Melissa Kay Bishop - How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Painting, Faux Painting, or Mural Business

How to O pen and O perate a F inancially S uccessful

Painting, F aux P ainting, or M ural Business

By Melissa Kay Bishop

A few years back we lost our beloved pet dog Bear, who was not only our best and dearest friend but also the Vice President of Sunshine here at Atlantic Publishing. He did not receive a salary but worked tirelessly 24 hours a day to please his parents.

Bear was a rescue dog who turned around and showered myself, my wife, Sherri, his grandparents Jean, Bob, and Nancy, and every person and animal he met (well, maybe not rabbits) with friendship and love. He made a lot of people smile every day.

We wanted you to know a portion of the profits of this book will be donated in Bears memory to local animal shelters, parks, conservation organizations, and other individuals and nonprofit organizations in need of assistance.

Douglas and Sherri Brown

PS: We have since adopted two more rescue dogs: first Scout, and the following year, Ginger. They were both mixed golden retrievers who needed a home.

Want to help animals and the world? Here are a dozen easy suggestions you and your family can implement today:

• Adopt and rescue a pet from a local shelter.
• Support local and no-kill animal shelters.
• Plant a tree to honor someone you love.
• Be a developer put up some birdhouses.
• Buy live, potted Christmas trees and replant them.
• Make sure you spend time with your animals each day.
• Save natural resources by recycling and buying recycled products.
• Drink tap water, or filter your own water at home.
• Whenever possible, limit your use of or do not use pesticides.
• If you eat seafood, make sustainable choices.
• Support your local farmers market.
• Get outside. Visit a park, volunteer, walk your dog, or ride your bike.

Five years ago, Atlantic Publishing signed the Green Press Initiative. These guidelines promote environmentally friendly practices, such as using recycled stock and vegetable-based inks, avoiding waste, choosing energy-efficient resources, and promoting a no-pulping policy. We now use 100-percent recycled stock on all our books. The results: in one year, switching to post-consumer recycled stock saved 24 mature trees, 5,000 gallons of water, the equivalent of the total energy used for one home in a year, and the equivalent of the greenhouse gases from one car driven for a year.

Author Dedication

This book is dedicated to all those who have a dream and are working toward making it come true. It is dedicated to those who are making the world a better place with their own special talents and creating happiness for themselves. Of course, it is dedicated to all who are painters at heart and those who are seeking a way to make their calling a way of life.

Introduction

Just to paint is great fun. The colors are lovely to look at and delicious to squeeze out. Matching them, however crudely, with what you see is fascinating and absolutely absorbing.

~ Winston Churchill (18741965), Former Prime Minister of England

Every child is born into art. Shape, form, and color, mixed with imagination, capture the young spirit and mind, and thus begins a life-long relationship with art. However, at a certain point, many put away their paper and crayons and continue to simply live side-by-side with the art world. Whether it is the clothes they wear, ads they see, color of their walls, or trips to museums, art is still a part of their daily lives.

Others never closed the box of crayons. For these people, living alongside art is not enough and only fuels the need to make more of it. As we grow into adults, taking care of ourselves financially becomes the focus of our lives, but for many, that magical box of vibrant colors still calls. Luckily, for those compelled to heed the call, there is a way to answer and still make a profitable living. This avenue still lies in paint and color, but with a much larger work surface. By entering the painting, mural painting, or faux painting industry, the drawing tablet grows to the size of a house, a restaurant, or apartment complex.