We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tim Spanjer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tim below.

Tim, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My parents never placed obstacles in my path growing up. I appreciate that the always supported my passions and desires (the good ones) and created opportunity for me to thrive. My family was very sport oriented, but I was given to the arts and I thank them for recognizing that while sports were important that arts that I loved as a kid were also important and they saw in me something that I could get excited about and that intrigued them. I do that now with my kids.

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?

I am an artist. I never thought I would have a passion for creating art but thats what happened, My day job is sales and marketing for my family’s resort property, but at night and on weekends I am pop art painter. I think what is interesting about art and even a career in arts is that it is about you as an artist and a creative. Art for me is a part of my life where I can find release; a creative outlet to express myself in ways that I can not as professional in hospitality. I love hospitality but I also have a craving to produce something out of innate desire to create something – it’s part of who I am and so painting has always been an escape for me. Of course it was not always painting, I used to do pencil portraits of people and celebrities. At one time I made a nice living after of college doing family portraits and commissions, but I got tired of it and I wanted to create something for myself rooted in things I loved growing up in the 70’s and 80’s. In fact it wasn’t until late in my life that I developed a fondness for idyllic things I remember from my youth – things I was interested in as kid. growing as a generation X’er when commercial products were really finding a “cool” place in our culture and color and design were making moves and influencing a youthful generation. I found in the last few years that I had a longing to recreate some of these memories in the form of something timeless and prolific – like a painting. I never thought graphite or pencil art was the way to really capture or pay tribute to them so I turned to paint and never looked back. Now I paint an eclectic variety of subjects matter and compositions on large wood panel canvases but they most all have some connection to something in my life that I remember and love from a bygone time.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I use to buy all of my art materials at fancy art stores. I think as artists we tend to think that there is a sourcing mechanism that we must subscribe to – namely, if you want to be an artist you have to buy the high quality art materials, canvases and paints.. That was how I began my career as an artist but that is not where I am now, in fact I almost quit because of it! I simply could not afford the high-priced canvases, brushes and cadmium paints, but like all artists, that is what I thought I had to do. It wasn’t until later in my career that I realized that I could still create great one-of-a-kind art pieces that fit my creative mission without having to spend a fortune just to get started. So, I wish I could have learned earlier on in my developing years that not all artist materials need to be hand-crafted in France or some specialized arts factory – today, I only buy from home improvement stores and I build all of my own painting surfaces. I also use paints and acrylics that are typically used by contractors! This to me has been very freeing and eye-opening certainly in terms of the money savings, but more so in the margins I can capture on sales of my art. I realize that this is not an option that all artists can subscribe to, but for me it was a game changer.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me the most fulfilling thing is when I buyer shows excitement for a piece that they know will fit their space perfectly. There is a real satisfaction is creating something that someone else finds dear and valuable, Many times I have shown art and displayed art that upon discovery started a conversation that resurrected a memory or produced reflection from the past. I love when my art triggers a memory that someone other me has and it starts a conversation. It is very rewarding to see my art generating a meaningful response.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artofspanjer.com/
• Instagram: @artofspanjer
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artofspanjer

Image Credits
Don Naman