This fortnight, Ros and Laura bring you an interview with the incredible self taught artist - Joan Blond. In this episode we talk about how Joan came into her art practice after a life transition, now realising she had grown kids with their own lives - she found herself with more time alone and she found solace in diving into an art practice as something she could do for herself. Having grown up with art when she was younger with her mum being an artist, Joan was interested in developing her skills as a painter. 

She started off painting things that she enjoyed (which she still does to this day) but some of her first subject matter was horses. She started painting them in bright colours then moved onto the broader animal category, she was sharing her work online and people were liking them and buying them and then she started to transition into abstract painting. From sharing her art online she was approached by Art to Art. Joan says that she never approached anyone but galleries would approach her - and it snowballed .

At the start when things were taking off she still kept her job in Law as a legal secretary and she was painting at night. She found that it was becoming really tiring juggling both her commissioned paintings, producing work for stockists and her job. So she decided to get “brave” and follow her dream, and with continued success in her art career she has been painting ever since the day she made that decision to leave!

She had some great exposure when she received a phone call asking if she was happy to have some of her paintings featured on TV show the Block. Two of her paintings were in Kerrie and Spencers home and they won that season! 

Joan has some exciting things coming up - Currently she has a Black Friday Sale on her paintings. As well as a solo exhibition at Gullotti Galleries in Perth - at the start of december 2023 so keep an eye out on Joan’s Instagram to find out the details for both of these events.

Hope that you enjoy this really inspirational interview with Joan - We love hearing from our listeners, please let us know what takeaways you have from this episode by sending us a DM!

PODCAST LINKS:

Follow Joan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanblond/

Visit Joan’s Art Website: https://joanblondart.com/

FIND US AND FOLLOW US ONLINE!

Follow Laura on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurajaneday/ 

Follow Ros on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosgervayart

And to book a creative kick-start coaching session with Laura or to find out more about her workshops please visit: https://laurajaneday.com/

For more information about Ros’ Art For The Heart membership visit https://www.permissiontopaint.co or to see Ros’ artwork please visit http://www.rosgervayart.com

Join the WAITLIST for Laura’s new 8 week online group coaching program - Go to: https://laurajaneday.com/waitlist

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Catch you in the next episode!