Today we’d like to introduce you to Catrina Higgs
Hi Catrina, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We moved to 18 different Kentucky places by the time I was 18, I don’t think it was always a different town but I know they were never homes. My mom didn’t have any support, my dad didn’t know I existed- still doesn’t by choice..My grandparents weren’t any help- living on the poverty line from birth.
I moved every year of my life, multiple states- I don’t know why really, I’ll ask my mom today when I see her.
If I had to answer, she was chasing something better or running from something bad.
All the places I can remember that I’ve lived-
In Kentucky:
Leitchfield X6, Clarkson, Muldraugh ×2, Falls of Rough ×2, Caneyville×3, Radcliff, Vine Grove, somewhere in Pennsylvania, Fort Knox,
Texas:
Fort hood ×2
California:
Pioneer, Stockton,
Texas:
Killeen ×4, Harker heights ×2, Austin,
Tennessee:
Smyrna ×2, Nashville ×3, & currently and hopefully-ish eternally
Campbellsville Kentucky.
Fast Forward through drugs, alcohol, jail, neon lights, motorcycle debauchery, strip clubs, and all the naivety of your 20s in a Texas hellscape..then I fly to Tennessee. After I finish 5 years of probation..to my mom’s trailer in Tennessee…
to meet Chad in Kentucky. Love.
From there, alot less ups and downs. I get a drivers license. I get regular work, I get an associates degree in arts. We buy a house, We sell that house. We find a dream home, we choose to have children in our mid 30s- TADA here we are, post pandemic- I’m now the owner of The Painted Lady Art Studio in Campbellsville Ky. A place that you would not expect so much hot pink paint and creative enthusiasm, I think im either growing on them or they are growing on me. Maybe a bit of both.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
A rough Texas nightmare filled with tumultuous predators, drunken fist fights and meth is how I’d describe my beginning to what now feels like warm rays of sunrise. My life is in a polar place than it was before. How I made it- is always owed to Chad, Chad gave me love…. you know those commercials with the abandoned, abused pets who are growling in mud puddles and then it shows you what they look like when they’ve had a bath and been fed… yeah, like that. I’m the dawg, Chad is Sarah McLachlan.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’ve been a” full-time artist” for 4 years- I’ve been called an abstract expressionist artist but I’m not sure the title fits much anymore, the evolution of my work in the midst of motherhood of 2 children under 5 has drastically transformed my style and subject matter. I like to call it something else but I, myself, think im graviting more towards contemporary figurative work.
What I’m most proud of, which also might be my most toxic trait is my ability to keep my paintings free of exterior expectations as much as possible- I have an urgency to produce work, with flaws, with a very human touch,a rough & visceral nature, never desiring any technical perfection. I can be rather prolific, I could paint and paint and paint without much rest, or food – which will probably kill me.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Confidence.
It’s the thing that sets me apart from most ppl in the room.
It’s really just SELF ASSURANCE
I trust myself
My perspective
My gut, my gut my gut
And I don’t waiver from that. I don’t flinch.
I feel like most ppl waiver between the expectations of others, the judgements of others, judgements of themselves and their own doubts && that’s sort of trapping.
My confidence, in a room, is to know that I deserve to be there, that my work is original to me and my mind, My life experience and that it has its place in a room just as much as anyone else’s.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Thepaintedladyartstudio.com
- Instagram: Catrinahiggs
- Facebook: Catrina Higgs
