I’m featured on this week’s episode of the Good Life Project.
Dear Good Lifer!
So excited to be sharing the first in a series of episodes filmed around the famed Bay Area in northern California.
San Francisco painter, Ann Rea, was deep in a hole. Depressed, anxious, working in a career that was leaving her empty and heavily medicated, she turned to painting as therapy. And everything changed.
What started as a return to sanity grew into a salvation and a calling. But to turn it into a living, Ann came face-to-face with the “gallery system.” Something in her gut told her it was not for her. Too little control and power.
So, she decided to do what everyone else said was un-doable. She went around the system and created her own path to become a successful painter, entrepreneur and now mentor to other artists trying to do the same.
In this week’s episode of Good Life Project, we dive deep into her journey.
If you’ve got any artist friends who are trying to figure out how to make a living, be sure to share Ann’s inspired story with them.
With gratitude,
Jonathan
Did you enjoy this article?
Hi Ann,
I just wanted to let you know how struck I was by your interview on Good Life Project. I can deeply appreciate the struggles you have overcome in becoming an artist. You sharing your story has given me much inspiration.
I also experienced the struggle of depression in my life. Just a couple years ago in fact. There were lots of reasons for it, but the one I could control the most is that I’d been keeping myself from pursuing my artwork because of it’s ‘impracticality’. I got a degree in marketing then, similar to your experience, followed the design career pathway.
I’m glad now for the degree, but not so much for the 15 years plus that I spent doing full-time graphic design because I was too afraid to just be the artist that I am. I didn’t believe in myself; and I’d developed a lot of unhealthy beliefs about what I was and wasn’t capable of achieving, and what I had a right to try and achieve.
What changed for me was that my father, an exceptionally talented photographer, passed on in the fall of 2011. He never was able to pursue his dream of following photography full-time, as he was an accountant with a lot of little mouths to feed! So after his passing I devoted myself to making my art career a success. I know that is what he wanted for me all along. Gosh, still chokes me up to think about it.
I’m still working as a part time graphic designer, as I need to maintain a secure income for my family, for a while yet. My art career is growing well, as I’m also engaged in my own art marketing. Thank you for sharing your story; it’s greatly appreciated. Cheryl
You’re very welcome!
What an insightful and inspiring interview. To know that artists don’t have to follow the traditional scarcity-based model of business and are free to find prosperity in their own blue ocean just makes my heart glad. Thank you, Ann, for sharing what you know and helping me and other artists turn our dreams into reality!