Over the past couple of years, I’ve loved sharing the ins and outs of my business with others. One thing I strive for is transparency. And that doesn’t scare me. I don’t worry about people “stealing my ideas” or people having similar styles as me. My style is trendy and there will be others out there who have similar styles. As long as copyrighted pieces aren’t being copied and sold as someone else’s, I’m comfortable with helping others. Side note: I have seen pieces copied dot for dot, line for line, and then posted on instagram or sold as someone else’s art. That’s not cool.

But as I was saying, I love helping people who want to pursue a new hobby or something they’ve always been passionate about. And I’m happy to share my experiences. I don’t believe in keeping my process secret because how does that add value to anyone’s life?

So here are a few of the questions I hear most often:

-how long have you been working with watercolor?

I actually started painting with watercolor about 2 years ago. I’ve enjoyed painting and drawing my entire life. I’ll do a post soon to show you my old art. Art has always been my way of losing track of time. And I remember hearing a quote when I was younger about finding that one thing that makes you lose track of time and pursuing that thing like cray. Or something like that. Art is that thing for me.

But what really made me fall head over heels for watercolor was a completely different art form - hand-lettering! I started lettering during my classes in college. You know how some people doodle? That was my doodling. After college, I had a bit more time on my hands while waiting for my husband to get into school. I decided to start a new watercolor hobby to paint some wreaths to dress up my lettering - and that’s when it all began. My love affair with watercolor.

-what is your process like? So this is kind of a broad question that I’d like to dive into in a later post. So just know, this is not the full answer.

But, here are the steps I follow: paint, dry, paint, scan, photoshop, print. That’s basically the life of a watercolor artist who sells prints.

And yes, photoshop is really important. It’s not about changing how the painting looks. I don’t do that, but some people do and that’s okay. That’s an art form in itself. Photoshop helps me erase the background so that I can create clean print copies.

-how do you describe your style? In my husbands own words: “she likes white and flowers.”

That basically sums it up, but to put it into better design terms, I’ve always loved the Scandinavian style. That natural, minimal look just makes me feel all cozy inside. If you haven’t heard yet, my roots are Finnish, hence the double “i”s in my name. While many Finns don’t consider themselves Scandinavian and Finnish style is one of a kind, Scandi style is still in my blood. But I also like flowers, lots of flowers. I mean how can you not? They’re so gorgy.

So you’ll likely see me covering all of my white, natural things with flowers. And that’s how I would describe my style.

-how do you get involved in markets? I also wrote a more in depth blog post about that here.

Basically, it takes some research into which markets you’d like to attend, but when you’ve found a few you like, they’ll have a link on their website where you can apply. Once you’ve attended a market or two, you’ll start building a community. And from there you’ll find many more markets to attend. My market community is my favorite. There’s nothing better than face-to-face interaction.

-do you teach classes?

I do! I teach both hand lettering and watercolor classes.

I’d love to teach you or a class and am willing to travel. Contact me here.

Comment with any other questions and I’d be happy to create another post!

And share your answers to these questions if you have them! I love hearing from y’all.

xx

Q&A - Frequently Asked Questions