Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Fenker.
Hi Amanda, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
All my earliest memories include being obsessed with art and creating. Once I could speak, I would tell anyone how I was going to grow up to be an artist, although my family still teases me because the way I expressed this at first was by saying I was going to be a museum. I felt that same passion continue throughout my entire childhood and teenage years. By the time I was heading to college, the “starving artist” myth was deeply ingrained in my brain and I tried to ignore my desire to create beautiful things and get serious about a career that wouldn’t lead to starving. I ended up changing my major, maybe, twelve times? Eventually I graduated with a Fishery and Wildlife Conservation degree and moved to Hawai’i where I was working on tourism boats and contributing to whale and dolphin research. As soon as I graduated, I found the need to create greater than ever and eventually that led to painting. I had always been a jane-of-all-crafts but once I picked up my first paint brush as an adult I never looked back. I’d wake up at dawn before work so I could have the chance to paint before a twelve hour day. It wasn’t long before selling my work at markets took the place of my job and I’ve never looked back. When I first was introduced to the concept of live wedding painting by a planner, I thought, no way would I ever do that! To be vulnerable and paint in front of so many people was terrifying. But I’ve always been one who needs to go after the things that scare me, so I volunteered to gift my first wedding painting to a couple for free. As soon as I did it I was enamored. I loved the pressure, the magic, and getting to share my painting with people in a whole new way. I find the entire process so enchanting and since moving to the Carolina’s a year and a half ago, it has been the primary aspect of my business, although I definitely plan to release some personal collections this year and continue to grow in the art world.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not always! I can’t say I’ve gotten through a week since starting my own business, wondering what I am doing and why I can’t just settle for a “normal job.” Business was perhaps the only one of those college majors I had never had any interest in. I never understood the allure and it certainly doesn’t come easily to me. But the desire to spend my time creating and sharing beauty with the world is so much stronger than my natural instincts to run from business ownership and the endless responsibilities that come with it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In short, I paint. Currently, the majority of my business focuses on live wedding and event painting, creating one-of-a-kind keepsakes that capture the emotion and energy of a moment in real time and I absolutely love it. Through my brand, Amanda By Nature, I focus on expressive brushwork, elegant color palettes, and intuitive storytelling in hope of transforming fleeting moments and feelings into lasting art. I don’t just observe and paint, I truly feel the atmosphere and do my best to translate that feeling onto the canvas. I think a lot of the time artists have trouble creating for others and translating someone else’s vision, but I’ve found I am lit up by the challenge to collaborate with my clients and create something that I have interpreted from what they’ve told me is important to them. My mission with every painting is to spread enchantment and remind people just how vibrant and beautiful the world is. This is true for live painting and my studio practice and I am looking forward to growing in both.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
So many people! My very first inspiration was my mom. She had taken an oil painting workshop before I was born and had gifted the painting to my grandparents. Every Sunday when we went to visit them we would talk about the painting hanging above their couch and I just couldn’t get over it. I told all my friends that my mom was a real artist, that she had framed paintings hanging on walls. It was really just that one painting but in my head I was convinced she was an artist first and foremost, a mom and a department store employee second. I feel honored to say that painting is now hanging in my home. I’m also lucky to have a beyond supportive husband who seems to stand by all my crazy ideas and I would’ve thrown in the towel a very long time ago if I didn’t have him to talk to whenever the imposter syndrome really kicks in – which feels like all the time!
I also have found so much support from the artist community and specifically recently the live painting community. In January we met in Charleston for Layover Events, a live painting conference put on by Cloud Studio Agency and Chloe Campbell. I also have learned so much from Stephanie Gaffney of Torregosa Fine Art. She is a veteran in the live painting world and is an open book. I would definitely consider her a mentor.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amandabynature.com
- Instagram: @amandabynature.paints
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090959533023
