Wild self-belief and artrepreneurship with Dutch artist Wendy Buiter

Wendy Buiter—internationally celebrated artist and now head of the eponymous Wendy Buiter Art Academy!

Welcome to another colorful Friday, my friends!

I hope that this finds you well, and having had a most colorful week. Fridays I like to publish new blog posts and podcast episodes, so here we are with the third episode of Coloring My Way Across The Globe.

You may recall from a previous blog post when I was on a layover in Holland that I interviewed my dear friend and mentor in art—Wendy Buiter. It was such a joy to meet her finally in person and hear her perspective on so many aspects of life and entrepreneurship.

Wild self-belief and “artrpreneurship” are two of the many topics covered by this renowned Dutch artist on episode 3 of my podcast, Coloring My Way Across The Globe.

She graciously shared her business and creative insights, and in my opinion is a stellar example of someone unwaveringly committed to the pursuit of dreams and goals!

Have a listen at the link below, friends.

Soon after we met in person, Wendy reached out about the launch of her very own art academy. This is her latest passion project—something borne out of her love of teaching others how to cultivate their artistic style and turn art into a business for themselves. Wendy will be the first to tell you that she isn’t an art instructor per se. No, her interest lies in teaching you the methodology of artistic self-discovery and the road to an artistic career through “artrepreneurship” as she calls it.

This leads me to my other topic of the day; that is, my own journey as an artist. Through the Wendy Buiter Art Academy, I have been working behind the scenes to experiment with my art subjects, techniques and methods, and to build the business side of things.

One such business project is the crafting of an artist statement, which you will find below, friends. What do you think? An artist statement is designed to convey as succinctly as possible who I am as an artist, what type of art I create, what subjects inspire me, and what media and techniques I use.

Myself—an emerging artist in action to complete a colorful travel illustration!

Colorful. Layered. Globally influenced. Exploratory.

As an artist, I have a found a way to combine my passions of color, culture, travel, language learning and landscapes into art that tells a story. I create art as an act of love for the people and destinations I discover through my extensive travels. I create work to document the journey and visually share experiences with you. Each of my masterpieces evokes feelings of escapism and adventure as you, the observer, can imagine yourself right alongside me as I set out on another sojourn.

Above all else, my creative passion is infused with the thoughtful use of color. My artwork is based largely on personal photography and travel journals, and I always begin with a color palette in mind. Oftentimes a door or some bright architectural space, or even the color of florals or sea, will bring rise to a color palette I choose for my next piece. The subjects I most like to sketch and render are florals, doors and vignettes of places off the beaten path.

I sketch in pen—not pencil—discarding the notion of endless erased lines to achieve perfection—weaving any initial “rogue” pen strokes into the final masterpiece itself. Working with whatever lines I create on the canvas, I then layer and embellish the subject with a mix of oil pastels, watercolors, chalk or dry pastels, colored pencils and gold paint. Layering materials, colors and surfaces adds richness and texture to my pieces. My art is done on small scale—usually 11’ x 14’—watercolor paper or non-traditional surfaces such as restaurant placemats and roughly textured paint masking paper.

I experiment with different paper, materials and colors quite often. This was my first pencil sketch on black paper, and I absolutely love the color contrasts here!

Constantly evolving and growing as an artist, I experiment with a variety of techniques and media to convey my love for people, culture and customs worldwide—as well as a sense of adventure. The result is always colorful, vibrant, layered, textured, experimental, playful and exuberant.

I create artwork in dedication to the people, places and experiences I meet around the globe, and to the way they’ve touched my heart and enriched my life. I create this art FOR you, though, my lovely art patrons—to inspire, encourage and teach you to have your own travels and adventures along the way.

What a joyful artist and friend and all around entrepreneurial genius you are, Wendy! Thank you for the friendship and mentorship.

Friends, that’s all for today! I sincerely hope that you will listen to Episode 3 of the podcast featuring Wendy. Our conversation was quite insightful and I am grateful to have had her as a guest.

Colorful regards,

Lauren B.