Quinntessential Art & Decor

A Facebook friend of mine, Lindsey (you’ll meet her on this blog in the future!), shared a photo of a beautiful door hanger with hand-painted flowers, and I just had to have one! She had tagged Quinntessential Art & Decor’s page. I immediately followed her and bought a door hanger for our first home! I’ll share a picture of mine below. I LOVE IT! Anyway, I’ve been following Kacey ever since, and I am such a huge fan of hers! Her artwork is incredible, her work ethic is killer, her heart is huge (for her customers, her family, and God), and she is just so sweet and humble! When I decided to start this blog, I knew I wanted to interview her, and she agreed! Yay!

The Session

It was a Friday, and it finally felt like fall! The breeze was cool. Kacey’s house smelled of warm apple cider, and she had a small bonfire burning out back next to her chair and table. Her home was adorned with several of her beautiful paintings and pictures of her family. It was decorated for fall and felt so cozy. We spent about an hour together discussing and photographing her artwork, and it was such a pleasure. She felt like an old friend, and we had a wonderful time. I am so excited to share this interview and these images! We were able to do a series of photos documenting the process of her making an alcohol ink ornament, which will be for purchase at Gypsy Moon Marketplace next month!

The Interview

Business Name: Quinntessential Art & Decor

Owners: Just me, Kacey Quinn.

Where are you located & do you travel: Located in Bowling Green, KY, and I don’t travel at this stage since I have three daughters and stay very busy with custom orders!

Chelsea (C): “Tell me about what you do.”

Kacey (K): “I am an acrylic and watercolor artist, and I dabble in alcohol inks. I tend to enjoy acrylics the most. They’re more forgiving than watercolors, and I feel like I can express my style more in my acrylics than anything. But sometimes, watercolors are just far more fitting for a type of painting that I’m working on.”

C: “Who do you impact or provide value to?”

K: “I have a very wide range of customers and people who find value in what I do, so it’s hard to say.  I think when I’m able to create something that speaks to someone’s heart, those are the people I impact the most: whether I create a painting of a pet that has passed on, or a flower that holds a very special meaning to someone, or a message that I’ve typed up from my heart and put it out there on social media for people to read and it reaches someone who just needed that message that day. I hope every day to impact people and not just make this about painting.”

C: “How did you get started in this business?”

K: “Years ago, a friend who knew I was creative asked me if I could make her a wood sign. So, my husband helped me figure out how to build one.  I painted what she wanted on it, and she loved it so much that she ordered more! After that, it just kind of slowly took off.”

Interview Continued

C: “Why do you do what you do?”

K: “When I first started, it was kind of just a hobby, but at some point, I decided I want to make this a career. When I decided that, I knew I wanted to use my talent for God’s purposes. For people. Not just for me. Anytime I start to lose sight of that, God reminds me that this is about something much bigger than the art itself.”

C: “What do you love about your job?”

K: “I LOVE the people I get to know through this. There are so many people I would have never crossed paths with if not for my job. Obviously, I love that I get to do something I enjoy as my job. That’s a huge blessing that I don’t take for granted. I think about how blessed I am to be able to do this A LOT!”

C: “What does success look like for you?”

K: “Success for me is taking each day as it comes and each stage of life as it comes: not always wishing for the next, or wishing for more, especially to the point that it makes me ungrateful for what I have right now. Of course, I struggle with being content like I’m sure many people do, but to me, success is being content with what you have today, while still having goals for the future.”

Interview Continued

C: “What goes on behind the scenes?”

K: “A whole lot of prep work: the boring stuff like staining the wood I paint on, making supply runs basically every day, keeping up on social media posts — cause in this day and age you HAVE to stay present on social media or people forget you’re even an option! I’m super introverted and keeping up with social media for me is like, super hard. So, I have to put a lot of behind the scenes thought into it. I also spend a decent amount of time keeping my website updated and adding items to my store as well. I also meet up to deliver orders to my customers during the workweek while my daughters are at school.”

C: “Tell me about your ideal client or job.”

K: “My ideal client appreciates what goes into a piece of original artwork. They love my style rather than asking me to create someone else’s style. They don’t have to love nature paintings, but that’s always a plus! My ideal job would include my ideal client. They would let me know an idea of what they have in mind but also say “Use your creativity!” when they commission me for a piece. Literally my FAVORITE jobs!! I have lots of customers who do this, and that makes me feel very blessed that people love my style enough to trust me!! It blows my mind sometimes.”

Interview Continued

C: “What do you want people to know about you or your business?”

