Today we’d like to introduce you to Caitlin Vasko.
Hi Caitlin, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I have always been the creative type, aspiring to be like my mother and one of my heroes-Martha Stewart. From the beginning of my existence, I recall crafting and creating. I always loved color and texture, and was intrigued about design and the concept of creating things from essentially nothing.
However, I never thought much of being an artist because I was always told that artists don’t make money. Plus my goal in life was to be a stay-at-home mom. Ever since I could remember, I wanted to be a mom with happy and healthy children. When I graduated college, this idea of being a stay-at-home mom was less accepted and somewhat frowned upon by our lovely society. I was also bummed that I didn’t meet my husband in college, forcing me to enter the real world, with lots of uncertainty. My first job out of college was in event planning. I began on the catering end, assisting and planning weddings. I then took a new job that was an in-house event planner, which quickly evolved to me planning events and being the CEO’s assistant.
I planned and executed some seriously awesome events, from conferences to international travel, where we took a cruise trip to the Caribbean. There my boss, the CEO took a giant sword to saber a bottle of champagne in front of the ship’s captain. This entire escapade was ridiculous, intriguing, and left me a thirst for more awesome events! After that event, I helped plan the largest sustainability fair in the world based here in Dallas, and I planned and executed two world record events where we made the most sandwiches ever in one hour! We actually made the Guinness Book of World Records, twice, and even had the officiant show up to instantly grant us the world record. P.S. To have that guy from the Guinness Book of World Records present at your event is expensive! Ha.
After all of that, I was still in love with event planning, but became less enchanted with this life- somewhat of a “been there, done that”moment. I then dove into medical sales. Here, I was mentally challenged and was privileged to work with some of the best spine surgeons in the world. I sold spine hardware, and brought the instrumentation and hardware for various surgeries such as fusions and artificial disc replacements. I’ve seen patients fileted open on the operation table, having plates, rods, and screws put into their back, all to help them live a better life. This job is not for the faint of heart, but I found it amazing. I loved being in the Operating Room, butI mostly loved learning from intellectuals that are next level!
Fast forward to the height of COVID in 2020 and my husband and I had just welcomed home our first child. As life schedules normalized, my life was flipped upside down and created great distress to be a working mom with a baby at home. I didn’t want to miss any of my child’s life moments, and quickly started to plead to my husband to let me stay at home with our son. This is where art and painting reentered my life and found me. I created a large watercolor of a jungle with orangutans for his jungle-themed nursery.
Fast forward to baby number two, and I was officially a stay at home mom. This was everything I had dreamt of, minus the monotony of changing diapers, feeding others, and feeling trapped on a time schedule that was a maximum of 2 hours before my baby needed to be fed. I felt that I needed more, and I began painting again,this time abstract work which I had never done before. Things quickly escalated, before I knew it, I had an LLC, artwork selling in two stores with a third store awaiting their first shipment, incoming commissioned artwork requests, accepted into a gallery, and was posting social media art posts on the regular. Life had exploded into happiness of being a stay at home mom and artist!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Mostly smooth, mostly fast and furious. The biggest setbacks include: Instagram engagement, and time that can be allocated to painting due to my young children. One thing that drives me absolutely bonkers is social media. I loathe social media- it is so time-consuming, the algorithm changes, and I ultimately just wish that society was without cell phones. A bold statement, but I do think people would be happier and more engaged with one another.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I enjoy colorful contemporary paintings with texture. I use both paintbrushes and palette knives to slap paint onto the canvas. I like leaving paint thick, the thicker the better! I love Vincent van Gogh, and he certainly serves as an inspiration to me. My mindset with art is that I want all of my works to be original and very clear with dimensions, which makes it clearly original artwork.
Things that set me apart: my personality, my background/ upbringing and perhaps my art style. There is only one me. I, for the most part, am very bold, bubbly, blunt, at times fearless, funny, and extremely driven with lofty goals. Oh, and unfortunately, if I get upset, I lack a poker face… I’m still working on using more grace.
What were you like growing up?
Athletic. Creative. Funny. Driven and Regimented
In fact, for the majority of my upbringing revolved around gymnastics, which I started around the age of 2 or 3. At the age 7 I was already in a very structured schedule with competitive gymnastics and school. At age 8 I would go to school, then gymnastics for 3 hours, get picked up, scarf down dinner, shower, homework, and then bed. This schedule was 3 days a week, and for the other 2 days a week, it was the same but filled with soccer practice for an hour or two.
As I got into middle school, I recall my peers being excited about the school dance… the first year, they asked if I was going or if I had gymnastics… the second year, they didn’t ask… and in 8th grade, they were blown away that I showed up. I recall being covered in chalk from the uneven bars, leaving the gum, and heading to the 8th-grade dance- my first middle school dance… I changed into my dress in the backseat of the car (of course, while my mom was driving) and showed up still with chalk from the uneven bars still on my legs and hands. Thankfully, everyone was more amazed at me making an effort to be there than my very thrown-together look.
High school mirrored the earlier days but with more activities. I retired from gymnastics as I had a stress fracture in my lower back. I then dove into Varsity Volleyball and Varsity Golf. I actually golfed my first year of college at PLU in Washington State. But I then transferred to Louisiana State University and became a sorority girl and embraced your typical college experience with a cajun twist. But truly, my days are and always quite structured. I am always on the go, always juggling multiple projects, and constantly yearning for more.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.
caitlinvaskoart.com - Instagram: https://www.
caitlinvaskoart.com - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/ CaitlinVaskoArtStore/
Image Credits
Julia Newman Photography
