What does a normal day look like for an innovator? Anything but normal. HOURS unpacks what a day in the life looks like for our most interesting clients and collaborators. Meet Victor Ving and Lisa Beggs, the duo behind your favorite handpainted mural agency, Greetings Tour.

I will preface this by saying that Lisa and I lived in an RV full-time for over 6 years before becoming parents. Now, we live in a “stationary home” in Pasadena. Therefore, a lot of this “routine” is quite new for us. Here’s what it looks like at the moment!

Wake up, unload the dishwasher, and weigh out the coffee beans! I try to use about an hour of quiet time before everyone else gets up to do some work on the computer. This ranges anywhere from answering emails to working on mural designs. 

When it comes to murals, I think people don’t realize that the actual painting of the artwork on the wall is the easy part. The bulk of the work is really in pre-production, design, client revisions, and project management. Since our artwork involves community, we are sometimes working with cities and various committees for multiple years before any paint even touches the wall. I do believe there’s a distinction between creating true public art versus large-scale studio art displayed in public spaces. We strive to collaborate with the locals as much as possible in our signature postcard murals.

Right now, we’re working with the cities of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, as well as Bend, Oregon, for upcoming murals in 2023. The tricky part with creating outdoor murals is that we also must plan backwards with the best times of year when it’s not too hot or cold. On the road, we used to plan Northern murals for summer and Southern for the winter like true snowbirds.

Brew coffee and prepare a bottle. I’ll go into the nursery around 6:50 to say good morning to Felix and do a diaper change. Lisa has her quiet time in the mornings while I’m on dad duty, but Felix and I will pop in together to say good morning to mom!

Hang out with Felix and prep some breakfast. We might have NPR on the radio or a podcast, but I really try to not have my phone on me at this time. I feel very grateful that both Lisa and I don’t have a traditional 9-5 job anymore. I did it for over 8 years, and it just wasn’t for me. We decided to be a team of “stay at home” parents and work in shifts throughout the day to avoid going the childcare route.

We each have our own day of the week where Lisa or I take a fully uninterrupted 9-5 for ourselves to really focus on work. We fully support one another when time sensitive projects arise. On those days, one of us takes full responsibility of the baby. Luckily, my parents moved out here, and they come two days a week to help.

This is my crunch time to get more work done. I’ll usually try to chip away at larger tasks since I may have to stop at any moment. I’ve gotten pretty good at walking away from work mid-way and later continuing where I left off. Before the pandemic I was already doing the work-from-home life, running the mural agency from on the road. I’ve taken client calls in some incredible locations like sitting at the edge of the Grand Canyon. 

In an RV, you’re always technically “home” or “in the office”. I look back and realize I took so much of that epic travel for granted! One of my favorite memories of RV life was traveling through Alaska. Since service was scarce, it forced us to disconnect and be more present. 

Our family eats lunch together. Afterward, it’s time to really dig in to work again or run whatever errands necessary. I try my best to schedule any calls or meetings at the earlier part of this time block. 

Lately I’ve tried scheduling some time to work on my own art on canvas as well, as a lot of my artwork has been large-scale murals and location specific. Right now, everything is done in the home office and detached garage studio. I’m working on a series of artworks based on Earth. It’s more universal and ties together my love for both nature and travel. The goal is to incorporate multiple languages and eventually make up my own. We’ll see how this all evolves, but it’s a goal of mine to put together a body of work on canvas in 2023.

Back to dad duty! We try to get out of the house for a walk. I grew up in NYC, so I am very grateful for the peaceful afternoon walks in the SoCal sunshine.

Lisa and I always eat dinner together; it’s a very domestic routine. 

In 2021, I chose to gracefully bow out and sell my mural agency. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to juggle running that company, my personal art career, and being a dad. The agency was the one element that was bringing me full circle back to a 9-5 corporate job, so I knew it was the one I had to eliminate. I’m extremely glad I made that decision.

If I add up the hours, it’s still about 7-8 hours of work that I’m averaging a day as well as 5-6 hours taking care of Felix on top of that! Maybe it’s time to cut back some work again!

We may not be as financially privileged as before, however, I remember that as long as we get by, these first few years of Felix’s life is something that I want to prioritize over work. It may be frustrating to pass on some amazing opportunities, but I’m really trying to kick the “workaholic” culture as much as possible. I’m sure I’ll have time in the future to catch up! 

I try to finish some work if there are any urgent deadlines, but most of the time we just head to the living room to watch a show or movie. I’ll be honest, if there’s nothing good to watch we may just end up on Youtube or TikTok, haha.

Finally, bed. I’m asleep by 9:30–10PM the latest these days.

The post HOURS: Meet Victor + Lisa first appeared on Jayaram Law.