We recently connected with Kerry Siderius and have shared our conversation below.

Kerry, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

Boy, I had, and STILL have the most supportive parents a kid could ask for. They were both raised in Washington, both teachers. They had 4 of us kids and bought an apple orchard on the banks of the Columbia River in the early 70’s in the tiny town of Bridgeport Washington.

The 4 of us kids had such a wonderful childhood. Our home was right there on the sandy banks of the Columbia River. We swam, we built rafts and my brothers fished for dinner. We had horses, raised sheep in 4-H and sold them at the fair in the fall. We had bunnies, chickens ducks and geese and a huge garden.

We sang a lot. In the car on drives all around the house. My mom, especially always had music playing. She loved musicals so we listened to Funny girl, Oklahoma and Sound of Music soundtracks. We loved it.

We also had chores. I remember hating changing the hand line irrigation in the orchard. Twice a day, all summer long. I wish that I wouldn’t have complained so much about it now.

My parents were really outdoorsy and were great at taking us fishing, hiking and camping pretty much every weekend that the weather would allow. We grew up knowing how to clean a fish and build a fire.
My love for nature was most definitely was being formed on all those weekend adventures.

Both of my parents are very creative. Back when you had to buy film for your camera and it came in either 12 frames or 24 frames and then you had to pay for it to be developed too! …Well, even though we weren’t well off financially at all, they always knew that documenting our beautiful adventures was an expense that was worth it. When I look back at some of those “very 70’s” shots they make me giggle, Lot’s of sunsets. We still take a ton of pictures as a family. When I look back at the 12 or 24 frames that they were aloud for the whole beach trip to Neah Bay, BOY, they made each one count with composition, color and attention to contrast.

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 was always a doodling, coloring, crafting little kid. My parents heavily encouraged this and spoiled me with art supplies. (Gratefully.)

That being said, I wasn’t especially confident, nor did I have ANY desire whatsoever to actually have the audacity to ever try and sell my actual paintings to the world. I thought I would design logos, perhaps. Or, I would maybe be an art consultant and pick out art for hotels or something.
Or be an oceanographer. Or raise pigmy goats.

The thought of selling my paintings, for a living, was so far out of the realm of reality, and quite frankly not what I even wanted. People would even say, “you should be an artist” I thought, ugh too hard. I’m not into selling myself, showing myself. I hate it.
I just love to create! I love it soooo much. But when my brain thinks that this has to sell, this has to be appealing to what’s in style, I just can’t.

I created art for me. I painted landscapes so I would remember the magic of the beach I was on or the breathtaking view of the mountain I was on. I painted just for fun. Just for me.

After I got married, my husband and I moved to Denton TX for his work for TEN YEARS! I longed for the clear rivers and fish filled streams of Washington. I dearly missed the snow capped mountains.
Or, mountains, in general. Love ya Texas, but man oh man the flatness of the landscape was a deep ache for me. I have to live where there are mountains. I had a giant Washington shaped hole in my heart for sure. While we were there I worked as an artist for the prestigious Beaux Art Gallery in downtown Dallas.

Finally! We moved back to my beautiful Washington and I just could not open my eyes wide enough to take in all the beauty that I had so dearly missed! I painted Leavenworth, I painted Chelan, I painted blooming Sage brush and old barns. I couldn’t paint enough! I would get up before sunrise and drive up the Tumwater Canyon, say, take a million zillion shots, (because now we have digital photography) and go home and print some of the good ones out and lay them on the kitchen table and draw and paint from all these beautiful landscapes that i just couldn’t get enough of. I was obsessed. It was like, “if anyone takes me away from my home again, at least I’ll have captured it’s beauty to look at.

Here is the actual moment and turning point in making money with my art:
So, I took a drive up to Chelan to get some shots of the new vineyards everyone seems to be planting. Circa 2004?-ish?
There was a new restaurant/winery been built that was in the Italian Tuscan style. It was named Tsillan Cellars. Very fancy, indeed.
I took some pictures of it and immediately went home and sketched some drawings of the building with the lake in the background and then painted them. I think I painted 4, 8×10 little simple watercolors of the building and the vineyard. The roses were all just starting to bloom. It was a beautiful spring day.

My plan was, to take them back to the fancy winery and ask the owner if he wants to buy them. Just to have on his wall of his office or something. Hoping so much to make around $30 bucks each, or $100 for all 4.

HERE IS THE MOMENT IT HAPPENED. Bob Jankelson. Thank you, Bob Jankelson, (owner of Tsillan Cellars.)

Bob told me to go make prints of my 4 little paintings, sign and number them, put them into sleeves and sell them in his gift shop!!!
This is the owner of this place, and he believes in me?!
I did it. And I went to other wineries and painted their views too!
It worked out. They actually sold.

Right around this same time, my parents were retiring and moving to Chelan to open their own winery. They planted acres of reds and white varieties and built a beautiful tasting room. The property sits on the banks of the Columbia River just below Well’s Dam and is one, if not the only, tasting room you can boat up to.
Rio Vista is now a very popular wedding venue and a top rated award winning winery. And my gallery!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Not so much “unlearn” as learn.
I had to learn how to set a dollar amount to my art. That was hard. It felt vein to charge “too much.” But, if I really counted the amount of hours a painting took me from the first thumbnail sketch to the final painting, it could sometimes be hundreds of hours. So, yes, that was difficult.
The same thing with the prints. I felt embarrassed to charge $45 for a “artist signed and numbered limited edition print.” Then, I noticed the price of a bottle of wine. Or, the price of a bratwurst in Leavenworth and I got over it.
During the peak tourist season, and just before Christmas, I do ok. Often, making more on the sale of my art than I do on my monthly paycheck from my day job.
I’m a middle school librarian for my steady main gig.

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

I find a deep joy in looking at nature and documenting the beauty of it. The twisted roots of a pine tree exposed on the edge of a river. The pattern on a sea urchin partially buried in the sand. Those are the kinds of images that bring me happiness.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kerrysiderius.com
• Other: https://Washingtoninwatercolor.com