My small business turns four.

It is crazy saying that out loud. Four years. In one sense it feels like forever but in another it feels like this is just the beginning. I can’t lie sometimes I do think I have to do something else. I find myself wondering if this truly is what I am meant to do. But I don’t know what else would fill my heart quite like painting does.

I started my journey four years ago finishing my art degree and feeling lost. There was no job description that made me feel any type of way besides no way I’m going to do all that. I really wanted to get better at painting and so that’s where my journey started. I did the 100 day challenge just with the sole purpose of getting better at painting. And by the end of it I really did see results, very small ones but it was enough to keep me going. With that my art account slowly started to grow. There weren’t a lot of people but it felt like a little community and on some days that was all it took to motivate me. One day people started asking about buying original art and I started building my own website. With publishing and orders coming in I finally felt like I belonged somewhere. Like there actually was a job description that fit. I have been dreaming about becoming an artist since I was little and I always knew that some day this will become reality. So when it finally did at the age of 27 I felt so grateful and blessed. I still am.

When I look back at some of my old paintings it truly baffles me how far I’ve come.

I’m going to paint you a little picture. When I was little the only thing I was good at was painting. It was the one thing no one could take away from me because deep down in my heart I felt invincible. It was the one thing everyone kept pointing out, my teachers made me go to art school, I wouldn’t call it talent I think I’m just going to call it affinity. Because truly thats all it was. I was drawn towards art, culture, painting, sculpture. My grandma always told me stories visiting museums and art galleries and blessed me with all of her knowledge about artists and I just always wanted to be one. I wanted people to remember me. For my art. Looking back I don’t think my paintings were any good but I loved painting so much that it didn’t matter to me and of course at that time I thought everything I painted was amazing. Because that’s the one thing I was good at. (In my head anyways.) So deep down I always knew I was becoming an artist one day. I always painted on my little bedroom floor with a big flood light my grandpa gave me. I loved painting with oils and at that time all I ever painted was portraits. I painted youtubers I liked and at the end it looked like the same face over and over again. I stopped painting portraits with the day I started painting with gouache and sharing my paintings on instagram. I was a big perfectionist and portraits always held this expectation of realism that I had to leave behind me. So I started painting landscapes and florals. It started with my grandmas garden. Her garden made me fall in love with flowers, her and my mums knowledge of flowers always made me wonder. Flowers are forgiving, they don’t have to be perfect. That is what I liked about painting them. They are growing in the wild and without any sense of perfection. I always sought after calmness and harmony. That is what painting gave me. A sense of calmness and harmony. A way out of the daily stress and the loud noises. That is what always brings me back to painting. Even after long breaks.

Starting my instagram account felt wrong in some sense. I didn’t know what I was doing. Like no one else does when starting with something. I posted a painting a day and I felt so proud that I took the time out of every day and used it to furthermore feed into my artistic career. Of course I had no idea where it was going but i only focused on getting better at painting. And that I did. Day by day. My Instagram following naturally developed into this beautiful community it is today. But never once did I plan any of this. I just took it a day at a time and felt grateful for everyone that decided to go on this journey with me. I’m so glad I started!

There is a lot of things I learned over the years and I’d like to share them with you. Of course everyone is on their own journey but maybe it helps you in some ways. Maybe it is just nice to hear another story.

Always compare your work with your own instead of others. Everyone is on their own journey. You don’t know how much time and energy it took them to get there where they are now. But you know how much time and energy it took you.

You have to stick with it, through the ugly stages, the disappointment, the inconvenience, the frustration. Because you will always come out the other end. And it is so rewarding. There is no other feeling like it.

You have to start somewhere. How do you know how things are going to turn out if you never started in the first place?

Ask for help. You can’t do everything by yourself. Or at least you don’t have to.

Believe in yourself. You are capable of so many great things but believing in it is sometimes the biggest step.

It’s okay to get rejected. It is just going to open other doors.

Don’t let other people talk you down. There is always going to be someone that has something negative to say.

That list could go on forever and I might continue with it some other time. There is a lot of beautiful things that happened in these last four years and I am so so grateful I get to share them all with you alongside with me.

Let’s see where this blog is going, please bear with me.

All the love,

Denise