We were lucky to catch up with Cathie Masterson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cathie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

As we start approaching the middle of 2024 (how, already, I do not know!) I look back on all the years that I spent not pursuing my art career.

Sure, I went to school for art, where I took amazing classes, felt fulfilled and enriched, and even traveled to Italy to further learn art and design. Once I came back to the states, though, I needed money, so I took a job as an executive assistance in New York. I hoped that I could work on my art on my days off and after work. Boy, was I mistaken. I hardly had time for myself some weeks, let alone working on my art. I worked there for four and a half years, where I quickly became burned out and just exhausted. I took a job as a secretary/office manager as I tried to figure out where life was going to lead me. I had an art Facebook page, but I wasn’t posting much to it, and what I was posting wasn’t very good. I was still trying to figure out my style and what it was that I wanted to create.

Some friends of mine saw a few of my sketches and art pieces and told me I should create an Etsy shop to start selling my art. I hesitated. First, I thought that I didn’t have enough pieces to justify a store, and second, I just didn’t believe enough in my work to think that anyone else would really be interested in what I was creating. My art wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready.

With this new job, I now had more time for my art but I got lost in the feeling of inadequacy, especially as Instagram was becoming so popular. I would get lost in a spiral of looking at these different artists on Facebook and Instagram and compare their work to mine. Mine wasn’t nearly as good as these artist’s work by a long shot. I would sit down to draw and I would just get stuck. If this sketch wasn’t going to be perfect, why bother even starting? Which, obviously, defeats the purpose of a sketchbook; the very tool to practice your craft. I was a captive to the idea of perfection, so much so that I was starting to not even try and I was no longer enjoying something that used to bring me so much happiness and fulfillment.

Then, COVID-19 swept the world and we were all stuck inside. With a little help, encouragement, and actually some therapy, I began to turn back to my creative outlets. It actually first started with me writing down a story that’s been in my head for some time. And you know what? I am NOT a writer. But the absolute thrill of writing something, something that was mine, no matter how terrible, awful, and cliche it was, brought me out of my artistic funk. I began to draw again. I first turned to character design. I’m… okay at character design. They’re fun to do. I started to paint. Then came patterns and floral illustrations. Some were okay, some were pretty good, a lot of it was downright awful (at least in my critical mind).

But it didn’t matter. I was creating again and filling a hole in my soul with my art. Finally, in 2023, after much inner debate and forcing myself to let go of my perfectionism, I opened an Etsy shop. I feel like I’m slowing, finally, starting to find my niche, my style. I’ll be honest, I still don’t have one, at least, it’s not really defined. If you were to ask my what my style is, I couldn’t answer you. But I finally have a direction, a destination, and I’m enjoying the hell out of the ride. But what a waste all those years were that I didn’t create, all those sketchbooks that had one or two drawings for an entire year.

I learned something very valuable. It doesn’t have to be the most perfect piece of art to exist. It doesn’t have to be stylistically put together like some of those admittedly amazing Instagram reels.

It just needs to be yours.

Don’t make the mistakes I did. Just create.

Cathie, 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 am a small time artist that is just getting her foot in the door with illustrations and hopefully soon, stickers, planners, and more! While I’ve been drawing and painting all my life. I’ve only recently decided to start putting my artwork out there. Right now, I only have my tiny Etsy shop and a Wix website that I’m going to redo here pretty soon (I’m thinking Squarespace, maybe…), but I’m hoping little by little to expand and put my art out there!

I started my schooling in art at Palomar Community College in San Marcos, California. This school was absolutely amazing and was proof that you didn’t need an elite art school in order to excel at art. The professors were amazing and supportive and the resources available to students were awesome. They had a room full of lithographic and other types of printers, they had a giant room for things like casting and glass blowing, rooms full of computers for students to use and practice using the Adobe Suite. I started out in fine arts and then honed in on graphic design. I finished my last year in Italy (I highly, HIGHLY recommend studying any kind of art in Europe!) I was flying high when I graduated and came home full of hope for what I could create.

