We recently connected with Cat Healy and have shared our conversation below.
Cat, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I am a self-taught oil painter and most of what that consisted of was practice. Practice, practice, practice, practice. I had to always be willing to learn new techniques, try different styles of painting, and accept that things don’t always turn out the way I wanted it to be. Along the way, I’ve been introduced to different artists who have imparted their great wisdom of “never stop looking” and “draw all the time, even when you don’t want to”. These sentiments have led me to embrace the idea that practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes progress. If I had adopted that mindset sooner, I’m sure I would have excelled in learning oil painting.
Cat, 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 consider myself to be a modern day Surrealist. I enjoy bringing the dreamscapes into our tangible reality that explore themes of mental health, feelings reflective of the current state of the world, and situations that juxtapose our understanding of objects as they appear within the images. I’ve worked with clients to bring their ideas to life with my stylistic twist, and gained the interest of other clients who are eagerly awaiting my next original masterpiece. I’m proud of the style that I’ve worked my way into and how it speaks to many different audiences. Love it, hate it, I want to know every emotion that my work evokes in you.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Talent is not some “god given gift”. Talent isn’t even really something truly natural. Talent is hard work, dedication, long sleepless nights, and many frustrating cries. The public doesn’t get to see all of the restless hours that go into the creation of a work, but it’s important to talk about it. Talk about the parts of creativity that are hard to understand, talk about the difficulty of getting started – because that’s where people wanting to become a creative get hung up. So just get started: make art even if it looks bad. Make art because it makes you feel good. Make art because it helps you process difficult emotions and situations.
Make art because you’re human.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Honestly, I would pick a platform like Instagram where it is “photo-forward” content. Promoting artwork on Tiktok is difficult unless you have all these other things to assist in content creation like a phone mount, lighting, microphones, etc. If you at least have a phone with a camera, or a way to upload photos to a computer with access to the internet, it’s easy to curate the posts and content that goes into photo-forward platforms. The other option is creating a personalized gallery space on domains like WordPress and Squarespace. Both of these options have free services where you can curate a portofio space in a way that fits your style.
Lastly, post often. Post like it’s a journal where all you talk about is your art and creativity. Post about your art like you’re talking about your favorite celebrity or sports team. Be excited to share your work and people will be excited to view your work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cathealyartgallery.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cathealy_art/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cathealyart
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cybergoth_kitty
