How I was able to become a Full-time Artist…

If you followed your childhood dream job, what career would you be doing right now?

Surprisingly, I wanted to be an artist! This was based solely on my amazing 8 year old artistic skills, drawing cute bunny rabbits with fluffy tails!

 I didn’t spend my whole childhood desperately wishing for my (dodgy) bunny rabbit drawings to be noticed by someone of importance, to be honest I don’t think I’ve ever really wanted to “be” anything. Not a nurse or doctor, teacher or builder, accountant or retail worker… The only career I can remember actually wanting to have, is one that art is a part of…

 My name is Christie and I am the owner and creator at Mojo Flow Art. In September 2020, I quit my “everyday” job and jumped right into the deep end to try and make a go of doing something that I was actually passionate about. The day before my last day at my “everyday” job, I posted this message on my facebook page;

 “So tomorrow marks my last shift at my “normal” job, and also marks the day that I take a leap of faith and start making a living from my art… So many mixed emotions (insert a plethora of different emojis here). Can I make it work? Will I go stir crazy working from home? Will people like my creations? Am I going to survive the start-up and establishment $$$’s? Can I actually back myself and do I have the faith I need in myself? So many unknowns, but hey, why not take the leap? Maybe I can inspire someone else to do the same thing.

 Follow your passions people – life is way too short to sit idly and wonder what could have been…”

 So far I have made it work. I freaking love working from home. People love my creations. I somehow managed the costs involved and I am able to back myself. I have a lot more faith in myself today than I ever have had before and man it feels good!!

 I love being creative. I love painting and woodworking, resining and anything to do with colour experimentation. I’m ok at drawing, but I’m too much of a perfectionist to be a figurative artist. Abstract art is my calling. Art that allows me to experiment with different mediums, colours and techniques is totally my passion.

 I began experimenting with Fluid Art in 2019. I tried dozens of different recipes and even did a couple of painting classes, but after a fair amount of money spent on different paints, conditioners and pouring mediums, my results just weren’t where they needed to be. I randomly heard about an artist by the name of Shelee Caruthers. For those who are unaware, Shelee is widely known for her magic recipe to achieve the most beautiful designs and patterns in her fluid art paintings. She is known worldwide in the fluid art industry and would you believe that she only lives 10 minutes away from me?? Our kids are in the same class at school!!

 I enrolled in her online “SheleeArt” course and my fluid painting results improved exponentially! Her course opened up my mind to endless colour combinations, gave me the confidence to experiment and really use my creativity in ways I had never thought. Although I mainly use resin as my preferred medium today, I love getting the paints out and surprising myself with the creations that form right before my very eyes each and every time! It’s a really exciting way to create. If you would like to sign up to Shelee's online course, use discount code 15MOJO for a 15% discount!

 I became obsessed with watching YouTube videos on painting and loved being mesmerised by each and every creation. One day whilst scrolling through cool videos, I came across a photo. This particular photo reached into my chest, squeezed my heart and took my breath away. Apart from photos of my kids (and bestest family dog), no photo had made me feel the way that this one did. The photo was of a live-edge, timber coffee table that had been adorned in the most perfect resin waves. I’d never actually seen anything like it. I love the colour blue so that was a tick, adore the ocean, another tick, and growing up my dad was a cabinet maker so I love everything to do with timber - that was also a tick. I remember saying right then and there; “I’m going to do that”.

This photo is of a stunning coffee table created by the amazing Rivka Wilkins. 

 My YouTube search history went from fluid art to resin art and I researched my little heart out! So much information… So much conflicting information. I live in regional Queensland and resin art was still in its early days, so there were no courses around to do. I went back to the drawing board and just started trying things. I’d used resin to coat my paintings before, but only ever as a clear coat so have no idea about colourants or techniques. I spent a tonne of money again (sorry hubby), trying to crack the code. I watched video after video and found tutorials wherever I could, and stumbled on a resin brand that actually worked with what I was trying to achieve. I wanted that beautiful, crisp, clean lacing that forms the foamy waves on so many pieces in the Mojo Flow Art range.

 I’d finally had a win! I had a product that worked and I practiced soooooo very much. I couldn’t wait for the kids to go to bed each night so I could create and practice some more! From the very start of my resin journey, there was a very strong voice in my head telling me that I could totally do this. I could make money out of doing something that I actually loved. After toying with the idea for many months, I finally told my husband that this is what I wanted to do and came up with a plan on how I was going to do it. Once it was out in the open, I was super keen to make it work. I wanted what pretty much all of us want. I wanted more freedom to spend with my family. I wanted more time to do the simple things in our face-paced lives; like read a book or go fishing if the weather is right. I felt that I was on that continual treadmill of work, kids, husband and not having enough time to spend on myself and those were my motivating factors to really make a go of it.

 In the beginning, I worked super long hours. Early mornings and continual late nights. I worked my “normal” job and then did art in every spare minute I had in between. It was bloody tough going! But after a couple of months, I executed my plan – Quit my job and started working for myself. I thought it was going to get easier, now only having one job, but my goodness I was wrong. I had a lot of new woodworking skills to learn and existing ones to polish, I had to learn to build a website and figure out how social media actually works instead of just using it to upload our camping holiday snaps. Here I am writing my first blog post and hoping that I can figure out how to upload it correctly to my blog page that is currently under construction – by me!! I had to perfect my craft. I seemed to have less time than I did before!! Then throw in Christmas… This was the time that it became apparent that I actually could make a career out of my artwork. I was posting pieces all over Australia and had a constant flow of locals coming to buy Christmas gifts right up until late on Christmas Eve. It was super hectic.

 So getting back to the title of this story “How I was able to become a Full-time Artist”, I guess I was able to because of my passion for this kind of art. I took a risk and actually backed myself (for once), and I listened to the messages that the universe was giving me. I asked questions, and it provided answers. I put in a lot of hard work and still do each and every day. Here I am writing this at 11:35pm at night which is waaaaaay past my bedtime, but it’s all a part of the plan.

I’m certainly not someone who claims to have gone from working for someone else to owning my own business and making millions. I don’t aspire to make millions. It would be nice, but I just want to contribute to our family income, do something that I love and have the time to do all of the other things that I love. To me, that’s the richest I ever wish to be…