We recently connected with Lili Rochelle and have shared our conversation below.

Lili , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I have been living as a full time artist in NYC for the past two years now and it all started with a 4-hour long conversation with a couple of street artists.
When I first moved to the city I knew that I was ready to do something with my art, to create and pursue my creative career, but I really wasn’t sure how to start. I first began by applying to all the open calls that I could find online, doing small markets and pop ups any chance I could. Eventually I reconnected with an old friend who was also pursuing their creative career and invited me to come chat art. I hadn’t seen this friend in 4 years but being new to the city, I was eager to expand my art community. When I met up with him and his friend, another street artist, the three of us sat and had the most beautiful, seemingly unending conversation about our creations, our dreams & aspirations, God and the faith that we’ve found over the years, and the trials and tribulations that these two men had faced in their time spent on the streets of New York selling their original pieces. I remember one of them telling me about the feeling they had when they sold their first original painting, how all of a sudden everything he went through felt worth it. And I realized that I was sitting there with two people who were actively doing things that I had only ever dreamed of. They were fully surviving off of their art, just from setting up on street corners. It was in this moment that I realized that my dreams were entirely possible, that it was just up to me to make them a reality.
So the very next day I packed my unnecessary large suitcase with all my prints, the 5 original paintings I had at the time, and the dreams of a lil Alaskan girl, and headed to Washington Square Park. And since then I’ve never stopped. I’ve set up with my work through every season hot & cold, in parks and train stations, all over Manhattan & Brooklyn. I’ve learned now to travel lighter (only bring out what fits in my tote bag), and to listen to where my body feels called to that day.
When I first started going outside I still had a part-time job as a nanny. Only 3 days a week, but the security of a guaranteed paycheck was something I craved at the time. When the kids went on summer vacation I saw that as an opportunity to challenge myself, to see if I could successfully make rent money fully off my art without picking up another side gig. I realized that the only thing holding me back from making the leap to full time artistry was me, and my own fears. But after 3 months of proving to myself that I could spend every day creating & sharing my art & still being able to pay for the roof over my head, there was no going back. That was all I ever wanted to do again.
A necessary part of my artistic journey was to recognize my own worth. To put value on my time and the labor of love that I put into each piece and the hard work it took toting everything out everyday and facing whatever challenges the city threw at me. It helped me become more confident in myself and my creations. Each part of my journey was necessary, from the time that I had -$70 in my bank account to the time that I was selling thousand dollar originals in Atlantic Ave train station in the dead of winter. Each failure and triumph taught me to have full faith in myself, to believe that as long as I was creating, anything I dreamed of could become a reality.

Lili , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

People often ask when I first picked up a paintbrush and I always tell them I started painting about the same time I started talking. I was probably around 2 when my love for art started showing, and it was no surprise considering both of my Grandmothers are wildly talented artists. My summer vacations were spent rv camping through various Alaskan towns with my Nana telling me to go out and find a rock and paint anything from animals, to bugs, to mountains on them. I remember most of my gifts growing up being art sets filled with colored pencils and watercolors and original paintings sent to me from my Grandma Carol. I was blessed to have a family that not only saw my love for art, but supported & encouraged it from such a young age.
As I got older I realized that not only was painting something that was fun for me, but was also something that was incredibly healing. I think as artists we are blessed with the gift to be able to heal ourselves through our art, to take all of our emotions, all of our experiences, and pour it all onto the canvas.
The first collection I ever released, “The Bodies Collection” began as an act of self love. To paint the female form in its most bare and natural state, finding beauty in each curve and line, and in doing so seeing the beauty within myself deeper with each painting. Through sharing my art I’ve been able to share this act of love with women all over the world, creating pieces in which they can see themselves reflected divinely and powerfully just as they are. I take my love for self and combine it with my love for Mother Nature and create works reflective of the Gods & Goddesses, encouraging women to see the divinity that resides within each of us.

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

“Support living artists, the dead ones don’t need your money”, a quote that always made me laugh but one that reigns true. There are so many wildly talented people in this world, especially in this city. Supporting a small, up & coming artist can put food on their table, keep a roof over their head, make it possible for us to continue doing what we love without having to worry about being a “starving artist”. Even a simple “I love your work!!” in passing can provide artists with the encouragement they need to keep going, to keep creating and sharing their work.
I’ve found one of the most important things to me on this journey has been community. Community will uplift you, support you, and keep the living artists living. I think as a society, we need to put more importance on actually supporting artists, not profiting off of them. What artists need is to be able to lean on one other, to create uplifting spaces for each other, to be able to have a platform in which we can showcase our work without the stress of fees to make it happen. To have spaces where we can come together and do what we do best, create.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, success looks like waking up freely, spending every single day creating, healing through my art, and being able to share my creations with the world around me. And for the last two years I’ve been able to do just that. I spend my days painting, and connecting with those who feel connected to my work. Having deep conversations with strangers on the street who see me and my works of vulnerability and feel safe to open up about their lives. I’ve put myself in rooms with people who were once my favorite artists and I now get to call peers. I am constantly inspired by the work and determination of those that I surround myself with because we are all artists and creatives, and we are all growing and healing as a community through our art. The most rewarding part of being an artist is that I get to wake up every day and choose exactly how I want to spend my days, and I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend them other than doing what I love to do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Etsy.com/shop/deverauxprints
• Instagram: @lillercakes
• Other: Tiktok @lillercakes

Image Credits

Instagram Tags
@earljacksonphoto
@shy.shotz
@mulographynyc