Since I’ve been primarily focusing on art since last summer, I’ve been asked a lot of questions about my path as an artist.
Some questions came from curious friends, others from people who have emailed me for advice, some have been official interviews, and some from people interested in showing my work. If you look at my educational background and much of my professional work experience, it seems to come out of nowhere. But if you know me through my blog or have known me personally for a while, you understand.
There’s a lot I could write here, but I think I’d be as bored writing it as you would be reading it. Instead I want to share some things that stand out to me along my long and winding creative path. I’ll link to some earlier blog posts so you can read more if you’d like.
Writing was my first creative pursuit.
I had diaries and notebooks and collections of bad poetry throughout my childhood and teen years. When I first started college I majored in psychology, then English. I never thought about “being a writer.” If anything I just thought it was something that I could never really be.
It seemed like something for other people. This idea comes up again and again on my journey.
I first started college in 1987 at age 17, then took a three or four year break before going back to finish my B.A. and M.S. in psychology. During my hiatus, I took one class on my own, just for fun – a night course in creative writing where we wrote several short stories. That should have been a clue to act upon, but at the time I mostly cared about going out with my friends and finding a boyfriend. Maybe if I had grown up with the interwebs I would have immersed myself in different worlds of possibility. I never really thought about what I wanted to DO with my life…probably not seriously until I was in my 30s.
After I took that writing class, I continued to write on my own from time to time. I remember starting and abandoning a novel in 1996, right after I got married (for the first time) and started grad school. Four years later I was living in Seattle and working for a marketing company where I did my first bits of professional writing – not too much, just a few company newsletter articles, a little web copy, and market research reports. In 2002 I started writing personal essays and submitting them to magazines, then in 2004 or 2005 I moved to L.A., worked in marketing for the movie industry, and optioned a romantic comedy screenplay. Then I totally stopped writing creatively. All of my creative energy went to helping studios figure out how to market and edit their movies. You can read more about that here.
I started hanging out with artists when I was 19.
I met people who were visual artists, musicians, writers, and illustrators. I got introduced to worlds I wasn’t familiar with. I was intrigued and loved being around so much creative energy. I never thought about trying to make my own art. Again, it was something that other people could do. I was content just to be around it.
I made bad paintings and collages on and off for 20 years.
My mom dabbled in painting when I was younger, and she had some old acrylic paints that she didn’t use anymore. I took them to my apartment when I was 20ish and remember painting a few really bad small canvases. I do remember how relaxed I felt when I was painting. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was experiencing a flow state, and I continued to have this feeling any time I did an art project, which were few and far between back then. In my thirties I took a painting class in Seattle, painted a few canvases on my own when I lived in Santa Monica, took a one-weekend drawing class, and started spending a lot of time at art museums. I visited an art supply store and bought some new materials that took me several years to use. I did these things during a very stressful period in my life. I was super stressed out at work and going through a divorce. It all turned out great, but it was really hard then.
I had a baby when I was 40.
When I was pregnant, I was very concerned that I would lose much of myself and my creativity after my baby was born. In fact, the opposite is true. I have been more productive and creative and I’ve accomplished so much more in the five years that I’ve had my son than in the 40+ years prior. I have learned the value of time.
While you can see that there were a few classes in my creative journey, almost everything I’ve learned and accomplished has been from doing the work.
I am a self-taught artist, photographer, writer, and designer. I’ve been writing since I was seven. I got my first camera in fifth grade. I taught myself how to write a screenplay, use a camera, and process images and design graphics in Photoshop. I developed my eye for art direction over years of immersing myself in creative imagery. I’ve gotten professional writing and photography opportunities because I’ve pitched myself and my work. I’m not afraid of rejection.
I’ve only recently considered myself an artist and surface designer.
I’ve shared the work of other creative people on this blog since 2009, but have only started using this blog to promote my creative work over the past three years. I left my full-time job to start my own business in 2012, but up until very recently have focused on marketing as my primary service offering. I started drawing in 2013.
2014 was a big year for starting my own creative projects. I vowed to “Be the Artist.” I did my first abstract painting that I actually liked. I got my first steady writing and photography gig. I signed up for Lilla Rogers Make Art That Sells Assignment Bootcamp to build my illustration skills and portfolio. I had my first art show. I met Nancy Herrmann and participated in a weekly mood board collaboration with her. I had concept ad design work featured on Trendland, collage work featured in Gift Magazine, took two abstract art classes at Gage Academy of Art, and started meditating.
I got even more focused in 2015. I got a couple of photography assignments for LUXE Interiors + Design Magazine. I traveled to NYC, Iceland, Hamburg, and Berlin. I did The 100 Day Project and immersed myself in painting and drawing patterns. I explored my relationship with water in the form of a new abstract painting series. I won my first Minted art challenge and opened up my print shop there. I designed matching holiday card and gift wrap, something that had been on my to-do list for a while. spent time with my family in Louisiana and did a whole bunch of surface pattern designs at the end of the year.
And that pretty much brings us to now, 2016.
This year I have vowed to edit my life and focus even more. I’ve launched a new painting series, began sharing more of my sketchbook process, and am preparing for a two-month solo art show of new work this summer. I’m using a mix of traditional and digital creative methods to build a portfolio of bright, bold, graphic patterns and print designs for art licensing in the fashion, textiles, home goods, and stationery markets and reaching out to art directors and product designers that I want to collaborate with. I’m painting and drawing every day and sharing a lot of my work on Instagram.
Like many creative people, my journey is filled with twists and turns and things that didn’t make sense at the time.
When I look back I see connections and sparks of interest that have been woven together to form my current creative expression. This is my journey, and I’m so glad that I’ve been able to share it with you.
Thank you for supporting my art and sharing my work.
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