From a very young age, I wanted to make a living as an artist, but the path was unclear. I didn’t know any professional artists whose footsteps I could follow, so I tried to be the best artist I could and figured it out along the way. I explored a lot of different art media and styles. I overcame shyness about showing my art in public. I sold at art shows, and was an early adopter of selling art on eBay and Etsy. I experienced decade-long trends, while surviving the ups and downs of selling art in different economic conditions. Success always seemed just around the corner. In 2012, I realized my dream of having my own art gallery. Not only was it my own place, the gallery was located in the art mecca of downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. Eventually I had to move on, because the rent became too damn high.
Over the years, I never quite knew where I was going, but now I look back and see where I’ve been. It seems like a cobbled-together art life, with many fragments and varying degrees of success. Everything changed in April, 2017, when I took another unforeseen pathway: I posted my first YouTube video painting tutorial.
All the previous efforts for self-promotion and getting my art noticed pales in comparison to what I’ve been able to accomplish by sharing information and techniques on YouTube. A few days after my first video launched, I excitedly took a screenshot of my YouTube channel, which had reached 300 subscribers! Now in less than two years, I have over 100 videos and several have had over 1 million views apiece. I am now aiming for 100,000 subscribers!
My YouTube channel is about paint pouring. Pouring has become wildly popular in a short period of time, and I was far enough ahead of the trend to have experience in pouring and to be able to show viewers techniques and give them specific ideas on projects they could do themselves. Even though pouring paint looks like a random process, I fall back onto my years of experience and impart knowledge of color and composition to help and inspire other artists to do their best paintings.
Beginners looking for information always exist, so I keep my YouTube videos as simple and short as possible. One technique, one idea per video. Viewers thank me for not dragging things out! Off camera, I explore more advanced techniques. It keeps me excited and allows me to discover more ideas to share later.
Although I enjoy mixing paint with pouring medium to create a pourable paint, I noticed a lot of people struggling to get the pouring mixture right. I spent months developing a formula of pouring paint that was ready to go right out of the bottle. It also saves time by not having to mix my own so I get to spend more time creating. In the spring of 2018, I launched the world’s first line of ready-to-pour paint, called Happy Medium, which I use in all my pouring videos. I have a link in the description below each YouTube video for purchasing Happy Medium.
If I hadn’t had all those decades of trial and error, success and failure, I’d never be able to impart good advice to my viewers or build much of a following. One of my artist mentors, Bob Burridge, once said, “Teach what you know.” Who, me? At the time, I never imagined teaching, but here I am doing it. Not only doing it, but my YouTube videos have been seen over 6.4 million times around the world.
You never know where you will end up. It’s important to just get started. If you have an idea, start now. What you’re doing today is the foundation for tomorrow.
Reach Caren at:
www.youtube.com/carengoodrich
www.instagram.com/carengoodrich
www.facebook.com/groups/paintpouringpeople
www.happymedium.fun