hannnahmichelle
- Aug 25, 2022
- 3 min read

I Sold My Two Biggest Paintings Ever

Brb *sobbing* 😭😢🥰

Paintings titled "Cherries" and "Blueberries" with the word "sold" superimposed on top.

About a month ago, I got a message on Instagram from a wonderful woman.

Enter scene: Shannon. 🥳

She’d seen my “Cherries” painting video when I initially posted about it months earlier on TikTok and she admitted that she’d been eyeing it on my website since, dropping hints to her husband, Matthew, about how much she loved it.

Just that appreciation alone is enough to have my belly in a flutter. I love hearing when/how my work impacts people, but shortly after that initial conversation I received a payment, suddenly, “Cherries” was sold!

Artist Hannah Kilby sits on the floor crying happy tears after selling her painting "Cherries"

Click the photo to see my reaction to selling "Cherries"

*queue screaming* 🤯😱🤩

That payment made the whole thing real. I ran into the living room and my boyfriend, lounging on the couch, watched me crumple to the floor and burst into happy tears.

Boy, this whole entrepreneurship and artist life thing sure is an emotional roller coaster!

I made a video about my reaction to selling “Cherries” and floated in the stratosphere for days, jubilant and in a bit of disbelief that my work, and such a special piece too, one that was initially labelled as “weird” and “risky” for deviating from my usual landscapes, had found a new home.

Shortly afterwards, I was in the process of packaging up “Cherries” to be shipped off to New York, when my clients reached out to me again, inquiring about “Blueberries”. Shannon had mentioned already that she loved it as well and that maybe they’d get it for Christmas. I confirmed with her that “Cherries” and “Blueberries” were painted as companion pieces, they’re the same size, painted in a similar style and I curated the reference images to have them complement each other. It wasn’t just because they were the first and second paintings of what I will stretch into a 12-part “Sustenance Series”, it’s because they were intended as a set within the whole.

Shortly after that conversation, I received a message from Matthew, he was buying “Blueberries” too. His only condition: Shannon expected one painting to arrive, but we were going to surprise her with two! 😭❤️

So not only was I selling my two largest paintings ever, and two of the most special pieces I’ve ever created, but I was also a part of a terrific surprise. I was SO EXCITED for the huge package to arrive at their front door. Then it was just a matter of figuring out how best to ship a nearly 60x60x4” package to the United States.

When that second payment came through for “Blueberries”, I swear I had an out-of-body experience. TWO PAINTINGS. Derived totally from a passion project, nay, an afternoon snack in the summer of 2021. Arguably, my two most popular paintings ever. Paintings that have helped me further develop my voice as an artist, my brand. Paintings that have brought people to me that otherwise I probably would have never gained as admirers of my work.

Artist Hannah Kilby stands smiling behind the cardboard box that holds both her paintings titled "Cherries" and "Blueberries"

For reference: I'm nearly 6ft tall, so this was a big box!

Seriously, the majority of my nearly 30,000 followers on TikTok are because of a singular time-lapse video I posted about the process of making “Blueberries”.

I’ve been incredibly blessed to be able to send off prints of these two paintings all across Canada and the United States.

The sale of these paintings broke a record in my fledgling business, having only started full-time in January after dropping out of art school. They allowed me to pay off the student loan I took out for that singular semester at OCAD University.

I think back to my excitement in painting “Cherries” in August 2021. I didn’t know where I was going with it, just that I couldn’t wait to get to my easel every day and watch the largest canvas I’d ever worked on knit together. I didn’t know what sort of reception a seemingly random, oversized painting of dewy cherries in a bowl would gain, but I was consumed in the process of it, the magic of it. I’ve been pursuing that sense of euphoria in my work since.

What a whirlwind this all has been. Totally transformative. Dream-affirming.

I’m so proud and grateful, floating on the beautiful possibility, dare I say likelihood, of being a full-time artist forever. Deciding to do all this full-time in January was scary, but it’s moments like these that assure me that I’m going to be just fine. ✨

My “Cherries” and “Blueberries” originals couldn’t have gone to a better home. ❤️ Thank you from the depths of my soul to my clients Shannon and Matthew, and to every single other person who’s invested their hard-earned dollars or generous words of encouragement into this dream of mine. It’s an absolute honour to have my work displayed in your homes!