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

Hi Renee, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

As a little kid I would go through my mom’s sketchbooks [she’s a really amazing artist] and I wanted so much to have her talent. My favorite thing as a kid from then on basically became finding a quiet corner and drawing every chance I got. As I got more and more involved in trying to perfect my sketches, my mom became more active in the workforce, respectfully, and I could see she was disassociating herself from her art. I understood it, at the time it wasn’t realistic to be a full time artist in the mid 80s and trying to grow a family….it wasn’t exactly feasible after a recession. For me, I knew I never wanted to give up my love for art. Fast forward to life after college, I had different ideas of what I wanted artistically; designing clothing, jewelry and making music but I too was instilled with the reality to know that I had to support myself with a basic and regular job. So, I put art on hold for almost a decade and it wasn’t until, as I was still struggling to support myself, that I started painting pictures and giving them as gifts. At this time, my friends and family were encouraging me to do more with my art and pushing me to get it out in the public eye. At this time I was pushing thirty and thought to myself, “Why not? I’ll just bare my soul to the world; what do I have to lose?” This is when I started participating in my hometown’s monthly Art Walks in Corpus Christi. My first show I sold some work and it took off from there; I was getting requests for commission work and selling at local art shows continuously for the rest of the year. At that point, as I was still working and growing with my regular job, I moved to Austin and continued with having 2 very different careers. It was difficult having a full time job, in the hospitality industry and continuing taking work AND THEN having two kids along the way but I knew I could never give up on making art. And, even though I consider art as my profession, I feel like it’s just something I love to do and it never feels like work.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?

I’ve been an artist almost all of my life, and I starting drawing at a very early age. I was most inspired by people; a person’s face and emotions and the movement of the human body. When I was a kid I would sometimes sneak my dad’s Playboys and use the pictorials for models. I was always afraid to share my work because I wasn’t sure that it wouldn’t translate as simply practice or the beauty of the body as I saw it. I just loved drawing the human figure but not for just the surface; it was what was possibly behind a facial expression. I was intrigued that there was always something more than what was just on the outside, even as a child, I could feel this. It was probably in the early 2000s that I started painting portraits of my family and friends. This actually changed things for me because it brought out the discipline and patience in something new for me. I always had trouble with painting up until then probably because I didn’t really know what I was doing and didn’t have the patience to learn. Painting people became emotional for me and as I painted more and more, I’d find myself going through all these emotions-even crying sometimes; it was like experiencing pain and hurt, especially when I paint portraits of someone I admired or had some sort of tragedy in their life. This is when I knew my work was collectively about love and pain. Sometimes I paint love more than pain, pain more than love or both simultaneously. When my work started to get recognition, I received requests for commission portraits of not only people but stuff like logos and even pets. There are a few local eateries here in Austin that have also allowed me to provide murals or logo rendering for their walls. What I’m most proud of though is being able to share my work and risking my own emotional intentions and having an audience love or hate it. If I can make someone feel anything toward what I do, I know I’ve done something rewarding for myself.

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

The way we thrive, for artists, is to make sure we keep sharing our passions and creativity. Society, we hope, will take a minute to absorb the beauty and want to spread to others what they’ve just experienced. Now that we have social media platforms to put ourselves out there artistically, we can support each other and share ideas. For me, I love meeting young artists or aspiring artists in person and encouraging them to keep practicing on their craft, accept those mistakes and that there will be a time when they’ll be less and less afraid to take the risk. I would love for more of our society to also encourage that, especially toward artists. I think the best motivation for creating art is not monetary, but positive and endearing words from others.

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 brought up to think that you can’t be successful as a visual artist. I can’t say that my parents discouraged me completely to not pursue art but I always felt they treated it as a “hobby”. They hoped for a different path for me that did not include what I was passionate about, and my love lied in everything I wanted and could do creatively. I have been “the starving artist” and I am now a professional artist. I was able to hold the “real” job and maintain making art as my other job. Now, I’m in a part of my life where art is my full time career and I’m lucky that I can do it comfortably. It wasn’t easy but if I could have started being a working artist earlier in my life, I would have. I love seeing other artists taking off early and building a life because of art. For me, it took a long time to unlearn that I couldn’t have any real success in doing what I really love.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @love.pain.rpl
• Other: RawArtists.com/lovepain