When April Lacheur was growing up in North Delta, she was a good art student in school and even took extra classes.

But because she wanted a career with some stability and a good wage, she chose nursing over art. While studying and working as an RN, she continued art as a hobby, creating artwork for family and friends as gifts.

Now based in White Rock, Lacheur has shifted to working on her art as a full-time business and nursing as a part-time job.

"I am a painter, I am an artist," she said, "but I am also a business owner. I think it's important, in order to succeed as an artist, (that) you have to look at yourself in both those ways."

She has developed her art into a successful business in just a few short years, with two online stores, prints, calendars and art cards featuring her work, collaborations with other artisans and steady sales of her originals and the occasional commissioned piece to boot. The shift began when a Victoria restaurant owner invited Lacheur to put her acrylic paintings in the eatery, which she did. Lacheur said the woman priced the works higher than she would have, but was surprised to find she had sold 14 original works in the six months her images where on display there.

"That was the starting point for me, being what I felt to be a true artist in that I was selling my work and creating a business around it," she said.

That business centres on the internet and makes good use of social media to help her create and maintain an international presence for her work. Her husband, Renato Horvath, helps out with the business side as well as the creative side. He adds metal and other accents to create unique multimedia collaborations.

Lacheur's work is available online at yapespaints.com.

Twitter @carolyncooke1

ccooke@thenownewspaper.com