Today we’d like to introduce you to Keiko Hayner.
Hi Keiko, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Osaka, Japan and came to the United States in 2004 as a student. Since I was a little girl, I always loved to draw, paint and just simply make something. I would make collage art, draw with crayons or make a small merry-go-round with cutouts of paper horses. When I was in high school, I knew I wanted to go to an art school and I poured my passion toward graphic design for four years.
After graduating from college, I came to the U.S. and somehow, my direction shifted to a different field. Thinking back at that time, I feel like I didn’t trust myself and my skills to make a living with art and illustrations, so I might have chosen a more practical thing that seemed to appear in my eyes then. As my life went on while I was working every day as a childcare worker and becoming a mother of two children, I was pretty detached from my love of art for a while. Here and there, I was inspired by colors or patterns that I saw, but I wasn’t creating much or I should say I didn’t know what I wanted to make or what I could make.
When 2019 came around a big personal transition happened and I started questioning myself – what I was looking for, what I would like to do for my life, what kind of mom do I want to be for my children? Then somehow, I started grabbing paint blushes, watercolor and some paper. It was just a hobby in the beginning, but I started finding myself feeling good, wanting to do more and even feeling frustrated sometimes. As I painted more, I started understanding what I’m good at and what I want to improve more.
Then a friend of mine, Ammie Jo Busby who also loves art and I established an online art and home decor shop, AJ & K Co. (www.ajandkco.com), just for fun in the beginning. It was a good motivation because it gave me certain assignments to do, but we also learned how challenging it was to own a small business by having to do everything on our own.
As this was going on I started receiving some commission work from people and also submitting my work. I started understanding how lucky I was that some people valued my paintings and let my art live in their homes. That meant so much to me. In October of 2020, I established my own company, Keiko Hayner Illustrations. Yes, it was during the pandemic! But, I believe now that without the pandemic, I would not have been able to push myself to do any of this. I lost my job and stayed home with my two children while we relied on unemployment for months, but I painted every day with any ideas that came to my mind. The creative time of 2020 was a collection of special and quiet hours that I could only focus on what I wanted in my small apartment, regardless the rest of the world seemed so confused and scared.
As some local artisan markets started reopening, I decided to give it a try and joined. This experience opened up more possibilities. After the whole year of staying home, meeting people, making new friends and selling what I created were so refreshing, motivating and accomplishing to me. As I painted more my children started seeing me in my creative time and they wanted to join also. Especially my oldest one, a seven-year-old daughter, who seems to carry on the same passion toward art just like me. It makes me happy when she gets in a focused creative mode. When I tell her “Just need more practice to get better,” I am also telling myself the same statement. As I participated in more markets, I started understanding what’s on-demand and what’s not. I am still learning every day and taking small steps as a new business owner, but I am finally confident to say that this is what I was looking for, what I would like to do for my life and the mother who I wanted to be in my children’s eyes.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
This whole process of starting painting, establishing a company, submitting my work and participating in local markets seems to be natural to me. However, a process of self-discovery of who I am and what I want to do for my life has not been as easy, natural or a smooth road as I wished. It was probably from my fear that I couldn’t break my insecurity – feeling I am not a good enough artist/illustrator. And that is also self-doubt. But then, as we were all going through the pandemic in 2020, I started realizing that life could be so short and unpredictable sometimes. Why don’t I do my best to make myself fulfilled with what I love? Don’t worry about if it’s good or bad. It is definitely still a process, but I think embracing my decision and positive thoughts has shedded one skin of fear off of me.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a freelance illustrator based in Austin, TX. My main art medium is watercolor. I usually paint with watercolor and edit with digital art tools before printing or showing them on social media. I am known for colors and joyful images. When I set up my booth for markets, people give me comments, such as my table is so colorful and delightful.
I am proud of the uniqueness of my work. I love the feeling of handmade and I believe I have been able to show that in my artwork with watercolor. My illustrations are all original and pretty unique. I get a lot of inspiration from my admired artists and illustrators, but I believe in myself and my work to be original, not to resemble any other people’s work.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Believing in yourself is probably my number one quality to success because no one else can do this for you. Just keep practicing and see what happens. I have learned what works and what doesn’t.
Also, listening to trusted friends’ opinions is number two. I have made several friends in the same field from local markets by being a vendor. It is always fun to exchange information, but also it is very important to listen to opinions from experienced friends. They have very useful advice and I have learned a lot from them. I love being in the vendor network. The majority of people are very supportive rather than competitive.
Pricing:
- Art Print $15 – $35
- Tea Towel $16
- Coffee Mug $15
Contact Info:
- Email: keikohayner.illustrations@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.keikohaynerillustrations.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keikohayner/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keiko.hayner
