We were lucky to catch up with Tan Rose recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I love being an artist and I’m so much happier because of it. I was a web developer for five years before I pursued art in a serious capacity. I thought web development was going to be the career for me, and I was really good at it. It was fun and rewarding, but ultimately the company environment was not beneficial to me being successful or happy in that line of work so I left. I even tried to get another web development job and when I thought of doing what I did for the past five years again, I just knew it wasn’t for me.

I no longer have those thoughts, but sometimes they do pop up when I’m going through financial trouble. I then remind myself that I am doing what makes me happy.

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

Hi, I’m Tan of Tan Rose Art. I’m a multimedia artist who works primarily in watercolor, but I’ve been doing some acrylic and oil paintings lately. From a young age, I was always drawing and creating art. If you saw me in class I was the one kid drawing during a lecture and not that I was a bad student, but drawing helped me focus and it made me happy. My first time doing a painting I actually liked was in college. I had to do a painting of some form of nature using watercolor paint. It was when I fell in love with watercolors and for a while, that was the only paint medium I used.

I went on to be a web developer for five years as that is what my bachelor’s degree was in. In 2019 I decided to start pursuing art as a side gig, but I couldn’t really make the time for it on top of being a full-time developer, but I did my best. I really didn’t have a style and I was kind of just doing what I thought others would like. During that time I watched a lot of artists on youtube like MaryDoodles, Kelogloops, Baotpham, and many other artists who really inspired me and helped me stay on my path of art. In 2021 I ended up leaving my previous job for many reasons, the main one being my mental health.

After leaving my job I took time off from working and that’s when I really started exploring my art style. For a while, I would draw femme characters that had horns and though I enjoyed it I wanted to play around with more techniques. That’s when I saw this painting of a person, but there was a stripe of color through it that had a different color scheme than the rest of the painting. I tried it out for myself and I loved the way it looked and how it flowed it was something that was different and fun. It’s become one of my favorite things to do when working on a piece. After those few months of exploring my work and taking a much-needed mental break, I applied for a job at an art store.

I got the job and now work at the art store while still pursuing art. Though I still face the challenge of both finding time for my work and getting my art seen and sold, I know it takes time and I’m working on being more consistent, but not overdoing it. With this new job, I have been able to try out new mediums like acrylic paint and other mediums. I’ve also been able to try out sculpture with air-dry clay which is something I plan on going back to. I’ve even been dabbling in oil paint which previously was something that seemed so daunting, but now that I’m getting the hang of it it’s pretty simple.

I’m really proud of my little art business. Though I haven’t sold anything yet it’s also so exciting to have people interact with my work whether it’s through a like or a follow it means a lot that someone thinks my work is worth a like or a follow and it can only go up from here! I’m really excited to see what the future holds for me and I can’t wait to have more wins.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part of being an artist is being able to share my art with people. Whether it’s the process or the final piece. It’s fun being able to share something I spent a lot of time on with people who appreciate my art. I also love when people like it enough to interact with either a like, follow, or both. It’s nice knowing my art is worth following.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Leaving my previous position as a web developer to pursue my happiness and better my mental health is probably the one event that has caused the most pivotal changes in my life. I had no plan I left without a two weeks notice, I just knew it was my time to go. I needed to take care of myself and ensure my mental health was in a good place. In the time after leaving I focused on getting some rest and exploring my art style and deciding what I wanted for my future. When I started to think about what I wanted to do in the future outside of art I found Art Therapy. After learning more about Art Therapy, it’s something I’m really excited to pursue as a career. I am most excited because I know I can work on my art business in tadem with being an art therapist.

Contact Info:

• Website: tanroseart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tanroseart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanroseart
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/chili_chromatic
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/tanroseart https://www.tiktok.com/@tanroseart