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

Karri , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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’m grateful to say that for the past 15 years, I’ve earned a full-time living from my creative work. My love of art and my journey to become a professional artist started at a young age. Art class was always my favorite time when I was growing up. I loved learning about the different mediums and possibilities art offered. By seventh grade, I realized I wanted to be a professional artist. It was that Christmas that I asked for my first painter’s easel. Over the next few years, art became my life. I began entering my art into local competitions and it was noticed by members of my community. I was called down to the principal’s office when I was sixteen because a woman wanted to purchase one of my paintings hanging in the high school. Shortly after that, I began getting jobs painting murals for people around town. It was at that point I realized my dream of becoming a professional artist was possible. So, with the encouragement of my family, I decided to attend UW-Milwaukee to get my Bachelor of Fine Art degree. I graduated in 2007 with my BFA in painting and fibers sculpture. My education in fine art was an incredible experience, I learned so much about technical skills, archival techniques, and honing my abilities.
Unfortunately, my degree didn’t teach me about how to sell my art or run an art business, so that was a big learning curve. It took me a few years to understand all the paperwork and legal obligations of running my own business. It also took me years to develop my personal style of painting and to produce enough art to have a consistent body of work to present/sell. During those years, I worked night shift as a caregiver to the mentally disabled to support myself. I worked 84-hour weeks as a caregiver and 30 hours a week painting. It was exhausting and took a lot of sacrifice, perseverance and dedication to keep creating my art. It would have been so much easier to give up, but I had a vision and a goal for myself and my art. I wasn’t going to give up just because life got hard.
Once my body of work was large enough, I started jurying into fine art shows/fairs across the Midwest. Art fairs make art more accessible to the general public, which I love, because I believe that good art should be accessible and affordable for everyone. It’s also one of the best ways for an artist to get their art in front of thousands of people every year. In my experience, art fairs provide the best income for artists. People get to interact and connect with the artist, they get to ask questions and enjoy the art in person versus a computer screen. Buyers also get to take the art home with them that same day, which is appealing to many buyers. My first year I started with only 4 fine art shows. Slowly over time, I’ve grown my body of work and am currently showing at 13 fine art fairs this year. I also show my art in three national fine art galleries, the Museum of Wisconsin Art, and several Hallmark and Wild Birds Unlimited stores. I’ve also worked hard at growing my online business and currently sell my art on etsy.com. I’m honored that along with earning a full-time living as an artist, I have won 33 awards for my art in the past 7 years, including Best In Show at the Saint Charles Art Fair, Best In Painting at the Oconomowoc Art Fair, and the Award Of Excellence at the Edina Art Fair. I feel so grateful to my clients, family, and friends who have helped me on my path to becoming a full-time artist. Especially my husband Philip Troyer of @thunderskyjewelry. Phil is a talented custom jewelry maker and travels the Midwest doing fine art fairs with me. He’s always there to give me a supportive hug, help me lift the heavy stuff, set up my booth display, and he does all the driving! You can see and visit his booth next to mine at most of the fine art fairs we attend.

Karri , 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’m a professional nature painter whose unique style of art merges two painting genres: abstract expressionism and realism. I refer to my style of painting as “Modern Nature.” My work features stark black and white backgrounds combined with meticulously hand-drawn and painted nature iconography. My current series of paintings showcase the birds and woodlands of the Midwest. All the scenes in my paintings are my own composition, inspired by time spent in nature. Along with conveying a sense of natural wonder, I also want my work to have a modern edge. My goal is to create a modern aesthetic that appeals to many people. Not just traditional naturalists. Often, clients ask if my work is digital or photography. While flattering, the answer is no. Each painting is meticulously drawn and painted freehand. The average time it takes me to create a painting is 300-3200 hours. The only tools I use to create my highly detailed paintings are: acrylic paint, graphite pencil, and paint brushes only 0.5 to 3 millimeters in diameter.

I got into the industry of being a nature painter organically. It was born out of my deep love of nature and my desire to create a style of painting that was truly my own. I grew up on a farm in southern Wisconsin, and living on a farm you can’t help but be connected to the land. The moment you set foot out of your doorstep, you are immersed with the plants and animals that live there. From an early age, I was taught to respect nature and all it provides. While I was in fine art college, the focus was on the human figure and oil paint. It was a traditional based fine art education. I’m very grateful for the lessons I learned while getting my degrees, However, the human figure and working with oil paint didn’t inspire me. So, at night, I would go home to my dorm room and experiment with layering pencil and paint on canvas. Drawing with pencil to me is one of the most poetic and expressive artforms. It allows the artist to create the tiniest whisper of a line, to the most dramatic mark. The range of emotion an artist can get using pencil is incredible. At the same time, I love the vibrancy of paint and the limitless possibilities an artist is able to achieve with paint. So, I decided to brush off the conforms on traditional painting and create my very own style. My paintings are done in three layers: acrylic paint, hand drawn pencil, and acrylic paint. It took me 3 years to fully develop my style of painting, and I have been painting in this style and selling it professionally for the past 15 years. I’m honored that my modern nature series has been well received by private, public, and corporate collectors.

