Artist Academy Andrea Ehrhardt

This week’s episode of the Artist Academy Podcast features muralist Jolene Rose Russell. Jolene’s professionalism stood out to me when I first spoke with her, and in this interview, we dive into how that trait trickles into her mural business.

There’s such a fine line between being creative yet professional, a free-spirited artist yet someone who shows up on time and does what they say they’re going to do. Jolene shares her best practices for going through the mural process to ensure both the customer and her creativity are satisfied.

This chat is a look into the daily best business practices that make up the back end of the painting the public sees on the wall. Jolene backs up her advice with stories of lessons learned (the hard way). Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Jolene Rose Russell.www.MuralMoney.comwww.ArtistAcademy.co

This week for a special May Mural Month episode I decided to bring back an interview I did 4 years ago with Mural Joe. You know how everybody has those *kinda famous* people they look up to in the industry? Mural Joe is one of those for me. His tutorial videos combined with his discipline to keep painting and making videos for so long in order to grow his business and better his skills at the same time… that combination is something I admire because it’s what I’m doing as well.

There’s a quote that says something like: “boredom is the death of an entrepreneur businesses.” Meaning, we tend to get bored and switch to something exciting which ultimately completely kills the idea we started in the first place and worked so hard to build. Discipline to keep learning, advancing, and even innovating the same idea is where the magic is. Look at any entrepreneur who has stuck it out in the same line of work for 10 years. They’re now sitting pretty because they kept with it. Kept marketing, growing, fixing, etc. until the product and pitch are both SOLID.

Mural Joe, at the time of this interview, had been making instructional videos for 10 years. Now it’s been 14 at the current date and if you check in with him he’s still doing the same thing, but better! Our businesses look slightly different from 4 years ago but, in general, it’s the same painting, learning, teaching, etc.

In this interview, we talk about Joe’s mural process and the lessons he’s learned along the way. One lesson in particular that I remember from this chat 4 years ago is how he plans out his paintings ahead of time. He paints it on canvas before painting it onsite. I’ll let him explain... Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Mural Joe. Mural Pricing Training: www.artistacademy.co/pricingguide Mural Supply List: www.artistacademy.co/supply Join us for a Mural Meetup: www.artistacademy.co/meetup 

This week’s episode features muralist Chera Brooker. After we got off the interview, Chera and I both agreed that we would likely hang out if we lived in close proximity to each other. She’s my kind of creative personality. You’re going to get a lot of good vibes from this interview, along with hearing us geek out over creating videos to promote our painting.

Chera shares her process for creating high-quality videos that get attention, which ultimately results in more jobs. When it comes to promoting yourself as a muralist, I feel like we often forget how much of an incredible leg up we have with being able to turn a blank wall into a colorful, eye-catching masterpiece. The work we do in painting is what does the marketing for us, all we have to do is capture it with a short-form video.

Chera shares some great hooks to begin your reels with, and so many other tips. I’ll let you hear it from her, but let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Chera Brooker.

This week for a special May Mural Month episode I decided to bring back an interview from 3 years ago with muralist Pamela Kellough. I remember this being one of my most favorite interviews from 2021. Pamela has such a warmth about her which made talking with her such a delight. 

She is almost 70 now and still muraling. If anyone has ever tried painting large scale for any amount of time, you’ll quickly realize what a physical workout it is. Between being on your feet to unloading gallons of paint and climbing on ladders or even up into a lift. It’s tough on the body, which makes me even more impressed that Pamela is doing it with a smile on her face. This lets me know that I’ll be doing it until I’m nearing 70 as well!

Pamela has a very old-school way of working. There’s no iPad for sketches or Facetiming to see the site. She has a sketchbook and does in-person site inspections. I’ll let her explain the benefits of those methods, but it just goes to show that you don’t need to be techy with the latest tech trends to complete projects in a timely manner. 

Also, wait until you hear how much Pamela makes vs how much she works. Talk about a motivator to start painting on a large scale. She’s such a boss babe and I’m honored to have had her on the podcast. 

The quality of the audio on this interview is not as good as the interviews I do nowadays, so please excuse and look past that onto the actual content. Pamela has so much advice to give with a lifelong mural career backing her. Let me know what you think of this week’s interview with Pamela Kellough. Mural Pricing Training: www.artistacademy.co/pricingguide Mural Supply List: www.artistacademy.co/supply Join us for a Mural Meetup: www.artistacademy.co/meetup 

This week’s episode features multi-passionate business owner and creator Gretchen Leggitt. This woman has my heart with her multifaceted pursuits in business. I really enjoy talking with muralists, but give me a muralist with a thriving side business on top of it and I can feel the excitement bubbling within my brain. 

You know how when you paint a mural with dimensions that are much, much longer than it is tall, how annoying it is to film or photograph vertically. Taking a horizontal image and making it look cute on reels, which is a very tall, thin way of creating video… it’s less than ideal. 

However, Gretchen had the idea of taking her horizontal mural and making a sticker out of it to wrap around reusable water bottles. 

That idea grew into a full-blown business with entirely new manufacturing, shipping, and marketing components to make up what is now Hydrascape Stickers. This business now gives Gretchen passive income and, in turn, extra time to spend having fun with her outdoor adventures and community-based artistic endeavors. Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Gretchen Leggitt. Mural Pricing Training: www.artistacademy.co/pricingguide Mural Supply List: www.artistacademy.co/supply Join us for a Mural Meetup: www.artistacademy.co/meetup 

This week for a special May Mural Month episode I decided to bring back an interview I did 5 years ago with a muralist I started out working under. Melvin Lovejoy and I met on the job site of Bass Pro Shops.

The very first memory that pops into my head when I think of Melvin is when we were working together at a store near Vancouver, British Columbia. A really big wall needed to be painted with an underwater scene, and he suggested I do it. I quickly shot the opportunity back at him, assuring him that I in fact did not need to paint that large of a wall and that he could tackle it easily. He tossed it right back at me, assuring me that I could in fact paint this wall myself. 

I remember the feeling of panic setting in as I prepped to start painting the largest wall I had yet to tackle. It took a couple of days to get going, and a couple of weeks to complete, but I more than surprised myself with being able to complete the large underwater scene on my own. My confidence grew exponentially with a big thanks to Melvin for the push. 

Melvin later mentored me on a variety of painting techniques. He shared with me what he was earning per hour while painting and suggested I ask for a raise in my contract. I learned so much just being on the job site around artists like Melvin who had been painting for years longer than I had. It was both extremely intimidating and a great learning experience that I feel so fortunate to have experienced. 

When I started this podcast series over 5 years ago, I started out with the intent to just tell artist’s stories. It turned into more of a business podcast with tips on pricing and hustling to get those first jobs, but back then it was more just a chat about art life and how artists made their way into this creative industry. I hope you’ll enjoy this journey back in time with Melvin and hear all about how he got his start as a muralist. Mural Pricing Training: www.artistacademy.co/pricingguide Mural Supply List: www.artistacademy.co/supplyJoin us for a Mural Meetup: www.artistacademy.co/meetup