, no one will ever buy these, should I reduce the price down to $1 per painting, is THAT too high a price?…should I give up now?”

Then one day, I got that wonderful phone vibration from my jeans. I looked down at my phone, and read the drop-down “NEW ORDER FROM (name from non friend or family member).. I was elated! Sooo super excited, my faith in myself and my abilities were restored.

It also ended up being a gift from this girl to her boyfriend for his birthday! Afterwards she sent me photos of his reaction, and him holding them and smiling. I loved it, That’s when I realized I loved my job. For the first time in my entire life, I enjoyed what I did for work. I love the painting aspect of it too, of course, but my favorite part of being an artist, for me, is seeing people getting excited to see something I’ve made that they like. Now, to think I’ve made a couple hundred sales at this point, and all those homes that have my art in them, being appreciated and loved. It’s a really great feeling.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started all this like a lot of people I know who are starting their own local/small businesses in the last few years: the pandemic. I lost my job in March 2020, and wasn’t really sure what to do. I didn’t think I even wanted to go back to what I was doing before.

And just by chance, my wife, two months earlier, had bought me an acrylic art set for my birthday: paint, brushes and canvases, everything you would need to get started. All this really based on an offhanded remark about how I think “painting sounded kinda fun”.

So I started painting a little here and there. Then when I lost my job, I had nothing BUT time, to sit at home and hone my craft. And now we’re here in 2023!! I currently have painted 410 paintings in my portfolio since I started in January of 2020.

I would describe myself as an artist that kind of does whatever he wants, whatever I feel like making in the moment, creating it and then throwing it out there into the world for as many people to see and like as possible.

But I also love getting requests and commissions. I’ve been getting a lot of requests lately to paint pictures of people who have passed away recently, or especially with pets that have passed. I love doing those for people, I’d like to think it’s healing for them. I just always want to make sure I’m honoring the person or pet that was lost the best I can.

I think my absolutely favorite things to paint are pop culture related. Movies, video games, music, especially older more nostalgic things. In the same way people look at a painting I made of their dog that passed away recently, nostalgia in general can have similar qualities. There are not just people or pets that have left us, but eras, style, sound. Childhood is a big one for me. I miss those days! And I’m comforted by seeing things and being reminded of those times. An old cartoon can now be a work of art that you hang on your wall, a retro video game character, movie star…something or someone that gives you a warm feeling inside. THAT’S what I absolutely love about what I do.

(Wow…I didn’t expect to get so passionate and deep in that last paragraph, but I like it!)

Other than that, it’s total chaos! Although I’d say mostly controlled chaos. My style changes day by day, my subjects change day by day…it really is more from the heart what I decide to paint on any given day.

100% of what you see that I’ve made is or was hand painted at some point. I’ve been exploring hybrid hand paint/digital art lately and that’s been a lot of fun. But I usually work on a regular ol canvas,

I’ve had other strange requests. Like once I painted these directly on these little limited edition Nintendo Wii Remote holders. They originally only had the Wii logo on them, but I was asked to paint Mario Bros characters on them,. I was nervous at first, because I only had one shot basically to do them! This customer bought 3 of them from eBay the week before or something, and wanted them all painted with a different character, I didn’t want to mess them up! But I pushed through the fear of it, and did it anyway, and they came out REALLY cool looking.

So if any of you have other strange things you want me to paint on, send it my way!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Well, just like with everything, there’s constant change and the need to adapt. A career in art is no different. When I first started painting, painting was the only thing I needed to focus on. I’d sell a few here and there on Etsy, and it was fine, but it was no where near a living wage. I needed to find out how to do that. Plus I needed to unload more art pieces more often, before my guest room was completely filled floor to ceiling with unsold art..

So I decided to be an art vendor in a local show, and I made a nice chunk of change from one day’s work! So I thought “wow, ok, art shows are really where it’s at to earn more money and get more exposure”

So I started splitting my time between the creative side and the business side. If I wanted to grow as a company, and earn a living wage, I would need to learn how to do that! And it’s STILL an ongoing process, but it’s so worth it. That’s the real American dream, making money doing what you love.

Finding balance can still be difficult, but I make it work. I paint less, but it makes those times I AM able to paint again more special. Plus doing the business stuff affords me to keep doing what I do. Painting supplies are not free!

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

This is about to get very personal, and a pretty dark, so fair warning reading ahead…I suffer from debilitating depression and anxiety disorders. I am medicated, but finding that right medication combo has taken around 30+ years.

But I seemed to always want to do art for a living. In high school and right out of high school, that form of art, for me, was music. So I became a night warrior essentially. Playing music at night, working a job that hated during the day. I did that for a year or so, but then I got married and had a daughter, named Iris.

I couldn’t keep the lifestyle I was living, so I stopped music, focused on working and taking care of my family. But the mental health stuff kept creeping back up. And since I was never properly medicated, I self medicated. And that “worked”, but only temporarily.

I decided to go back to college so I could get a job in music, the thing I loved to do. That’s when things took a dark turn for me.

The same month I graduated college, my Dad passed away from lung cancer, after being diagnosed 2 months earlier. Well, he was my best friend in the world, so I just fell. I fell off the side of the cliff, and didn’t think I was going to be able to climb back up.

I went hard on the self medicating and contemplated (no longer being here anymore). I lost everything, I lost my home, my car, my family, everything….then one day, I wake up in a homeless shelter with only the clothes on my back. I had finally hit total rock bottom.

I decided then and there, that if I was able to climb out of this hole I dug myself into, I would get my life back and LIVE IT. So I reached out for help, made a lot of friends along the way, found my own personal spiritual side, and I’ve been clean since July 2018. The same year I met my wife, Amy (you know, the one that bought me my first paint set).

So here I am now, making a name for myself, carving out a business from scratch, happy and healthy. I even have my daughter Iris back in my life, and she’s starting to paint with me! She’s even sold a few of her own paintings at some of my shows (where I pay her the full amount she’s earned). I couldn’t be more proud of her! And she’s, of course, a Lemons too, so she fits right into the LemonsArtCo “family” business. Well, her main focus is high school for now, but contributes paintings when she can, and even helps with some of my art shows (when she’s not in school).

Things really couldn’t be any better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lemonsart.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lemonsartco/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/100069151058039/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lemonsartco6346/about

Image Credits
Maggie Cline Amy Lemons Jesse Lemons