We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tjasa Owen Land & Seascape Artist a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tjasa Owen , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I have always been a painter… inspired mainly by the sea, I am drawn to large seascape paintings on both canvas, paper, reclaimed boxes, driftwood…you name it. Having shown in galleries for years, my price point was driven by solo exhibitions and representation. During the pandemic, we were all at home, the neighborhood where my Studio was in San Francisco was boarded up and I was now working from our house. I kept thinking…how do I do this? How do I paint large collections for closed up galleries and no personal interaction? That is when I started working small…very small…little watercolors on paper. I didn’t know how to price my work, so I thought I would keep the prices very affordable and start my artistic dialogue with my clients on instagram. The reason for painting small, was both because I was painting from home and I needed to fit these little seascapes into envelopes that I could put into my mailbox…as I didn’t want to venture to the post office! So every Wednesday and Saturday, I would have these little collection sales on instagram which sold out immediately…(paintings ranging from 45$ – 175$) but the point of the story is more meaningful…my message box was filling up with notes from folks who said how grateful they were able to afford one of my paintings, that they had been following my work for a long time — the messages continued, back and forth, vulnerable and beautiful exchanges, I would receive notes from nurses and doctors on the front lines which would make me cry…before I knew it, I started gifting a lot of my work alongside the collection sales and the rewards along from that were just immeasurable. So fast forward three years, I still do the little IG sales and still gift and just knowing that anyone can access my work has been such a gift to me. Those years kept me afloat and probably were the most rewarding of all my years in the art world. I’m still in touch with so many of the clients and have met many face to face too which is always greeted by hugs and tears as well…having been through one of the most difficult times but all connected to each other through art…
Tjasa Owen , 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?
It’s quite simple.
I have painted seascapes and pastoral landscapes for my whole life but professionally in galleries for the last 25 years. I work from both my Studios in San Francisco and Cape Cod. I am represented by a few galleries and also directly…folks love coming to the Studio and I prefer the personal interaction. I share a lot of my process (sketches, watercolors, landscape photos) on instagram and that is where I connect mainly with my clients if not in my Studio. I paint solely from the heart, from intuition, not from photographs. I’m never far from the sea and it shows in what I paint daily. I love people and connection to those who are drawn to nature and all the gifts it brings us…my artwork tends to be the beginning of many dialogues I cherish immensely and I truly love connecting with people around art as much as I do painting in my Studios…
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
During the first couple decades of my career as an artist, I was so driven by the goals of shows, representation, income…and so much of that has changed in the last years….as in a previous question, I spoke to how the pandemic changed so much for so many of us…as artists we had to restructure ourselves and how we shared our work with the world. My journey started veering away from the classic maps of working with galleries, exhibitions, resumes, themes we were directed to follow…but directly with people and not being so concerned with all the classic ways of being an “artist” – Instagram changed a lot of that for us all…we could now directly communicate with our clients, speak on behalf of ourselves, tell our own stories, share our work in our own creative ways and price as we wished…I chose to work only with galleries that supported this new line of thinking and in turn we all support one another. I share way more that just art, I’m kind of a story teller through photos, quotes, words of intuitive wisdom alongside my seascapes…I am more than just my paintings…I am a creative person with a larger story and love connecting through all of it. My goal or wish is to normalize all of it…to step down from the version of the “classic” artist and show that anyone too can paint, be a creative and also have success both internally and externally.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I am by no means a big presence on social media and with the new algorithm I have no idea how anything works anymore, but I do know that taking the time to respond to messages, to engage with interested folks, to “normalize” what we do as creatives and share as much of the process…can help. I also find folks love seeing images of my life beyond the art…I share my walks and inspiration photos, I share stories of my day, sketches, watercolors…photos of the Studio, my beach combing mornings, all that makes up the bigger story behind the larger works on canvas, I also honor myself and what I feel comfortable with – respect yourself, – for example, I don’t do reels, I have no idea how to do them and that feels like it goes against the grain of who I am …I don’t do things to “gain” more followers because at the end of the day, the 100 or a 1000 out of the 6000 are the true ones who stay in touch and have meaning…I receive letters in the post weekly from followers, I have received beautiful gifts, books, artwork, the list goes on…and I in turn gift as well. BE yourself and those who align with you, will find you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tjasaowen.com
- Instagram: @tjasaowen
- Facebook: Tjasa Owen