Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacquelyn Hoffman.
Hi Jacquelyn, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been painting and drawing for most of my life…while most kids wanted to play with toys, all I wanted to do was get my hands on markers and paper. I decided in high school I wanted to be an art teacher hoping to spread my creativity and a love for art to others. When I graduated college in 2010, I had a Bachelor’s degree in Art Education but I couldn’t find a job anywhere. Instead of finding something out of my field, I took a risk with a close friend and we started a children’s art studio together called The Art Spark: A Creative Classroom. Skip forward to the year 2020 and The Art Spark is doing great with summer camps filled, birthday parties booked, etc… when Covid-19 hit. Our little studio was forced to temporarily shut down along with countless other small businesses. I was feeling lost and scared and put up a Facebook post about doing watercolor pet portraits to help my husband and I financially. I had no idea that here in 2022 I’d still be painting away… making pet portraits and sending them all over the USA! We opened The Art Spark back up as well and I’m able to paint my portraits and run my studio. I’m so grateful for where this crazy journey has ended up!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As I mentioned previously, there were plenty of roadblocks along the way. When I first opened Art Spark, I was essentially working three jobs just to make ends meet. In addition to starting a business, I was babysitting and hostessing at a restaurant. There were a lot of people around me that doubted our business could succeed due to the fact I didn’t have a business degree and we didn’t take out a loan. My business partner and I loved what we were doing and tried to work together to understand who our customers were and what they wanted. In the end, we have a successful business that’s been running for 12 years! With my pet portraits, it’s been hard to keep up with demand! It’s a great problem to have so I’m trying to come up with new ways I could sell my paintings such as Etsy, my own website, etc.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I paint people’s pets! I work with a combination of watercolor, gouache, and ink on cold press watercolor paper. My client sends me photos of their pet and they also choose a fun wreath to go around their pet. A lot of clients pick colors they love or plants and flowers that match their home decor. I also add a special name banner to their portrait. I try to capture their pet along with all the pet’s quirks, distinguishing features, etc.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I’d love to chat with other artists about how they’ve successfully grown their own business!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @petportraitsbyjacquelyn
