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

Tammy , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

As a gifted girl growing up, I was encouraged by my parents and teachers to take the path of a professional degree. I chose Pharmacy and went to college to become a pharmacist. I don’t blame the adults in my life for that. They were not creatives and really didn’t know what I could do with my artistic talents. It was always considered to be a great hobby, so I never fully expressed or explored my creative side. After having my first son, I started taking adult education classes at the Cincinnati Art Academy and became a closet painter. It was a wonderful way to get in touch with my creative side, and for the first time, it showed me my creative gifting in something that wasn’t just a craft. I had a second son, moved to Naples, FL and increased my time painting through adult classes at the Centers of the Arts Bonita Springs. I got in my first student art show and they used my work for their promotions of the show. It was a real affirming experience, because it showed me that my peers saw potential in my work as well. So I kept painting. But I felt that something was missing.

I knew that I wanted to venture away from realism, but really didn’t know how. I kept trying to push myself in that direction, but my instructors didn’t know how to coach me. The real truth was revealed to me when another professional artist asked me “why do you paint what you choose to paint?” What a great question, right!! I had never been asked that and had never even considered that. After sitting with it for a day, I realized that I never really cared what I painted. I chose my subject matter based on the colors I got to play with while painting. It was all about color. Bingo!! So that changed my whole perspective. The artist told me to stop painting the “THING” and just paint the color that makes me come alive. It blew my mind. I had no idea what that meant for me, but it gave me a new direction. Since I already had a bachelors degree, I knew that a BFA was not the way I wanted to go. I decided to search out artists that painted the way that I wanted to paint with color and design as their primary focus. I travelled to workshops with master artists and started attending residencies. Once I got the basics of abstraction down, I started painting every day. Even if it was just for an hour. I couldn’t have stopped painting if I wanted. A door to a whole new world was opened to me, and I couldn’t wait to get into the studio everyday. I started changing my schedule around, committing to other things less, and committed to myself and my art more. I started doing the things in my work that I loved and found a style and a language that I wanted to put out into the world. I started entering competitions and shows and my work was getting accepted. My Instagram posts of my journey started to build and people started wanting to buy my work. It truly has been an organic journey that I never expected to travel. All along I tried to focus on being happy with the stage I was in at the moment and just enjoying the journey. As I became confident in my work, I became more confident in all of my life as well.

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that nothing worth doing is easy. It takes studio time, determination, and a thick skin. Each one of us as artists has our own unique path, and knowing that what works for us may look very different than what works for other artists’ journeys looks like is key. It’s not a race, its a marathon and I’m only competing with myself to get better each and everyday!!

Tammy , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My work is based on my deep love of color and my spiritual self. I feel that I was created by The Creator to be a creator. And following in how I was naturally gifted has given me so much freedom and passion for life. I start each piece with words for the day – prayers, bible verses, poems, music lyrics – all messages that I need to ponder on for the day. They ground me in who I am and what I am here to do. Then I build my paintings with many layering techniques to give each painting texture and depth. The process is very intuitive and expressive. A painting will eventually come to a beautiful ending with many places of interest to draw a viewer in to stay awhile and explore. The process of painting is for me, but the finished work is to bless someone else’s space. My original work is available through galleries, online sources, and directly through me.

I love to create special works of art for clients as well, so I do commissions that are unique for their space. If I can, I visit their space to see where the painting will live and what else is going on in the room or outside the window for color inspirations. I will incorporate the clients special words into and throughout the painting as well to make it a uniquely theirs. Big or small, I’m honored to create every special piece. Knowing that my work is a part of the life of others blesses me tremendously!!

Another service that I started offering is personal artist consultations. During the Covid lock down, I was unable to continue teaching my art classes for beginner abstract painting. I decided to offer artist consults over FaceTime or Zoom to students who were not able to take classes anymore. I’ve enjoyed them so much, that I’ve continued to offer the service. Each call is a one-on-one meeting with me to ask any question that an artist might have about any stage of their work or business. I’ve so enjoyed meeting new artists, talking all things art, and continuing to mentor others who are just starting out. In January 2023, I will be launching my own beginning artist online class called “Uniquely You Abstracts”, where I teach beginning abstract concepts and how to make art that is uniquely you!! This class has lived on the Jeanne Oliver Network and will be made available directly through my website. One of my mentors told me once, “you don’t put out your own flame when you light someone else’s candle.” Such great words that I have always stood by. You can find out more about all of these services and my email list on my webpage at www.tammykellerart.com.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had a life changing event in 2019. My marriage of 25 years ended in divorce. It came out of no where and I wasn’t prepared. Family had always been the most important thing in my life, and every part of my world was affected. I moved from Naples, FL which had been my home for 17 years. I packed up my things, including my entire studio and moved to Venice, FL to be near my family. Within a few months of my move, the Covid lock down went into effect and I was reeling. But I was determined that my life was not going to end. I knew that as long as I was alive, I had a purpose. I spent the time during lockdown like living in a cocoon doing an extremely deep dive into who I was and what I wanted my new life to look like. I mourned the losses, and then moved onto what this next phase of life was going to look like for me. I came up with new dreams for myself, which were exciting!! Slowly I started to come out of the haze and realized the amazing opportunity that I had to remake my life into exactly what I had always wanted it to be. I learned to paint when I didn’t feel like it, and what came out of me during that time was really beautiful. As I became more confident and clear about my personal life, my work seemed to mature in beautiful ways. What had once felt like the worst possible thing to happen to me became the most amazing opportunity to live a life that I never could have had before. I met and married the most amazing man that has loved me in ways that I had never experienced before. This is the way that marriage was always mean to be. I pushed into the business side of my art, and things started happening. I’ve started selling my work in two Florida galleries now, I continue to sell my work through online avenues, I developed an online beginning abstract concepts class, and started an artist consultation offering on my website. All of this has happened in my new life. None of this was easy, but oh so worth it. I look around my home now with so much gratitude for this time, what I’ve learned about myself and life, and for all that’s to come.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

This creative journey has been one filled with wonder. It is a journey that will continue as long as I am able. I read a book entitled the Artisan’s Soul written by Erwin McManus in 2014. He is an artist and pastor in Los Angeles, CA. The premise of the book was that I was created in the image of my Creator to be a creator. And if that were true, then I should do it to the best of my abilities. Up to this point in my life, I thought my art was selfish. But this book helped me to understand that I too was created to be a creator, and that other people had giftings to do the jobs I thought I had to do. I felt a great freedom and renewed purpose to live out my life’s dream. Once those creative doors opened, I would never be able to close them again. My entire drive to create changed. There is a quote from the book that has always driven me forward. “From the discipline that comes from passion, we find our way to mastery.” It reminded me that I had been gifted with certain abilities, but I was never going to be able to master them unless I put in the work. No one was going to come and do it for me. I had to get up every morning and make my dreams come true. So, that’s when I started my almost daily studio practice. I had to put in the work to develop my own skills. And I think I will always be putting in the work to develop them. They will never be perfect. I think that’s why so many artists create their entire life, because our work can always be better. I allowed myself the joy while being a beginner, and have focused each day on enjoying the space I am in right now. The creative journey is a spiritual one for me, but the beauty that’s created is for others. I pray that each piece brings joy and hope into the life of the viewer!!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tammykellerart.com
• Instagram: @tammykellerart
• Facebook: Tammy Keller Artist
• Linkedin: Tammy Keller-Lovell
• Other: www.Perigold.com – Tammy Keller