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

Jesstyne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I have always been creative- making any kind of art I could get my hands on. I wanted to go to art school and it never panned out. That ended up being a good thing. After college I took a renaissance painting class and HATED it. It sucked all the creative life right out of me. I stuck out the 6 week course since I paid for it, but as soon as it was over I high-tailed it out of there and never looked back! I continued to dabble in lots of different styles over the years- watercolor, acrylics, hand carving stamps, making jewelry, sewing, book binding, resin, flipping furniture, etc. About a year ago that all started to change…

I thought I didn’t need to learn from anyone how to run the business side of things- I trusted God and thought it would all just work out. I didn’t realize back then what I was calling “trust” was actually just pride. Then the Lord humbled me and I decided to take the time to learn and do things differently. I found myself out of a job suddenly, and kept hearing the Lord say “be still.”

In the next few months as I continued to sit with Him and lean on Him for my next steps, He showed me something that changed the way I approached art entirely. I had become so wrapped up in creating with agenda and I didn’t even realize it. Everything I had been making was only so that someone would hopefully buy it- it had to be catered to what the masses might want. Every project I had been learning how to do was only so I could teach someone else how to do it. I always say, “We were created in the image of the Creator to create!” It’s a strong belief of mine that creativity in some way lives inside each person. But God started showing me I had a piece of the puzzle missing. I was creating, but I wasn’t creating LIKE HIM. The Bible tells us God created everything because He wanted to. I was creating for every reason but that. So I thought about it… what would I do if I started creating simply because I wanted to? And I came back to watercolor. I started watching YouTube tutorials, learning new techniques and skills and finding my own style.

I found a program called Created to Thrive taught by Matt Tommey. His teachings have been incredibly helpful for me. He’s answered questions I never would have known to ask and has given me insight into so many aspects of running a small business. One of the biggest things that has changed me as an artist was something Matt taught in his 5 day boot camp, which I took before deciding to sign up for his full program. Day two of the boot camp was about focusing your art. I thought, “What does this guy know? I don’t need to focus, I love lots of different mediums and I’m pretty good with them! The Lord is doing something different with me, I am going to use all these different styles…” Pride again…. Ouch! This time the humbling came much quicker, thankfully! Matt proceeded to describe the previous 10 years of my trying and failing to get my business off the ground. He didn’t even know I was in the class, let alone anything about me or my journey!

So I took his advice. I had already been learning and growing my skills/finding my voice in watercolor, and the more I thought about it the more I realized this was what I wanted to focus on. There are plenty of directions I could go with watercolor creatively, stylistically, and technically that I felt there would be enough room for difference. Everything else felt too limited if that were the only medium I could use.

Knowing what I know now, I’d go back and tell myself ten years ago I needed to invest in a program to teach me to run a business. Or maybe I’d tell myself to switch majors in college. I’d be further along than I am, but I also don’t regret anything. Maybe I wasn’t ready then. Maybe I needed time to figure out my style the way I did. Whatever the reason, I’m happy to be further along than I was and excited to see what the future holds!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up in California doing all sorts of arts and crafts. I love creating anything and everything. As I’ve learned my own style and voice in art, I’ve been surprised to find so much whimsy, wonder, and illustration. Growing up I thought the best artists were the ones who could draw or paint the most realistic depictions of the world around them. I thought I was no good at art because my drawings were never realistic. I didn’t even think they were good until after college when I started to see illustrative art coming out of my hands. I’ve fallen in love with watercolor, both traditionally and digitally. I have designed several coloring books and children’s books. I love painting whimsical places and using lots of color, & choosing just the right frame for each piece. I like painting on different sized papers, sometimes filling the whole page, sometimes keeping the focus on a singular simple subject. I also love humor and wordplay. My art reflects the parts of God’s character that aren’t always focused on- joy, humor, child-likeness. My desire is for my art to connect with kids, but also to reconnect adults to their inner-child. The parts that still allow themselves to be fully abandoned to joy and laughter, carefree knowing they are deeply cared for by the Lord.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

One of the most rewarding parts of being an artist for me has been seeing my own style emerge and grow. To actually like something that I painted on a blank page just out of my own head has been exciting and challenging and freeing. It feels like all the time and effort that’s gone into learning and practicing was worth it. Sure, it’s nice when someone says they love my work; even better when they buy or commission a piece, but there’s nothing like stepping back and actually enjoying what you created. This is rivaled only by teaching. I love getting a group of people together and showing them that they CAN make art. I’ve taught every age from 5years old & up, and each group has been rewarding in their own way. The younger kids often haven’t been taught yet that their art is not the next great masterpiece, so getting to see the joy that comes with the creative process and the pride they take in their work is incredibly nourishing to my soul. I love getting to encourage kids to get creative. I also love teaching groups of wide eyed adults- you know, the ones who have already been taught their art sucks and they “don’t have any artistic skill.” Pardon my French, but I’ve never heard a bigger pile of bologna in my life. The fact that someone can’t paint like Van Gogh or Monet or Rembrandt means nothing except that they’re unique. It’s one of my favorite things in the world to walk adults through process art, then to pray and ask the Lord to speak over each piece. He tells me often, “You’re never just doodling.” I love getting people out of their comfort zones and showing them they’re never just doodling. I also love teaching art skills and watching people run with them- finding their own unique voice and style.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I’m actually in the middle of pivoting. I was working the creatives market scene for a while and it has not been as profitable as I’d like it to be. I’m taking a break from in person sales and working on growing on social media/online sales. My thoughts so far are that I’ve been pursuing the wrong markets. Since I was doing lots of different things before- earrings, handbags, painted cups, etc- I was used to working the craft markets. Once I began focusing on watercolor, I wasn’t sure if it would do well at the same types of markets. Some were ok, but lately a lot of them haven’t turned any kind of profit. In fact, I took a risk recently on a larger market with a higher booth fee. I did very poorly as it ended up not being my ideal client base. What I’ve learned from the recent markets is that they are not the right type for watercolor paintings.
Once I get my online presence more established, I plan on pursuing more art focused markets instead of arts & crafts focused.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.warpaintlight.com
• Instagram: WarPaint.light
• Facebook: WarPaint Watercolors
• Other: TikTok @warpaintjess

Image Credits
Francisco Franco (just the frames, not the one with me in it)