Meet Betty Walker | Artist and Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Betty Walker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Betty, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
A little over 4 years ago, I was a stay-at-home mother with my two older boys and pregnant with my third. Previously, I had worked in Welfare and was a trained teacher. Both careers are known for being extremely demanding. Being the mother of small children, and having recently relocated across the country, was also very demanding. However, I found it to be isolating too. I started this creative business as a way to interact with the world outside my home. This business allowed me to create something of my own and prioritize my own creativity while also caring for my children. It allowed me to be present for my children while also setting personal goals and deadlines for shows, submissions, murals, teaching classes, and commissions.

Having always worked with the community, I found ways to bring the community into my art. I have worked with schools creating interactive murals and teaching my painting techniques. I have created community interactive murals for businesses. I also donate art and time to local nonprofits. I love being able to use my art as a way to invest in my community.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Before pursuing art as a business, art was a type of therapy for me. I am a self-taught artists, who has not taken a traditional art class since middle school. I have learned techniques through a lot of trial and error… mostly error. As a result, I am always focused on the learning process. This is one of the reasons why I love teaching art classes to adults and children. There is something magical when an adult lets go and tries something new and creative. I always have classes start with introductions and ask everyone to identify how experienced they are with watercolor. The majority of people identify that they have not tried to paint with watercolors since elementary art class. They are apprehensive and disbelieving that they could ever walk away from this 2 hour class with anything resembling my example. I always remind everyone, I am a trained educator and I am not going to leave anyone behind. Then I break down the painting in a way that it becomes attainable in a comfortable and safe environment.

With traditional paintings, I am particularly interested in the tension between organically flowing paint and detailed pen or graphite work. When starting my art business, my main mediums were watercolor and coffee painting. Yes, coffee painting. I had been painting with watercolor for a number of years when a friend of mine challenged me to learn how to paint using coffee as a medium. I spent weeks perfecting how to brew the coffee and make the paint. Art became chemistry. This new and exciting medium surprises me every time I use it. It acts similarly to watercolor, yet its monotone quality and naturally occurring oil create new challenges. Never did painting smell so good. Within my first year in business, my confidence with this unique medium prompted me to reach out the Starbucks, which resulted in them hiring me to paint live in Chicago for 2 days at a leadership conference. The 6 ft long painting, titled “The Evolution of the Siren,” now hangs in Starbucks Corporate. This was a month before the New York Coffee Festival, where I was one of only 33 artists selected for the show with my mixed medium coffee and watercolor map of the world entitled, “The Impact of Coffee.” Since then, I was one of only 2 international artists accepted to the London Coffee Festival with a watercolor ode to coffee farmers entitled, “The Gift.” Coffee has become a big part of my business, not just as a medium but as a subject.

Murals are an aspect of my business that brings me great excitement. Never did I think my high school job of painting houses would give me so many transferable skills. What I enjoy most about murals is working within my abilities and style to meet the specific requirements of the commissioner. Every mural represents a partnership. Whether that is a line art coffee mural for a local coffee shop, children’s murals for a bookstore or game shop, interactive murals with students at their schools, or murals within private residences; there is a balance between creativity, expectations, and reality. Recently, I painted an outdoor mural at a private residence where I recreated a vacation photo from Breckenridge, Colorado. Using the photo as a guide, the mountain line, tree line, reservoir, and even the rock placements were as close as I could get to the photo with house paint. But, not everything was exactly as it was in the photo. While recreating the photo on the side of their potter’s shed, I add a bull elk into the foreground as a nod to the herds of elk that roam the reservoir area. Now this home has a little piece of vacation in its backyard.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have overwhelming respect and thankfulness for the support of my husband, Mark Walker. He is not only an encourager, he is a business manager, art critic, sounding board, roadie, networker, and safe space. He has always believed in my ability to create and has wholeheartedly supported my pursuit of my art business.

Website: bettywalkerstudio.com

Instagram: @Bettywalkerstudio

Facebook: Betty Walker Studio

Other: Email: Betty@bettywalkerstudio.com

Image Credits
Headshots: RProductions