Interview with Wendy McWilliams, who teaches how to paint with passion!
Lots of artists create abstract work. But an artist that teaches how to make abstract work? That’s a unique treasure! Wendy McWilliams is an abstract artist based in Nashville that teaches people about art through her course.
But Wendy’s story is the true selling point of why we love her. Painting is her passion — she’s even painted with coffee when she couldn’t afford real paint! Today, she makes a full time living around her art. And she’s not afraid to talk about her journey to that point. It’s quite a tale!
Me: First of all, tell me about your path to becoming an artist! Is it ever a path you foresaw for yourself?
Wendy: No, absolutely not. I’ve been painting a little over eight years now. I’m fifty-six years old. So I lived a really, really full life before that. I had a lot of jobs — I’ve had 22 jobs in my life.
How did you find your way here?
The last duty station (my husband was in the military) we moved to [was in] El Paso, Texas. And I was just having a really, really tough time finding work there because I didn’t speak Spanish. And that area, in order to get any work at all, you have to be bilingual. I speak German fluently, but I didn’t speak Spanish.
So I thought, what am I going to do? So I went into Hobby Lobby and I thought, well maybe I need a hobby. [laughs] I went scouring around the store and I looked at different things.
I grabbed this boy that worked there and I said, “I’m looking for a hobby. What would you suggest that people like to do?” Because I had never done anything creative in my life. I had never thought of doing anything creative; this was my first venture into it. At that age, I was in my later forties.
I said, “What about painting?”
And he said, “Oh, painting’s really hard. Why don’t you try rock cutting or polishing or something?”
And I said, “No.”
I bought a pad of watercolor paper. I didn’t know acrylics, I didn’t know oils. I didn’t know anything about paint. But I just grabbed some colors, a little kit of acrylic. I bought some books too that showed you step by step how to paint an orchid and [such].
That’s wonderful. So what was your favorite job before this job? What would you think you would be doing in Texas?
I was a merchandiser for Calvin Klein fragrances. So I would create fragrance displays with the different Calvin Klein perfumes.
Now that I look back on it, I realize I was very creative. I wasn’t an artist [or] a painter. But I look back at all the jobs I had: I was an activities director for a nursing home, and I did yoga classes and I created schedules with different programs for them. And they were all creative.
I didn’t connect the dots until I became a painter that I realized. So I am a very creative person, but I never realized that… all the connections and the ways that people live a creative life. You know what I’m saying? Like music is creative. Dressing yourself is creativity. There are so many things that are considered art, in my opinion.
What drew you to abstract art specifically?
So when I started with the painting, I started with realism, of course. The first orchid I painted, I absolutely hated it. The first thing I said to myself was, “My god, that boy was right. Painting is very hard.” [laughs]
So I thought, “Well, I’m just forgetting this hobby. I’m going to go look for something different.” But something inside of me said, “Wendy, just do another orchid. But relax. Just loosen up.”
That’s a very kind voice.
I loved that orchid. I knew then that there was a connection between my intuition and my work. I needed to not think and get out of my own way.
I was hooked. I was totally hooked. I became completely obsessed. I mean, day and night. I would go to bed late, and I would get up really early in the morning, like four or five in the morning. And I would paint all day. My ex-husband would leave and go to work. And when he came home at night, I was still in my pajamas. I hadn’t showered. There was paint everywhere.
I have to say that I think I was born the day I started painting.
That’s wonderful! And you just kept creating.
I just kept going. I went to the library and I got stacks and stacks of books on art and artists. And paint, different paintings. I would study them and would copy a lot of the masters’ work[s], and try different styles.
I really didn’t like abstract work at that time because I was like most people that look at abstract and think, “Ew! I don’t get this!”
And then I started trying it. And of course, in the first few months of doing it, it was hideous. Just absolutely terrible abstract work.
But then as I started really allowing myself to just not judge it, I started to really see the beauty in it and my work started improving. And that’s when I made the switch; I just decided, “This feels good to me.” And so I gave up on realism completely. [laughs]
When and how did you make the leap to full time artist?
At that time, my ex-husband made very good money so I didn’t need to work. I could just hone my craft. I didn’t even realize that it was going to be something that I would make money at. It was just something I loved doing; I didn’t even know anything about the art world and money and all that. I was completely naive to all that.
Well, a couple of years into that, our marriage crumbled. My painting had something to do with that because I was madly in love with it and didn’t have room for anything else.
So here I am, 50 years old and not employed. [I] was getting a small amount of alimony. But I decided that I was not going to get a job. I decided that I was going to be making money off art and living off of it.
That must have been a huge leap at the time.
It was terrifying. I thought for sure I was going to be eating cat food! [laughs]
But you felt compelled to keep going.
Absolutely. I knew that what I was doing, I was supposed to be doing it. And I was going to figure it out — God, the Universe, was going to provide a way to do [it]. And it happened.