K: “This is something I’ve been trying to kinda get out there lately, and let people know … as sort of a “heads up” I guess. Every item I produce is made by me, including all of the behind the scenes stuff that goes on. I don’t have anyone helping behind the scenes. So, with that being said, I do have to require quite a bit of advanced notice when placing an order. A lot of times I’ll have people contact me and not realize that I stay pretty booked up and it’s too late to place an order. So that’s definitely something I’d love to get out there for customers or future customers! I hate having to turn people down!! It’s definitely a bummer!”

C: “What is something people may not know about you or your business?”

K: “I might be creative, but not when it comes to coming up with a business name. A friend from high school came up with “Quinntessential” when I had made a Facebook post asking for business name ideas, and I loved it! My business name used to be “Quinntessential Decor” because I started out making wood signs and was more focused on “home decor”. Along the way, I realized I could do more than hand-lettering (which actually isn’t my strength at all) and morphed more toward the “art” side of things, so I felt I needed to add to my name and make it Quinntessential Art & Decor instead!”

Interview Continued

C: “Tell me about yourself, your family, etc.”

K: “I’m married and have three daughters, and all five of us absolutely love to camp. When we camp, we camp in our hammocks. We love to hike also. We stick to the easier trails with the kids, but someday hope to go to some even more scenic places.”

C: “Tell me about your favorite moment or story related to your business?”

K: “This is somewhat of a long story, but my favorite moment so far happened right after I released my very first collection of paintings called “Consider the Birds”. The focus behind that collection was Matthew 6:26, where Jesus is telling us to look at the birds… how they don’t worry or fret yet God takes care of their needs. The collection was meant to be a daily reminder to anyone who purchased one of my birds, don’t be anxious because God will take care of their needs.

I was feeling a little down one day, not long after releasing it. I was praying and wondering if my art even has any real impact or if I was fulfilling what God was calling me to do in life. Not even a couple hours after that prayer, I got a message from a woman who said that one of my paintings just really spoke to her. She said she has bipolar disorder and truly needs that daily, hourly, minute-to-minute reminder that the Lord will provide for her. Her message came at just the right moment to let me know that what I do does impact people and that God can and will use what I do to reach His people.

As if that wasn’t blessing enough…

Later that day, her husband messaged me letting me know that he wanted to surprise her with the other painting from the collection that spoke to her as well. She had picked between her two favorites. So he bought the other one for her in secret! He asked me to bring it when we met up for her to pick up the first one. So, of course, when it came time to meet up, I brought both. Her husband was with her.

I handed her the one she had bought, and then pulled out the other one. I told her that it belonged to her as well because her husband bought it for her. She turned to him and had the biggest tears of joy. Then she gave him a big hug and kiss and was just SO thankful to him. She bragged on him about the things he does for her and just had the sweetest things to say about him. Their love for each other was something I will never forget. I left after thanking them both and saying goodbye and the tears flowed after I pulled off. It was SUCH a heartfelt moment. God really blessed me to even get to be a part of that moment. I really will never forget it!”

Interview Continued

C: “What has been the best advice given to you in life or business? Or what is your best advice?”

K: “That’s tough. I’ve had a lot of great advice given. I have to credit my Grandma for a lot of what I know about art. She’s an artist and a huge inspiration in my life and business both. Probably the thing I most use each day that she has told me is “Don’t get too caught up in the details.” She was helping me out with some critiquing once when I asked her advice about what I might be doing wrong on a specific painting, and that’s what she told me. Now, almost every time I’m getting frustrated about something I’m painting, I realize it’s because I’m getting too caught up in the details. I think that advice can be used in life too. Sounds kinda like “don’t miss the forest for the trees” doesn’t it?”

C: “How can people reach you/get your product or service?”

K: “I have a Facebook page facebook.com/QuinntessentialDecorbyKaceyQuinn/ My Instagram is instagram.com/q_art_and_decor/ And my website is quinntessentialartanddecor.com where you can also contact me!”

C: “What can people do to help your business?”

K: “Every like, every share, every comment, every little purchase and every encouragement or recommendation helps tremendously!”

Interview Continued

C: “What do you love about this community?”

K: “I love that so many other makers, artists and business owners in our community want to help each other out!! It’s not just about competition, it’s about helping each other grow!”

C: “Do you have anything exciting coming up or any specials going on currently?”

K: “I will have my own stable at GypsyMoon Marketplace for the first time this fall! On November 7th, 8th and 9th I will be set up at the Highland Stables and will have LOTS of Christmas items for sale. I will also have plenty of non-Christmas items to buy as gifts for family and friends! I’m currently working on a collection of mini paintings to release at GypsyMoon!! I’m super excited about those!”