Danielle Jordaan

What does your company do?

At Danielle Jordaan Studio, we specialise in live wedding painting and watercolor guest portrait painting, proudly representing nine talented artists across South Africa. Our studio is dedicated to capturing the essence of your special day through the unique lens of artistry.

What is your biggest success?

Starting a business almost five years ago my goal was to be able to paint as a full time artist. The popularity of the service I offered and brand I created took flame and two years later I had an artist join my studio. The following year we were 6 artists and in 2025 we are reaching for 10 freelance artists! The passion I have for painting and people unexpectedly, yet successfully grew into a business that taught emerging, talented artists that they too can become full time artists. In 2024 we painted 6 international weddings including venues in America, Portugal, Scotland, Malta, Mallorca and Aruba. My biggest success lied within my biggest fear. I was afraid to grow my team and share the knowledge and network that I've built through so much effort and labor. Once I shifted my focus on teaching and helping others my mindset shifted and I was more generous with my resources. This led to the growth of a studio of artists who help and support each other

What has been your biggest hurdle?

Three of our biggest hurdles we've identified is competition, client expectations and logistics. Competition: Due to the popularity of live wedding and guest portrait painting on social media, more artists are also tapping in and starting their own live event painting businesses. As a business we decided that we will showcase to our clients what makes us unique, why they can relate and trust our brand and build a strong network of healthy competition in the meantime. Our client expectations: Couples may have specific visions that are hard to fulfill on the spot, especially if they want a certain style, color palette, or composition. We've become more attentive to our communication process and how we can clarify or eliminate expectations prior to the event or wedding. Logistics: Setting up materials, transporting wet paintings, and ensuring the workspace isn’t disruptive to the wedding flow can be challenging. Most of the work we do entails a lot of admin, planning and travelling. We realise that we don't have any control with transport or delays.