We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephanie Hilen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Stephanie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today 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 started my creative business as a side hustle to my full-time job in 2017. At the time, I didn’t set any expectations for the business. I created mostly commissioned work for family, friends and friends of family. I relied on others to direct what kind of work I was creating. I held a variety of day jobs from retail to banking and then marketing while also running my creative business nights and weekend. It wasn’t until things started picking up that I realized it could be possible to run my business full-time. My business was still heavily reliant on the commissioned work, but I also started creating and selling my own paintings and prints by then.

My business grew at a gradual pace, but there was a tipping point. My husband and I decided that if I could match my full-time salary with my creative business income in 2019, then I would transition to running the business full-time in 2020. Sure enough, it happened! I never worked harder than I did in 2019, burning the candle at both ends between my increasingly demanding full-time job and then managing shows, orders, and painting in the margins for my creative business. Even through the unexpected of Covid and birth of my firstborn in 2020, I was able to make a full-time living from my creative business that year nd have never looked back.

I don’t believe there was anything I could have done differently to speed up the process of achieving the success that I have; I needed that time to improve my skills and find what I actually like to paint. My only regret is not starting sooner. I truly didn’t know what I was missing those early years that I wasn’t painting right out of college. Had I kept it up, I would be that much more ahead with skill improvement and finding my artistic voice, even had I not started a business right away.

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.

Art has always been fundamental in my life. From early on I was told that it was something that I was good at. My grandma was a professional artist so we always joked that she passed the “art gene” to me. My four older siblings excelled in academics and athletics, but being artistic was what made me special, and I just knew it would be something I did my whole life.

Fast forward through my school years… I was constantly drawing and bubble lettering my notebooks during class. I entered and won various art contests and was voted “Most Creative” in my senior class. I attended Centre College in Danville as a student-athlete, ran track, and double majored in Studio Art and German Studies. Those four years were such a blur between studying, traveling abroad in Europe (twice!), track practice and track meets, participating in greek life and social campus events. Still, it was within these four years that I learned how to use oils and gained a strong foundation for realism painting.

My creative business began with commissioned work. I painted many portraits (pets, homes, people), recreated favorite vacation photos, and dabbled in live wedding painting. The variety of projects kept my interest as I didn’t yet know what I wanted my personal work to focus on. I created a few floral still life paintings and some city skylines, but it didn’t feel fulfilling.

Somewhere in the messy middle of my search to find my artistic voice, I was invited to visit a large horse farm for inspiration to create a piece that would be auctioned for charity alongside other artists. The farm was so beautiful; the sights and sounds and smells all left an impression that I couldn’t shake. I knew that’s what I wanted to paint and that’s exactly where I was meant to be.

Visiting that farm gave me a new sense of direction with my creative work. I grew up next to a horse farm where the foggy mornings, rolling hills and horses grazing were a familiar sight. This felt right and it felt like home. I began creating equine-themed paintings, and encouragingly, it connected me to an audience that was ready for what I had to offer.

What sets me apart from others in my field is my attention to detail. While I am still, and always will be, honing my skills and finding my style, I remain grounded in realism. Details are my special sauce and I have found that many people in horse industry appreciate realism and attention to detail when it comes to equine art.

Last year, one of my biggest career dreams came true when I was given the opportunity to create the official Keeneland artwork for their Spring and Fall meets. I live in Lexington, Kentucky, the horse capital of the world, where Keeneland is in the heart of the horse racing world and a major hub of equine culture. For one of many equine artists in Lexington, I’m so proud that Keeneland chose my artwork to represent their brand and horse racing traditions in Central Kentucky. This will always be a major highlight in my career and I am beyond grateful!

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

The biggest challenge that I’ve faced as a full-time artist is finding the right balance between commissioned work and creating my own work.

In the first few years, I said yes to nearly everything. I took on projects that stretched me, some that were out of my comfort zone but grew my skills, and others that were more work than they were worth. Once I set boundaries on what kinds of projects I wanted to take on, I was better at saying no to the projects that didn’t fit.

One very specific kind of commissioned work started gaining traction: Live Wedding Painting.

I had heard of this trend when I first started my business in 2017 and knew that was not something I wanted to do. After several inquiries for this service, I decided to give it a try. The first wedding that I painted was for a family acquaintance in the fall of 2018. They were gracious knowing it was my first wedding, but let me just say, it was rough. I had some experience plain air painting, but just had no idea what I was in for. I wasn’t dressed warm enough, wasn’t mentally prepared, and didn’t have much of a plan for the composition. It was a big and very humbling learning curve.

After that experience, I was convinced I’d never do that again. But I was wrong… people kept asking and I’m not one to quit after one bad experience, so I did another one. And then another… and another, until year after year, I became more confident in my process and live wedding painting became a large facet of my creative business in both time and income.

The majority of the time that I spend on a “live wedding painting” is in my studio after the event. The day-of progress is more or less a sketch, albeit and detailed sketch, that will be completely refined over time with all of the important details. That being said, my time became more and more limited between trying to maintain my personal work, prints and shows while also live painting and completing these paintings within a reasonable time frame.

I’m still trying to find the right balance, but I’ve settled on mostly taking on local weddings so that I don’t have to spend an entire weekend away from my family, and setting a firm limit on how many and what time of year. This number keeps decreasing as I become busier with my growing family and prioritizing my personal work. I’ve neared burn out several times and know that no amount of money is worth the mental and physical stress of meeting unrealistic deadlines.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is having control over my time. I have a four year old daughter, who currently attends preschool, and a six month old son who I take care of full-time. I don’t have it all figured out yet, but I am thankful that I have a job that allows me to put the needs of my family first. This time in their lives is so important and I know that the late nights are only temporary. I will happily burn the candle at both ends to make time for my babies and also get some painting time in.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stephaniehilen.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephaniehilenart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephaniehilenart

Image Credits

First photo upload (me in royal blue dress next to easel with landscape paintings on the wall): Kelli Lynn Photography

Live wedding painting photo (me in navy dress painting outdoors with distant blue mountains): Once Like a Spark Photography