Artist Academy Andrea Ehrhardt

This week’s featured muralist for May Mural Month is none other than Anat Ronen. She was highly requested within members of Artist Academy, so we sat down to chat about murals. She’s been painting full time since 2008 and had a lot of tips to give.

If you follow Anat on social media, and I highly request you do in order to see the quality of her product, you’ll see her share tidbits of some of her lessons learned [the hard way]. Naturally, I had to ask for more of those stories. I love to hear the lessons from artists who have been doing this a long time, because they tend to have some GOOD ones. Times where they really messed up, or put up with a crazy customer, or learned something that forever changed the way they do business.

If you ever meet an artist who has been doing this job for more than 10, or better yet 20 years, ask them if they ever had a moment that changed the way they work for the better. There’s so much gold in the advice they can give. We might have to do a follow up interview with Anat because I know we just scratched the service of gift giving advice with her. Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Anat Ronen. Mural Pricing Training: www.artistacademy.co/pricingguideMural Supply List: www.artistacademy.co/supplyJoin us for a Mural Meetup: www.artistacademy.co/meetup

This week’s episode is a jumpstart on our upcoming May Mural Month where I’m focusing on everyone’s favorite subject: MURALS.

Here are some common questions along with a couple free resources to help:

“Painting murals looks intimidating. I don’t even know where to start.” - Come join the upcoming Missouri Mural Meetup on June 6th-9th for a hands-on learning experience!

You can also check out my mural supply list to see what supplies I use to paint murals quickly + links to each item. I even include a video showing the supplies and explaining why I chose each item over other options.

“I think I’m underpricing myself. How do you price mural projects?” - Girl, same. I’ve been there! Take a look at some of my past and current mural project prices by checking out my mural pricing guide. I’ll walk you through my 10 year process of raising my prices, plus show you photo examples of projects with price tags.

“How do I get mural jobs?” - That’s a loaded question with so many possibilities. My TOP recommendation would be to focus on becoming the go-to muralist in your area (for your specific niche). Listen to this week’s episode to hear how I’m currently attempting to do this in the small but growing town we now live in.

This week’s episode features painter, writer, musician, and creativity coach Lauren Spangler. Lauren helps artists find the sweet spot between passion and prosperity. Lauren’s mission is to empower artists to enjoy the creative freedom they crave without sacrificing the financial stability they depend upon. She has helped hundreds of professionals set and achieve their goals, and now she’s here to help you unblock your inner artist and take big steps toward your biggest dreams. Take a pulse on your own creative wellbeing with the free 10-minute “Spark or Sputter?” self-assessment at https://www.laurenspangler.com/spark.

This week’s episode is a coaching call with Artist Academy member Samantha Brown. My favorite question to get from students is, “How do I get mural jobs?” Oh boy, do I have some advice for you! Samantha is just getting started in her muraling journey, having only painted murals in her home as a trial run. She knows who her target customer is (schools) so we work out a plan to start getting those types of jobs.

Example:Step 1: Have mural photos to showcase.Step 2: Pitch a low-cost option to schools in order to get a “yes,” meet face-to-face and pitch ideas.Step 3: Use the credibility of having already painted for a school to get into more schools.

Listen to hear the tips on how to get started pitching, even with limited examples on the resume!

This week’s episode features artist Chanelle Jefferson. Chanelle is based in rural Nova Scotia where she regularly sells her original canvas paintings and hosts retreats. She is an energy, mind, and emotions practitioner, which she uses to help guide her customers through the process of commissioning a very special and meaningful piece of art. Chanelle uses her skills to extract the right information/emotions/descriptions from customers in order to understand their situations and create a custom piece embodying those emotions.

This interview emphasized the importance of intuitively making business decisions surrounding the things you want to do daily. How you create art and display it and sell it is uniquely your own. Just because I paint murals and come alive doing it, doesn’t mean you will. Chanelle is a great example of someone who is living her life the way only she was meant to do it in the ways that bring her the most joy and fulfillment.

This conversation was a fantastic way to start my day with intention and I hope it will be for you too. Chanelle has such a calmness about her that spilled onto me and soon on to you. Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Chanelle Jefferson.

This week’s episode features Texas artist Bryan Peterson. This is not your typical business talk but rather a reminder to create the art that makes you happy. Art that evokes emotion within the artist and creates excitement within the process. We take it back to the basics of drawing/painting because you love it rather than to make a dollar. If the product is great, the customers will buy. But what your version of great is compared to mine is vastly different. It depends on the subject, color, style, meaning, etc..

What you like to create is not what I like to create, and that’s the beauty of it. Your perfect customer is waiting for you to create the perfect thing for you, because it will inevitably be the thing that speaks to them. Listen to this episode for a reminder to find out what art YOU are passionate about creating.

Let me know what you think of this week’s long interview with Bryan Peterson.