What are your thoughts on staying current with online and social media trends? What are some things you’ve learned about doing TikTok videos and online Live events?
I think social media should be an integral part of any small business. Social media provides a great opportunity to connect with past and future clients and to collaborate with other artists. I have met so many decorative artists from all over the country that I wouldn’t have known but for social media. When we do finally connect in person, it’s like meeting an old friend for dinner, because we’ve already been friends for so long! Specifically, as decorative artists, it gives us the opportunity to show the world what we do and “why” what we do is so amazing!

One of the main things I’ve learned from doing TikTok videos and other social media such as Instagram and Facebook is to just be yourself. I really do minimal editing. If I spend too much time try to make myself and my surroundings perfect, I won’t do it. I have a couple extra iPhones and I basically set them up on tripods and record everything I paint. One is always on time-lapse, so it records fast and the other one I just do small 4 second clips of each step and then put them together. Nothing has to be elaborate and you don’t have to have a bunch of special equipment. Going live is a little bit harder. You just have to jump in and do it. I recommend going live with a friend or artist first so you’re not alone and it doesn’t feel so overwhelming. 

What have you found to be successful when you’re trying to generate new business?
I would say, interior designers are your best friends. Building relationships with them, especially the ones that you really vibe well with will always generate new AND exciting business. Repeat customers, marketing, word-of-mouth…sure that’s all great and important to do, but when you build your ‘revolving door” of design teams that trust you, not only are you generating business but you’re doing what you love and who you love doing it with.

How did you get into decorative arts and was it a career you saw for yourself early on?
As a girl I always loved pencil sketching and as I got older started painting. I never thought of art as a career, always a hobby. I remember comments growing up such as “starving artist”, “art isn’t a career, you can’t make money at it”, “only dead artist’s make money.” Later in life those comments would spur me on to prove them wrong.

I continued to paint and sketch for the enjoyment into my early thirties. In my twenties I worked in accounting jobs and later would start working with my father in his drywall business. He taught me many hand textures and that is where my love for textures began.

My situation in life changed and I needed to start working full-time. I wanted to do something I loved. After researching decorative finishing schools, I decided to attend Faux Effects International in Seattle, WA. I was determined to make a success of this business and incorporated Dry Creek Finishing, Inc. before attending. I also set up appointments with clients for after our return to view our new portfolio. In 2002 my father and I attended our first class together. In 2015 I renamed the business to Shiree Nichole Designer Finishes LLC. This year marks twenty years in the faux art industry.

I love learning about new products, techniques and the chemistry behind the product. There is nothing like on-the-job training and I am always learning something new. I am very grateful for the designer’s and decorator’s I work with. They all have different design approaches. I love the diversity of finishes I create and the collaboration that goes with it.

In 2006 I started painting abstract art, mainly oils on canvas. In 2017 I began abstract acrylic art on Lucite.

Over the years I have attended classes for decorative finishes, oil, watercolor and classes on prospective. I appreciate learning from so many different artists using different mediums.

When I’m not on a finishing job, you can find me in the classroom teaching my trade. I love the networking of teaching and enjoy sharing my own learning experiences and meeting artists that share my love of decorative painting. In my classes, I encourage creativity, innovation and feedback. I teach what I have learned, and hope my tips, tricks and lessons learned the hard way on the job site will help my students avoid the issues I have had as I have taught myself decorative artistry.

In addition to finishing work, I have been a member of IDAL since the 80’s and have taught finishing classes at the “Faux Retreat”, “Camp Faux”, IDAL conferences & IDAL chapter groups…I served as a Master Class instructor & dealer for two separate Italian plaster companies which allowed me to teach & travel across the United States. I spent a short time as Creative Director for a design firm that specialized in creating faux finished panels and canvases for the high-end RV industry.

In 2020, I happily joined The Plaster Center in Minneapolis as Creative Director….now offering group and private classes, technical support, recipes & much more! In 2019, Mave’s Decorative Market was born to offer product & supplies, tech support, finishes & inspiration to the decorative industry.

Where are you located and what’s your favorite thing about your city?
The heart of Portland, Oregon is its thriving art and culture scene. Our city attracts all the creative types:  painters, sculptures, as well as fine chefs from around the world.  “Keep Portland Weird” is our city’s unofficial motto, and that is what I love about Portland.  We are surrounded by natural beauty, you can drive under a few hours to see miles of ocean beaches, the old-growth forests, the Columbia Gorge, and the scenic desert landscape. The natural beauty here never ceases to amaze me, and I am a native Oregonian. 

What are some of your favorite decorative trends? 
I love the look of textured walls, ceilings, and canvas art.  and I love the choices of textured materials. There are so many different types of products to layer, tools to manipulate products, and embellishments to add. The possibilities are endless! 

Metallic colors are my go-to favorite!  I will work with white and gray when the project calls for them, but I am so delighted to use colors. 

What industry trend are you absolutely in love with? 
I love a rich, painterly full panorama. Painting the walls so they dissolve. So you’re living inside a painting, or a theater set.

What is your favorite thing about the decorative industry/community?
My designer clients are more than customers to me – we are co-collaborators in a grand vision of ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’: a total work of art that someone gets to live in (residential) or open to the world (hospitality, commercial, public).

I choose my designer clients carefully knowing they will be “painting in” the foreground to the backdrops I create with my wallcoverings. The furnishings, art, palette, and mood they curate in the mural room tell a meaningful collaborative story: a triangulated conversation between the homeowner, the designer and the artist (me). And when it goes right, this collaboration gives me so much joy.

Where are you from? Where and what did you study?
The short answer is Baltimore. The long answer is my family is originally from the Detroit area. My parents moved to Maryland following my dad’s career. I still have family in Michigan but a lot of my cousins now live all over the country. I earned my Bachelors of Science in Art Education at Towson University in Baltimore and have also studied at Maryland Institute College of Art, Pratt Institute and McDaniel College. I’ve had the opportunity to study with artists including Jean-Luc Sable, Pierre Finkelstein, Carolina D’Ayala Valva, and William Cochran both in the US and in Europe.

What are your interests outside of decorative art?
Besides creating my own personal paintings, I like to make beaded jewelry. I also grew up playing string bass and I now play in a bluegrass/Americana band. I am an assistant coach for the local high school mountain bike team and I do CrossFit. I also have a goal to get back to riding motorcycles. Besides all of that I have two cats and an amazing boyfriend who lives in LA who also happens to be a decorative artist!

What are your thoughts on Pantone’s color of the year, Pantone 17-3938 Very Peri?
I think that “Very Peri” is an interesting choice and a departure from the 2021 colors of the year. I personally really like the warm blue hue, it reminds me of my favorite flowers, lavender and lilac. I think blue is a very versatile color and with this warmer blue hue it can lend itself to both analogous palettes as well as brighter, cheery complimentary color schemes. I can see it layered in with pinky reds and mauves to create a soft and inviting environment which is perfect for the current state of affairs in the world. Conversely I can see it paired with a yellowy orange to make it pop.