How I Built a $40,000 Art Business: My Two-Year Journey as a Vancouver Artist
- andreafryettart
- 10 hours ago
- 4 min read
Two Years of Building an Art Career: What It Really Looked Like Behind the Scenes
By Andrea Fryett
Over the last two years, my art business has been quietly and sometimes chaotically transforming. If you’re a collector who has followed along (or even brought a piece home), you’ve been part of this story. And if you’re an artist reading this, I hope the path I’ve walked makes yours feel a little more possible.
What follows is the honest version not just the pretty finished paintings, but the layers underneath. Just like the paintings themselves.
Starting Again, From the Ground Up
Two years ago I wasn’t just trying to build an art business. I was rebuilding safety, stability, and identity. I was recovering from workplace trauma and an impending human rights tribunal legal case, shifting away, by force, from traditional full-time employment, and trying to figure out how to make a living from the thing that has always been my anchor: making art.
Nothing came easily or automatically. Every dollar, every client, every opportunity was hand-built.
But it worked. Layer by layer. Stroke by stroke.
The Real Numbers, What I Earned, What I Made, What I Built
For anyone who loves the behind-the-scenes reality: here’s what the last year added up to.
In 2024
I sold 21 paintings, 10 were commissions.
In 2025
Total self-employment only income: $40,000 (give or take)
39 paintings sold (21 were commissions)
13 3D rendering contracts completed
Teaching 3 weekly classes at Luminous Elephant
Launched and booked my live wedding painting service for 2025–2026
Continued building my Pacific Northwest landscape series
Refined my pricing structure
Created systems: COAs, newsletters, workflows, client communication templates
Started growing multiple passive and scalable product lines (watercolour tutorials, card decks, art prints, workplace coaching tools)
And this was all done while still working 3–4 days per week at the art store which means early mornings, late nights, and every spare moment poured into the thing that matters most.
The Unexpected Power of Diversifying
My business survived and then grew because I built multiple income pillars instead of relying on just one.
Some months, portrait sales were strong, other months, wedding bookings carried me. Other months, teaching, renderings, or Etsy orders filled the gaps.
It wasn’t glamorous but it worked.
And what I learned is this:
Most art careers aren’t built by choosing one path. They’re built by weaving together many small, resilient ones.
I never wanted a “starving artist” story. I wanted a stable, sustainable, vibrant creative life. This is how I built it.
How My Art Changed, And How I Changed With It
When I look back at my work from two years ago, the difference is striking.
My portraits are softer and more luminous now, with more emotional honesty. My wedding paintings have become cinematic and immersive. My landscapes feel more alive, more wind, more water, more Pacific Northwest truth. I understand my own artistic voice more clearly than ever before.
Collectors often tell me they can recognize my work instantly. That wasn’t true two years ago. I had to paint my way into that identity.
Teaching, Mentoring, and the Surprising Evolution of My Role
One of the biggest gifts 2025 brought to this journey was teaching through Luminous Elephant Studio. I have always loved teaching, not as an afterthought, but as a core part of my artistic life and community building.
This year alone:
I taught weekly watercolour, drawing, and urban sketching classes
Guided dozens of students through workshops
Offered 1-on-1 coaching
Developed full structured courses
Began building a book and card deck series for artists and creatives
Started sharing more behind-the-scenes content to help early career artists
I never set out to become a mentor or guide. But somewhere along the way, I grew into one.
It feels like the most natural extension of making art: to lift others as I climb.
Working Through Hard Seasons Without Stopping the Work
This part matters because a lot of people only see the finished paintings the bright colors, the smooth surfaces, the joy.
But the truth is that much of my art this year was made through:
exhaustion
chronic stress and traumatic PTSD nervous system activation
health challenges (mine and Rosie’s)
the emotional weight of a legal process
working retail
navigating financial pressure
recovering from the aftershocks of workplace trauma
And still, the paintings arrived, one after another, gentle and fierce, like witnesses to my own resilience, and as evidence of my refusal to let the hardships of the past define my future.
This is something I want other artists to hear:
You don’t need perfect conditions to make beautiful things, You need a consistent heart and imperfect courage.
What I’m Aiming For Next
I’m proud of this year, but I’m not done. For 2026, my goal is simple:
Stabilize my full self-employment income and reduce my art-store hours.
I want more time to paint, more time with Rosie, more time to grow the parts of my business that are blossoming; wedding paintings, teaching, prints, landscapes, card decks, books.
I want to keep building a life where creativity isn’t squeezed around the edges but sits at the centre of everything, and safety is something I build for myself, not something I am hoping to find in unstable employment.
Thank You For Being Part of This
If you’ve bought a painting, taken a class, ordered a print, shared my work, or simply followed along you’re part of this story.
You helped me rebuild a life that feels like mine again. You helped me create meaning, stability, and beauty through a very difficult season and you helped this art business grow into something real, sturdy, and hopeful.
Here’s to the next chapter and to all the paintings that haven’t yet been born.
If you’ve enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at how I’m building my art business — the paintings, the growth, the challenges, the resilience I’d love to have you in my community.
Join my newsletter to get studio updates, new collections, limited-edition print releases, early access to commissions, and honest reflections on the creative life. It’s the best way to stay connected to my work and the stories that shape each painting.
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