'It's always new': Artist finds purpose and passion with nail art

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A new way of painting Nails is taking social media by storm, transforming nail technicians into nail artist.

"When I found the medium of nail art, I really took pride in the art of it, and that was just something kind of different than what I was seeing in my city," said 26-year-old Nail artist, Jecilia Negron.

Negron recently found her calling as a nail artist, but it wasn't long ago, she was staring at the blank canvas of life.

"A lot of trial and error, a lot of bad mistakes, not too many, that's where all my dad's grey hairs come from," said Negron.

Negron is a creative by nature, but she has tried her hand at just about everything.

"Before I was just like working like office jobs and kind of like corporate world Just never really felt, fulfilled," said Negron.

Negron, like many people, during the early days of COVID, was on the quintessential quest for fulfillment; a journey many people seek and only a lucky few find.

"I was just doing my own nails at home, and came across TikTok, and all these great, amazing, talented, nail artist, and like you can do art on nails, like I just never knew it was a concept or a thing."

The new form of nail art caught Negron's eye, and she learned the craft.

"This is so cool. How did they do that?  On this small surface," said Negron.

Negron may use a palette and a brush, but she doesn’t need a canvas or an easel.

 "This is working, this could grow into something, if I took the time to nurture it," said Negron.

 Before long, her manicured manifestations had an audience, of more than 25,000 TikTok followers.

 "Woah TikTok is just, its I mean, I was just throwing stuff to the wall, and it stuck," said Negron.

 in addition to improving her customer's nail health, she is also improving their mental health.

"She knows a lot of things about my life that a lot of people don’t know, like that my close friends don’t know," said client Michelle Martinez.

Martinez said Negron's nail studio provides a moment of piece for her.

"It's like street creed," said Martinez.

Negron went on to say, her artistry is about more than nails, it's about creating something different.

"Not every day is the same, you know not every nail set is the same it's always a new, said Negron.