We recently connected with Priscilla Ortiz and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Priscilla thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Oh yeah, this question is right up my alley because all my work comes from a meaningful space. For me, every piece has to feel alive, like it carries a little bit of my energy, my experience, my perspective.

About a year and a half ago, I felt like I needed a reset. So, I went into hermit mode, stepping away from social media, shows, collectors, all of it. I just needed to go inward. I found myself back in my sketchbook, which has always been my safe space, the rawest form of my creative process. I started sketching, letting ideas flow without expectation. My previous work was layered, large-scale, and deeply complex: Oil paintings on giant canvases that felt like entire worlds within themselves. But something in me was craving simplicity. I wanted to challenge myself to strip everything down, to create something where every mark mattered.

That’s when I started experimenting with gouache and archival ink, and suddenly, something clicked. It was instinctual, but also really intentional. I wanted to see how far I could go with just black, white, and a wash of color. And that’s how my current series was born – Grunge, Grit, & Grace: a body of work that captures emotion, energetic signatures, and the tension between control and surrender.

This project is the most meaningful to me because it represents a return to self, a process of trusting my instincts and allowing my art to shift organically. It’s about creating from a pure space. That’s what makes this series so intimate and raw. And it’s still unfolding.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

About Me & My Work
My work has always been deeply personal, intuitive, and driven by a mix of emotion, energetic connections, and philosophy. I’m an artist, a painter, a creative thinker, and someone who is endlessly fascinated by what connects us, and how it can be translated visually.

I got into art the way most people fall in love: a mix of natural curiosity and that feeling of “this is what I’m meant to be doing.” I’ve been creating since I was a kid, but professionally, my journey has taken me through different phases; working in the music industry, deepening my fine art career, designing programs, and curating workshops. But at the heart of everything I do is ART. It’s my first language.

My current creative work is an evolution of that. My series Grunge, Grit, & Grace is about capturing unseen forces… emotion, thought, connection. The figures, the flowing hair, the stark contrast of black ink against soft washes of color… It’s all about expressing the intangible.

What Sets Me Apart?
I create art to translate something that can’t always be put into words. My work isn’t about replicating what’s in front of me; it’s about revealing what’s beneath the surface. There’s always something conceptual happening, whether it’s about emotion, energy, or the way we process experiences internally.

What also sets me apart is how I approach my creative journey. I don’t force it.. I allow it. My work flows from a place of intuition and connection. I step back when I need to, I reset when I feel called to, and I trust that when it’s time to create, the work will emerge.

What I Want People to Know About My Work
It’s about feeling, not just seeing. If you connect with my work, it’s because something in it is speaking to you beyond the visual. It’s meant to be “felt”.

My work is constantly evolving. I challenge myself with every piece and it’s made with intention. Every mark, every contrast, every decision is deliberate, even when it feels instinctive. Each piece is rooted in raw creative flow.

What I’m Most Proud Of
I’m proud of the fact that I’ve built an artistic practice that feels completely true to me. That I trust my process, that I don’t conform to trends, and that I create from a space of pure intuition. I’m proud that people resonate with my work in ways I never expect. When someone tells me a piece made them feel something… that’s everything to me.

I’m also proud of the community I’ve built; Shockboxx Project (my gallery representation), collectors, fellow artists, and people who just get what I do. Art isn’t just about the work, it’s about connection. And I think that’s what keeps me going.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is definitely the flow and the process. The process is everything. It’s where the real magic happens. Those moments when I’m completely lost in it, when the world fades, and it’s just me in the flow.. that’s a kind of magic I wouldn’t trade for anything. The shifts, the surprises, the quiet little revelations that happen in the process. Sometimes a piece just knows what it wants to be, and other times, I have to sit with it, listen, and let it figure itself out. That’s what keeps me coming back.

Art has given me the space to evolve, to trust my instincts, and to connect with my own personal growth and evolution.. And to know that my work resonates with people? That’s the ultimate gift.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

My entrepreneurial philosophy isn’t just about business or strategy; it’s about how I move through the world. It’s about perception, experience, and the way I construct meaning through everything I engage with… art, music, travel, connection, conversation, all of it.

Phenomenology plays a huge role in this. Not in an academic, over-intellectualized way, but in how I experience life itself. I don’t just observe, I immerse. Every place I visit, every piece I create, every connection I make becomes part of a larger framework that shapes how I see, feel, and create.

Travel has been one of my biggest teachers. Not just physically moving through spaces, but experiencing different energies, cultural perspectives, and ways of being. I take in the world like an artist and a philosopher at the same time. Seeing layers, reading between the lines, feeling the texture of a place, a moment, an interaction. That’s the same approach I bring to my work and my creative path. It’s about staying present enough to let things unfold organically, but sharp enough to recognize when to step in and shape them. It’s all about presence, perception, and flow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://priscillaortiz.art/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nightowlstudio/

Image Credits

all shot by me :)