It was insane. Of course I was struggling financially, big time. If one bad thing had happened… there were periods where I was homeless. I mean, I was getting food from a food pantry. I went from having a very comfortable life with my ex — travelling all over the world, lots of money, never thought about money — to not knowing.
But through it all, I would get small glimpses of knowing. Someone would call me and say, “Hey, Wendy. I have a hospital here in Lancaster and we’d like to buy three of your large paintings for our lobby.” Out of the blue! I’d get $4000. That kept me going.
That’s how it continued to go. People I didn’t know would send me supplies. Like canvas shipments would come to my door. I had patrons. I know that’s what they’re called. At the time, I didn’t know that. But they were people that believed in my work and believed in my talent, and would boost me by giving me either money or buying my work.
So I knew that I wasn’t going to work at McDonald’s or do something else. I was going to stay with being an artist.
Does art fuel your income entirely at this point?
I’m so proud to say that I’ve made the most money I’ve ever made last year, in 2017. Probably more than I’ve made in the last 3–4 years combined. I’m financially doing very well with my art.
Congratulations!
Thank you!
How does teaching your course fit into your overall business plan?
The course kinda came out of the plan. It is not something I ever thought I would do. Same with teaching live workshops in my home. That means it developed organically through the years.
People would say, “Wendy, do you have a course? Do you have an online course?” And I would constantly think, “I don’t know how to do that. I’m not tech savvy at all.” I had no idea. And I would get this question probably 4–5 times a week from people.
Maybe a month and a half, two months I’ve been on Coursecraft. Sara liked one of my paintings and I went to look at her Instagram and I saw that she had something called Coursecraft, a platform for online courses. And I thought, “Oh my god! This is what I’m talking about!”
And now I realize this is a wonderful supplemental income to me. Then I also do live workshops in my home and I also travel to do workshops.
So my income now has many prongs to it. It’s not just selling art. It’s teaching classes, and doing online courses.
I think you have to have many different streams of income to be able to be a full time artist. And you just build it. I think if I was working a job before, I would have gradually been able to quit my job.
Do you believe that every artist should teach? Would you recommend teaching to any artist that you knew?
I would never say that because I don’t even consider myself a teacher. I consider myself an artist that people seem to feel comfortable wanting to know more about, me and how I paint. That’s something about the courses I’ve tried to stress to people [who] sign up for my course. If you’re looking for a tutorial or a step by step, you’re not going to get that with my course. My courses are a glimmer into my world: How I create, the way I approach a canvas. But I’m an intuitive artist. I’m not an artist that can say, “Here’s step by step [how to] do this.” Because that’s not me. And I don’t consider myself a teacher. I consider myself more of a mentor to other artists that are trying to maybe become more brave, become more self-confident. Because all these things that I’ve had to learn have been hard for me. You know, this is really difficult, to do a course and have the courage to stand up and paint. And I don’t know what’s going to turn up on that canvas. It could be a terrible painting. [laughs] I have to be brave and think, “This is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
So I don’t recommend that for all artists. Maybe you don’t have the personality for it. Some people don’t have that personality. But I do believe that if you try it and you feel moved to do it, you’d be surprised.
So you view your students as co-painters and you’re here to guide them?
That’s perfect. [I’m here to] guide them through my process. And I hope they find their own voices.
What’s on the horizon for you?
I painted strictly only for a few years. Now this is becoming a new avenue for me that I’m feeling. I love growing into it and seeing where it takes me. I will keep doing more courses. I’m going to add one more paper painting class and then I’m going to do another. The next one is going to be me maybe talking about acrylic paints, the type of paints, and comparing pigments, things like that.
But i’m going to continue on. I’m going to be doing more workshops. I’m doing another one in Memphis, and I’m doing one in Oklahoma live. So I’m just kinda feeling it right now. It feels good to explore this part of my art career.
Say you met an artist and they wanted to make art their full time job. What advice would you give them?
I’m going to just say this: Talent is important, but luck is really important [too]. I never had a goal in my mind when I first started to become a full time artist. My goal was just to paint and really know paint. Know painting and be present with my paintings and loved what I was doing. And I think anybody that’s successful at anything will tell you the first thing you need is to love what you do. I mean really love it. I see a lot of people want to be full time artists and they don’t paint a whole lot. They don’t paint that often. I was painting day and night for years. I would do coffee grounds and coffee because I didn’t have money for paint. So you have to have that because there’s going to be horrible times where you think you’re not going to be able to do this. And when you have those horrible times, if you don’t really love what you’re doing that much, that it’s everything to you, you’re going to quit.
So you have to have a “why” because even now when I sell 8 or 9 paintings one week, [ then] I’ll go 2 or 3 weeks and I’ll think, “Meh, maybe people aren’t going to buy my work anymore.” And that’s when I gotta dig into that love and think. “It doesn’t matter. I have to continue because I love doing it.”
So the only advice I can give to someone is to trust, [and] look for signs that you are on your path. You will get signs if you’re not. I think a lot of things have to come: Opportunity, luck, and devotion to your craft.
Here’s where you can find Wendy:
