Between juggling her painting practice and running her apparel label House of Aya – as well as being a mum of three rugrats under seven – Adele Bevacqua intimately understands the value of time. So intimately, in fact, that it was in the stolen moments of quiet while her babies slept during her maternity leave that Adele first picked up a paintbrush and discovered the passion that would go on to become her livelihood. 

What happened next is the beginning of a rad success story – Adele quit her corporate job and devoted herself to her art practice full-time. But, as any successful creative knows, there were the usual bumps along the way. We chat to Adele about overcoming those obstacles, the balancing act of parenting and creating, and how she approaches her art like any other biz. 

Tell us a little bit about your art practice. I’m an abstract expressionist artist, meaning I use intuition and emotion with each painting to come to the final result. I love to work on big pieces as it’s easier to get the scale right. I am also obsessed with colour and its implications – I initially fell in love with it in India. The saris and the dresses weren’t afraid to be bold with colour – something that I feel is missing in Australia. The whole wave of beige fashion has me a bit sad! Colour adds a lot to our lives – I could see the joy of it over in India – after that I integrated it into my practice. 

How do you bounce back when you come up against obstacles? I think it took me a little while to find the confidence within myself to be who I truly am. I’m a messy artist at my core (and in most areas of my life). Instead of fighting it, I’ve learnt to lean into it and create these art pieces out of that expressive place. I’m neat when I need to be neat, of course (I worked in corporate marketing for 10 years!), but letting myself be expressive in painting has developed over time. 

When I come up against obstacles, I think I have a few tools in my toolbox for handling them, but there’s always new things I’ve never faced and sometimes I’m flabbergasted! I think that’s kind of the beauty of life, isn’t it? Navigating challenges and trying to find solutions. 

How do you tackle the challenges that come with balancing your art practice and the time constraints of being a parent? It’s always a juggle and not something I think anyone is ever fully nailing. I have an incredibly supportive husband and we pick each other up if the other isn’t coping. I think being a team together helps us function as a family. 

The real struggle initially was trying to balance a full-time corporate career with being a mum and building up my art practice. There are many compromises in life, and my husband and I decided to compromise financial security in exchange for flexibility and doing what I love. Yes, it means we can’t take big holidays or splurge – but the payoff has meant being able to go to school events and be around on school holidays a bit more, all while doing what I love. I do still work four days a week to keep both businesses alive, but I can be flexible about when I get those hours done. 

I will say – it’s really hard when the kids are sick. We’ve just learnt to try to be gracious with ourselves – it’s OK if some balls are dropped.  

Why is it important to you to diversify your artistic practice? When I decided to quit my corporate job to be a full-time artist, I wanted to keep a bit of that pace that comes with corporate, and also to offset some of my slow art sales days. I also have a love of fashion – it’s what I studied at uni. So, I put on my thinking hat and House of Aya was born! 

It’s a steadier stream of income and a much smaller purchase for people, so I’ve been able to mix the art with fashion and create a career that I can hopefully stay in long term. Sometimes it’s really hard switching brains between creating art and then talking to manufacturers, but that’s just something I’m still learning how to do.  
 
How do you tap into a playful frame of mind when your art is also linked to your livelihood? I try to remind myself what an honour it is to have this opportunity to create and just get completely involved in the canvas. I’ll be very zoned out when I’m painting and everyone in my house knows not to interrupt me when I’m in the middle of a piece – a big part of this mindset is molded by the music I listen to. Even still, it’s definitely been a challenge since quitting my corporate job to still have that enjoyment in my art now that it’s my source of income. 

When I quit, I was plunged into quite a long painter’s block for about six months or so. I think the stress and newness of it kind of froze me. I kept painting despite it all looking rubbish, and eventually it came right. I think that sometimes in the creative life things just happen, and I just had to roll with that as part of my practice. I couldn’t get through it any faster and that’s OK. I do think my paintings are better now because of it, though – it’s added a bit more dimension and grit to my work.  

How do you approach your art with your business hat on? I think art has sometimes been on the opposite side to business due to its creative nature and an artist’s emotional attachment, but at the end of the day, it’s a job. Approaching it as a job means you have the opportunity to be professional and show up as your best self as you would as a salaried employee.  

My tips include being consistent with your marketing – be it on socials, your website, email, branding – so that you’re representing yourself as one cohesive brand. This creates trust with people and also gives the impression of quality. You do equally have to have fun with your art and be explorative, but make sure to take your community on that journey so they understand where you’re heading. Your brand doesn’t need to be as formal as a big corporate brand, because at the end of the day, it’s just you. I think showing up as your authentic self is probably the best way to navigate all of the above things. You’ll be consistent if it’s you! 

Also, make sure to find your bread and butter. For me, it’s my blue and green pieces. The pink and purple pieces are perhaps more exciting to create, but they can be a harder sell. Always balance out your creative practice so you’ve got both sides running. If you don’t sell art, you can’t keep creating. 

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