Today we’d like to introduce you to Hanah Tremblay.
Hi Hanah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember. It’s always been a passion of mine, even as a little kid. You know at the end of the year in preschool when all of the kiddos walk across the stage in their adorable mini cap and gowns and say “When I grow up I want to be a ___” and everyone smiles and claps and cheers them on. I walked across that stage and excitedly yelled “I want to be an artist!.” and nothing has ever changed.
I kept creating just about every single day, whether it was a drawing, a painting, or whatever random craft I might have decided to try and learn that week. But, it wasn’t until college that I started selling my art. I went to Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fl, and when I was a freshman, markets were just starting to become a really big thing and were popping up everywhere. I was living in a teeny tiny dorm room at the time with one of my best friends and was super tight on space, and money frankly, so I didn’t have much room for all of my art or enough to keep buying supplies. I decided to sign up for some markets and see how they went. They started off extremely slow, I think my first market I only sold one thing, and I definitely had a few where I didn’t even make one sale after sitting there all day. At the beginning I started off with mostly selling paintings and macrame pieces. I would make things like plant hangers, wall hangings, mirror holders, belts, all kinds of stuff. Once I started taking my graphic design classes at Flagler, I slowly started transitioning into selling prints and stickers of my illustrations and my market days started to become a lot more successful. I met so many sweet and genuine people at all of these markets, and a lot of them were business owners. So, I began freelancing and creating things like logos, t-shirt designs, stickers, sauce labels, etc. for some of them. It went hand-in-hand with the classes I was enrolled in at the time and really fueled my passion to keep designing and learning more.
Now, I still live in Saint Augustine, and travel about 3-4 months out of the year collectively. My art business is a mix of graphic design work, murals, selling my own work at markets, surfboard paintings, art lessons, and any other type of creative endeavor I can get my hands on. All thanks to the amazing community around me, I have had the pleasure of working on so many different fun and imaginative projects over the last few years. It’s crazy to think that I really did become an artist and made that little girl on stage so proud. I’m beyond thankful for everyone that has supported my art along the way and helped to get me where I am today!
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?
I would say overall it has been a pretty smooth road, but there has definitely been a few bumps along the way just as there is with anything when you’re new at it. It’s all a learning process, and trying to turn such a big passion of mine into a business has given me lots and lots of learning lessons without a doubt. I think one of the main things I struggled with in the beginning as an artist and freelancer was valuing my own work. I used to get really down on myself if I had a market day where I didn’t sell much or if one person out of the hundreds I’d meet would tell me that I charge too much. I began to get worried that the business side of things would start to creep in and take the fun out of something that I had such a love for, but I always just had to remind myself to keep going and keep creating. Not everyone will connect with your work, and sometimes it may feel like no one does, but that doesn’t make your art any less meaningful. Art is at its best when it is driven by genuine expression and joy rather than the expectation of profit, likes, or other people’s opinions. After lots of trial and error, working with lots of different types of people and businesses, and talking with other creatives in the industry over the past few years, I’m grateful to have found an audience that resonates with my work and that I have been able create a healthy balance between business and passion that keeps Tremblay Art both successful and enriching.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I do a little bit of everything when it comes to art and design. My work is a constant mix of fine art and digital design, including painting, drawing, illustration, and graphic design. The perfect combination of being able to get messy and covered in paint, but also being able to work on-the-go at times. Some of that work is for my own brand, creating artwork and products that I sell at markets and in shops throughout Florida. Other projects are client-based, whether that means designing a logo and branding package for a small business or painting a custom surfboard that ends up hanging in someone’s living room as a piece of art. Outside of that, I enjoy exploring other creative outlets like sewing my own board bags with thrifted materials, film photography, and sun printing.
Alongside my own creative practice, I am also the Art Director for a kids’ surf, art, and music camp during the summer, where I get to combine my love of creativity, community, and the ocean. I’ve also recently started offering private and group art lessons for kids and I’m extremely excited to see where that goes. Helping young artists build confidence, experiment, and find their own creative voice is something I’ve grown to become really passionate about.
What sets my work apart is that everything starts by hand. Before anything becomes digital, it begins with my sketchbook and a pencil. Even much of the typography I use is hand-lettered. I think that process brings a human touch to the finished work that can’t be replicated. In a time when so much creative work is becoming automated, it’s so important to keep craftsmanship and personality at the center of any type of art and design. That hand-drawn foundation is woven into every project, no matter the medium.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I try to find joy in just about everything I suppose haha. Getting to surf both here in Florida at home and all over the world. A nice tasty chai tea on a barefoot walk to the beach. Dinner nights with friends. Working alongside new business owners to help their ideas come to life. Dancing at concerts. Spending time with my family. Seeing one of my stickers on a car that drives by. Riding my bike to the pier for sunset. Traveling to a new country. Going on long walks and admiring all of the old houses around town….St.Aug has got some good ones! Looking for shells and shark teeth for hours on end. Getting a new tattoo. A nice yin yoga class. Listening to records. Walking the dogs at S.A.F.E. Spending a whole entire day painting. Walking to the farmers market and getting a fresh flower bouquet. The list goes on and on. There are lots of big things too of course, but it really is all of these small things that all make up this little life of mine that make me so happy and I couldn’t be more grateful!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hanahtremblayart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tremblayart_/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanah-tremblay/
