We were lucky to catch up with Beth Gustafson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Beth, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Last time I truly questioned this with seriousness is when I was dealing with a pretty long a depressive period. My physical, but most importantly, my mental health and well-being affect my creativity and creative process massively. For the better part of this past decade I’ve been constantly dealing with the ups and downs of both my chronic physical and mental health conditions, which have greatly impacted my art. Due to chronic fatigue, it’s taken me longer to get projects done, and due to my major depressive disorder, it’s been even harder to find the motivation to even get projects started sometimes. With all these issues going on with my health, making it harder for me to get projects done more efficiently, as well as causing me creative droughts, I started to question if I was even cut out to be a working artist? If I was even self-disciplined enough to be my own boss, my own manager, my own brand? It’s hard and exhausting work, and even more so when you’re the only one able to keep yourself accountable. It’s something I wasn’t sure I could do. And the long art blocks and creative droughts made me feel even less capable of ever being a working artist. Being an artist, a creative, is something that has been ingrained in me since I could pick up a pencil, but I remember one day a couple years ago where it just felt like it had almost completely left me. I think the combination of my physical health degrading, my mental health being a mess, and being on several hormone-altering medications for my health conditions was really messing with my creativity. It was genuinely scary feeling like the brain that once gave me so many creative ideas and so much joy, had been changed so much that it was losing the one thing I loved the most about myself. So, obviously, I was feeling like the one skill I thought I was genuinely good at, and wanted to make my main career one day, was slipping through my fingers in that moment. It made me question everything. My path in life, if I went in the wrong direction, if I completely messed up, and what I would even do for a career if I couldn’t make art my career. I was really on the edge of my quarter life crisis, I’ll tell you! I genuinely didn’t know what I was going to be without art, but also didn’t know if I was cut out for being the artist I always wanted to be…
After much needed work in therapy (which is still ongoing for me), after realizing that my art block not forever; that my brain was indeed changing a lot, but my creativity could adapt around it, and after finding like-minded creatives to support me, give me guidance, advice, and inspiration, I started to remember that I indeed was made to be a working artist, I was made to create! I was always going to end up happier as an artist, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be struggles and challenges. I think I will always end up being happier as a creative person with struggles related to my art and my relationship with it, than I would be in a regular job I know I could never truly love or be satisfied in.

Beth, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a newly working, multi and mixed media artist, illustrator, and occasional photographer. I currently work in several 2D mediums such as watercolor, ink, gouache, acrylic, colored pencil, and digital, but have also been recently branching out to newer mediums. One example is that I’ve been slowly doing more pieces with clay to create more 3D elements to mix with my 2D ones, as well as making custom earrings! (Which I have currently only made for myself.)
I love art and all the mediums it has to offer, so much! Art is just something I’ve always been doing and I think I’ll be doing forever! I don’t think I’ve ever not been creating something, at some point. Even during long creative blocks, I would still be making some sort of something with my hands, even if I ended up hating what that something would become.
As for getting into the art industry itself, it’s really just something I’ve been building towards since a literal toddler. I started with making drawings and cards for family members, to posting my art online as a tween, to taking on commissions from family and friends, to now making the leap of renting out wall space where I can physically sell my work to the public!
And as for how I got into the artistic mediums I currently use and specialize in, I guess it just stemmed from what I was limited to as a kid. I had a lot of Crayola crayons and makers growing up, and I specifically loved the pressure control I could get with the crayons! That love of crayons eventually developed into a love for colored pencils. I loved using them to color in the inked line works I would draw, which I think stemmed from my complete and utter love of animation and illustrated children’s books!
Such works of media have inspired the style of artwork I create for people today! I take on personalized commissions as well as sell my own original pieces of artwork! Several of my originals are currently for sale at Say Art Studios, along with original fine art prints and fun stickers I have designed!
Commission wise, I create original pieces for clients in the styles, subjects, and mediums I specialize in! A lot of my art focuses on character and portrait work, organic objects and flora, and the occasional cute animal! I work very colorful, but do have a whole series of illustrations dedicated to black and white ink illustrations that only use one or two pops of color.
Something else I also specialize in making, is intricate, custom made greeting cards and postcards! My cards are almost always mixed media, using my 2D illustrative skills and mixing them with intricate layerings of paper cutouts, and several kinds of craft materials and embellishments. One thing I believe I’ve been really honing in on well, is my multifaceted abilities and being able to take the skills I learned from one medium and apply them into another, as well as being able to use them together to create a unified and unique piece of work.
I find a lot of joy in mixing mediums! It’s incredibly fun and rewarding when you successfully mix several different mediums together effectively, especially ones that are very different from one another!
I’m excited to take this new year to further explore the vast world of different art mediums and mixed media work! Creating is just something that’s in my blood and I love being able to use that innate ability within myself in almost all fields of life! (I even use it in my cooking and baking! Just thought I’d mention that. *wink*)
I’m also excited for all the all the fun art shows and events coming up this year, as well! I hope to be able to be a part of just as many shows, if not more, than last year, and with new artwork! I also hope to dip my toes into the art vending world this year, and at least get one event under my belt! I will be using this year to take on more artistic and business opportunities in the endeavor to further grow my brand new art career!
So I hope you all stay tuned and follow my journey online to see what I’ll be doing this year!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most recent rewarding aspect of being a creative has been the connections I have made with people through my art!
Finding those people who immediately click with my work, whether it be for the colors, the subject matter, or the story and process behind the piece, meeting and getting to talk with people who really, truly get the vibe of what I make is so incredibly rewarding!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think one of the biggest things non-creatives struggle to understand about creatives, especially working ones, is the long and intense amount of mental and emotional energy it can take to bring a creative project to life. Doing art, creating, it’s not like any other regular job you can just show up to and get started on immediately. Before anything physical even comes to life, there is a lot of mental planning and brainstorming that happens.
But sometimes, it’s hard to even get started on that stage. Creativity, even in very creative individuals, is a constant ebbing and flowing entity within someone. It’s not as easy as, “just go draw!”, “just go paint!” You can sit any creative in front of the medium they are proficient in, but if they’re in an artistic block, if that creativity isn’t flowing, it makes the task of creating a new piece ten times more grueling and you will most likely not receive that “masterful work” you were looking for from them.
And I don’t mean to speak for all artists here, some work completely fine and make incredible masterpieces when they are in an intense art block, but I know for myself, my best work comes when I let my creativity flow naturally and take my time. Art is a unique, personal, and even emotional experience that deserves the time it takes to make that masterful work the artist can truly be proud to show the world! But in this world of short deadlines, instant gratification and “now now now!” mentalities, people don’t want to wait for that masterpiece, or believe that the masterpiece doesn’t take that long, and become impatient. I mean hey, it’s the reason a lot of big companies and corporations have replaced real artists with Generative A.I., right? The world has become too impatient for the true skill and passion that comes from art that takes time to create. The pressure a lot of us modern artists feel is the constant need to be pumping out something new, constantly be working on something always, all the time! But that’s just not how the creative mind works. It needs those periods of rest and little vacations like anyone, so it can come back, rejuvenated, and make it’s best work.
I truly think the best artistic works are made when creatives can take their time and let their creativity flow at it’s own pace, without feeling or being constantly rushed! Art is a true labor of love and dedication, and it needs the proper time to creatively flow and come together

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/bethagart/

Image Credits

Chris Strunk