Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Cooper.
Hi Courtney, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In April of 2020, my husband got me a watercolor palette for my birthday. I’d been painting again for a few years, but this palette brought a new exciting feat ahead of me.
I’d never painted with watercolor before because it’s quite fickle as a medium, but it’s exciting to see how it moves and changes. From there, I created my first collection, “The Solace of Open Spaces” of which I only have one piece left because I couldn’t bear to part with it!
Today, I’m painting watercolor collections, commissions, and live wedding paintings. They all raised their eyebrows when I unloaded my easel at that first wedding… but then I started painting…
And they couldn’t get enough of seeing the sweet couple’s love story come to life through watercolor live event painting!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My entire business started because one Christmas we didn’t have the money to buy Christmas presents for the kids.
We also needed new tires for my husband’s car AND BONUS — I was seven months pregnant with our third baby at the time.
So in order to make the money to pay for those things, I thought about what I could bring to the table and it dawned on me that I hadn’t painted in YEARS. This love that I had been overshadowed by a lot of other things, and now I had this opportunity to bring it back into the light and use it to help my family.
I felt so proud that Christmas knowing I had made the money we needed as a family, and hey, maybe this art side hustle could actually go somewhere.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
“Impression — I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it … and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.” — Claude Monet.
I think of myself as a modern impressionist. I have always loved classical art and I have loved learning about the master painters when I look at the impressionist I feel like my work falls squarely into that category.
There are lots of different styles of art, and if you want a super realistic painting then that is not what I do. Instead with impressionism what you get is the feeling of the moment the essence of the impression if you will of the moment in time you get your moment frozen in time.
And the best part about it is it doesn’t have a shelf life because styles come and go but impressionism has stood the test of time and continues to be a popular painting style.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Watercolor is a fickle medium — and you have to be willing to ebb and flow with it as it moves and changes. Honestly, if I were working in acrylic or oil I could fix my mistakes. But the beauty of watercolor (and part of the reason I fell in love with it) is that there aren’t fixes — it’s a one-shot wonder.
You only have one shot to get it right, and that’s what I think makes watercolor the most impressive of all the mediums (or ways to paint). There’s no way to outsmart it or fix mistakes.
As someone who loves competition and thrives under pressure, knowing that it has to be perfect the first time makes me excited! And I don’t necessarily think it’s luck, but good sense to keep practicing!
Here’s the other thing: I have 3 kids 6 and under and have painted with them in tow for the last 6 years. One of my superpowers is working quickly in a time crunch while under pressure and intense scrutiny.
Pricing:
- Custom commissions begin at $1,000.
- Live painting collections begin at $3,800.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.courtneykibby.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/courtneykibbydesigns
- Facebook: facebook.com/courtneykibbydesigns
Image Credits
Holly Felts Photography, Ashton Marie Photography, Courtney Bowlden Photography, Katie Julia Photography, and Redamancy Photo Film
