Birthdays of people you care for and important holidays sprinkled throughout the year can make gift-giving expensive. Sometimes that means getting crafty and making something from your heart. What if one handmade gift made you realize you had a talent all along?
That's what happened to Fredo Gillis. Back in 2023, he wanted to save money but still give his friend a good birthday gift, so he took some old supplies from a school project and decided to paint her. She loved it.
So he painted again, this time painting his family members. They loved it too. Soon he made an Instagram account dedicated to his art, accepting commissions, and he was met with all kinds of painting requests.
“So from then on my friends kind of just started having me paint them, whether it be their boyfriend, or their girlfriend, or their dog, or mom, or whatever,” said Gillis. “And I kind of just became the go-to person for gift-giving.”
Gillis started with acrylic, as most artists do, but a year into it he fell in love with oil. He said even though there was a learning curve and he lost a few brushes in the process, he finds it more rewarding than any other medium.
“You can literally go to sleep and wake up and keep painting the same palette,” said Gillis. “And it just glows more.”
When Gillis graduated from San Diego State University, he was looking for a job and came across an opening as a sip-and-paint instructor. He said he instantly knew this was meant for him.
"My sip-and-paint (events) are just the most beautiful nights ever," said Gillis, "Every single one has so many smiles and new relationships and so many bonding moments."
Gillis hosts these community events around San Diego, with his next one set for Oct. 5 at Meraki Spaces in Pacific Beach.
The San Diego native likes to describe his work as intimate, sexy and timeless. His pieces range from girls tanning on a beach in Ibiza to a portrait of Marilyn Monroe.
Over the past two years, Gillis applied to many residencies and galleries in San Diego to give his art a home. He didn't have much luck, so he decided to run his own exhibition on his birthday, “One Way Ticket.”
“‘One Way Ticket’ means the willingness to just be secure in yourself and content being on your own and knowing that whatever is next is meant for you,” said Gillis, “and whatever you're doing right now, you're supposed to be doing.”
He wants to showcase the art he made over the past nine months traveling from San Diego to Japan, San Francisco, Miami, Spain, Paris and New York. He went through many experiences during that time, some good and some bad, but he said each time he came out stronger.
“I'm a new person in every new city that I'm in, and that person is always an elevated version of the past,” said Gillis.
He hopes to eventually do art full time while continuing to travel and gain new perspectives to paint. He said organizing his own show taught him that sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith to get the results you want.
“If you want to make something happen, do it. Don't wait for somebody to come and discover you. Go out and get discovered on your own,” Gillis advised.
Gillis' art will be on view during his birthday celebration on Sunday, Sept. 28, from 6 to 9 p.m. at San Diego Made Factory. More of his work and upcoming events can be found at fredoarts.com.
