Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Wu.
Hi Lauren, 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?
I’ve been an artist since childhood, drawing on the walls of my parents’ home (oops) to doodling on my high school homework assignments. Apart from self exploration, art camps, and an occasional extracurricular here or there in college, I never went the formal education route or earned a degree for it.
While I considered art adjacent roles that would blend my love of visual art with biology/medical science (medical illustration, etc), I ultimately went on to a career in healthcare with aims for stability and security, and now currently work as a physical therapist in various hospital systems.
My art and creative side took a back burner as I spent time and effort on my graduate degree and working full time. I found myself burning out in a work setting that was time-consuming, challenging, dynamic, but chaotic. I missed having an outlet that brought me peace.
I stepped back (not away) from my full time healthcare role to roles that would allow me more energy and time to devote to my crafts starting with slow but intentional projects, such as paintings that my friends and family ordered as gifts.
Somehow I stumbled upon the live event art world on instagram (or TikTok, as many do). I saw the beautiful canvas paintings and guest illustrations and saw how much joy this special experience brought to so many guests. I thought to myself – I could totally do this too!
It took a while to build up not only the logistics and the structure (a website, base content, equipment), but also landing that first client – who on earth would trust me to do this for the first time? Luckily enough, my sister made the connection with a friend of hers who was getting married and just happened to be searching for a live artist! Her wedding was the first I had several months later and it was SUCH a delight. The smiles, the laughs, the excitement – I couldn’t wait to do it again!
I built a small but steady presence on platforms like instagram, facebook, and tiktok, as well as through word of mouth – in my opinion the most powerful tool. I finished my first year with 14 events and am currently going strong into my second with 20 events and counting – on top of still working part time at my regular job and balancing life as a first-time-mom with our infant daughter.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s been tough splitting time and meeting the needs of my family – my husband, my baby. Saying no to certain “gigs” because they weren’t the best options for me.
Marketing and advertising are not my strong points but for the amount of events I am able to do, I feel pretty comfortable with where I am. I embrace a slow intentional growth and don’t have stress about gaining more followers, popularity, or inquiries/leads for more bookings. I think it would be more than I can realistically handle anyway.
As I do more events, there are more opportunities for trial and error – honestly one of the major parts of doing live art is simply battling the elements. I’ve faced frigid cold, intense humidity with heat and sun, 50 mile per hour winds, you name it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I focus on live wedding painting of the couple at their venue, with their desired moment/pose and background scene. I also specialize in live guest portraits in which I create sketch illustrations of wedding/event guests in watercolor for them to keep as a mini keepsake. I take pride in creating quality paintings and beautiful mementos of guests that actually resemble their likeness.
I also do custom artwork – house paintings, pet portraits, floral paintings, window art, mural art.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The most important quality in my opinion is having great communication with my couples from the start (the initial inquiry) to wrapping up after the wedding and all loose ends and artwork are taken care of. Be it written or verbal communication, I strive to be professional, trustworthy, and run my business with transparency and integrity.
Pricing:
- $1200+ for live wedding painting of the couple
- $1100+ for live guest illustrations
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.artbylaurenwu.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artbylaurenwu
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554655841933
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@artbylaurenwu
