How it all started...

If you’ve known me for a while you probably remember a time where I was a weightlifting junkie who was studying to become a cop. Fast forward a few years, I didn’t become a cop and I was living with my partner in my father-inlaws basement. This was where I started to discover myself on a deeper level. We eventually ended up buying our first home which was a little townhouse in the village where my partner grew up. That’s when the self-discovery sped up for me. I finally had my own space where I could openly express myself the way I wanted to express myself and live the way I wanted to live.

During this period of my life I isolated myself a bit more from friends and family so that I could have the space I needed to meet myself. COVID kinda made this part a bit easy considering people were being told to isolate. My weightlifting slowed down, and I guess, so did I. My priorities had shifted. The priority was now myself and discovering just exactly who I was and who I wanted to be. I started to meditate, setting boundaries with friends and family, journaling and just really taking care of myself. 

Through this work I started taking myself out on dates and trying new things. That’s where painting comes in. I started painting in March 2022 with 0 experience. All I knew was that I was feeling a pull to start painting. That pull kept getting stronger and stronger. One night my partner, Jason, was going out to play virtual golf with his friends and asked that I drive him there. I had already been feeling pretty emotional and anxious that day so on my way back home from dropping him off I decided to stop at a dollar store to pick up a few different paint colours, brushes, canvases and a few other painting supplies. That’s when I started experimenting with my creative side. And well, just like that I fell in love.

It’s a bit funny for me to think about this because before painting came along I wasn’t a fan of most colours. Wether it came to dressing myself or decorating the space I lived in, I would always pick black, white, grey or neutral tones. It’s also funny because when I was in high school and had to pick between gym class or art class, I chose gym. As much as I loved gym class and finding fitness really helped me develop confidence, I also feel that I never let myself fully discover my creative side. I mean I discovered I had a talent for sketching at a young age and I also built a birdhouse out of sticks and rocks in grade 8. So clearly I always had a creative side, but it’s like I never allowed myself to explore it.

So after my first solo paint night in 2022 I started painting weekly. I tried different techniques, made a lot of mistakes, played around with lots of colours and my passion for art kept growing deeper and deeper. More specifically my love for pouring art grew deeper. I loved how the colours just flowed. I loved how I could dance to music while painting and the paint would move with me. I loved that I had absolutely no idea how the paint would settle and what my painting would end up being. It brought me a sense of peace. Like I wasn’t just pouring art on a canvas, but I was also pouring all my feelings out. It became a release. 

So I painted, painted and painted some more. My family and friends started buying some and requesting custom pieces which made me realize “well shit. I can make this a thing”. Plus paintings just kept accumulating and my house was starting to look like an art exhibit because I had paintings hanging everywhere. My partner started calling me Gabaso instead of Picaso. 

One day I was driving in our small town and I saw a sign for a market coming up and I decided on a whim to register as a vendor. This was the first time I had ever participated in a market. I had no idea what to expect or how to prepare myself. I literally decided to do this out of nowhere and I am so happy I did! It ended up going incredibly well. I met amazing people and sold 5 of my paintings to people I didn’t know for the very first time. This was just more proof that I could make this “a thing”.

I kept experimenting with different techniques and advertising my work on instagram and Facebook. One day I thought to myself how cool it would be if I could have my art printed on certain products so that I could bring a pop of colour and life in people’s everyday life rather than just on their wall. So I started to look into it and made it happen. I found different print providers and made sample orders with them to see if this would actually work. To my surprise, it did. Once I got my first few sample orders and saw how well the products turned out, I started creating more prints and designing more products. 

I originally started selling my products on Etsy because it was easier since they basically took care of everything for me and all I had to do was post my products. The thing is, I had to pay a portion of my sale to Etsy, I had to follow their guidelines and I also had to learn how their algorithm worked so my products would make it in front of buyers. So I decided, since I knew how to build a website, why not do it myself.  

There you have it, that’s how this all started. Now I just hope to continue growing this business  because it’s something I am incredibly passionate about. I love to try new things and take requests so if you have anything you’d like me to create please give me a shout.

-xox Gab-