We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Felicia Faith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Felicia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

Oh how I have always struggled with this question. My path to where I am now definitely feels like an off beat one for a creative. As a fairly traditional and somewhat old soul, I have often struggled with how to balance some of those values alongside my life as an artist. There have been many times I have wondered if I missed a window or lost years that could have built me a stronger footing in this creative world while I married my high school sweetheart and raised my kids. As a mom and wife with a full time day job that is also very important to me, many weeks go by that I feel like I can’t give my creativity enough of my attention. Those weeks I definitely question whether I should pause and wait for a different season in life to juggle what I do now. Each time I start to waiver in these ways though, I’ll find I stumble into another experience, encounter or friendship that’s sparks and inspires me to continue on. When I consider all the ups and downs of balancing my traditional and creative lives, it truly feels like a lesson in timing and faith.

So honestly, I don’t wish either. I don’t wish I had started any sooner…nor would I want to start any later. Sitting here with my dog, listening to the hustle and bustle of my family around me, considering the coming weeks deadlines and responsibilities, staring at these questions feeling honored and humbled to even be asked them, the only answer I can come up with is… everything has happened and is happening exactly as it is meant to. So I wouldn’t wish the timeline to change at all.

What I do wish is that I had known before this moment that it was okay to just trust in the journey and the timing.

Felicia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Since I was old enough to hold a crayon, I’ve known creating was my passion. And while my upbringing tried to lead me to believe there was no space for art in a real grown up life, my personality has always been one to ask “why”. Especially in the name of expressing myself, I have never rested easy with labels or being pigeonholed, and I despise being given rules and expectations creatively. My young adult years spent balancing a traditional life with a creative career were challenging and left me fascinated by the ways in which the creative world tries to do exactly that to so many artists. We are given lists of criteria to fit into and directed toward finding a niche in order to call ourselves artists. There are rules in order to carry a certain label. And time and time again I would ask, “why?” Why do we do this to ourselves and one another when the very nature of being a creative is to stand out…not fit in?

Insert Miss Olive, my Elementary school art teacher by profession, but more than that, she was my earliest beacon to finding my artistic confidence. Her classroom was painted like an under sea mural and she wore big fun eclectic earrings everyday. She let us make messes and try anything our little hearts could think up. So long as you were creating, there was no right or wrong way to be an artist in her classroom, and that is a lesson that’s stuck with me my entire life. Even when others have told me differently.

So I found myself reflecting back on that childhood lesson in my young adult years when I struggled to find my identity as a creative. I let that lesson fuel me in my artistic little corner of the world. And it allowed me to be an artist confidant in creating by my own rules. Suddenly it was clear that I didn’t need to “find” my identity as a creative. I needed to embrace the creative I naturally was.

Something definitely easier said than done. Especially in the age of social media and comparison. And while I spent plenty of years unsure of my footing in the creative world because maybe I didn’t fit a niche or follow a specific set of rules in my work or have a well polished brand. I have always known I just wanted to make things pretty, that speak to people. I have always wanted to share a piece of my quirky, coffee obsessed, quote loving soul with the world.

What that looks like changes from day to day. Some days I paint abstract portraits and landscapes across canvas wrapped in a second hand frame. Some days I paint detailed florals on up-cycled wooden bookmarks and ornaments. Some days I just sketch all day. There are days I literally do nothing creative at all because the traditional and creative lives fall out of balance. There are days I do traditional life in some really creative ways because again…balance is tough!

Literally, every single day I show up genuinely happy I have figured out how to embrace the creative I am.

Almost every day I catch myself wondering if anyone really takes me seriously as an artist.

And then remind myself…it doesn’t matter…so long as I take myself seriously as an artist.

It has taken me many years to get here, to a point where I can hone in on that same feeling I found in childhood in Miss Olive’s classroom. The confidence of knowing that there’s no wrong way to be an artist. More than any work I ever create, getting back here as a creative is probably what I am most proud of. And I truly hope that someone else reads this and can find confidence in that lesson as well.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

As a society I feel like we could gain so much from taking a page out of Miss Olive’s lesson book and remembering theres no wrong way to be an artist or creative. The very nature of a creative soul is to stand out and so an environment conducive to that is definitely no place for rules and stereotypes. By definition we creatives think outside the box. So why would society keep trying to put us inside said box? Let’s ditch the box, and the comparisons and expectations while we are at it. I don’t know a single creative person who doesn’t put a little bit of their soul into each thing they create. It’s personal and brave. Let’s celebrate that…not critique it.

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

Easily, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is hearing from my buyers on why they fell in love with whatever piece they bought. Every time I hear… “It just spoke to me and I had to have it!” or “the quote was exactly what I needed to hear so I brought it home!” it makes my heart happy. Knowing I created something that brought someone else comfort and happiness right when they were needing it makes me feel connected to the bigger picture some how and I love that I can bring them that simply by doing what’s come naturally to me. It feels like a gift and definitely helps when I find myself second guessing my place as an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: feliciafaithart.com
• Instagram: felicia faith.art