Hilarie Couture — Continuous Growth & Learning

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On today's episode we sat down with Hilarie Couture, a figurative artist who has had an extensive and varied career path, including stints as a street portrait artist, hairdresser, auctioneer, and historic preservationist. She rediscovered her passion for painting later in life and has since become a full-time artist, working primarily in pastel and oil. Hilary emphasizes the importance of continuous learning, remembering to always focus on the fundamentals, experimentation, and building connections within the art community. She also offers advice to aspiring artists about balancing financial stability and artistic ambitions, as well as the value of thinking creatively about marketing one's work and seeking out opportunities in even the most common places. Finally Hilarie tells us about her studio sale!

Hilarie's FASO site:
https://www.hcouturearts.com/

Hilarie's Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/hcouturearts1/

Hilarie's Newsletter sign up:
https://www.hcouturearts.com/email-newsletter

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Transcript:

Hilarie Couture: 0:00

To be dedicated, to go back to the fundamentals. It's so important. I think that if you're trying to be a representational artist anyway, that you really need to know how to draw, and you need to understand all of the fundamentals. I think it's so important. And then also, if you don't have time to create on a, you know, regular basis, always try to keep yourself as educated as possible. So you know, podcasts and books and YouTube videos, and there's so many things that you can source now to help to grow honestly.

Laura Arango Baier: 0:43

Welcome to the bold brush show where we believe that fortune favors a bold brush. My name is Laura Arango Baier, and I'm your host. For those of you who are new to the podcast, we are a podcast that covers art marketing techniques and all sorts of business tips, specifically to help artists learn to better sell their work. We interview artists at all stages of their careers, as well as others her in careers tied to the art world, in order to hear their advice and insights. On today's episode, we sat down with Hilary couture, a figurative artist who has had an extensive and varied career path, including stints as a street portrait artist, hairdresser, auctioneer and historic preservationist. She rediscovered her passion for painting later in life, and has since become a full time artist working primarily in pastels and oils. Hilary emphasizes the importance of continuous learning, remembering to always focus on the fundamentals, experimentation and building connections within the art community. She also offers advice to aspiring artists about balancing financial stability and artistic ambitions, as well as the value of thinking creatively about marketing one's work and seeking out opportunities even in the most common places. Finally, Hilary tells us about her studio sale. Welcome Hilary to the BoldBrush show. How are you today?

Hilarie Couture: 1:54

I'm great, Laura. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really honored to be one of your guests, and thanks to BoldBrush and Clint and Faso, and I'm just excited to be here. Yeah,

Laura Arango Baier: 2:06

I'm excited to have you, because you have, not only beautiful work that I think has this gorgeous essence to it, especially your portraits, there's something that you capture in them that I can just stare at them all day, you're welcome. Yeah. And then aside that, right, you've had a very interesting life that I've mentioned to you a couple times now that you should totally write a book about your life, because, holy cow, that is an insane timeline of events that you've gone through. So I'm very excited to have you.

Hilarie Couture: 2:41

Wow. Great. Well, growing up, you know, during the 50s, 60s and 70s, I think everybody's had sort of an interesting life during those times, so

Laura Arango Baier: 2:51

that's for sure. Yeah, but before we talk about your gorgeous, gorgeous work and your incredible timeline of careers, do you mind telling us a bit about who you are and what you do,

Hilarie Couture: 3:01

sure. Well, my name is Hilary couture, and I guess I would say that I'm mainly a figurative artist. I love portraits and figures. Of course, I do landscapes as well and still life and all of that. But I I am true to my passion, which is painting people. And although I've had difficulty in the past with galleries saying, oh, we can't sell your pretty women or whatever, it's still my passion, and it's the best way that I represent myself and my work I feel like and that's what I have to do. I have to be true to my own wishes. So that's why I love painting people so much, one of the reasons, anyway, but it didn't come early in my life. Well, it did, but then I've had some, a lot of other sideline situations that happened before I could actually pursue my art. So I would say, probably since about 2013 I've been basically a full time artist at that point. Awesome,

Laura Arango Baier: 4:10

awesome, yeah. And actually, I did, I did want to ask you, you know when? Because obviously there's, you know when you became a full time artist, but then, usually, way before that. You know, we as artists, we usually have, like that tiny little thread of art within our life, lifetime. So I wanted to ask, when did that the path of the artist start for you? Well,

