ART CRUSH: Daisy Faith

In the middle of 2018, an artist reached out to me from sunny LA. We shared a couple of phone calls and I loved her, and when I looked through her art, I loved it too!! Meet today’s art crush, Daisy Faith:

She’s an actress, dog mom (of course, my fave), and she has a very popular paint and pour business in her California home of Redondo Beach; first and foremost, though, she’s an artist.

Daisy paints a ton of things- if you spend any time on instagram or pinterest, you’ve probably seen this camel:

…But she was busy in 2018 with beaches, fruits, and so much more! I’m a stripe lover, so when I saw that she was starting to incorporate stripes into her pieces I was thrilled. I love the striped skies in her beach scenes, and all of the fun color. I could so see one of these in a huge format in a beach house somewhere in Florida! or Cali- tons of beaches there.

I asked Daisy some questions and I’m transferring them below- I always love getting to read where people came from and why they do what they do!

Tell me about the acting- how long did you do it, or are you still doing it? 

I've been acting since I was a kid and did a lot of musical theater growing up even though I can't sing that well but I loved being part of a group of artistic folks putting on a show (jazz hands). My professional acting career lasted about 10 years. I pursued acting in North Carolina (where I grew up) first but found that most actors were being cast from L.A. so I made the move and after about 5 years of blood, sweat and lots of tears I had some success on such shows as: How I Met Your Mother, Nashville, Pretty Little Liars, Days of Our Lives and Conan. About 2 years ago I started to realize that if I ever wanted to live a life of less stress that acting might not be my dream career, so I started to think about how I could make my lifelong passion of painting into a career. I still love to perform and perform improv when I have time.

When did you start painting? Where do you paint?

I feel like I was born with a paint brush in hand, but I'd say I seriously got interested in high school. I used to paint funky furniture and sell it back then. Once I went to college and learned the skills it became a passion. I paint at my home studio- aka we don't have a dining room anymore. I also have a 'paint and sip' studio where I teach folks to paint but I tend to keep my personal paintings at the home studio.

Did you go to school for art or acting, or art? Or neither?

I went to school for Interior Design and Art and studied at Meredith College in NC. I almost studied acting but thought design and art was more practical. (haha) I think most of my painting since school has been trying to un-learn what I learned there. I don't mean this in a bad way because I am grateful I learned how to paint a photorealistic image but it's not the kind of art I admire, so it's taken me many years (and I'm still learning) to let go and get looser with my painting and 'break the rules.' I still have a hard time with this as recovering type-A personality.

What is the best part about being an artist in the LA area? The worst part?

Best part is the weather and the beaches! No lack of inspiration here! I just took a trip to Laguna Beach which has a large artist community and it was beautiful. I also live about 2 miles from the beach and so Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, and Manhattan Beach give me constant inspiration for my work.

The worst part is the expense, hence me painting in my dining room! This is the main reason why my fiance and I want to move. Real estate in California is SO expensive that it's just not possible for us to by a home here so after a lot of weighing the pros and cons we've decided to move to Wilmington, NC. It’s also a beach town so I think we will be painting more beach scenes in no time!

Which leads me to my next question: What's happening in 2019? Any big plans or goals?

Yes! Big plan for 2019 is to move back to North Carolina and (fingers crossed) buy a home. I'm also getting married in an awesome rustic barn in Wilmington, NC in October of 2019 so it's going to be a big year. And, of course, I plan to keep painting!

Tell me about your dog!

Henry is the cutest. We rescued him about 3 years ago and he's a beagle mix. He's super unique because he's short and long at only 25 pounds. He has red hair and green eyes and everybody who meets him falls in love with him!

And that’s a wrap! I think the acting part of Daisy’s colorful career is so interesting. She’s talented in a ton of things! (I’m literally about to go watch her HIMYM episode now.) If you want to shop some great prints or paintings, check out Daisy’s website— she’s also got work on Adore Your Walls that you can peruse!