Meet Luna Charlotte | Visionary Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Luna Charlotte and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Luna, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I have definitely always leaned on this risky end of the decision making spectrum. I owe my career as an artist to the risks I took. When my art started generating an income, I quite literally dropped everything and dedicated myself to my art 110%. I didn’t have a plan B. And sure – I got myself in quite a few situations that weren’t exactly ideal. But at the end of the day, everything always worked itself out and in the long run, it generated epic results. One of the biggest risks I took in the early days of my career was accepting a live painting gig at a festival in Australia. I was barely making enough to feed myself, yet I committed and just trusted the money for the flight would show up. And it did! I jumped on a last minute one way flight 3 days before the event and landed with $100 in my pocket on the other side of the planet with no idea how I what I was doing. I’m honestly not sure how I pulled it off to be honest… but somehow I did.
The results? I got to return to Australia every festival season with my travel expenses covered and managed to establish a presence as an artist somewhere I had never initially pictured bringing my art. Today, Australia is responsible for about 15% of my income. It also has earned me more respect in the art scene with an international resume. Not to mention all the friends I’ve met and the adventures I’ve had the privilege of experiencing thanks to that one extremely risky commitment.
So risky decision? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Heck yes. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Despite always having been a creative, I didn’t unlock the level of work that I create until my art had already been paying the bills for a few years. Art was an accidental career. I had never intended on it being my full time gig but it very quickly started bringing in an income. Although that income was barely enough to keep me alive, it was enough to mean I didn’t have to do anything else – and so I followed the calling.

Relying on my artwork for my survival meant dedicating thousands of hours to my craft. If I didn’t paint, I didn’t eat. It was as simple as that. When you spend that much time pushing paint around on a canvas, improvement is inevitable. With every painting I learn something new and unlock a new layer of the creative process.

At the end of the day, I don’t think I’m special. I’m no different than anyone else. We are all capable of these things. It just comes down to actually choosing that path. My paintings were mediocre at best in my early days (I cannot thank enough the people that purchased my early works which afforded me the time to keep painting). What set me on the road to succeed with this unconventional career path was that I gave it my all.

When you choose to follow your heART, you commit to the unknown. You trade off security and stability for unpredictable paychecks. You trade off the easy conventional life for one heck of a self growth journey. You truly open yourself up to a world of possibilities – both incredible ones, and absolutely terrifying ones. You are forced to face your deepest fears.

The upside of that coin is the more fears you face, the less scary it gets and the more comfortable you get with discomfort. And there is no sweeter reward than succeeding doing something you absolutely love and knowing that YOU are responsible for creating that opportunity for yourself.

The key is surrendering to the process and trusting that if you’re following your passion and calling, you’ll always be exactly where you need to be, experiencing exactly what you should, for your highest growth and evolution.

My approach to painting is quite similar to my approach to life. I find the less I think, the more I just become the observer to the painting being created in front of me and just fully surrender to trusting the process, the better my paintings come out. The more personal I let my art become, the more people relate to it. It’s like tapping into the depths of what it means to be human and translating it into color.

I suppose what I’m getting at here is it isn’t easy, but anyone can do it and there is nothing more fulfilling in life than pursuing creativity. It’s a guaranteed ticket to truly living a unique experience.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
It would depend on where I was living at the time (I move around a lot) and it would also depend a lot on the friend.

Some of my favorite activities to share time with friends though would have to include scuba diving, yoga, hiking, and going to concerts or festivals. I’m always down for doing something new and spontaneous adventures.

Food wise I love doing home-cooked meals or checking out restaurants with interesting international cuisine. As someone who travels a lot, I love experiencing all the different flavors there are to experience.

Cozy nights at home with cacao, music, and pulling tarot cards set a really good vibe for quality time and getting to know my friends on a deeper level.

If it’s a fellow creative, you can pretty much guarantee paints and canvases are coming out and we’re staying up all night painting and getting weird.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First off, I have to thank the man who inspired me to even pursue my art. So a massive shoutout to Chris (aka Chrizpy Chriz) for believing in me and encouraging me to create and share my art.

I would like to shoutout Brad Rhadwood for inspiring me to keep pushing and being the first established artist that truly supported me. The advice he gave me early in my career made all the difference.

Joseph David Nillo brought me out for some of my first live painting gigs and secured my spot exhibiting at my first Shambhala Music Festival which was a turning point in my career.

“Willisist” from Shaw DJ’s in Vancouver brought me out to live paint countless events at the very beginning of my career and those gigs were the income that sustained me in my early days.

Shoutout to my family and friends who believed in me and supported me in so many ways along my journey.

There are honestly so many people I’d love to thank, but to keep it short I’ll close it off with a shoutout to my current team, Kendra, Candace, and Sancia for everything that you do to help support and grow my art career.

Website: www.lunacharlotteart.com

Instagram: @lunacharlotteart

Facebook: www.facebook.com/lunacharlotteart

Other: TikTok: @lunacharlotteart

Image Credits
Transformational Eye Sarah Koury