About the artist

 

     Hi!

     My name's Yessenia Echevarria, better known as Senia Che, owner of drawntosenia. I'm a self taught artist born and raised in Buffalo, NY. I've always been an artsy person but I started taking my art seriously in 2017 after my mom passed. I was only 22 at the time and had recently quit my job a week before my mother's demise to relocate to Mississauga but life had different plans for me. Art was still only a hobby of mine but I needed to find a way to make extra money to purchase a headstone for her. My littler sisters and I were fortunate enough to have friends and family donate to help cover funeral costs but she remained in an unmarked grave and as the oldest, I was on a mission.

       I opened up my first shop, made a few sales and it gave me the confidence to seek employment at a local art studio, Paint the Town, as a paint instructor. After a couple months of playing catch up with bills and handling my mother's affairs, my sisters and I were finally able to get the headstone. Art had always been something I did on the side but being employed at Paint the Town and watching my shop slowly grow showed me a glimpse of the kind of life art could give me. Although she was no longer with us, I knew my mom supported my art and I wanted to make her proud. I was motivated to keep going.

     I originally worked with acrylic paint but soon started experimenting with alcohol markers and fell in love. Other mediums I like working with include watercolor, clay, and resin. As a result, now a lot of my pieces are mix media. I also started developing different styles such as my scribble portraits, my original cartoons and semi realism third eye portraits. People started reaching out and that's when I started accepting portrait commissions. This caused my small business to grow and I had to resign my position at Paint the Town in 2019 so I could fully invest myself into my art. 

     Another medium I was successful with is resin. I made a few resin trays in 2020 and they went viral. I gained a bunch of new followers and business. My business had already grown steady over the years but this was a big jump over night and I am so grateful for it. Motivated, I kept coming up with new tray designs and received so much positive feedback! Nearly 16 months later though, I decided to take a break from resin and get back to my third eye portraits. I frequently bounce back between the two now and even came up with a way to merge the two with portrait trays! I like switching things up from time to time to keep myself from getting bored of the repetition, to challenge myself and to allow myself the freedom to create any way I'd like. As a result, I'm a pretty versatile artist always coming up with new personalized gift ideas.