Meet Landa Ruen

We recently connected with Landa Ruen and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Landa with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

My work ethic came from my parents and grandparents. At a young age I learned very quickly that hard work was both necessary to survive but also felt really good when intrinsically motivated. My parents worked tirelessly to create a warm, safe, happy and creative home despite financial struggles and other life challenges they would face while raising 4 little girls in a tiny town in Iowa. As a small child I grew up living out in the country with just a few neighbors up the hill from us. It was freeing, beautiful and the perfect place for 4 little kids to roam, explore and grow up. We moved into that country house just before I started kindergarten, but it wasn’t a move-in ready house by any means. It was a dream for my family but to most people a house that was rough and needed a lot of work but that made it an affordable dream for us.

We were quite poor for most of my young childhood so even this house, one that most people would pass up, was a financial bet but one that my parents felt they could make since my dad was a hardworking carpenter and my mom a savvy and creative thrifter who could turn trash into treasure. They were the perfect pair to turn a dilapidated house into a home where their girls could grow up.

For months, before I started kindergarten, I was often at the country house watching my parents and their close friends clean, scrub, sand, deconstruct, rebuild for weeks and weeks on end. Despite it all being physically grueling labor they all seemed happy like it was a challenge that they collectively were invested in, the biggest trash-to-treasure experience. As funny as it sounds, it’s one of my fondest memories. I can still smell the sawdust from the freshly sanded floors, the taste of my plain bologna sandwich and feel the cold chill while sitting in my winter coat on an exposed spring mattress and watching Charlotte’s Web with my sister. To me, it was perfect.

Beyond what I observed of my parents, my dad’s long and physically grueling days as a carpenter (even after having a stroke) and my mom’s multiple jobs while homemaking, homesteading, and raising 4 little girls, all while making ends-meat, I also heard the countless stories of how my grandparents on both sides did the same for their kids. Working through tough times with no magical inheritance, status, or connections to give them an easier start to adult life. Hard work, kindness, and counting your pennies is what I learned would keep you afloat and give you a life of stability, because that was the dream.

Growing up there were no frills to most of what we did. Playgrounds and McDonalds was a treat and camping just an hour or two hours away from our hometown was the BEST vacation. I loved these experiences and will always cherish those memories and experiences not because they were flashy but because they were special and meant that someone had worked hard to make it happen and I was grateful for that. They also taught me valuable lessons at a young age that if you want something, even something small, you have to work for it!

I started my first job when I was 15 and had to save every penny to buy my first car (a cute used Maza Protege – safe and gas efficient). New clothes were purchased once a year so the local thrift store and garage sales were where our shopping sprees would take place.

Flashforward to today, stability is still the dream. I see this as a warm home, happy family, and pervasive kindness. So, I try to work hard in every capacity towards those goals. As a parent, partner, and entrepreneur. It is what fuels me everyday. I also believe it is what gives life purpose and meaning. When you feel like you have this, what the Japanese call ikigai, life feels grounded and meaningful.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am an artist, educator and creator of fun, relaxing, and travel-friendly watercolor kits. When I am not teaching watercolor classes, I’m packaging up my watercolor kits for cute curated gift shops. My watercolor kits have everything you need to create beautiful watercolor illustrations including paint, paintbrush, directions, palette paper and the best part is that the outline is there for you so you get to jump into the fun part right away!

They are the size of a greeting card, so you can take them on a plane, to a park, or host a stress-free paint night with your friends. Bonus, they make perfect gifts for nearly everyone because I have over 20 different designs (and counting).

My most exciting update is my latest collaboration with the New York Times bestselling author, Carley Fortune on a special watercolor kit. It is of Barry’s Bay, the main setting in a few of her books (which I highly recommend checking out)! You can snag one of the kits in her merch shop.

Lastly, the project I worked months on is finally done, woohoo!, a 12-month paintable calendar. Just like my watercolor kits they come with outlines, paint, and beautiful reference images to help you create your own calendar. I’m almost sold out of the 2026 though so snag one while you can or stick around for next year’s.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Being tirelessly and almost obsessively dedicated to your craft goes a long long way. I could have given up a thousand times when I got low class sign-ups or the countless times my printer failed (which still happens) but I kept going and going because I really wanted it to work.

Also, sometimes doing what your gut tells you to do despite it making total sense to others can be a good thing. My watercolor kits came to fruition only because I wanted my students to keep their painting practice going. Early on in my business, I was doing a pop-up paint night at a local bar of a watercolor illustration and I wanted my students to feel good about their experience and keep learning when the 1.5hr session ended so I gifted them a small outline on watercolor paper with some paint so they could practice at home. Even though that cost me time and money to make, and was totally unnecessary, I really cared about the learning experience and wanted them to continue on so I gave them a way to do that.

As the saying goes, the rest is history. Had I not created that little early watercolor kit, my business as it is today would not exist. So, I think it is important to try out things that feel meaningful and are connected to your values because those just might be the things that take off.

Lately, and perhaps the most important, take messy action over inaction. Life is just lots of iterations, so move forward knowing that you can always change and improve whatever it is you are working on.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

First make a list. Write every single task, event, etc out on a list so it is out of your head. Then, prioritize just 2-3 things. Do those things then when those are done, go back to the list and prioritize 1-2 things. Just repeat this as much as you have time for and the next day make a new list.

Also, when I’m feeling overwhelmed I try to remember that most things feel heavier to me than to others. So that design that doesn’t seem perfect is likely fine or even great.

Lastly, go for a 12 minute walk (no earbuds, podcast, music, etc though). It is the perfect amount of time to do a reset. Look around and just listen to the sounds around you. I find it calming and it helps me to think through things that I tend to build up bigger than they need to be.

Bonus tip: talk to yourself like you would a friend. Negative self talk is potent so try giving yourself the kind of advice you would a friend.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.landaruenart.com
• Instagram: @landaruenartshop
• Youtube: @landaruenart
• Other: https://landaruenart.faire.com