We Paint Murals In Exchange For Accommodation

We believe that our creativity is a gift to share.

As full-time travelers, it is crucial for us to find ways to cut our costs and keep our expenses to a minimum as we move around. Neither of us has a traditional ‘job’ so we create ways to make money online (hello Medium!) so that we can continue traveling.

But when we can also cut expenses, our life certainly becomes easier.

Using our artistic talent is one way that we do that. Quite often when we reach a place that we want to stay at for a while, we message hotel and accommodation providers in the area and simply ask them if they are interested in our services.

Because we have a portfolio on our website, it is usually pretty easy to send them there to show them our work. We also have some process videos on our YouTube Mural Playlist that they can watch.

Now, you may wonder, why would we do this for free, when we could be charging big money?

Well, the answer isn’t quite so straightforward. Much depends on the places that we are visiting and the rules around foreigners needing work visas to earn money. By doing it this way, we are sort of sneaking around the rules as we aren’t technically getting paid.

Plus, there are a few other reasons why we enjoy it.

We get paid for our original paintings 100% of the time.

Many artists have a hard time selling original paintings. They get stacked up in their homes or studios, oftentimes never seeing the light of day. Of course, they may sell prints, but those originals are expensive and at times hard to move.

By painting our art directly on the wall, and getting an immediate return on our work in the form of accommodation (and sometimes food), we are, in a sense, selling our originals 100% of the time.

Potentially thousands of people will see our work.

While art collections can certainly be seen by many people, they are usually contained in homes or offices where there is limited traffic.

Our paintings grace the walls of places where hundreds, if not thousands, of travelers will move through eventually. It gives us great joy to know that our work is oftentimes uplifting a space and bringing joy to people's lives, even if just subconsciously. This is our way of spreading Love Through Art.

We take great pride in sprucing up spaces.

Art is often one of those things that you didn’t realize was needed until it is there. Some of these spaces that we paint in are dreary and drab. But once we get at it with our magic brushes, we can make those walls come to life!

Watching these spaces transform is so much fun. Plus watching the faces of the owners, and seeing how happy they are with how things turn out, is the best reward. Many of them have no concept of what we are creating until it is finished, and it is in those moments that they really can see the value that we have brought to their establishment.

It gives us a physical art outlet.

Beyond our physical art, we are also digital artists. Most of that was born of the necessity to be able to transfer art onto products for drop shipping or to share the art through online avenues.

However, it is also important for us to be able to do some physical and tactile art. I, especially, crave physical art, and if I can’t satisfy my craving to get something out, I tend to go a bit stir crazy.

Of course, it’s impossible to make paintings and haul them around with us while we travel. So this gives us that outlet and allows our creativity to flourish and not become stale and stagnant.

At times, though, if we are in situations where we don’t have a mural project, I have been known to simply go and buy canvases, just to get something out of my system. I then gift the painting to a friend that we make in the area, or sometimes our host.

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” ~ Pablo Picasso

Our creativity is our gift to share.

We do feel that our creativity is our gift that should be shared with the world, not a commodity to be sold. At the base of ALL of this, it makes us feel GOOD to be sprucing up these spaces, and wholly sharing our creativity, our gifts, with the world in such an honest and uplifting way.

During these covid times, especially, we have really felt rewarded in sprucing up and uplifting some businesses who are really having a hard time. Plus, it works well because we are staying in rooms that aren’t being used at the moment anyway.

By spreading our art, and our love, in these ways, we hope that little by little, we can give people hope and passion to move forward in these challenging times.

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Hi there, we are 2 Canadians, Jill and Chris from Artistic Voyages. We have been nomadic since 2017 living in numerous different countries, and experiencing the life and diversity of our planet on the ground and firsthand. We have now been on the African continent for 2 years! Join our adventure by hitting the links below!

Website: www.artisticvoyages.com

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