THE MEAT AND BONES OF WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO.
Our real origin story and our experience of overcoming limiting beliefs.
SO…
WHAT IS LIVE EVENT AND WEDDING PAINTING? WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT? YOU’RE AMERICAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN EUROPE? WHO ARE YOU GUYS AND WHY THE NAME “BLOOM & BLISS”?
We get it. It’s a lot to take in so we decided to make a whole bliss blog post dedicated to our honest and raw story, not just the pretty bio that we all see on homepages. We believe in full transparency and vulnerability when it comes to sharing what we do because we are only human after all. So here you have it, folks. Our real story…
Having both met in art school at The University of South Florida, painting has always been a shared passion of ours. But in a society that has molded us to play it safe, we settled into 9-5 jobs that were unrelated to our art goals, so we became the majority of art school graduates that do what they can to make ends meet while juggling art on the side. Eager to find more to life than being stuck in rush hour traffic and staying in Tampa, Florida where we graduated college years ago at that point, we decided to move to Europe in 2015 (Ville’s whole family is in Finland so it wasn’t completely out of left field). It ended up being the best decision we made and just like that, Prague, Czech Republic became our home for the next 4 years and we loved every moment of it thanks to the friendships we made and the experiences we shared there.
THEN WHY DID YOU LEAVE? YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING…
Well, remember when we mentioned feeling unfulfilled due to not pursuing creative careers in art? Once the honeymoon phase of being in Europe wore off, we were left with this obstacle in the road again. As much as we tried to keep art making part of our routine, it just wasn’t being prioritized enough and we both ended up back in jobs that we weren’t passionate in (and at this point Ville was starting to lose his mind at his office job).
“I GUESS THIS IS JUST HOW LIFE IS FOR ARTISTS.”
“WE CAN STILL DO IT AS A HOBBY AND JUST SUCK IT UP AT OUR DAY JOBS.”
OUR LIMITING BELIEFS
On top of that, we weren’t even inspired to paint as much since it always felt like our creativity was put on the back burner. We started to feel a sense of aimlessness that we thought could be healed by changing our careers (again). Since we knew we wanted to be financially stable enough to start a family one day, we just weren’t achieving that in Prague.
So in December 2018 we closed the chapter to our life abroad and moved to Greenville, South Carolina to be with my family again and so I could go back to school to study Occupational Therapy cause the goal was to get a big girl job, ya know?. (My sister is an Occupational Therapist so I was familiar with the industry and I knew I wanted to be in a career where I could use my skills to work face to face with people and make a direct impact on their lives *foreshadowing much??*)
However, Ville and I aren’t even from Greenville and had never lived there before (my family moved there from Miami). Believe it or not, it felt even more foreign to us than the Czech Republic! You can make all the future plans you want with the best intentions and have everything mapped out to a tee, but if your heart isn’t in the right place then it will all go to crap. We didn’t expect this would happen, but we experienced severe reverse culture shock and quickly fell into depression. As much as I love my family and wanted so badly to be with them again, we felt that we had made a mistake. In the midst of all this, Ville’s father passed away. He flew back to Finland for the funeral, while I had to stay in school to take my final exams for a field I wasn’t even sold on. When it rains, it sure does pour.
SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL HAVE TO DO WITH BECOMING LIVE PAINTERS?
Well, when you hit rock bottom there’s only one way to go right? While this was all going down, Ville tapped back into his creative side and within a couple of months whipped up the most badass portfolio of drawings that he submitted to ZUYD University’s Master in Scientific Illustration program in the Netherlands. I wasn’t the only one in search of a career change, remember? Ville all along was also figuring out how to use his artistic talent and apply it to an exciting field. He was so determined to be accepted to this extremely competitive program (they have a 10% acceptance rate) that despite not having any science background, he was accepted based on the strength of his artistic portfolio and interview. We felt suspect that he’d get in, but the Universe has an interesting way of working things out. After 5 months of being in the States again, we were already planning our move BACK to Europe for Ville’s studies!
So while our time in Greenville was coming to an end to pursue our next European adventure later that summer, I obviously put a pause on schooling to really re-evaluate my job situation. What do I really want to do with my life? How can I tap back into my artistic side and add value to my life while also serving others? I knew that I loved to work with people by helping them and bringing joy to their lives. Well, literally a week later we both attended my friend’s wedding in Miami. I got to see all of my childhood friends surrounded by so much love and pure bliss, and it was there that we met a live wedding painter for the first time ever.
We were completely mesmerized by her painting. She not only captured the couple exchanging their “I do’s”, but also the overall ambiance of the evening in such a memorable way. It was then that we both began dabbling with live painting, getting some practice rounds in with friends and family, and shortly thereafter Bloom & Bliss was born.
We found the missing link to our art, and that was using it to bring meaning, purpose, and happiness to others. And what is happier than your own wedding day? We realized since weddings are all over the world, why limit ourselves to our location? We had finally found something that ignited both of our passions; something that is also a hell of a lot of fun to do together. Since I’m right-handed and Ville is left-handed we don’t bump elbows while painting! Although Ville is the more skilled artist technically (I’ll admit), my strong suit lies in dramatic compositions and color combinations. Bringing you a painting of your love made with love.
We hope our story inspires you to follow your heart (as cliche as that sounds) and lead a life of doing what you love with more love.
WHY THE NAME “BLOOM & BLISS”?
We wanted a name that’s a play on words and that has a sense of mystery to it.
BLOOM - (noun) florals": which you know play a big role in the decorative flow of the wedding or event, and always make an appearance in our paintings for their simple yet stunning beauty. (verb) grow, thrive, prosper: which we are both fulfilling by making the choice to pursue art which is our true passion in life.
BLISS - the feeling we bring to our couples, their guests, and to ourselves when creating art for you.
Xo, Monica & Ville
