We recently connected with Briana Fitzpatrick and have shared our conversation below.

Briana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I became a full-time artist in June of 2021 and actually to be honest I didn’t even know I wanted to pursue an art journey until one month before that! I mean I definitely enjoyed drawing and sketching all throughout my childhood, but painting was not my thing until something sparked in me in May of 2021. I used to be a professional dancer and pursued that career until the worldwide lockdown closed the performance industry for a while so I had to get “regular” jobs for income. I learned a lot through the multiple jobs I worked and I think the biggest lesson learned was I knew deep down these jobs were not meant for me long term, but I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to pursue or do next with my life. I deeply missed performing and being creative and expressive. So I prayed a lot and asked God to lead me to wherever it was He wanted me to go next. I remember one day while I was scrolling on Pinterest, I think I was trying to find some creative inspiration to start a crafty project or something to relieve my mind from the stress at work, but anyways I saw a beautiful picture of a painting and right there and then in that moment I knew I wanted to learn how to paint. I didn’t know much about painting at all, but I was determined to learn. Not too much longer after that moment I decided to put my two week notice in to quit my job, so I could dive wholeheartedly into pursing this journey in art and now here I am years later doing what I love. I’ve been grateful for this whole adventure and I’m eagerly looking forward to whatever opportunities, inspiration, and connections come next along the way! And let me tell you… this is only the beginning!

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?

My name is Briana Fitzpatrick. Ever since I was a young girl I’ve always enjoyed adventure, exploring, and trying new things. Some days I’d be making mud pies or catching toads and frogs or riding a pocket rocket or shooting my bow and arrow while other days I’d be sketching flowers from the garden or I’d be spending hours at the dance studio. I grew up training in multiple arts disciplines such as dance, gymnastics, archery, martial arts, and aerial arts, however dance was (and still is) one of my greatest passions. I became a professional dancer at the age of 17yrs old and was pursuing that career until the lockdown came and from there after having to work multiple clock in and clock out jobs for income I realized this wasn’t what I wanted to be doing for the rest of my life. I deeply missed being creative, adventurous, and expressive so I took a leap of faith to dive wholeheartedly in art. I’m continually discovering ways to incorporate my various art disciplines and skills into the art I create. Sometimes I’m painting with my feet while balancing in a handstand, or painting while dancing on pointe shoes, or using archery to shoot a balloon filled with paint so the paint explosively splatters all over the canvas (which is super cool and fun to do) I just love to find ways to use the skills I trained in as a kid and still put them to good use in a way that challenges me as an artist and breaks boundaries of how I can create my work. I have a desire to capture the dynamic beauty of energy and movement to bring you art that is created in ways to inspire you to express who you are and encourages you to keep shining your light brightly in this world.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When I was learning how to paint I was told to discover my “style” as an artist and to continue pursuing that particular “style” to build a cohesive recognizable brand or I should say a “body of work” that I’d continue to create within throughout my career and was told not to drastically change my styles if I wanted to be successful as an artist. But I soon learned that is not what I wanted to do. I felt when I tried to do stick to one style then I was constraining my creativity. I certainly admire the artists out there that create within their one signature style for many years and decades. It’s cool to be able to follow an artist on social media and get to know their signature style and then one day be traveling and recognize their art hanging in a local restaurant (speaking from experience as that did happen when I traveled to a different state). However I get so curious to try new things. I can create cohesive collections of works, but to be honest if I hung all of my collections in one gallery and a stranger from the street walked in, they would think that all the collections were probably created by different artists. Some seasons I create in my signature fire and ice style mixed media paintings, while other seasons I’m exploring and building a body of work in wood burning (pyrography) and painting while other seasons I’m creating collections of sketches inspired by the places I traveled too. I learned that to be “successful” as an artist you actually don’t have to stick to one signature style but can create and explore whatever you’d like. The more I keep exploring different styles and ways to create art, the more I find my skills as an artist develop, which simply helps my creativity expand more!

How did you build your audience on social media?

I grew up being soooo against the use of social media. I had such a negative and fearful view of it throughout my childhood, but when the lockdown came I wanted to stay connected with other dancers and artists. I remember taking an online dance intensive during the lockdown and a big chunk of the intensive was sharing about how to grow on social media (particularly Instagram) and how it can help you build connections, develop your work, and possibly get jobs/ commissions through what you share. The thing that stood out most to me is when the director of the intensive, Jacob Jonas, said something like this “the most selfish people are the ones who keep their creativity and gifts to themselves and don’t share it with the world. You never know whose life you could inspire or change for the better unless you share your gifts.” That hit me. I knew I had things I really wanted to share but I was terrified of putting myself out there in the digital world. Jacob Jonas encouraged me many times and the people apart of the intensive cheered me on, so after praying about it, I downloaded Instagram, opened my account and put one post on there and immediately logged back off for a whole month without going back on it 😆 Then I repeated that… I posted one more photo and logged back off of the app for a month. Eventually I started to post twice a month, then once a week, then 2-3 times a week, to now I’m posting about 4-6 times per week. You have gifts to be shared and if you have a fear like I did when it comes to posting, all I can say is just post it! START! Don’t worry about it being “perfect,” just get yourself, your work, your creativity out there. It doesn’t have to be Instagram, it can be whatever platform you enjoy using most such as YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook, etc. You don’t have to be using them all. Pick one or two platforms to focus on and stay consistent so your audience can grow and build trust in you. I believe when my Instagram account started to grow the most was when I finally wasn’t afraid to show myself anymore and I allowed my personality to shine. I can be quite the goofball at times and I discovered I have a lot of fun incorporating comedy into my reels. People enjoy a good laugh and they enjoy sharing fun content too which definitely helped my account reach more people and I’m so grateful for it. It will come with time the more you post, but try not to be afraid to show who you truly are. I know it can get easy to create like this perfect looking life on social media with all the right camera angles and filters etc. but honestly people like the “real” stuff… the real you! So go shine your light the brightest and spread the love you have to give in this world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brianalfitzpatrick.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bri_fitzpatrick/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brianalfitzpatrick/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bri_fitzpatrick/
• Other: https://tiktok.com/@bri_fitzpatrick
  https://pinterest.com/brianafitzpatrick
  https://blfstickershop.etsy.com/