Check Out Felisha Bustos’ Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Felisha Bustos.

Hi Felisha, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born in Burbank, California to a Portuguese mother and a Colombian father, and was joined in the family four years later by my sister. Family closeness has been a value from the beginning.

I developed a love for traveling when my grandmother took me to Colombia when I was six years old. I still remember the ways my senses were delighted in the places I experienced there. As a little girl, my dreams were of being a great mom like my mom was, a fun art teacher and mentor like my uncle has been, and a world adventurer like my family members were. I wanted to soak up as much life as possible and not only that but be a person who adds value to others’ lives, wherever I would be.

There is joy in unexpected places, roads less traveled, changes of plans, mundane yet divine conversations, and in everyday life. I was married, beginning at nineteen years old, for twenty years and we had four children. I have been a professional artist since I was in high school. I began teaching as a young adult and have done it in a variety of ways ever since. I have been honored to create murals, commission work, experiences, and classes of all varieties for people near and far.

Personal growth, freedom, love, and living authentically are values of mine. As a single mother, homeowner, and artist, I find it important to carve out time to travel. Being in unfamiliar places presents many opportunities to expand my thinking, meet interesting people, and be open to being influenced in new ways. I’ve lived in Illinois, Northern, and Southern California, and am currently living in Northern Colorado, I have lived here for thirteen years so far.

Although I have been privileged to travel to many states within the United States and also to Europe, and South and Central America, I know I’ve just begun. There are so many more places to still explore. Life is full and exciting!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road. Along the way, I had three eye operations as a little girl to correct my lazy eye. I developed unhealthy thoughts about myself as I was bullied by schoolmates because of the patch I had on my eye and later because I wore glasses. I began to believe I was different and unacceptable for different reasons from elementary school on and into high school. Although I steadily grew in friendship circles and confidence little by little, I looked back and saw how what I believed about myself held me back from shining as brightly as I could have.

My parents divorced when I was in middle school and that deeply impacted my life. It was a relatively peaceful divorce and love was always present within my family there were still a lot of challenges as I moved through the changes the divorce brought. After I got married to the pastor’s kid and my high school sweetheart, I found out truths that were hidden while we were dating and I was in a position to choose to continue to love and stay in the marriage as I thought was the “right/Godly” thing to do or not. I chose to stay in the marriage and we navigated our twenty years together the best we knew how.

We chiseled each other like blocks of marble into the people we have become and have learned a lot along the way, for better or worse. While I was pregnant with our first child, I got a rash all over my body and got a virus called Bell’s Palsy that paralyzed one side of my face and they both lasted about a month. The doctor said the virus was so bad that my paralyzation would be permanent and I would need facial surgery. I was 22 years old and found it very difficult to accept that and was angry and sad. I surrendered after having it out with God and just before she was born, the symptoms vanished.

We have had ups and downs along the way everywhere from financial scares, relational issues in marriage and with family members, and difficulties in life in general. I’m an open-book kind of person and am happy to go into details to share whatever you may want to dive into and I am being mindful of space and time in this scenario. We chose to let go of our marriage in 2018 and that presented a whole bunch of other challenges and struggles.

I went from being mainly a stay-at-home mom who made $1,000 a month as a private art teacher and public school contractor who painted murals occasionally to the head of the house and bread-winner for my family within 6 months of a transition period. I was terrified at the beginning of this new season of life because I thought I would lose our home, have regrets, fail, lose the ability to have the life I wanted with my kids, and more. I thought I would have to stop doing art so I could get a “real job” and have someone else tell me how I was going to be spending my time.

On the first day of being divorced, one of our puppies had her first seizure and I chose to save her life which added $5,000 of debt to our credit cards I wasn’t sure if it was the right decision at the time. We experienced a global pandemic and I stayed afloat somehow as an artist that feels amazing to me since the kind of work I do is considered a luxury for people to have in their lives. It is an easy thing to cut out of budgets for people in hard times.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a visual artist who primarily works with paint, although I love working in a variety of mediums, my work is colorful, detailed, expressive, customized for clients, and packed with meaning. Beauty found in nature, people, and life influences me to reflect what I see through my art.

My strokes may be thick and textured or smooth and photorealistic. I specialize in creating art for people and businesses that show I carefully listen to what is desired by them. I like to create in such a way that I create for the client what they would make if they wanted to do it themselves. I embrace what they imagine and become the hands that create for them. When working on murals within our school district, I like to collaborate with students and brainstorm ideas with them. I like to give them a visual voice and in many cases, invite them to paint with me!

