We recently connected with BF Reed and have shared our conversation below.

Hi BF, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

I was very fortunate in having the parents that I had. They put up with me drawing on my bedroom walls as a young child. When they painted the walls and admonished me about marking the walls again, they listened to my plan and plea to do a mural on my bedroom wall when I was a teenager. They relented to the plan to do the mural and consented to the plea to purchase art supplies to do it. I was also fortunate that they signed me up for a variety of art class opportunities that were available in Philadelphia, PA when I was a teen and got me to them. I am forever grateful for their support.

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.

When I was a child, I remember being fascinated by the people painting billboards and I have wanted to be an artist ever since. I worked hard and crafted my life to that end by building a portfolio, by going to art college, by going to workshops, by studying, by practicing and by learning. The products I provide lately are realistic pastels and acrylic abstracts. What sets me apart from others is my vast range in subject matter, experience across multiple disciplines and my unique perspective. I am most proud of earning signature status in the Pastel Society of America, Women Artists of America and Pastel Society of the West Coast. Every year about 1,500-2,000 entries are submitted to these prestigious national and international organizations and about 175-200 are accepted. Year after year, I have been fortunate enough to be counted in those numbers. I am grateful to be represented by several respected art galleries in Eastern North Carolina.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There is a book called, “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron that I have found to be enormously helpful. It is a workbook designed to help creatives get over or through creative blocks. It provides a number of exercises that help reacquaint the artist with early joys and sorrows to help remind them of the origins of both their Muse and internal critic. The book introduced the idea of writing 3 pages of whatever you are thinking everyday in a journal. I don’t always do the journaling but I find that I am better at every part of my life when I do.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I think I may have workaholic tendencies and as such, I paint everyday…even on vacation. The question about what drives me is pretty easy. I want to get as good at this whole ART THING as I can. I take a lot of pleasure in seeing both paintings progressing to an end and in the growth of skills. I love that I get to spend my time painting and figuring out how to make them work. Every day on the creative journey leads somewhere new that I am anxious to go.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bfreedfinearts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bf.reed.71/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bf.reed.71