Meet Torrie Smiley | Fine Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Torrie Smiley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Torrie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I started my own “art business” quite by accident.

I have been drawing as long as I can remember. I spent more time drawing in class when I probably should have been paying attention. In high school, I had my first opportunity to paint with a wonderful local artist, Nell Bennett. That is when I fell in love with painting. I really can’t call myself self-taught because there are so many people through the years who have helped me become a better artist.

As with many artists, the slight detour came when I became an adult and fell victim to the phrase: “You need to get a real job; painting is a hobby, not a career.”

Fast forward twenty years, my daughter had an art class project that she, of course, waited until the last weekend to start.  She had to complete a painting for art class.  I told her I used to paint back in the day, and we would paint together.  We bought acrylic paint since she needed the painting to be dry by Monday.  We both started from the same reference photo.  That painting weekend was all that it took—

Being a single mom with two teenage girls, painting kept me from going crazy!  Painting was my drug of choice; it was addicting. I soon realized I would not be able to afford my new “hobby” if I didn’t find a way to pay for the paint—quality art supplies are expensive.  I decided to put a few of my small paintings on eBay.  If they sold, I could buy more paint!  eBay was the only selling platform online in 2005. I guess you could say the rest is history.  I was fortunate to be selling art online at the beginning of the daily painting movement; now there are online avenues to buy art everywhere.

Since 2005, I have sold over 800 small daily paintings in my various online stores.  My children often referred to it as my hobby that got totally out of control.  Several of my first sales websites are now gone, and Etsy has moved away from the artist and handmade, moving toward mass production and digital downloads.

Today, I am painting full-time, both small daily paintings and larger paintings that I enter into local and online shows.  I am living the life I have always dreamed about.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Vincent Van Gogh once said, “If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” Being an artist is trying to get the image that is in your head onto the canvas, and so often we can’t get it just right, which can make us consider ourselves failures. The biggest thing I have learned is that even if the painting isn’t exactly what you wanted it to be on the canvas, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t speak to someone who would want it in their home to look at every day.

Best advice: Don’t stop! The hardest part about being an artist is making art. There were several years when my family came first. Getting back to painting, even after a short break, was intimidating. It was like starting over—and I can’t tell you how many times I have had to start over. When I started my painting adventure, there were only a few daily painters; now, there are many! Also, the biggest part of being an artist is marketing. You either do it yourself or find a gallery that will do it for you at a price. Marketing your work often takes more time than the actual time spent painting a new piece. Keeping your name and work out there so people can find you takes a lot of time.

When I first started, I was painting pears. I don’t know why I started with them. I think, at the time, they were easy to paint, and there were so many different shapes and sizes that they could all look different. My pears are all different—sometimes loose and painterly, and sometimes more realistic—but always colorful. I love color!

I love the smaller daily paintings, generally a 6” x 6” canvas painted “alla prima,” which is a painting technique that involves applying wet paint to wet paint, often in a single session, finishing a new painting every day. Every artist struggles to find “their style.” The thing about creating a painting daily is that your style just happens—there is no work or thought to it; it is just the way you paint. So many people have commented on my “style of work,” when I didn’t know I had one.

Today, I have started painting big, along with the smaller paintings.

I have painted and sold so many paintings all over the world, but recently, I was invited to be in the Cain Center of the Arts “Director’s Choice” exhibit. It was such an honor for someone in that position to pick my work to be in their personally curated exhibit. The opening reception was a night I will never forget.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Charlotte has so many wonderful things to do. We would definitely be at the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the Mint Museum. We would paint plein air in Freedom Park or along the Greenway. We would go to the Amp in the Bowl at Ballantyne to see String Cheese Incident or the Turnpike Troubadours. We would venture to the small town of Casar and hike South Mountain or paint a landscape with the old barn on Hwy 10.

We would eat pastries at Amelie’s and sketch on the patio. We would stroll downtown Matthews and eat at White Duck Taco.

We would spend an afternoon checking out all the new art supplies at Jerry’s Artarama or Cheap Joe’s. We would head to NoDa and see what all the other artists are doing.

We could ride the train to South End in search of the perfect cocktail.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many artists who have played a role in shaping me as a painter. One of my first art platforms was EBSQart.com. It was a group of artists painting and selling online. The website is now gone, but the “artist friends” have kept in touch through Facebook. David and Carol Marine – David currently hosts my website at DailyPaintworks.com. I have been with them for years, and Carol has been a mentor in my daily painting adventure. Karin Jurick and her blog “Different Strokes from Different Folks,” helped to shape so many artists. She is now gone, but Carol and David Marine has kept her artwork on their website for those of us who miss her terribly. Qiang Huang has been very generous with posting his painting adventures and shared with me his mixture of a color that I love to use, which can be seen in so many of my paintings. Last but not least is Daniel Keys, who sells his fabulous tutorial downloads for less than $20! That is a gift for artists on a budget.

Today, the Guild of Charlotte Artists are my biggest influence. We get together, share experiences, talk art, and learn from each other. There are programs to learn from different artists with different mediums and careers. It has been a great learning experience for me.

My biggest fans and worst critics are my family, who continue to encourage me to keep painting and keep having fun. They also point out which paintings they want to keep for themselves.

Website: https://torriesmiley.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torriesmiley/

Twitter: https://x.com/TorrieSmiley

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TorrieSmileyArtist

Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TorrieSmiley

Image Credits
These are all photos of my art. The picture of me in front of my wine painting was taken by my granddaughter Audrey Wood