Meet Vanessa Camara | Hand Painted Art, Jewelry, and Home Decor

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

Hi Vanessa, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I had been wanting to start a business with my artwork for a long time, but I had been mainly focused on digital art for years, and didn’t get back into painting until 2018. At that time I was painting as a hobby, and it wasn’t until 2020 that I started selling some of my artwork. The first thing that I sold was a set of hand painted coasters that had dot art mandalas on them. I continued painting and selling coaster sets, and then it expanded from there. I painted bird houses, jewelry boxes, candle holders, and then in 2021 I started painting earrings. I fell in love right away with the super intricate detailing of the earrings. I sell a variety of my hand painted (mostly dot art) items at events and markets around the city, as well as online.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My artistic style is very colorful, bright, fun, joyful, detailed, and intricate. I have been into a lot of different mediums, but today I mostly paint with acrylic paints, using paint brushes and dotting tools. I also use acrylic markers to paint designs on different items I am painting like bird houses and wooden plates, and then I will fill in those patterns with dots. It is a very fun process for me. It is almost meditative in a sense. I especially love painting mandalas on plates and jewelry boxes, and around the hole in my bird houses. My earring cut outs are made out of wood and they come from many different Etsy sellers. I choose my cut outs, and then I paint each pair a completely different way. All of my earrings are one-of-a-kind. I buy lots of different earring cut outs, including more classic shapes and lots of fun and funky shapes. I love getting custom work and I take a lot of pride in making sure that my clients are ecstatic with the art that I have created for them. It is so much fun to me to know who is going to be receiving my art when I am finished with it and focus on that in the process of creating. I started out at smaller markets in 2020, and since then have done a couple of Dallas Etsy Bash’s and been a regular vendor at the Dallas Arboretum.
I manage every aspect of my business, from creating all of the artwork, to taking all of the photos, editing photos, adding items to my website and my Etsy site, posting to social media accounts, and doing markets and events. I have learned a lot along the way about business organization, the importance of good bookkeeping, and marketing.

My goal as an artist is to bring more beauty into people’s lives. I want to continue creating beautiful art and jewelry for the world to enjoy. I plan on expanding my brand into other items in the coming years, including clothing and headbands.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My favorite spot of all is the Dallas Arboretum. I would definitely take them there for a lovely walk through, and maybe bring a picnic with us to sit and enjoy while we are there. I would also go for a walk around White Rock Lake. We might check out the Dallas Museum of Art if there are any good exhibits, and go for a walk around Klyde Warren park. My all-time favorite restaurant is Celebration, and I would take them there for dinner.

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?
I want to send a shoutout to my mom. She has been a big inspiration and supporter in my life. She introduced me to the arts when I was a child, and she has always been my biggest supporter for all of my artistic endeavors.

Website: www.vanessacamaradesigns.com

Instagram: @vanessacamaradesigns

Facebook: www.facebook.com/vanessacamaradesigns