Hey there First name / friend! I hope you're having a creative week!
I don't know about you, but I love hearing other artists/creatives stories and how they got to where they are today. If there's a long car ride, you bet there will be an artist interview podcast playing at some point. I want to share my story with you today, so hang on, this may be a long one!
If you just joined my email list, nice to meet you! I'm Molly. I currently live in Frederick, Maryland with my husband, fur baby, and soon to be baby girl (coming this December!!). Ever since I was little I've enjoyed creating something from nothing. From mud pies after a heavy rain, to drawings of anything and everything, I have always loved the act of creating. I think we are all creative beings, whether we believe it or not.
In high school I was really good at drawing. I told myself something that makes me really sad to think about now. I would always say, “I'm really good at drawing but I'm not creative.” I think I felt this way because I was often drawing things from other images and I had not yet found my creative voice. But like I said above, we are ALL creative whether we believe it or not. Okay, before I get off on a tangent…
I ended up going to college for marketing with a minor in graphic design. I was contemplating on going to art school but I told myself that if I ever want to be an artist, that I don't need an art degree to do so. So, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, I went and got a marketing degree. I quickly realized that graphic design was not my strong suit so I prepared myself for a career in marketing, figuring that would utilize the creative artsy skills I had. My marketing teachers always said, “The first job you will probably get with this degree is a job in sales.” YUCK. That sounded terrible to me. Little did I know, I would be spending the next 7.5 years as a pharmaceutical sales representative. I am still in this role today but would love to transition to art full time in the near future.
The moment I knew I was meant to be an artist…
In 2015, my pharmaceutical sales job moved me from Frederick, MD to Harrisburg, PA for 4 years. There's an amazing restaurant called The Millworks in Harrisburg. It's a combo of art studios, galleries, and good food. Doesn't this sound like heaven? There, I attended an abstract art workshop that lit a fire under my but. After that workshop I went home, to my ancient rowhome in downtown Harrisburg, and set up a painting space in the corner of my living room. My first little studio!! This was in early 2019.
I was craving more workshops so I ventured online to see what I could find. Laura Horn offers amazing courses so I started there. She was so inspiring, I couldn't stop painting! At this point, I could feel it in my bones that an art career was meant for me. I was going to make it happen no matter what!
In summer 2019, my job moved me back down to Frederick, MD where I reside now. I took up shop in the spare bedroom of our new condo. It felt so good to upgrade my studio from the corner of a room to a WHOLE room. I launched my Etsy shop in November of 2019. At this point I had prints, painted planters, and greeting cards in my shop.
Then COVID happened. My husband and I had returned from our Thailand honeymoon just in time to not get trapped over there! Although, that wouldn't have been so bad ;) Being inside so much during this time period led me to create more than I had ever before. I was on the quest of finding my authentic style as an artist.
I released my first collection of small works on paper called Layer Upon Layer in June of 2020 (pictured below). I was slowly playing with collage paper and seeing what I liked and didn't like. Painting SO much during this exploration phase is really important to finding your voice as a creative.
After many days in the studio exploring what direction I wanted to go with my artwork, I felt like I was finally getting somewhere.
The turning point was when I quieted social media and stopped looking to outside influences and started to search for internal inspiration. What was I inspired by? Not, what is this other artist inspired by. Fast froward,
The Earth & Home collection was released in 2021. This was the first collection that truly felt like ME. To my surprise, all of the paintings sold and I was in complete shock by the support.
To this day, my style is ever evolving. I have released 3 more collections into the world and I plan to release many more! I would also love to run workshops and do some form of teaching in the future. I just need to figure out what that will look like. Maybe one on one sessions to start? Time will tell. If you made it this far, thank you for reading along. I know this was a super long email!
I would love to hear your story. Reply to this email to share or to say hi!
