Artist Bio

Eve is the owner of the small business “Tiday Art” and works as an independent artist at Millworks in Harrisburg, PA. She sells original artwork, fine art prints, stickers, and greeting cards to the public from her studio there. She is a graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design with a BFA in Illustration. Her artwork is created using a variety of traditional media and digital software. When she’s not painting or taking reference photos, Eve enjoys listening to audiobooks, visiting local farmers markets, rock climbing, weight lifting, and dancing East Coast Swing with her husband Luke.

Tell us briefly about your background & how you got started in your medium.

I became an artist because I love storytelling and appreciate the beauty I see in daily life. My parents saw my love of drawing throughout middle and high school and gifted me an iPad in my senior year. I would draw in classes with Copic markers and colored pencils, and then when I came home, I taught myself how to paint digitally in Procreate on my iPad. I loved the challenges in mindset and technique that came with switching back and forth. That period inspired my passion for creating artwork digitally and traditionally. I got my B.F.A. in Illustration from Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL, and graduated in May of 2023. My organizational skills and self-discipline helped me choose entrepreneurship right out of college. I founded Tiday Art and have expanded its inventory to include greeting cards, stickers, fine art prints, and original artwork. My products are created using watercolor, colored pencils, ink, oil paint, Procreate, and Adobe Photoshop.

What do you like most about your medium?

The methods for painting on paper and a computer are very similar; layer shapes, lines, and colors to create an image. The execution of traditional and digital painting is very different.

When I paint with watercolors and oil, I battle their natural limitations. My brush can only ever get so tiny. My paper can only absorb so much water. My pigments can only ever get so light, dark, or saturated. My hand shakes. There is no undo button. After completing a painting that I like, I am proud that I created it despite those limitations. Sometimes my limits create happy accidents along the way that make the painting even stronger! In traditional media, I need to make fast, precise decisions that cannot be undone, and that gives it a “mood” that is separate from digital painting.

When I paint on my iPad or computer, my tools are limitless. I can undo any stroke. I can warp what I painted into a different shape. I can pick colors with precision, down to the pixel. I have thousands of brushes and textures to choose from. The struggles I encounter with digital painting come from those same qualities. Decision paralysis and inorganic results are common roadblocks. If I can do literally anything to my canvas, how will I ever know when it is finished? If I don’t have imperfections in my paper or brushes, how can I push my artwork from sterile to bursting with life?

That is why it’s so important for me to practice both kinds of painting. I find two different types of freedom in them. Watercolors teach me to paint with confidence and let go of what I can’t control, keeping in mind that it may turn out to be a good thing. Photoshop teaches me to pick my tools well, and that perfection isn’t achieved through perfect execution. My ability to create compelling artwork grows stronger through dancing between the two.

Who or what have been your artistic inspirations?

I am inspired by little moments that make life sweet. They are usually simple, like finding wildflowers thriving on the roadside. From those moments, I’ll pick a theme. To continue with the example given, I may take a picture of the wildflowers by the road and research what other plants grow in the area. Next, I find reference from other artists who have painted or photographed similar subjects. I would look for watercolor paintings of flowers on Pinterest or in art books. When I paint my wildflowers, I take inspiration from the moment I had by the roadside and the reference I collected, and turn it into a unique interpretation of the subject.

Do you have a favorite piece in your portfolio?

My current favorite is a digital painting called “The Perfect Stranger.” It features two frogs in a sun-dappled pond gazing longingly at each other. It took a long time and lots of experimentation to achieve the depth of the sunlight through the water. You can view it on my website by visiting https://www.evetidayart.com/digitalpainting or by visiting Studio 214 at Millworks, where I keep them in stock as prints.

What would be your advice to artists just starting out in your medium?

If you want to learn how to paint, there are a huge number of free resources online. YouTube has tutorials for every tool you can think of, traditional or digital. Art books are also hugely helpful because the information inside is curated more selectively than a Google search. Get a library card and check out the art book section. Visit tiny art galleries and sprawling museums. Look at as many different kinds of art as you can get your hands on and try all of them! As a beginner, your job isn’t to make super polished art yet. Your job is to be a sponge and soak up as much as you can learn, and then apply it to dedicated practice.