Connection is one of my specialties. Beyond visual art, I enjoy the art of creating spaces for people to be their authentic selves, be imaginative like the children they once were, and connect with themselves and others in fun ways. I am the founder of an experience called “HerStory” which is a way to celebrate women during Women’s History Month. We put our names in a “hat”, draw a name, meet with our muse, hear her life story, and then create art in honor of her life. We all make 2D art on the same size surface and our art can be in whatever medium we choose.

Artists can go beyond the 2D art and express themselves in a variety of artistic ways as well, We have a large artists’ reception that is open to the public where females entertain through singing, dancing, and music making. A portion of our proceeds go towards the organization of our choice, for example, places like “A Woman’s Place” – a shelter for survivors of domestic violence. A new passion project I’m creating is called “Uncorked” and it is a non-traditional paint-and-sip kind of gathering where wine is involved, a journal entry prompt is given, we spend a portion of the time journaling with nice music quietly in the same space, and have a group discussion time on the topic at hand, then share time playing with art supplies in a doodling sort of a way while the conversations will go where they go. It’s a place where our wine bottles, hearts, minds, and mouths can be “Uncorked”!

I’m known for the ways I bring people together in communities in loving, fun, and empowering ways. I have spent the last twenty-seven years being a professional artist creating art and working with people in a variety of ways primarily by word-of-mouth and referrals. In my city, I’m known for a 270 sq. ft. mural at Aims Community College called “You Belong” as well as many murals I have made for District 6 schools and also for our city. I’m proud of a recent 275 sq. ft. mural I did for the carrot-farming Hungenberg family on the side of their home.

What sets me apart from others is I have turned one of the attributes I have disliked about myself, people-pleasing, into a characteristic that creates value for my clients and myself in return. One of the best compliments I heard recently was from my client, after showing her the initial sketch for the mural that was to be painted on the side of her home, she said, “You listened! This is above and beyond what I was hoping for. You captured every detail that was important to me.” I have thought of myself as an “escape artist” before. Some of my favorite works of art show real and imagined places that people might want to escape into to feel beautiful kinds of ways in their imaginations.

My business is called Be-ART-ifull because it’s about BEing. Life is art. Our art…my art is a self-portrait….a snapshot of what is going on inside of me at this moment in time. There are always connections. It’s like a visual journal entry whenever I or we make art. When we are being and creating art in the world in whatever ways suit us (mechanic, cake decorator, mathematician, teacher, engineer, etc.), our souls feel alive in contagious and powerful ways.

We are fulfilled. We are full. I am most proud of being courageous on the journey I have been on towards living in alignment with passions that have been inside of me since my earliest memory. I regularly challenge myself to get out of my way, move through fears and insecurities, and say “yes!” to opportunities that are presented to me by others or my inner spirit.

How do you define success?
I define success as inner peace. It isn’t so much about the accolades, the material possessions, the titles, or the numbers. All of that is a measure of the results I have created in my life by what I’ve chosen to do or not do. I am responsible for everything because although I am not responsible for everything that happens in my life, I am the one who makes up the meanings of everything in my life. It’s all about perspective.

To one person, making a million dollars in their lifetime can feel incredible and to someone else, it can be pocket change and mean nothing to them. I can see the futility in attaching the idea of success to things like I mentioned above. What good would it be to arrive at a certain place but do it without integrity, or hurt others to achieve a certain goal? What good would it be if I had a stroke from all of the stress I had in my life to get something? What good would it be if I damaged relationships in the process of trying to have a special title?

When my life is almost through, I want to be able to look back and know that I navigated my life the best I knew how, I learned along the way, I added value to the world, I was responsible, I practiced integrity, and above all, I was loving. I am creating the relationships, lifestyle, spaces, and results in my life that make this world a more beautiful place for others and myself to win because we are worth it. We matter.

Pricing:

• Commissioned fine art and murals are priced by size, medium(s) used, and complexity in the design.
• Private art lessons and classes are priced based on time and materials used and can range from $15-$100 an hour for example.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.smugmug.com/app/organize/Art
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/be_art_ifull/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/felishambustos
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felisha-bustos-91b0751a5/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/felishabustos
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjgnZWGmpMzdZ9U7jNviJPg
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/be-art-ifull-greeley