Meet Jackie Lukianov | Freelance Watercolorist

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

Hi Jackie, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m originally from Southern California, now living in the Front Range of Colorado, born and raised in the ghettos of the Inland Empire. My mom had me at the young age of 17 with little help from family; we were poor and struggled for a very long time. My dad was long gone before I was born. When I met him at the age of 10, he was pretty worthless and too self absorbed to develop a true relationship with him. I think my mom single parenting me really shaped how I am today. She was determined and driven to do whatever she could in order to provide for her small family. I learned this individuality and strength from her early on and knew that confidence, even if faked, would carry me a long way in life. Growing up dirt poor really taught me how to be responsible with money, or frugal some might say, almost to a fault.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What sets me apart from others, I think anyone who uses watercolors knows how challenging it is. It is one of the least forgiving mediums in the arts, and in my opinion, one of the hardest to master. You have to be confident in what you are painting, or know that mistakes are going to happen. I think because I work so tight with watercolor, it often gets mistaken for color pencils, but I’ve never been able to confidently master working loose. I enjoy making realistic watercolor paintings, I enjoy the challenge of it, even if the process takes forever. It’s always fun to see someones reaction when they realize it’s paint and not pencil on the paper.

Somewhere between middle school and high school, I decided I wanted to take to the arts. I knew it was something I could go far in, even knowing the challenges and struggles in the industry, I had my heart and time set on it. I can’t say it was easy, and I defiantly had many challenges along the way. My first major hurdle was trying to get to college as no one in my family had ever been, nor did we have the money to throw at it. I attended community college first and the winter before I was going to attend university, I became pregnant. I took 18 months off in order to birth my daughter and look after her as long as I could for her infancy. But once she was 9 months old, I felt it was time to finish my BA. 2 years later, many 90 mile a day commutes, MANY all-nighters, and single parenting, I finished with honors.

It wasn’t easy, it’s still not easy. When one challenge ends, something else rises. Now that I am a bit more established in my craft, the hard part is getting consistent work. Fortunately with modern day artists, clients are at the touch of our fingers with social media and the world wide web. One the down side, now artists have to film themselves, or their process of creating… and then we have to edit this, post it, promote it.. share it, and hope that someone out there likes it enough to want it for themselves. Now artists juggle every hat, promoter, advertising, video editing, social media managers… You name it, we’ve done it.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned over the years is to try my hardest to take my self worth and value out of the equation. I am worth more than the likes and follows on social media. And just because I didn’t make enough sales at one market, doesn’t mean I’m a bad artist. Yeah it hurts my feelings and I get pretty down on myself, but there is not a correlation between my art and how I value myself. Sometimes the markets didn’t have enough foot traffic, or maybe I posted something at the wrong time of day, or used the wrong music.. but at the end of the day, my art is my expression, and not how I should be valued as a person.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Spots in the city are far and few between for me, partly because I am new ish to the area and still discovering what I like and enjoy here, but also because if I leave the house to do something fun, it usually involves leaving the city and hitting the mountains for some rock climbing. If my best friends were to show up, we would 100% be going climbing somewhere far away from reception. Being in the front range area gives that huge benefit to all the world class climbing surrounding us. Of course we would have to eat, and Mexican food is generally liked, so we would hit up the El Tapatio! A favorite breakfast/brunch location is the Huckleberry! Would not be a trip without a visit there. If they are visiting during the summer months, then we would have to hit up Waterworld!! One of the largest water parks in the country, and it does not disappoint.

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?
Not to be cliche, but my mom has been my biggest supporter from the very beginning, and I wouldn’t be here in this position, if it wasn’t for her. My mom didn’t graduate high school, she had no idea how to even navigate this, nor someone going to college. But I had big goals and wanted to make them happen. Even though she was not in the know, my mom was able to put me in touch with the right people that did know. And when I wanted to pursue art, she had no hesitations or questions about my decision. Through all our struggles and challenges, she supported my hopes and dreams.

Website: https://jackietrejoart.bigcartel.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackietrejoart/

Other: Personal IG: https://www.instagram.com/jackielukianov/

Image Credits
Photo 1 PC: Coleman Becker