We recently connected with Rachel Jaggers and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rachel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents have always helped me cultivate my artistic skills. As a kid, I would love to create and so instead buying me “kid level” supplies, they would gift me beginner yet professional level stuff. I was not a child prodigy or anything. They supported me because I liked it. Nothing crazy or high end, but easels and paints that really helped me feel valid in stepping into my identity as an artist. They let me play and fail pretty risk free which gave me a lot of confidence.

Furthermore, when I was still pretty young, my mom started her own home business. This was at a time when it wasn’t as popular or accessible as it is today and it took her a lot of hard work. As I went through my childhood, I was able to grow along side of my mother watching her pursue her dreams. It was a really powerful example that being a successful mother and business owner could coexist. So many women lose themselves in their motherhood, and watching my mother find herself in her craft allowed me to feel comfortable pursuing mine without having to give up the experience of motherhood.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have always been an artist. I remember coming home from kindergarten having drawing a picture (in GLITTER crayon, by the way) of a girl under a rainbow. I remember telling my parents how great of an artist I felt because the rainbow was in the right order, and the girl under the rainbow had 5 fingers, while the other kids drew a ton of fingers instead of just referencing their hands.

After I had my first child I spent a LOT of time at home. We lived in a very low income area, and child care was a high cost. We did the math and my entire paycheck would go to daycare. It made more sense that I would raise my kid instead of just working for someone else to do it. Oh my gosh, we were so poor though. I wanted to something to help support my little growing family from home.

My mom needed a new computer for her business, and gifted me her old one preloaded with the adobe suites (Ie, before they did the subscription costs). I taught myself to be proficient in photoshop and illustrator and started taking on small design jobs. It gave me the opportunity to earn an income without having any huge out of pocket costs or overhead.

I then took the money I earned from that and slowly started purchasing products to shift my services from graphic design to painted studio arts, which is where I have always found the most joy.

I went on to have 2 more children while slowly building a home studio and actively avoiding day care cost while loving every inch of my children. My husband was finishing his bachelors and masters and money was so tight. My art was the only thing that helped us celebrate birthdays and Christmas. At times, my art was the reason we could afford our own individual tubes of toothpaste, which felt like the silliest of luxuries.

Around this time, I was working on creating surface designs for fabrics and participating in Spoonflower design competitions and was doing well. I had one print named “Bear Cub” that was inspired by the traumatic birth of my son (whom we call Bear), that was picked up as a baby carrier print for Boba Baby Carriers. I also placed in a design competition to work with Bucketfeet shoes with a pattern featuring manatees, titled “Oh the Hue-Manatee”. It was centered around ocean conservation for endangered animals. These design wins kept our family from drowning, but also in fueled my desire to continue creating.

In late 2019, I stepped away from graphic design and completely embraced studio art. I feel like I have really found my passion. One of my husbands degrees is in horticulture, and while he studied, we spent a lot of times in gardens and greenhouses and I fell in love with the dimension and colors of flowers.

A critical element of my art is centered around painting flowers because I found so much peace and joy in them and want to share that peace and joy with others. Every flower I paint is a celebration of finding joy in your hardest of times.

I LOVE painting flowers on anything if it holds still long enough. I adore the challenge of finding the right paint, process, or sealant to create quality and functional art. I work in a variety of mediums to accomplish this, but acrylic is my bread and butter. I have been intimidated by canvas painting until recently which is what I am hoping to explore more of this coming year.

Mostly I have spent the last few years painting eccentric home decor such as easter eggs, mugs, ornaments, tumblers, glassware, shoes, skirts, decorative pumpkins, wooden Christmas trees, nesting dolls, magnets, candles and candlestick holders, bookmarks. . . I’m sure there is so much more, as I take the question “Can I paint on that?” very seriously so I find it difficult to recall everything.

I want people to know that I firmly believe that everyone is so wonderful, unique and deserves to be celebrated. That every wonderful and unique human deserves to surround themselves by the things that represent them in their entirety, not mass produced trending Target prints. I believe that collecting art creates a space that allows you to fully express yourself. It allows for you to embrace your vulnerabilities and your strengths. Collecting from independent artist is almost a rebellious act of expressing yourself as EXACTLY who you are, and not what this mass produced consumer-machine world has told you you should be.

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

There is this moment when creating – It’s hard to put into words, but every creator has felt it at one point or another I’m sure. The most common name for it is probably “The Zone” but honestly that feels too much of a casual word for such a sacred place. It’s this place where you let go of the stress to create and just create. Time doesn’t exist and you feel unstoppable. This is the place where you perform the best. This is the place where you get a high from creating. It’s the feeling I am constantly searching for and absolutely the best, most rewarding part of creating.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I really enjoy my clients as friends and use social media to keep in touch with them (while having an email list incase social media ever craps out on me). I run across multiple platforms, but the one I am most active on has been instagram. It feels like talking to my friends all the time and I really enjoy that connection. When I ship out my art, it feels like wrapping a gift for my bestie and I love making it extra special for her.

I have problems making decisions and second guess myself a lot too. It’s a great place for me to get feedback, but also include my clients in the process of creating, which I think they enjoy.

I think there are people whose creative talent is appreciating the art. I know this sounds so self serving, but hear me out. We attend music concerts. We go to galleries. We watch sports. Not everyone has the privilege, time, or skill to be the musician, artist, or athlete but they have so much pride in supporting those creators. Not a single creator could be who we are without the support of those whose talent is appreciating art. This is why I love bringing my clients into the process of creating, because my talent maybe the art, but their talent is collecting it and their input is one of the most valuable relationships to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.actuallycharming.com
• Instagram: @actuallycharming
• Other: pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/actuallycharming/

Image Credits
Alisha Jean Studios