Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in fine arts but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Willow Bader, Founder of Willow Bader Fine Art, located in Seattle, WA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I am a fine artist who makes paintings primarily about the pleasures of life: dancing, music, and the table set with food, wine, and flowers. Horses are my newest subject. I paint with encaustic, which is a very old medium. I sell through galleries, and I also sell my work from my studio. Most often, my paintings go into private homes in the US and Europe.
Tell us about yourself
I have always been an artist; I never considered being anything else. As a young person, I set my sights on art school and chose the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. I learned oil painting there, but then I discovered encaustic, and I brought all I had learned about painting with oil to encaustic, creating my own technique that melds the best of both painting worlds. Encaustic has been around for so long that the ancient Greeks painted with it; it predates oil painting! I love the medium, its history, its sensual look, and its characteristics as a painting medium. If you are not familiar with encaustic, it’s a technique of painting with hot beeswax and damar resin, with pigment to give it color. I apply it with a brush; at times, I scrap it off with a tool, and I use a propane torch. Because it’s wax and resin based, the paint sets up/dries very fast- three seconds! It’s very immediate, and it encourages decisiveness when painting.
The subjects I paint are the things I know and love, but I think they are universal. They are the things we all enjoy or dream of doing. I am painting the best part of the day. I paint a lot about an evening out dancing or enjoying live music. I also paint images of dinner parties and sharing food and wine with friends. And I have other paintings which are focused on the table as the stage, lit with candles decorated with flowers. I also paint the beautiful pacific NW landscape, and now I am exploring horses as a subject. So many of us have dreamed of having a horse, or you took riding lessons as a kid. Or maybe for you having horses is a reality and a pleasure in your life. I enjoy painting all of these things for people.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Making a living doing what I love. It’s a great feeling every time I send a painting home with a happy collector. I most enjoy painting large statement pieces that transform spaces.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
Handling the business side of being an artist.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Only pursue an artist career if you feel driven to do it. It’s not an easy road, so it had better be what matters most to you. If there is something else you are good at, and you can be happy doing that thing, do that.
- Study business and marketing.
- Don’t give up.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://willowbader.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/willowbader/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willowbader/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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