Meet Anna Parker of Decatur

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Parker.

Hi Anna, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Ever since I was a child I was intrigued by art. Growing up I was drawn to paintings of sprawling landscapes, skyscapes, and seascapes. I was so fascinated by being able to capture nature’s beauty on canvas. I painted my first landscape in oil when I was 13. It was awful… but I didn’t let that stop me. Learning from my mistakes I kept painting and drawing as a hobby. I went to school for Chemistry but after getting a job in a lab white still in college I realized I couldn’t do that day in and day out. Being stuck under florescent lights repeating the same task day in and day out was not a future I could look forward to so I dropped out. I then met my now ex husband who was a contractor and INSISTED that I find a job where I can be my own boss. I fumbled around interior design for a few months until he suggested I paint a mural for one of his friends. I knew how to paint, how hard could it be to just do it on a larger scale? That first mural sealed the deal. It was everything I could have wanted out of a job… I got to be creative, problem solve, hold myself to my own standards, and in the end got instant gratification from my client’s reaction to the mural.
It took about 1o years of pushing and fighting for projects, learning about SEO, and developing a broad portfolio before the tide turned and I gained enough momentum to be able to paint full-time.

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 self doubt. External validation is what makes painting commissioned murals so great. At the end of the day when your client says they love their mural, that’s all I need to hear. But when the work isn’t coming in or you’re being rejected left and right on public works, its really easy for that little voice that says you’re a bad artist to get really loud.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in commissioned murals. There are a lot of muralists out there who are proper amazing artists and have developed a style, an aesthetic, and put their creative work out into the world. That’s not my business model. My mural business hinges on one thing, and that’s creating a mural that is the vision of my client. Whether my client wants a soft watercolor abstract mural, or a bold branded block color mural for their business, I’m in. A lot of times clients will have an image they find inspiration from but the colors are off or the subject matter isn’t what they want. I’ll get a reference photo of the style of painting but they’ll want flamingos instead of cranes… ultimately they’ll have their imagination of what a room can be sparked by an image, but then will want that image customized to represent them and their family or business.
That being said I am also like any artist kind of all over the place, so I spend a lot of time applying to mural calls that are asking for the opposite of what my business does ie. personally inspired creative artistic public murals. I have yet to have the chance to create something that is 100% personally inspired in a public setting. I’ve been applying to international art calls in the hopes that somewhere out there there is a wall that I can go wild on.
I also do live painting at events where I invite attendees to join in the painting by using every day objects to create texture and pattern that I incorporate into the art. Its so completely different from my mural business as I go in with very little plan, and interact with people instead of being alone in a room all day, and have to be open to anything rather than following a pre approved design and colors.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Best is the diversity 100% hands down. I’m from Poland and when I go back to visit every year I realize how much I take for granted all the amazing stores and restaurants and variety right in my backyard. I know that I can hop in my truck and am never more than a 30 minute drive from any exotic ingredient or spice.

The least?…. of course the traffic. Does anyone ever answer anything different?!

Pricing:

• Pricing starts at 800 that’s typically a basic design less than 8ftx8ft
• I price my projects by how long I estimate they will take (day rate) plus materials. I cannot price a project without a design. With a style reference I can give a price range.
• If I have to create a custom design from scratch, there’s a design fee of $400-$800.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://SweetTeaMurals.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/sweet_tea_murals

Image Credits
Anna Parker