My favorite subject matter to paint is birds and trees. In fact, I consider myself a “bird-nerd” and often can be found traipsing through marshes, woodlands, and prairies, looking for birds to study and paint. Birds are a huge part of my life. Each bird has a unique personality that I try to capture in my paintings. The patterns on their feathers are so intricate I can’t help but enjoy the beautiful challenge each bird represents. One of my greatest joys as an artist is studying and researching the birds I paint. Extensive research goes into each painting, typically I spend 10-40 hours of research on a bird species before starting a painting. It’s important to me that my subjects are as anatomically correct as possible. I even paint with a ruler to make sure they are correctly represented. Awareness of nature and the beautiful creatures around us starts with education and experience, so I try to get out in nature and experience it as much as possible and read as much as possible. I also love interacting with my clients and hearing their bird stories and adventures in nature.

I sell my artwork in person at fine art shows, galleries, the Museum of Wisconsin Art, and online. The products and services I provide are original paintings, fine art archival canvas and paper prints, greeting cards, mugs, and waterproof stickers. My goal as a nature painter is to provide the service of bringing beauty, joy, memory, and awareness to my customers. To me it is the greatest honor when someone wants to wake up and see my art on their wall every day. My art becomes a part of my customer’s living environment. It creates an experience. Many times, I will have clients tell me that my art reminds them of past loved ones, or experiences they’ve had in nature with the people they love. To me, no greater compliment can be given. That’s why I do what I do. That’s what I’m most proud of.

I believe my art sets me apart because it’s truly my own. I’ve never seen anyone do what I do and I hope I never will. It came out of my imagination, love of nature, and my desire to make nature art for everyone. I’m honored to say my youngest client is 5 years old and my oldest client is 102 years old. Nature speaks to a lot of people. One of the things that sets me apart as an artist is allowing my viewer/client to experience my art in their own way. I don’t tell them my thoughts and stories about my paintings, because they always have their own. They relive those stories when they look at my art. I only share if asked, but mainly I tell people about my process, how I create my art. The rest is their story.

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

I’ve learned that to create or build anything successful in life, you have to be 100% committed to it. You also have to not care what other people think, and be true to your personal vision. Only you know what your ideas and plans are fully. No one else can know the full extent of your goals as a creative person and as a business owner. Sure, you can have a business plan, but unless the person looking at it is well educated in your industry, it’s not going to get you far. When I was getting started, it was very difficult to have enough inventory to sell my art. As I stated previously, I had to work night shifts as a caregiver while simultaneously working to create enough paintings to start my business. I worked 80–100 hour weeks. I made a lot of personal sacrifices. I also had to save my money so I could invest in my company by getting prints made of my art. In general, the average buyer cannot afford a 10 thousand dollar painting, but they usually can afford a $35 print. I can relate to that and feel very strongly that good quality art should be available to everyone. It’s also a sound business strategy, to have products available in a variety of price ranges. At the time, all I needed to start my business was 3 grand. It was difficult going from bank to bank being turned down everywhere I went. No one would give me a loan. They didn’t understand the nature of my business. It was a difficult time for me. On top of not being able to get a loan, I had a lot of family members who thought I was nuts and should give up on my dreams and goals. It would have been so much easier to give up and throw in the towel. At times it was hard to remember my goals and my vision for my art. But I had to stay true to my dreams. After all, I’d been working to be a professional artist since I was 16. This is the time in my life when I developed a “never quit” mentality. I decided that no matter what, if I’m committed, it’s for life. That mentality has helped me overcome a lot of adversity in my life. After struggling for over two years trying to get funds to start my business, someone finally took a chance on me. They invested in my business and I will forever be grateful to them. Over the years, I have steadily built a thriving art business out of that initial 3 grand. I have proven to myself and the people around me that art is a lucrative and respected profession.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In my view, the best thing society can do to help support artists is to form better education about art. Our school system in general is severely lacking in art education. I meet a lot of the general public who don’t know anything about art or fine art prints, or that being an artist is a “real” job. Sadly, a lot of the population in America are under the impression that you can’t make a successful career as an artist. This mentality discourages the next generation of artists and creators. I am already seeing the effects of a lack of art education on young artists. It makes me frustrated that we as a society aren’t educating ourselves and continue to perpetuate the “starving artist” lie. Sure, a lot of people don’t make it in this industry, but that’s because it’s a very stressful and hard life. You work an insane number of hours and you also have to sacrifice a lot on a personal level. Not everyone is up for making those sacrifices, but that can be said of any industry. We need to start thinking of art as a real profession and realize people have real college degrees in this industry. Being a professional artist is not a hobby, it’s a full-time career.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.etsy.com/shop/karrijamison
• Instagram: @karrijamisonart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarriJamisonArt

Image Credits
Karri Jamison