We recently connected with Megan James and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Megan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My current collection has been one of my most meaningful projects to date! The collection titled “Local Knowledge” was created from my desire to pay homage to the South Florida area that has been my home since birth. I’ve been blessed to experience some of the most beautiful seascapes in the world, but this summer I focused solely on the natural environment that has been with me all along and inspired me to examine waves from the beginning. I used a combination of unique materials foraged from nature including rain water, leaf teas, natural inks and local charcoal – all bonding the paintings to the local area.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a Miami born artist currently residing and working in West Palm Beach. My creative focus is centered around the natural world, with a heavy interest in the ocean and my paintings are an expression of my experiences with everything from deserts to oceans far and near. I tend to process my emotions and thoughts in the grounding qualities of the natural world, and a way of remembering what I’ve learned from nature is to paint it. My hope is for collectors and viewers to find a connection within themselves to nature through my works.

My paintings are known for their ability to be placed in a wide range of design aesthetics – traditional, wabi-sabi and modern spaces all marry well with my call-of-the-wild works, and I love working with designers to bring a space together with my work.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I listen to podcasts regularly while I paint and discovered some incredibly insightful ideas particularly from The Rich Roll Podcast. One of Roll’s mantras is: “Mood follows action”. To me, this has been a push to get moving in the direction that I want; start the painting, reach out to the gallery, get into a momentum and the mind becomes convinced, creating a believer in your work by doing the work. It’s common to want to wait for the right time, or mood, but that frame of mind rarely comes until we get moving. Roll’s podcast heavily influenced my work ethic through his countless interviews with incredible athletes and great minds that believe in consistency, authenticity, passion and dedication to a practice.

Aside from podcasts, any works by Steven Pressfield, Thich Nhat Hanh and David Hawkins have contributed to the foundation of my philosophy towards art, business and life. Their words of wisdom are often the soundtrack to my studio time.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

A few weeks ago, I delivered a painting to a spectacular home on the water in North Palm Beach. I had been working on the painting for a month in my home studio and often for hours in my living room due to the large size of the piece. My two daughters had been a witness to the process from stretching to creating indigo inks, to the framing and wrapping. On delivery day, I brought my older daughter Dane to assist me, and as we returned to the car from a successful drop off, I looked at her teary eyed and said “See, you can do what your soul wants and make a living.” Aside from making the art itself, demonstrating living proof to my daughters that your art/dreams/ideas matter is one of the most rewarding aspects of my career.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.meganjames.org
• Instagram: megan__james