We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katie Nelson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katie below.
Katie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today 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 have been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work for the last year. I started really pursuing my creative aspirations when I lost my job in 2020, I had dabbled and dreamed but never found the time to really go for it. I’ve always known I wanted to be an artist but I never knew how I was going to make it happen. I began marketing my talent as a live wedding painter that year. I went back to work in the summer of 2020, and began taking wedding clients. I started setting goals for how many events I wanted, my goal for 2021 was to have 4 events. I ended the year with 18 events under my belt, all while being a nanny during the week, working for a printing company part time. I joined a lot of wedding vendor fairs, and worked on the SEO on my website, and I got a lot of business from word of mouth. By January of 2022 I was contacted about painting on a life sized horse for LEXArts, and my alma mater. I knew that the 5 weeks it was going to take me to finish this horse, as well as my spring weddings, I was going to need to quit my nanny job. I began earning a living in March of 2022. The first thing I could have done to speed up the process was to raise my prices. I was majorly underselling my ability, but I think there is a lot of beauty in the process. I learned so much in the time it took to get me where I am now, and I have grown so much in skill. I do not think there is a way to by-pass developing my abilities, and that process needs to stay slow.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am Katie Nelson, and I am an artist. I mostly work with oil and acrylic paint. I had studied art in college, but was not actively pursuing it at the time, when a friend asked me to paint live at her wedding in 2018. A few years passed and I was taking small commissions and painting one or two weddings for friends, but in 2020 I lost my job like many others. I was suddenly confronted with the idea that I had no “I have no time” excuse to paint. I started my business, and began painting what ever I wanted and taking commissions that thankfully were still coming in. At my core belief for my art is that my creativity is closely connected to God. Out of my relationship with Christ, flows work that reflects His heart for people. I see hopelessness, so I create work that will sprout hope, I see pain, so I create work that reflects comfort, or I see injustice and I create work that demands compassion. The divorce rate in the US is at about 44.2%, and I know that my paintings are not the answer, however, my hope is that my paintings will be constant reminder of love, and of hope. In my faith, I believe we the body of Christ, are the bride of Christ, and he will be returning and we will get to spend eternity with him. The live paintings are a depiction of eternity. And I hope that when marriages waiver, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to build something everlasting.
I am really proud of myself for really doing it all, I’ve been my web designer, my social media director, the painter, and the customer service rep! I have put my heart into this business and my products that I hope become new family heirlooms. Pieces that will be passed down and cherished for a long while. I want my followers to be my friends! I want to be able to share life with them, break bread, and bond over lovely art.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Share!! If you think it’s cool, it’s touched your heart, or you think someone may enjoy a piece of art, share it! The obvious answer is to purchase our creative endeavors and not just ask for custom work, but if you cannot buy something, sharing is absolutely free and odds are, someone else will like it too. Art can create a bonding experience between people, between and individual and an artist, or a whole group of people. It’s incredible what can happen when art is shared.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I was never taught to over explain, but it came naturally when I started raising my prices for work or even just how I operated. I really had to work on be short and to the point. I had to learn that I do not owe anyone an explanation for the way I run my business, of course if someone has a question, I would answer it, but its business, and not personal if they disagree with the way things work for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: Katienelsonfineart.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/katienelsonfineart
- Facebook: Facebook.com/katienelsonfineart
- Youtube: YouTube.com/katienelsonfineart
Image Credits
Esther Ellyn Kelsey Young