Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christie Felton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Christie, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I learned my craft by letting go of all my expectations and accepting I was at the end of everything I knew. There was the inevitable struggle between what I intended to create and the end result that made me an apprentice in the art of acceptance. I learned to find beauty in what was, regardless of my inability to control the outcome. I allowed each piece to become what it was meant to be, not what I wanted it so desperately to become. I found that expecting my art to conform to the images in my head was preventing me from seeing what was being presented. It’s an odd thing to define success or failure by whether we get what we want or how close we land to where we aim. On the contrary, failure would seem to be the limitations that cap our possibilities if we only get what we want. Not a single painting is what I set out to create. I discovered the more rigid I was, the more things had to conform to the shape of my ways. The more fluid and flexible I became, the more capable I was at letting things enter my creative process. Being open relaxed my boundaries and allowed me to interact more with what came my way. I stopped creating art with the illusion I had anything to say. I started creating it with a faith that in following a feeling or a question I would find my next lesson.

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

Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas I started painting 30 years ago. I discovered my medium of choice, resin, in an attempt to let go and create the kind of art I always wanted. My clients are usually inspired by brilliant color. Resin work is better appreciated in person since photographs don’t capture the brilliance, movement and light. Each piece changes with the light source and metaphorically, that is what I was drawn to initially. I guess I was searching for light myself. There are layers upon layers of pulverized minerals in my resin work. The individual grains of pigment are prisms, that create refractions. What people notice most about my work is the depth, range of color and how light makes all the difference. My work has been on exhibit at the Arlington Museum of Art, The Milan Art Gallery, and Leigh Gallery in Chicago. My most current work is at Aloft Downtown Ft. Worth. My goal is to find a large scale commercial project in the near future.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I once believed there was a specific path artists must follow to be successful or taken seriously. But I met a wise poet, David Whyte, who shared these words by Antonio Machado, “Traveler, there is no path. The path is made by walking. The path is your tracks and nothing more. By walking you make a path and turning, you look back at a way you will never tread again.”

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?

Many non-creatives might argue that art isn’t rocket science, implying creativity is simple in comparison to other fields of study. They struggle to recognize the tremendous amount of research and time artists put into any creative endeavor. Some non-creatives are baffled by the notion that creatives are needed in all fields of study. Just as the great scientists of the world strive to never lose their sense of wonder and awe, artists never stop exploring to see the world through a different lens and find creative solutions. Ultimately, my philosophy is that although our fields of study may be as vast as the Universe, creative or not, we’re all on the same journey, abundantly different, yet beautifully the same!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://christiesartgallery.com
• Instagram: @artist626
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christie.nealeart.9
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christie-felton-97706292
• Twitter: @cfeltonart
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/IdR4Gcqh7qo

Image Credits
Christie Felton Art Alicia Wells