We were lucky to catch up with Terry Steele recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Terry, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you’ve thought about whether to sign with an agent or manager?

Recently signed with a marketing agent out of Arkansas to market my images onto apparel and household items such as blankets, cups, pillows, t-shirts, hats, ect.

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

I am a wildlife artist working with acrylic paints. I have had great success with my artwork over the last couple of years. I signed a deal with icanvas.com who has about 20 images of my paintings on their website. clients can order prints of various sizes and have them shipped directly to their homes. I also have a Etsy shop where I have sold numerous paintings. Recently a client from Texas purchased eight of my paintings on the same day. I was given a “Top Seller” compliment from Etsy.

I have also recently signed a contract with a marketing business out of Arkansas who will print images of my paintings onto various clothing articles and household items like bedspreads, Lamps, Coffee mugs, bags, shirts etc. This endeavor is still in the works and will soon be started.

I have also been contacted by the VP of Safari Club international local chapter who asked if I would donate a painting to their banquet that will take place in April of 2024. They offered me a booth to display my artwork and meet potential clients.

I started painting in high school and took a couple of art classes but I don’t think I learned very much. When I started my professional career as a Public Safety Officer I took it up in earnest to escape from the stress of the job. Once I retired in 2007 I pretty much took up painting full time and I have had good success in selling my artwork.

My wife and I raised 10 children. We have 32 grandchildren and soon 5 great grandchildren. My wife and I have been married for almost 50 years and she is my rock that I depend on to keep me on the straight and narrow.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding thing for me is when I post one of my paintings on one of the websites that I use and someone wants to purchase the painting. It also is rewarding when someone contacts me and requests me to paint a commission for them of some favorite animal or pet. It’s also rewarding when someone looks at one of my paintings and comment on how much they like it.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I first really got started on my art career I was still working full time and working with oil paints instead of acrylics. I really didn’t have a safe place to paint with a bunch of little kids running around but I had set up a place in my basement where I thought I would paint without having issues.

I had been working on a fairly large oil painting of a Whitetail Deer running through a swamp and it was turning out really nice in my opinion and was really looking forward to finishing it.

I came home from work on day, walked to the basement and saw that one of my darling little children had decided to help me paint and had taken a paintbrush loaded with black paint and smeared it all over the painting.

Needless to say I was very, very upset. I calmly gathered up all of my painting supplies, walked outside and threw them all into the trash can. My wife watched me and after chewing me out about my childish behavior she gathered up all of the discarded items, placed them into a box and put them away.

I decided right then to start using acrylic paints because they dried quicker and I could hide the paintings up high out of the reach of little children.    

Contact Info:

• Instagram: TKSteeleFineArt
• Facebook: TKSteeleFineArt
• Other: Instagram; TKSteelefineart.
• Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/TKSteeleFineArt