My Creative Pivot: From Intuitive Art to an Art Business
A Simple Beginning
My creativity didn’t start with a grand vision or polished strategy. It began in a quiet, transitional moment. In 2017, when my daughter arrived, I found myself with a desire to gift something meaningful. I painted a simple mug by hand. That modest spark opened a door: soon, friends and family were asking for their own painted mugs. I was painting with purpose and joy and I hadn’t even realised I was building something real.
Growth and Discovery
By 2018 I was experimenting with new techniques, refining my style, and nervously charging a little more for my work. I painted florals and animals, started lettering, and tried calligraphy. I made earrings with watercolour cards, discovered polymer clay, designed ring cones, and tested my fledgling business at a market, this felt like a path worth pursuing.
Creative Business, Not Just Creative Practice
Looking back on those early years, I see how they led me here. The desire to create meaningful work morphed into the need for it to support my life. I loved being self-employed at home, but the hours were long and the rewards uncertain. I needed more than momentum, I needed strategy.
When Intuition Meets Business: Discovering Leverage Your Art
That’s when I came across Leverage Your Art by Stacie Bloomfield. This isn’t just a passion project, it’s a practical, 8-week roadmap to building a purposeful, profitable art business. It guides you from portfolio and style through branding, licensing, products, and teaching. You emerge with systems, not guesswork, that support your creative and financial life. Over 4,000 artists have taken the course, describing it as clarifying, confidence-boosting, and transformative.
Why It Resonated
Stacie’s journey, from doodling nursery art to a seven-figure art brand with her work in over 1,400 stores, spoke to me. She built a business from scratch, through licensing deals with brands like West Elm, Crate & Barrel, and Moda Fabrics. She teaches meaningful income strategies, not hustle culture. Her 5-step framework includes brand, portfolio, licensing, product, and teaching income streams. Plus she shares real business infrastructure, the tools, resources, rate calculators, pitching workflows, and industry network lists that she built herself.
From Student to Team Member
After taking Leverage Your Art myself, I saw first-hand how powerful it was. In fact, the experience was so impactful that over the last few years I have worked alongside Stacie as a community guide within the course. This role has allowed me to support other artists as they implement what they learn, navigate challenges, and start building their own creative businesses. I have watched hundreds of artists go from feeling stuck to feeling confident about their next steps, and it has been incredibly rewarding to be part of that transformation.
Click through to watch this testimonial of mine!
Along with hundreds of other artists who have seen success after taking LYA and implementing what they learn in their art business.
How It Helped Others (and Could Help You Too)
Reviews affirm its impact:
You can check out the success stories here (click through and scroll down)
The course includes six teaching modules and two built-in implementation weeks to apply learning deeply.
It delivers dripped content, workbooks, resource lists, design prompts, templates, rate calculators, and both community and live support.
Your creative capacity matters. But without infrastructure, systems, awareness and clarity, you may find your art makes art, not income. Leverage offers both art and business in balance.
Next Steps and Invitation
Where am I headed now? I’m stepping forward from intuition into strategy, all the while honouring the creative spark that began this journey.
If this resonates with you, if you’re ready to turn your art into income with purpose and confidence, I invite you to explore Leverage Your Art via my link. It’s an affiliate link, yes, but it’s also the course I believe in, built by someone who walked this path and now empowers others along theirs.
Check it out, lean into the support, and craft your next chapter with intention. Your art deserves that chance.
Always cheering you on
Ashleigh xx
