ABN: Introduce yourself — who you are and what your vision as an artist is?
VD: My name is Vanessa Dougherty. My art encompasses different mediums, there is the painting of course, acrylic, oil, and canvas but also the pigment and the needle and the skin. It is also in the way I see the world, always looking for beauty in everything I do.
To separate the paintings from the tattooing is like to separate my being into two halves. It is all a part of me, and I am passionate about it all. It is because of one that I can succeed at the other.
ABN: What is your background?
VD: I have loved making art since I was a child. Everyone in my family could draw so I never considered myself an artist or anything like that until I got into high school where an art teacher noticed me. She encouraged me to start painting and to paint on larger canvases. That was when I began to develop my style of painting. One day she exclaimed, “vanessa now it all makes sense!” I asked her what she meant, and she had discovered that I shared a birthdate with Georgia O’Keeffe! I immediately went to the library to see who she was talking about, and I of course fell in love with her work. I saw my own painting style in her pieces.
I got several art scholarships upon graduation from high school and did a little time at Academy of Art in San Francisco. Around this time, I worked as a makeup artist at a local makeup counter, and I fell in love with making people feel beautiful. I left college to pursue doing makeup full time. This is how I discovered permanent makeup and tattooing.
I mainly painted as a hobby throughout my adult life. Always loving it but not considering it my profession — more like a private passion that I enjoyed for myself. Over the years I worked with plastic surgeons, creating solutions for people with scars and who have undergone breast reconstruction, I turned my art into a way to help people heal. I now own business in La Jolla, California, called Restorative Permanent Makeup where we specialize in cosmetic and medical tattoos and teach classes. It is also my personal art gallery as my paintings adorn the walls throughout the office.
ABN: What is your work philosophy and how does it impact your work?
VD: Creating things is the key to happiness and to never stop! It’s what we are here to do! I have found that I am much happier when I am creating, whether its painting or creating a new course for my students. If we are just brave enough to always move forward with our ideas. To not stop just because we’re unsure or lack confidence.
I always say that when creating art, you just have to keep going. Most of my paintings I hated for the first few hours! But I don’t toss it out! I don’t start over! I keep going until I start to love it! I keep going until its complete! That is where the magic happens — some of my best work gave me the most frustration. There is beauty in the process, when you continue to stick with something that challenges you and finish it even when it got hard that is where confidence comes from. You will be so surprised at what you’re capable of. So often as I look back on my life at the things I created I say, “I did that? Me!” We are all so capable of so much, and I teach this in my business as well, as I mentor other artists. Just stay with it, the reward is worth it.
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