However, I floundered for years. I didn’t know what my style was and I didn’t know how to find my style. I stopped creating and stopped putting effort into developing my art. I became focused on being perfect; all or nothing, this particular style or nothing, which kept me locked in an artist funk for years. Slowly, I began to claw my way out of my block, dabbling in painting, character art, and watercolors before finally landing on bullet journals and planners. I love washi tape, stickers, and I love the illustrative work that comes with laying out a weekly spread to organize your tasks and appointments for the week. As an assistant, I LOVE planners. As an artist, I love drawing all over my planners. Bullet journaling gave me the opportunity to do both and to do it at my own pace.

In 2023, I finally decided to open an Etsy shop, where I eventually hope to sell my own stickers, washi tape, and other planner accessories. For now, I’m using my illustrative talents to create amazingly intricate coloring pages (they may be too intricate, as they take forever for me to create, so I only have maybe 20 in my store right now!!). And in January, I launched my first digital planner. I’ve had some small success and I hope that for 2025, I can create both a digital and a printed planner to sell in my store, as well as finally get some stickers and other accessories ready to go.

My store is small, I don’t have much to offer yet, and I couldn’t even tell you what my artistic style is. But I am taking a risk, I am putting my art out there, and I am so happy and proud that I’m finally doing this. I spent years without even picking up my pencil because I was scared, I didn’t believe in myself, and I was focus on perfection, not on progression or even just having fun with my art. So, you know what? Screw it – my art isn’t perfect nor will it probably appeal to a wider audience. But it’s mine and I’m happy creating it. I’m currently offering some commission work on my social media accounts as well to hold me accountable and to prove to myself that my art is worth doing, even if only for myself.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I love being organized – I love planners, to do lists, notepads, and all the fun stickers and accessories you can use to make them pretty. I always loved back to school shopping because of all the fresh notebooks, pens, pencils, supplies! I still love going through the stationary section of any store. I buy way more notebooks than I need (though I eventually use them!). I’m actually not allowed to go to Michael’s without alerting my husband so he can mentally prepare himself for the amount of supplies I look at and buy.

It was a lightning bolt of inspiration (and lunch with a friend, thank you Kasey for the inspiration) where I decided to start working on stickers to use for planners. I have the artwork completed but trying to get the stickers printed has proven a challenge for me. I’ve bought a Cricut machine and have had quite a time trying to get it to work with my computer and then again with my printer.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

The increase in use and reliance on social media has been both a blessing and a curse to creatives. We can reach a wider audience and promote our work, we can sell in ways we never could before, and we can build wide communities filled with support, encouragement, and love.

But many, many creatives (I know because I was one of them) have gotten trapped in the idea of the perfect that social media portrays. Artists with pristine, clean studios with all of these elaborate and amazingly helpful amenities that make creating art a breeze. Reels that show a perfect painting from start to finish, every brush stroke intended, every frame showing a masterpiece completed in a manner of seconds. People who snap their fingers and their creations spring to life, ready for purchase from one of their thousands of followers.

How did they get all those followers, and why can’t I even get 100? I’m never able to paint like that, how do they do it? They made it look so effortless, my sketchbooks never look like that. That desk looks incredible, those brushes are amazing, I could never afford them. My space never looks like that, I can’t show the space I use to make my art if it doesn’t look like that. I love that style, I wish my style looked like that.

I’m not like them, so I won’t ever create art like that, art that’s worthy of notice, attention, likes, comments, and follows.

These thoughts prey upon our insecurities as artists, bringing forth all of our worst self-criticisms, and many of us find ourselves not wanting to pick up our brushes, pens, or tools. We feel defeated before we even begin. Some of us even stop creating. We lose hope and we lose sight of what art is supposed to be.

Social media can do some amazing things but it can also, just as easily, kill the creative spark. Use it wisely, and if necessary, not at all if it comes between you and your art. You and your art are worth more than a couple of likes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CatMastersonDesign
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catmastersondesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CathieMastersonDesigner
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catmastersondesign/
• Other: https://ko-fi.com/catmastersondesign https://www.pinterest.com/catmastersondesign/