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

Alright, Wendy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

When I was living in Istanbul and teaching at an international school, I had so little time to create and when I was traveling, I didn’t have much space. I invested in a little travel watercolor set and a little pad of multimedia paper and started doing small watercolors while sitting on sidewalks or benches in different countries. I would fill a bottlecap with water and just see what I could do in a limited time. To my surprise, people started stopping and complimenting me, and not infrequently offering to BUY the piece right then and there!

In my last year living in Istanbul, expats who were moving away started asking me for watercolors of important places, buildings, or views from around the city, so I started doing commissions. I continued to take commissions when I came back to the States, and the journey continues to today. Places are deeply embedded in our identity and the people we become, so I’m honored to help people remember places they hold dear.

There are a few skills that I believe are essential to watercolor specifically and some that help with being a money-making artist.

The main skill that I think is essential in watercolor painting is adaptability/the willingness to let go. Watercolor is a very free medium that requires a certain amount of surrender. I have healed a lot of perfectionistic tendencies by being able to accept and love what the paint and water do and learning to help it become something I am proud of. Another one is patience. Once you work on one space for a little bit, you need to wait until that area dries before working on it more.

In regards to actually making money with art, I think essential skills (or things you’re willing to delegate to others haha) are marketing yourself well (whether in person or online…but ideally both), not underselling yourself, and saying yes only to jobs that lead where you want to go. Saying no is as critical as saying yes.

Obstacles that have stood in my way include perfectionism, underselling myself, and saying yes to projects that are truly not in my wheelhouse. Choosing to push myself out of old habits that have kept me from reaching new heights is both terrifying and incredibly empowering.

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 Wendy! I’m a watercolor artist currently living in Cleveland Heights, and I began watercoloring while living and traveling overseas. I’m a missionary kid, so I grew up in Eastern Europe in the late 90s/early 2000s and graduated from an international school in Prague. Right out of high school, I thought I was going to school for art therapy, but quickly realized I wasn’t good at psychology, and didn’t enjoy those classes. Because of this, I decided to get a degree in Studio Art. I loved getting lost in projects but severely struggled with overworking my pieces due to perfectionism. When I started watercolor painting, I learned how to let go in a new way. It’s impossible to completely control watercolor, but it’s also forgiving and therefore freeing. It was beneficial for my mental health, so I began traveling with little watercolor sets, capturing beautiful places I got to visit in my college years. After college, I accepted a position as a secondary teacher at an international school in Istanbul, Turkey. There, I kept painting as I traveled. As I posted my art on social media, people began to ask me if I’d do commissions, and I just started saying yes.

When I moved back to the States with my husband, Luke, I was pregnant and uninterested in teaching in the States, so I began to take more commissions. I think my love for places is evident through how I capture them. I love painting homes and places for people because I know how deeply place is embedded in human identity, so it’s an honor to paint important places for others.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I love capturing important places because I’ve lived in so many different places and know that one’s identity is so deeply shaped by the spaces in which we spend time. Something that drives me is that I love growing in my ability to express joy and love through watercolor. There’s a real connection there, and seeing the ways I’m growing in my own ability to show what I desire to is very encouraging. People’s growing interest in how I create is also very important to me. Art is as communal as it is individual— so the conversation between viewer/client and artist drives me to create in different ways.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

During my senior year of college, we had an art assignment to create 50 mini pieces in two weeks. FIFTY. I have a history of overworking my pieces due to insecurity, perfectionism, and a need to control situations. I slowly had to learn to let go of control because I obviously am not in control of life, and definitely not in charge how my piece of art turns out. Sometimes it’s better to let go and allow the piece to take shape, and respond to how it’s all turning out. By having to just make fifty pieces in a short time, I had to spend 30 mins max on each piece and that almost exclusively cured/broke me, haha!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Wendywaldrop.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendywaldrop/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/wendywaldropstudio/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/me?trk=p_mwlite_feed-secondary_nav
• Youtube: https://Youtube.com/wendywaldrop

Image Credits

Taken by Luke Yurkovich, edited by Wendy Waldrop