We were lucky to catch up with Rosie Hodson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Rosie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?
After 16 years in the teaching profession, bringing my love of art to the classroom, I spent 20 years running my own early years music business, which was brought to an abrupt halt by Covid 19.
During the months of forced unemployment that followed, I discovered the joys of walking in my beautiful village and the surrounding areas, and appreciating the rich heritage of architecture on my doorstep. There was just one vital thing missing – especially on cold days – somewhere to get coffee!
Finally in May the village coffee house reopened for takeaways! Oh ,the joy of that first proper Barista decaf latte after 3 long months! I took a few celebratory photographs of The Hub, and later on that day, I dug out my dad’s old watercolours and began my first portrait of a building.
I posted a photo of the painting on social media to let people know that The Hub was open once more, and to my surprise and delight, I was contacted with requests for prints!
After painting and posting several more local landmarks, I received a request to paint a house portrait…. and ‘Only One Like It’ was born.
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?
During the rest of 2020 my business continued to grow and develop as I found new ways to make people’s homes look their absolute best! I specialise in painting sunshine and shadow, and reflections in windows or water. I combine my father’s skills in architectural drawing with my mother’s love of vibrant colour to produce highly detailed, colourful house, church and pub portraits.
I love working with my clients to find out the stories around their homes; the particular plants they would like to see in the garden, any animals they would like to appear, ( often deceased) or specific details they wish to accentuate or eliminate. I’ve often been asked to exclude adjoining homes by adding strategic trees or fading out the edges.
If local, I am happy to visit the client to gather information and take my own photographs; but I am equally able to work from good quality photographs and emailed information.
During 2021 I introduced a new more whimsical style of watercolour paintings on canvases which proved very popular!!
I started exhibiting in local Art Shows in 2021 and began selling my art on greetings cards as a sideline.
Watercolour is my preferred medium, but I generally paint with thick creamy paint rather than washes.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Having been a primary teacher for 13 years and basically married to my job, the arrival of children turned my priorities upside down. I no longer wanted to give up my evenings and weekends to marking and prep, and my energy levels fell dramatically.
I was able to be a stay at home mum for a few years, until my husband was made redundant, twice. I had always enjoyed taking my daughter to a music class, and approached the teacher about running a class for her elsewhere.
This led to my working for two music providers- swapping top juniors for babies and toddlers- quite a change!
Without warning, the Franchise closed down and I was out of a job.. But I knew I was capable of running my own classes and had a ready made client base, so Rosie’s Rock and Rollers was born!
In addition to this I began working in a craft studio running children’s parties, workshops and drop ins. I learned to use a kiln and dip / dry foot pottery, and found I could paint well enough to sell items.
Soon I was teaching music classes in nurseries and private halls, and making enough money to pay my bills. Class numbers grew and waiting lists were started. This continued successfully until March 2020, when my work life effectively ended for quite some time!
During Lockdown I began painting pottery to sell, and also tried watercolour paintings of buildings in the village. Through posting these on Facebook I was asked to paint several people’s homes as commissions, and for the rest of 2020 I was painting 2-3 per week! I named my new business ‘Only One Like It’ because I only produce one of each painting.
I joined a free 5 day ‘Sell your art ‘ Challenge and learned how to market my business on social media, and to create interesting stories around the paintings.
I then signed up for a paid course which taught me how to price my work, how to present it and pack it, how to write a Statement of work and take deposits – all things that were very new to me.
2021 was equally successful, and I added Whimsical art to my repertoire. I began entering art shows and writing songs about paintings, which I would share on live Facebook posts.
Sadly, 2022 began a decline in commissions as people went back to their offices and spent less time scrolling the internet! It was time to pivot once more.
The first painting of a building I did was of our local coffee shop. I sold several
Prints and the original. I had always loved the shop and spent many hours in its cosy interior!
So as the commissions diminished, I started work on one day a week at the coffee shop, and as I already had barista experience at a voluntary job I’ve done for 7 years, I was put on the machine on two additional days!
So I’ve gone from teacher to music provider to craft studio manager to artist to Barista!
I still do the odd commission and when I retire I hope to do more art!
How did you build your audience on social media?
I’ve been quite active on Facebook for a while, so when I painted my first watercolor of The Hub in Redbourn, it felt natural to share a photo of it on my page.
To my surprise, someone asked me for two prints! I didn’t know how to handle this at first, but luckily, I found a printing company in my village. Looking back, I realize I priced them too low, but I was thrilled to receive my first payment!
After painting The Jolly Gardener, a lovely house, I got a message on Messenger asking for a house portrait. It was a big property with impressive trees and shadows on the brickwork, but I painted it just as I saw it in the photos provided.
The client loved it, so I showcased the painting on Facebook as a successful project, and within a week, I had three more requests.
For months, I operated this way until I joined an online art challenge and learned how to market my business properly and protect myself from losses and time-wasters. I started taking a deposit before starting any work and priced my art by the linear inch to avoid confusion.
I also learned about the importance of presentation, like using mounts and backing boards, creating a certificate of authenticity, and improving my shipping methods.
Every Friday at 5, I went live with a song about my art or a painting for sale. I kept up with regular posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and weekly on TikTok. Facebook turned out to be my most effective platform for generating sales.
In 2021/2, I finally got my website done and was thrilled with it. I also started a newsletter.
Now that I’m working four days a week, it’s challenging to maintain my social media presence, but I still post daily on Facebook, and it automatically goes to Instagram.
Contact Info:
- Website: Rosiehodsononlyonelikeit.co.uk
- Instagram: @ribenarosiehodson
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosie.hodson.3
- Twitter: @ribenarosie