Hilarie Couture: 4:35

okay, so my first beginnings, I guess, and this is also on my website, but I started drawing as a child at two years old, and I had a Purple Crayon, and my dad would leave Playboy magazines on the coffee table in the living room, and I thought the ladies were cold, so I had to draw clothes for them, and I had this Purple Crayon, and I would. Start scribbling clothes on all these ladies. And then my dad would always say, Oh, I just buy these for the articles. But then all of a sudden, they started to disappear. And one day I had this little John Nagy how to draw the kit on the coffee table. And John Nagy was a syndicated TV artist, and he had a television show, I think it was every Sunday, and he would it was like, how to draw. And so there was, like a little articulated mannequin in this box, and a couple of pastels and a few pencils. And I can't remember everything, but you can still find them today. I think they're a lot on eBay in that but anyway, I would faithfully watch the show, and I would draw along with John Nagy, and my career pretty much continued as far as being a little artist during the time I was growing up, Margaret Keane was very popular with the sad eye kids. And I didn't have the best childhood, and a lot of times I would just go in my closet and I would close the door, and I would draw sad eye kids, and because I didn't have any training or anything, but that was my that's that's one of the things that I did. And I love drawing ballet dancers and horses and sad eye kids. And then in second grade, all the girls wanted me to draw paper dolls for them. So I drew the paper dolls, and I I drew the clothing, but I wouldn't color them. And I told all the girls, I'll draw it, but you have to color it in. I don't know why. And then my teachers always asked me to do the bulletin boards, and you know, so I was always the artist or the they knew me as the artist, I guess, in school, but I would always get in trouble by talking during study periods, so my desk was always pushed up by the teacher's desk so I wouldn't be talking and interrupting all the other kids because they all wanted me to draw paper dolls for them. And then I went to high school, and I took some beginning or some art classes, and I was devastated because my art instructor gave me a C, and that was what I thought I was going to pursue, and when I got it was the only C I got. I was a real good student, and I was just devastated to get a C as my final grade in art, and I couldn't believe it. And so I still ended up majoring. I took one year of college, and I still ended up majoring in medical illustration and fashion design, but I didn't have any classes in any art classes, except for one drawing and one design class, and I took 26 credit hours, and I was working on campus, and I pretty much got burned out because of, you know, everything I was trying to do, yeah, and it was at a college in St Louis, Washington University, and most of the people were there for pre med and so I was in school with all these pre med students, but I didn't want to be a doctor. I just wanted to draw medical illustrations. So that was interesting. And then I quit school, and I hitch up, hiked out to California, out to San Francisco, which is a big, long story as well. But then one day, and I don't even remember how I met this lady, but she was a Buddhist woman, and she made puka shell necklaces on the streets in San Francisco. And she said, Well, if you're an artist, you should get your street artist license and set up a booth and draw portraits on the streets. So there I went, took my $50 and got my street artist license, and I wheeled my little shopping cart down to the wharf at the cannery in San Francisco and started drawing portraits on the streets there. And one day this woman came up and she said, let me draw your portrait. And I mean, all my portraits look like sad i kids because I had no experience, I had no training or anything. And so this lady sat down and she did my portrait in charcoal, and it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. And she said, Well, if you want your work to get good, you need to move to New Orleans. And so within two weeks, I was driving myself to New Orleans and I set up on the street there and started drawing portraits on the street there. And that was a great experience, because a lot of the street artists had gone to Henry Hinchey school in Provincetown, and some of like the most incredible past. Artist I'd ever met, and they had this color sense that was so unique. And I thought I really want to do this. And of course, you know, going out there every day and setting up and trying to, you know, bark your wares on a street, and with the, you know, 50 or so other artists. It was pretty challenging. And, you know, we all got together on a Sunday afternoon, all the portrait artists, and we would hire a model and paint. And I was just in awe of these artists that had studied with Henry at Henry Hinchey school in Provincetown. And I wish that I had pursued that back in the 70s, but life had a different course for me. I ended up becoming friends with this guy, and we traveled. It was totally platonic, but we decided we were going to do portraits on the streets and travel up the East Coast and set up at the boardwalks on the beaches. And we did that for a while, but then he met someone that he wanted to stay there with, and so I took off and went up to New York by myself, New York City, and I showed up and didn't know a soul there, and I tried to set up on the streets in New York, and I was in the East Village on fourth and six, and I set up my little booth there and started drawing. And it was in the 70s, and New York was pretty scary at that time. It wasn't a comfortable place to be out on the street. And so after a little while of struggling, I decided I was going to go back towards home, which was Omaha Nebraska, and I was going to try to do portraits on the streets there. So fast forward, I got back to Omaha Nebraska and I set up in an area that was called The Old Market, and it was full of head shops and a couple hair salons and record stores and used bookshops, and it was just kind of becoming more gentrified, and it was really funky. And one day this lady walked by, and so to get started painting a portrait, I would just have to ask somebody if they would sit as a shell, which meant they would just sit for me, and I would paint their portrait. And then that usually got people engaged, and then it would kind of start my business going. So this lady was she had a red Bob, kind of a china doll haircut, and she had a kimono on. And I was like, Oh, I have to draw her, you know, I just got really excited when I saw her. And I said, Would you be able to sit for a portrait? I would love to paint you. And she said, Oh my gosh, what time is it? No, I have an appointment. I I'm a hairdresser, and I work across the street, but I'd love to get together and I'll trade you a portrait for a haircut. So naturally, I was intrigued by doing that, and I got a hold of her, and I ended up painting two different portraits of her, and she cut my hair into what they called a beret haircut, so it looked like I had a beret on my head. And anyway, when I was drawing her portrait, she said, You're so creative, you really should think about going to beauty school. And so within a couple days, I signed up for Beauty School, and that was pretty much the end of my art career for about 40 years, and I became a hairdresser, and so that's a whole new another chapter of my life, but that was exciting. And I think everything sort of relates to your art, no matter what it is that you do. So yeah, anyway, the hairdressing part was interesting, because it was a way that I could be in touch with people. I always felt like I needed a connection with people, and I guess because I didn't really have that at home so much, I always looked at faces and studied faces. And to be a good hairdresser, it wasn't only creating a beautiful hairstyle, but you had to take the client's wishes and habits and body type and all that stuff into consideration to create the right style for their hair. And then I used to say, you know, doing hair was kind of like sculpting. I would explain it as having this big rock. And then like trying to sculpt a different shape into it. And so when people had shorter hair, if their hair didn't conform exactly to the style that they wanted, I'd say, well, just give it a chance to grow a little bit, because you need a little more weight on this side. And blah, blah, blah. So it was kind of like that. And. Then with color, I tend to I was really able to understand color theory and art so much more easily because it's the same thing in hair color. And when I talk about a value scale, even when I teach my students now, I sort of equate it to my old hair hair dressing days. And the way that I look at value is like the levels of lightning with hair color, and there's usually nine or 10, well there's actually 12 levels of lightning. But I used to say level nine was the highest, and so it was the lightest. So when I talk about a value scale, some people say that, like Black is level nine and white is level one or something, and I'm just the opposite. So because of my color theory, and also with mixing hair color, I understood things that would cancel out. So compliments came real easy for me to understand, because when you wanted to get read out, you had to add something with a green base, and you know, if the hair was too orangey, you had to add something with a blue base. So I really got a good understanding of art. And it it really helped me when I started painting, to understand how to mix color and all of that. But then after a while of of doing hair, I got sort of bored. I think after about 30 years or so, I got sort of bored with just doing hair. My favorite clients were the ones that would say, just do whatever you want. But then there were different styles that were popular back in the day. So like when Farrah Fawcett was popular, everybody wanted feathers. And so, you know, you sort of felt like a factory worker after a while, because every person that sat in your chair, you had to cut feathers. And then in the 80s, we had the thing about the mall, bang. And the higher the hair, the closer to God and all that stuff. And so it was, it was kind of funny. I felt like I could write the book, you know, hairdressing for Dummies, and that was a lot of fun, but then I got kind of bored with it. And so one of my salons, and I always was creative, but one of my salons I called Cut me loose and tie me down. And it was a hair salon and a bridal shop together. And I was in an old house, and I did that for a while. And then I decided that I wanted to make every room in the salon a theme room. And I started collecting all these barbershop and old hairdresser items and all that. And then when one month, I was featured in modern salon magazine for my unique hairdressing salon, and because people would always call me and say, I have this item, you might be interested in buying it, and what is it worth, and all this. And so I was going to auctions a lot, and I decided to go to appraisal school, because I thought, well, I could be an appraiser, and then I would really know the value of items. And so I went to appraisal school, and almost everybody there was an auctioneer, and I did a couple insurance appraisals. And I thought, This isn't my thing. I don't like sitting behind a computer, you know, dealing with all this, and because some of them were just like, if a house flooded or something, and then you had to do an appraisal on everything from T shirts to dishes or whatever. That wasn't interesting for me. So I thought, well, you know, I've been enjoying going to auctions. Maybe I should just become an auctioneer myself, and then I could use all my theatricality, which I was still, you know, sort of into the hair business and and the antique shop and all of this. But I thought I could tie it all together. I could become an auctioneer. I could sell this stuff at auction, and then I don't have to collect it anymore. And I thought I'm going to have a unique take on this. And so my auctions were theme auctions, and I had a whole team of women because I thought, you know, women auctioneers were pretty rare at the time. I think they're much more popular now, but at any rate, so my first auction was a 1950 zero auction, and I set up little vignettes, and it was like going into a 50s house and everything for sale had that, and all of my staff wore poodle skirts and saddle shoes, and we had 50s food in our food concessions and all of this stuff. And so I was doing all of this, and then, I don't know, auction business, it got hard. I was following things around, and it was just hard. And. So I decided one day, I think I need to go back to college and get another degree, because I still love doing hair, but I didn't want to. I felt like there was more. And so I went to I really thought I could design kitchens and baths, and I wanted to do that, but you needed this background in computer, computer drafting, and I didn't have it. And so I thought, Well, I'll try to find something in a community college. And at that time, I had moved from Arkansas to West Virginia via Savannah. Anyway, long story more. Stuff. But I ended up going to West Virginia in a college called Belmont college, and I decided to go into historic preservation. And I thought, well, this will be good because I can deal with old houses, which is something I really loved. And some of the courses were more creative, like hands on, where you actually did molds of, like fireplace surround tiles from houses from different eras, and then did reproduction tiles. And it was just, it was more interesting for me, because I could actually do something creative with it. And I also was a realtor. And so one of my classes that was at the end of my I did a two year course, or of, yeah, two year course in about a year and a half, and I was in my thesis class, and one of the things we had to do was create a diptych to go into a room scene that had a wall finish on it that we had to strip off, and then create a whole new genre out of it. And so at the time. I mean, now I haven't done any art in 40 years at this point. And so what I thought I would do is I loved Maxfield Parish, and I was thinking about the printing process and how Red, Yellow and Blue were the colors that you used in printing, or red, Cyan, or, sorry, yellow, cyan and magenta. And so I thought, well, I'm going to do this painting where I'm just using yellow, cyan and magenta and black, and try to create sort of a neoclassical style painting. And so I had one woman on a swing, and I had another woman like with the Greek columns and all of that. And of course, it looked nothing like Maxfield parish, but it was the first time I ever painted, actually, because I had never done any painting. All I did was pastel when I was younger, and I did portraits on the streets and charcoal and pastel, but this was the first time, and I got acrylic paints, and I did this painting. And then my instructor came up, and he was watching me as I was working, and he said, You're a hairdresser. And I said, Yeah. And he said, and a realtor, and I said, Yeah. And he said, and an auctioneer, and I said, Yeah. And he said, Oh my gosh, you've missed your calling. And I went, Well, I'm not dead yet. I'm still vertical. I could still be an artist. And at that point, my husband, well, I entered my work in a competition of the college for art. It was called celebration of creativity, and I won second place. And I was just shocked, because it gave me a confidence that I could actually do something in art. And they also awarded me a booth at a an art fair, which I had never done before. And I did live portraits at this booth, and one of the I did them in pastel, and one of the little kids, I painted a family of children, and they're like the hardest things. So I took some photos with my cell phone, and I'm working away, and the little kid, the littlest one of the family, comes up, and he pointed at the picture, and he recognized his brother. And that was like, Oh my gosh, you know, maybe I still have it. And then I did a portrait of my husband, and he was, I was just dating him at the time, but he he sat for about 45 minutes, and it was a charcoal. And I said, Well, I think I'm finished. And then he got up to look at it, and he got tears in his eyes, and he said, you know, this is what you really should be doing. And I was about 55 I guess, at the time. And so I thought, well, I'd like to do it, but I still had trouble not working. You know, I still felt like I I was always encouraged to get a real job and make a living. And, you know, this was the thing that was ingrained in me. And so I was still working on. These things and trying to do art. And then he and I ended up getting married, and we moved to Vancouver, Washington, and I went to my first gallery opening there, and I walked around and I looked at the art, and I still had some of these old things that I had done in college and all of that. And I was sort of living on the merits of those. And people would come up to me and say, Well, what do you do? And I'd say, Well, I'm a realtor, I'm an auctioneer, I'm a hairdresser. And then I would say, and I do some art that I wasn't quite ready to go full time. And then my husband and I moved again, and I had a three car garage studio. We made it into a studio, and it was just wonderful. And that's when I really buckled down. And I was about 60 at that time, so I'm telling you, you don't have to be young to get into this. You could do it at any age, but I just pretty much kept myself motivated, and then I had my first art show of it was a group show, and I had about six paintings in it, and everybody asked me, or, you know, at that point, I think I started saying, I'm an artist, because I felt like, this is What I'm going to do now. And so from that point on, I devoted myself to my art,

Laura Arango Baier: 26:27

my story. Oh, but it is so compelling. At BoldBrush, we inspire artists to inspire the world, because creating art creates magic, and the world is currently in desperate need of magic. BoldBrush provides artists with free art, marketing, creativity and business ideas and information. This show is an example. We also offer written resources, articles and a free monthly art contest open to all visual artists. We believe that fortune favors the bold brush, and if you believe that too, sign up completely free@boldbrushshow.com that's B, O, L, d, b, r, U, S, H show.com. The BoldBrush Show is sponsored by Faso. Now, more than ever, it's crucial to have a website when you're an artist, especially if you want to be a professional in your career. Thankfully, with our special link, faso.com, forward slash podcast. You can make that come true and also get over 50% off your first year on your artist website. Yes, that's basically the price of 12 lattes in one year, which I think is a really great deal, considering that you get sleek and beautiful website templates that are also mobile friendly, e commerce, print on demand in certain countries, as well as access to our marketing center that has our brand new art marketing calendar. And the art marketing calendar is something that you won't get with our competitor. The art marketing calendar gives you day by day, step by step, guides on what you should be doing today right now, in order to get your artwork out there and seen by the right eyes so that you can make more sales this year. So if you want to change your life and actually meet your sales goal this year, then start now by going to our special link, faso.com, forward slash podcast. That's F, A, S, o.com, forward slash podcast. It is so compelling. And the The interesting part is that it's you gave us the abridged version, right? Because there's so very much more. You lived so much life in all of these directions. And I really love that you mentioned how you always have this like feeling of like, Oh, but I need to get a real job. Like, as, if you know being an artist isn't a real job, which you were right. Like, I love how in your, in your whole story, in your in your life, you've always had that tiny piece of artists inside of you that's been trying to come out in all these ways, right? You found all these ways to be creative, like, you know, with the dressing up, you know, you're the people with you, like in 1950s right? Making sure that you had a theme and you're You were always trying to get it out. But it wasn't, you know, until later that you were like, financially

Hilarie Couture: 29:04

painting, yeah, right, but you

Laura Arango Baier: 29:07

were still like, that's still, like, the creative side of you that was dying to come out, that was just inevitable, right? So it was only a matter of time, in my opinion, that you would decide to just start putting pastel on paper or paint on paper or canvas. So amazing, absolutely amazing.

Hilarie Couture: 29:30

I probably missed about, I don't know, 30 or so years in there with other things, but anyway, that that was sort of the path to get me to my art. Yeah,

Laura Arango Baier: 29:39

yeah. And I'll be waiting for the book, but in the meantime, I actually wanted to ask you, because you You seem to have always gravitated towards portraiture, right? And you mentioned that earlier, that that's something that you prefer. But is there a specific reason why you find the human figure and portraiture so. Compelling for you.

Hilarie Couture: 30:03

I think you know as children, or you know babies, when we're in our crib, our first form of communication is looking at people's faces and trying to understand what people are saying, because we didn't have the knowledge of being able to say words yet or understanding words, and I was left at home a lot of times alone, bless my mother's soul. But anyway, I always yearned to have those faces, to see those faces, and communicate and feel loved and comforted. And I think even going into hairdressing, you know, hairdressers touch people in a special way. And it's, it's sort of a unique thing, because we get to know people's personalities as well as, you know, trying to create a style that they feel good about. And you know, it's there's a lot of psychology into it. And in auctioneering, there's a lot of psychology into making the sellers happy and making the buyers happy, and having an event that people want to attend and all of that. And so I think just, just a relationship with people, has always been important to me. And as artists, we're alone in our studios, so I don't know it's just, I've always gravitated towards people. I've always been passionate to paint people, and I love, I love seeing how light wraps around form, and, you know, experimenting with different lighting temperatures and lighting directions and having natural light and just, I mean, light is it? But it's light on form that really speaks to me. Yeah, so

Laura Arango Baier: 32:01

yeah, and I can definitely see it in your work. And actually, I'm really curious too about the the fact that you use different mediums, right? You use pastel, use oils. Why? Why did you gravitate to those two mediums? Like, how? What is it about them that just pulls you in?

Hilarie Couture: 32:21

Well, my first medium was pastel, and I love the directness and the immediacy of pastel and the vibrancy, because it's pure pigment, you know, it's in a stick form. Well, even pan pastel, it's in a cake form, but it's just, it's, it's, you know, it's your hand that touches the the substrate, and it's just immediate. You don't have to clean up brushes, you don't have to wait for the paint to dry. It's just, it's just fabulous. If you only have a short time to go in the studio and work, you can knock something out so quickly in pastel, but then I got into oil paint, and it's, it's a lot. I mean, I think every medium informs the other, but with oil, for me, it was sort of similar. When I work in pastel, I layer color, so it's not like mixing them into one unique color, but I love to see different tones reacting next to each other, over on top of each other, and with oil paint. You know you're mixing color, but it's it's interesting when you use like a palette knife, and you have different strings of color that you can put down, and it's expressive and beautiful, and with oil there's Well, I'm actually doing it with pastel now too, but I'm adding a lot of textures to my pastels by using Clear gesso and using different tools to create some heavier texture underneath my pastel or on top of my pastel paper, and then with oil, I love seeing thin wash and adding different layers and getting heavier textures and mixing cold wax into it. And, you know, just using cards or tools or whatever to etch into it and do kind of Scripto effects. And it's just those two mediums seem, for me, to have the most latitude. And I'm sure I work a little bit in watercolor. I'm doing a little bit of mono printing with adding pastel to that. I love adding collage elements. I I've done a few things where I'm just, you know, I'm just playing, but I don't have time to play enough, and that's something that I look forward to doing here.

Laura Arango Baier: 34:58

Yes, yeah, I was actually going to. Mentioned that that there, there seems to be no end to all of the fun stuff that you really want to accomplish, which is, it's so beautiful because, and I love that you brought up the word play as well. Because I think oftentimes, especially young people, they take things so seriously in terms of like painting and life and the things that have to happen, but they forget the importance of play, right? And how you have to keep that inner child alive was, you know, looking around the world with fresh eyes and thinking, That looks fun, and then, oh, wait, that looks fun. And then you play around, and then suddenly, you know, you've made something completely new, or completely, you know, unexpected, that just changes your perspective in every Yeah,

Hilarie Couture: 35:47

I think there's a little bit of a I was a purist at one time. When I first started painting, I thought, Okay, I'm painting this in plein air, or I'm painting this a la prima, and I can't go back into it, so it's just going to be what it is. And then, you know, people would say, Well, you shouldn't add different mediums. You should be known for one medium and different things like that. And you know, even, like some of the stuff I do, some people might say, well, that's kind of kitschy, because, Oh, I did something where I poured resin over the top of it, and I had embedded pieces of jewelry and different things into this 1950s painting that I did, but it worked for that. And, you know, I think galleries are more open now to seeing things like that. It's not so rigid. It doesn't have to be a classical oil painting or whatever. I think that, you know, I think we have more latitude these days for what we do, what we create, anything goes, which, in a way, is good,

Laura Arango Baier: 36:51

yeah, yeah. It feels like the playing field is much more broad these days it is, yeah, with galleries and with the internet, which is really nice. It gives a lot more room for people to play, which is awesome, yeah,

Hilarie Couture: 37:05

but you know, I've always been, I've always been so driven that I've, you know, it's like, I I have to create for a show, or I have to create for a competition, or I have to do a commission and its portraits, so that you know it, it's, it's gotta be this. So I'm really looking forward to my new chapter where I'm just going to have time to paint what I want to paint totally and and create. And it's going to be a big change, because we're moving to France, and for the first year, I can't work, so I'm not going to be able to be showing my work in galleries, exhibiting or any of that. It's going to be interesting because of the visa that we're getting to start with. So I'm hoping that I'm going to actually just enjoy doing my art and not have to perform sort of,

Laura Arango Baier: 38:01

yes, yeah, that's the the one thing with with painting, especially when you're making a living as an artist, that it starts becoming performative at one point, right? And that, for some people, can cause a lot of pressure. So I'm excited for you to have this full year of just allowing yourself to explore without worrying about, oh, what are they going to think? What if the gallery doesn't like it? Or what if that like it might still be in the back of your head, because you're most likely thinking about, you know, future exhibitions, right? But at the same time you you're giving yourself freedom, which is really, really cool,

Hilarie Couture: 38:37

yeah, but unfortunately, I have to get rid of all the stuff I've collected over the years that I want to use in my paintings, because we can't ship it all. I mean, I have pieces of tin cans and you name it, I've collected it, and it's like, I can't throw this away, because I might be able to use it in a piece of art somehow.

Laura Arango Baier: 38:58

Well, there's tons of beautiful things you could probably get in France and their antique Yes, yes. Oh, that's so exciting. It's such a great new chapter to be going into. Yeah, so I'm excited. I

Hilarie Couture: 39:15

can't wait to paint outside with all the beautiful castles and landscapes and things that I don't see here in Indiana.

Laura Arango Baier: 39:24

Yeah, it's a totally different world over there. It's definitely inspiration in the air with the feeling of you're in a place that's, you know, been around for so long, you know, like you mentioned, there's castles and the even just looking at France. I mean, from my experience, it feels like looking at paintings, right? The old classical paintings, and being surrounded by it is so inspiring. So that's

Hilarie Couture: 39:48

really cool, well, and the Impressionists are my favorite artist. And you know Impressionism, well, French Impressionism was born in France. So. I feel like I'm going back to my element. Yeah.

Laura Arango Baier: 40:02

Oh, that's so exciting. Oh, and then I also wanted to ask you, because you have mentioned to me in the past at least, that you have had students, and you love teaching, so I wanted to ask you what advice you would give to one of your students, or any of your students, really, if they wanted to improve at the their technique as artists. So

Hilarie Couture: 40:26

I think to be dedicated to go back to the fundamentals. It's so important. I think that if you're trying to be a representational artist anyway, that you really need to know how to draw and you need to understand all of the fundamentals. I think it's so important I still go back to fundamentals when I find a problem in one of my pieces, it's got to be because, you know, I gave everything the same amount of importance, or, you know, I wasn't thinking about the composition I was being too much of a slave to a photo that I took, or something like that. So I think just really getting a strong understanding of fundamentals is really important. And then also, if you don't have time to create on a you know, regular basis, always try to keep yourself as educated as possible. So you know, podcasts and books and YouTube videos, and there's so many things that you can source now to help to grow honestly. And it's really important to keep yourself abreast and all that. I wish that I would have been more committed in my past to one art form so that I could, you know, at this point in my life, I would really be in a different level than I am now. But you know, it is what it is, so I'm just glad that I can do it today.

Laura Arango Baier: 41:58

Yes, and you gained so much experience in many facets of life that I'm pretty sure, like you mentioned earlier, you know, your your experience being a hairdresser that definitely made an impact on how you see color and how you know how to mix color, right? So I know, you know, despite not having, you know, performed the activity of painting for a long time, you've still picked up on all of these, these techniques and these things that have transferred over into painting anyway, so I think that helps, absolutely. Yeah. And also,

Hilarie Couture: 42:32

you know, when it's kind of like when you first get started, and everybody sort of has the same it seems like they have the same cycle, in a way, because we first want to make things look like the thing. So, you know, we want to be as realistic as possible, because that's the only way that we can identify with the fact that, oh, I can make this look like what it is. So you get to that level, and it's like, okay, now I can do this. And then you get all these books, and you start reading, and some of the stuff goes way over your head, and you start taking all these workshops and whatever. And then, you know, just a little bit, I think you get what you can handle at the time. And then maybe you revisit that book a few years later, and it's like, Oh, I understand what this is all about now. Okay, the light bulb comes on, and it's like, okay, so now I'm at, you know, I'm at another level. I'm starting to understand what I didn't understand before. And then there's a third level where it's like, you know, you don't have to think so hard. I mean, I think the more you know, the harder it is. But then I think you sort of kind of get to a place where it's like, I don't have to think about all these things together, as much as it becomes more automatic the more you do it, and then, you know, there's always new challenges, but that's sort of the course, and also just extracting from reality and not making everything exactly what you see. It's like, I remember taking a workshop from Ned Mueller years ago, and he had a big shoe box full of photos, and he's like, Okay, everybody, just grab whatever photos you want work from him. So I'm working away at this photo, and I'm pretty happy with myself. And he comes up and he goes, What's that? And I said, Well, that's those little people in the photo. And he's like, we don't need them in there. Why'd you put them in there? And I said, well, because it was in the photo. And he's like, Yeah, but you're the artist. You don't have to put them in there. And it was like, all of a sudden, I felt all this freedom, like, oh, I don't have to copy exactly what I see, wow. So I have ned to to thank for that.

Laura Arango Baier: 44:49

Yeah, yeah, the importance of interpretation rather than direct copying, which, like you mentioned, you know, it's that first stage of we want things. We want to learn how to do things. And paint them or draw them exactly as they are, because, I mean, it is an important skill. But then after that, it's like, now, what? Right now, it's like this whole open field, right,

Hilarie Couture: 45:10

right? I mean, I remember doing life drawing with other artist friends that were, some of them were years more advanced than I was. And, you know, I would, I would go in there, and I think, Well, mine looks pretty good. But then they would always say, Well, you just need yours under your belt. Because I would say, how do you know how to make the hands? Like, if I didn't see the hands where you have them painted, how did you know that you could put it over there and be able to do it? And it's like, well, it's just miles of canvases under your belt, and that's where you get. And now I can relate to that. So yeah, I was a NEO fight at the time. So

Laura Arango Baier: 45:50

yeah, there's so much with painting that you can only ever learn truly by doing and observing. It's it just becomes like second nature, like this intuition that you build over time, just from the act of observe, put, observe, put, and then troubleshoot as well. Because, you know, it's like, well, I did it this way this time, and then the next time I'm going to do it this other way, and then you do it that other way, and realize, oh, I can do this to it as well. So it's a, it's just such a an extended process of trial and error, just repeatedly, yeah,

Hilarie Couture: 46:26

but that's what's so great about it, because you won't ever get bored, because you want to constantly challenge yourself to come up with, like, even, oh, let me try a new color theory combination, or, you know, just something that's going to make it a little more challenging for you, so that you're not just cranking out the same thing over and over again. And that's why I also think different mediums are important, because when you feel like you're stale, it's like, tackle something new and you know, it's a learning curve. You're going to be feeling uncomfortable, but sooner or later, you know, you get to a point where you feel like, oh, okay, this isn't as difficult. Now I'm understanding it, and that's the beauty of art,

Laura Arango Baier: 47:08

yeah. And that is absolutely excellent advice, because I'm sure we've all hit that point sometimes where we feel like we've like, you know, we've reached like, a plateau with absolutely, you know, our work, like, maybe it's like, oh, it's just not really doing the thing I want, but I don't exactly know what I need. And then I love that idea of just try something entirely different, totally new medium. And that always, in my opinion, from my experience, my experience as well, that almost always just changes things up so much that once you revisit your work, suddenly you have new eyes, which is really useful.

Hilarie Couture: 47:45

Yeah, yeah,

Laura Arango Baier: 47:46

yeah. And then also I wanted to ask you what what was it like for you when you finally decided, Okay, I'm going to be full time artist now? What was that like?

Hilarie Couture: 48:03

Oh, well, it was sort of a change, I guess because I was I always, I started thinking about painting in series, rather than just doing whatever here, whatever there, you know, kind of randomly creating things. I started thinking, I need to do a series so that I'm going to be more desirable to a gallery and be able to put a show together and but I never really thought this is going to be marketable, because I think I already mentioned that one of my galleries said, Well, I just can't sell your pretty women, you know. And it was a bit discouraging, but I felt like somebody's going to like my pretty women, because I like painting them. And, you know, it is what it is. But yeah, it was just a little bit of a twist for me to just really start to hone in on creating bodies of work, rather than just random little things here and there, and then looking for places where I could market the work, or, you know, show the work or share the work. And also, I started going to a lot of workshops, and then I thought I might be able to teach this. I mean, I taught hair dressing, and I taught real estate, and I like teaching, and I just wanted to share, because I felt like being a self taught artist. I didn't know anything, and I made a lot of mistakes. I remember one time painting in plein air, and it was the first plein air, little plein air event that I had gone to. It was a competition, and I was there with people like Thomas kits and some of the well known artists that were in the Portland area. And everybody is painting, and they're inside of a tent, and I liked being. Out in the sun, and I didn't have a an umbrella or anything to shield me, and I had my three tubes of paint, my red, yellow and blue, and I didn't really understand, you know, why you couldn't get the exact color just working with these, because they didn't have the proper bases to mix what I needed. And, you know, I was just sort of out there by myself and thinking, Well, you know, I'm I'm just using my three colors, and I'm out here in the sun painting, and I'm trying to put everything into this canvas that I saw. And then I would walk around as some of the more experienced painters, and they were in the tent, shielded from the heavy sun rays, and their paintings were beautiful, and they have nuanced color. And, you know, just it was, it was really different. And I just remember thinking, Well, I guess I have a lot to learn, because I wanted to put all that information out there. I didn't want to just isolate on a specific place. It was the, what do you call it? The it's a timed event in the art competition, a plein air competition, where you turn in your work. But I can't think of it. I'm having a senior moment. But anyway, I wanted to get all the information down, and I was so proud of myself because I got every person in there, and I got all the background in there, and then I would see these beautiful paintings that were another experienced artist was just putting one of the figures in, and it was just gorgeous. And again, this was before my Ned Mueller workshop, where you said you don't have to put in everything you see so but, yeah, I don't know why I started talking about that, but anyway, oh, well, I started learning her,

Laura Arango Baier: 51:49

it is, it is. And I had also asked, you know what it was like for you when you finally became full time, and you know, it's, it's really cool to see how you've reflected also on all of these, like, pieces of of having learned how to paint, and how you know, sometimes you reach that point of, I don't know what I don't know, and then someone points you in the right direction, and then you're like, Oh, I think I'm getting this. And then,

Hilarie Couture: 52:17

oh, yeah. So with teaching, it's like, yeah, I want to share this, because I made a lot of mistakes. That's what I was pointing out. I made a lot of mistakes. And I think when you're not guided, or you don't have schooling, or you don't have training, in some ways, you know, you go through all that, which, if you find someone who's work that resonates with you and you want to learn from them, and you take a workshop from them. It's so valuable, because it can help you to avoid years of mistakes, I guess, in a way. And you know, but I think don't just stick with one. I think that we all, we all grow, our tastes change, and I think that it's really healthy to work with a lot of different artists, and I think you can get something from everybody.

Laura Arango Baier: 53:09

Definitely, definitely, yeah, just having that community and having that dialog with other artists is so, so useful. And then also, I did want to ask you too, because you know, you've had some experience with galleries, but you also have a really cool thing that you're doing, which is you are selling some paintings to a hospital, correct, right?

Hilarie Couture: 53:36

Yeah, so I haven't had the most warm, fuzzy relationships with galleries. Usually I have. I have one gallery out in Washington that I still work with, and they're great. Never had a problem. I had a pretty good gallery here in this area, and he closed. So you have to think out of the box, and I don't think you're ever too good to actually seek out other venues. And I was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and I just got finished with my radiation treatments, but I walked into this Oncology Center, and on first meeting, every wall was white. They had no art on their walls. And every time I went into my treatment area, I would get lost, because I didn't know what direction to go when you first start going. I didn't know which which way to turn, right or left to go, where I was supposed to go. And I thought, Oh, if they had a painting on the wall, or a few paintings that would be a neat way to direct the people to where they need to go, because I'm sure I wasn't unique. I'm sure a lot of people, because every wall was white and all the furniture was white, except for two chairs in the reception area that were orange. But I thought, you know, they need some art, and I have a ton of art, and it's going to be. Too expensive to ship it all to France, so maybe I need to talk to them about maybe they'd like to purchase some of my pieces. And so I was talking to one of the radiologists, and she said, Well, if you have a card, I'll give it to our manager. And I said, Oh, absolutely, I have a card. So I brought my cards, I gave her a card. And then that same day, she got on my website, and she sent an inquiry on my Faso website and asked me if she could see some of my work. She was intrigued. Unfortunately, the one that she really liked was already sold, but she's coming to my house next week, and we're going to do a private showing, so I'm going to pull pieces that I feel would work in the oncology center, and I know that this is going to be a good situation. And then, actually, just today, before I got on the podcast, I had noticed that there's a new book shop that opened in our community, and it's a woman owned book shop, and they've painted their walls pink. So I'm thinking, okay, pink stands for cancer survivors, and what they have, it's all romance novels, romance books, and most of my paintings are romantic in theme, and I thought she needs to have a fundraising event that we can donate money to the cancer even the local cancer society here, because of the pink walls. And so I reached out to her. I don't know if she's responded yet, but I thought you've just got to think out of the box and figure out different ways to market yourself and your work and see what happens so and then during COVID, I had a YouTube show my Gallery in Washington. They gave me an opportunity to show my work in May of 2020, and this was back in 2019 before COVID. And so I was so excited that I was having my first solo show. And then I thought, oh my gosh, now everything's closed down. How are we going to do this reception, this opening? And so I said, Well, let's do a Facebook Live opening. And so here we were in the gallery, just the two of us. And of course, we had our six feet distance between us, and I was walking around, going from painting to painting, and I actually sold three right there doing that, which was exciting. So it's always just, you know, open up your horizons. Think of alternative ways that you might be able to get your work out there. And, of course, your website is really important, and, you know, just, just getting the word out that this is what you do, and this is who you are,

Laura Arango Baier: 57:51

yes, yeah. And it's amazing, you know, that you've also seen, like, made sure that you see these needs that need filling in your community, specifically in your community, and you've had these in person connections, which I think are so underrated these days. I know the internet is amazing, but also, you know, in person working with your community, that is excellent, excellent. Well,

Hilarie Couture: 58:19

especially if it's somebody that you're doing business with. I mean, it's not the way I want to do business, necessarily, being in an oncology center, but Right? And I'm thinking, Okay, I have a relationship with these people now, and I wanted them to know that, yes, I'm an artist, and this is what I do. And you know, even my doctor, the radio radiology doctor, he said, Oh, I didn't know you were an artist, because this was the last day I was in there. And he said, Oh, well, that's great. He's a different person than the woman that's going to be coming over, but he was excited about I showed him a few of my images in my phone, and he was excited about getting the work in the oncology center. So, yeah, yeah, you never know.

