Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristin Chase.
Hi Kristin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have loved to draw since the moment I could hold a crayon. Neither of my parents are artists, but I remember watching my grandma draw a picture of one of my toy horses when I was little (the horse was purple with pink hair, and her name was Nikki), and I knew that’s where I got it from. My third grade teacher, Mr. Phelps, was an artist, and he would encourage us to draw all the time. Other teachers had thought if I was drawing, I must not be paying attention, but Mr. Phelps was the first teacher who understood that if I was drawing, I was probably paying more attention. Mr. Phelps helped my parents pick out art supplies for me, and when I graduated high school, he surprised me by gifting me his old drawing table. I still have it, over twenty years later, and it is a staple in my art room. When I was in high school, my parents bought me a French box easel, and I was crushed I didn’t have room for it in my dorm room. I never took art classes, for a couple reasons, but found my primary calling in music. I was a music education major in college, and I have been teaching middle school band for 17 years. Art has always been my passion, something I do for just myself or people that I love, that makes me feel like me. I can paint for hours and have no idea how much time has passed – could be an hour, could be seven. When my son was born, I continued to teaching full time for a year, but after realizing how miserable I was without any creative outlet for myself, I decided to go part time so I could still have time for art without sacrificing any time with my son. My friend, who is a dynamite wedding planner (Laine, of Laine Palm Designs), told me that I really needed to get into live wedding painting. I asked her what it was, and then promptly said “Um…that sounds horrible. And terrifying.” She said “Well, you’re going to try it anyway because it’s a growing thing and you’d be good at it” So I did. And I loved it. Here I am, two years later, with a growing art business. While I’ve always painted commissions for friends and family, now I get commissions from people who have never met me, and I get to spend joyful days painting for people at their weddings. My paintings are surrounded by love, and I think that shows in the paintings, themselves. I never thought it was possible to have a career as an artist, so I never even considered it. Now, this is the journey I’m on, and it’s wonderful.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, but I wouldn’t say it’s been super bumpy road, either. The hardest part is that I have to market myself. I don’t just get to paint all the time; I have to spend time working on my website, having a social media presence, learning about finances, and doing all the backend things that any business has to do. Getting a business off the ground takes a lot of work, and I’ve learned so much from other artists, wedding professionals, and live painters. Someday, I would love to pass some of the backend work off to someone else to do for me, but for now, it’s just me, and it can be a lot to manage.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
When it comes to live wedding painting, I specialize in painting meaningful moments with just the couple. I love to paint them in the space they’ve chosen to have this life-altering celebration. Before painting weddings, I was primarily a landscape painter, so I especially love when couples have gorgeous spaces for me to paint them in. I also really love painting commissions from photos of people’s wedding days. Photographers can capture some amazing moments that no one else is there for on the day of, and I love being able to recreate that in a painting. It feels like I get to combine the work of another amazing artist with myself, and it’s really fun. Something that sets me apart from other artists is that I also do custom nursery paintings, and it might be my favorite kind of painting that I do. I absolutely love when people want to decorate their nursery with a painting as unique as the special someone they’re about to welcome into this world. When you design a nursery, you’re starting to shape a child’s personality, and it’s filled with your own hopes and dreams for your child. I love to help bring something special to that room. Another service I offer that no one else is doing is guest portrait mugs for weddings. I make dishwasher and microwave safe mugs with watercolor-style guest portraits that double as wedding favors/take-home gifts and place cards for table seating.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
For anyone starting live wedding painting, I highly recommend Stephanie Gaffney’s Wedding Painters Blueprint Course. That course and the community around it has been invaluable to me. I also recommend reaching out to other artists in your area just to say hi and introduce yourself, offer to grab coffee, etc. I was afraid to do that right away because I thought they’d see me as competition, but I was so glad when I finally did. I actually made friends in this new-to-me industry, and it feels really good to be a part of a supportive community.
Pricing:
- Live wedding painting starts at $1799
- Commissioned paintings from wedding photos start at $500 for acrylic and $750 for oils
- Pet portraits start at $60
- Guest portrait mugs start at $10.50
- Nursery paintings are priced by concept, size, and medium
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bykristinchase.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristin.chase.art/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristin.chase.art/
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtbyKristinChase
