Meet Angela Bond in Decatur

Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Bond.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Angela. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started painting in my twenties as I was very troubled and doing a lot of soul-searching. I needed a positive outlet and art had always been a love of mine. At first, to develop my current style, I played around with some mosaics. This helped to influence my hard edge/graphic style of painting. Before pop art, I was all over the place doing a lot of really funky stuff. When I was developing my style, I took several art classes at Georgia State. Also, I was painting at Cafe Tutu Tango which was a restaurant in Buckhead that had an artist’s loft theme. Luckily, I made numerous artist friends there we all just basically helped each other out. From there, I started showing at various galleries and doing some juried festivals around the country. I am known for my animal art and for some time have painted various dog breeds and cats in my unique style. I do a lot of commission work of people’s animals, but also paint sea life, African animals and birds. Needless to say, I am really busy and try to continue to learn and grow as an artist.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t know any artist that makes a living at it having a smooth road. You can only get so much help from other people along the way, but you have to have a lot of drive and somewhat of a business head to sell your work. It isn’t easy, but what is that is worthwhile?

The first big hurdle as an artist is to find your voice/style and then to develop a body of work that you can sell without compromising some sort of artistic integrity. I just kept painting until I found a style that worked for me and slowly built an audience. After that, it is about keeping it fresh and continuing to grow and explore various subjects and making sure that you don’t forget about the marketing side of the business. Currently, I am working on a product line, but it is a slow process… lots of trial and error on certain things.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I am my own company… a one-man show! I am known for my pop art animal paintings that tend to be very bold and humorous. I sell lots of prints, do commission work and sell wholesale to boutiques and galleries around the US. Also, I specialize in animal portraits that you see everyone doing today actually. (I have seen some really bad pet portraits.) My style is unique though and I am a professional artist who has been doing this for over 20 years.

I continue to explore different avenues to sell my work and am probably most known locally for a large cat mural in Decatur.

As far as what I am proud of, is probably that I was recently picked up by a publisher in California.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t know many people that focus on the good… usually, we remember the bad things. So many good things can occur in a day, but we remember that one horrible thing or that one jerk we met out of so many wonderful people. Ha! I do try to count my blessings and run with them and as far as the bad luck, I try to use it as a reminder that not everything is in my control and that as long as I am doing what I am supposed to be doing,(staying focused and working hard) then the good usually outweighs the bad. Lots of so called bad luck is for learning purposes to help fine tune something or help you keep a sense of humor.

Pricing:

• commission work starts at $170 – (depends on size)
• reproductions/ prints $29 – $48
• prints on canvas are available as well as some originals

Contact Info:

• Website: www.angelabondart.com
• Email: angelabondart@yahoo.com
• Instagram: angelabondart
• Facebook: angelabondart
• Other: www.amazon.com/handmade/angela-bond-art

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.