Laura Arango Baier: 59:01

Yeah, you don't. And of course, you've also survived something that can really shake you up. And it's really beautiful that at the end of it, you've also want to bring beauty into a place that, you know, the people who walk through those halls are oftentimes not in the best place. So having that yeah, and your work has this beautiful, romantic quality that you mentioned, that I think would also really be very uplifting to have, you know, at the oncology center. So I think that's excellent.

Unknown: 59:35

Thank you. Yeah, of course,

Laura Arango Baier: 59:36

yeah. And then also another thing to mention, you know about staying connected? How have you used newsletters to stay connected with your online audience?

Hilarie Couture: 59:51

Yeah, that's interesting. I've been a Faso member, I think, since about 2014 maybe. And I love. Faso website. I tried putting together another website when I started the pastel society here, and it was sort of, I didn't go to Faso right away, because at the time, they weren't really, they weren't really working with art guilds or, you know, it was just independent artists. So then they opened up their platform to be able to have galleries and art guilds and that show their work. But prior to that, I was working with another website, and it was so difficult. And I mean, everything was difficult, so once I transferred that back to Faso, you know, sending out My Announcements, my newsletters, and all of that was really a piece of cake, because I'd already had my personal website with Faso. The newsletter keeps me in touch with all the people that have subscribed. And I have to say, I'm not the best about well, I'm building my subscribers, but a lot of my subscribers are other artists, and so I'm always kind of conflicted with every month. Am I going to talk about art tips? Am I going to talk about selling or my life or whatever, but I found that anytime that I ask a question, it's interesting to see how many people respond to that, which is really great. And now I've got a big push to sell work so that I don't have to haul it all with me to France, because it'll be very expensive, and I feel like, oh, I don't want to be that greasy used car salesman constantly badgering people. But, you know, this is, this is the way. I guess I've told you first before, I've told my my newsletter community, that I'm making this move to France, but I'll be sending out the newsletter on the 15th, so they'll get the announcement then too. But yeah, the newsletter is good for keeping in

Laura Arango Baier: 1:02:07

touch. Yeah, definitely. And you know, since you do have to move, I think it's it would also be an excellent opportunity to do a studio sale of as many of your pieces as you can.

Hilarie Couture: 1:02:19

I just posted that on my website, in my announcement bar.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:02:24

Yeah, that's so exciting. Yeah, you know, it's a new time period in your life, and you're pursuing the things that you want, right, which is so important as an artist also, yeah, to just allow yourself to be free and to desire all these crazy things. Because why not? You know,

Hilarie Couture: 1:02:44

yeah, we want to travel, and, you know, I've been so conditioned that I have to that I have to create and produce and teach and sell, and which I still want to do, but I'm going to be a little more selective, and it's going to be hard for me to not be able to do that in the first year that I'm there, it's going to be really hard for me to change my focus and just center myself on painting for the love and the joy of painting, and not for a gallery or a competition or whatever. And then maybe some of my best work will come out of it, we'll see.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:03:21

Yes, we will see. We will see. And then I also wanted to ask you, what advice would you give to an artist who wants to become a full time artist?

Hilarie Couture: 1:03:36

The advice is to, you know, I think it's important to, as I've already said, to continue to learn and grow, take advantage of any opportunities you can, to get your self out there. There's some etiquette that you need to be aware of when you're going to a gallery opening. For instance, I know that I've had a show, and other artists will come in and want to talk to the gallery or the gallery manager about their work, and it's not the right time to do that, really. I mean, I feel like you can make a connection. You can introduce yourself and maybe mention that you're an artist, but don't take the thunder away from that person that's having their opening that night and try to monopolize the gallery manager and, you know, talk about your own art. I think, you know, there's a time and a place for it, but also, if you're having struggles financially, it would probably be good to continue to work in some kind of field, especially, I mean, if it could be art related, like, think about maybe working in a frame shop or somewhere that you can continue to learn. And maybe it doesn't. You're not exactly. Creating art. But I mean, look, all these years that I did hair, you know I was I was making a living, even though I wasn't painting, I thought I had to make up for lost time, which I've tried to. But if you're struggling financially, that's the hardest thing, so make sure that you can take care of your your needs, and get the bills paid. That's the first priority. And then, you know, commit yourself to a certain time every day, if you really want to get your art out there and get yourself a good website and try to learn things professionally and keep learning and keep growing, that's about all I can say.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:05:40

Beautiful. Those are all excellent, excellent points. And then also speaking of websites, where can people see more of your work.

Hilarie Couture: 1:05:49

So my Faso website is www, dot h couture arts.com I'm also on Instagram for H couture arts one, and you can find me on my Facebook page, which I'm not using as often for my art now, but it's just my name, Hillary couture, and I guess that's those are the main venues for my work.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:06:15

Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much, Hillary for being such a beautiful, amazing and multi talented guest, because it's It's truly been a joy to talk to you.

Hilarie Couture: 1:06:28

It's been a joy to talk to you too. Laura, thank you for the opportunity. Yes