We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful K Larabee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with K below.

Alright, K thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

My first foggy indication that there was *something* for me in creative work is when I was 18 years old, while working as a day care teacher in the toddler room during the summer break after my freshman year of college. (Okay, I DID win a coloring contest in kindergarten, but that likely is because I colored in the lines, and THAT is a conversation for another day.) Anyway, while the the darling babies in my care were napping, I was restless. (The year was 1997, and there was no cellphone to play on.) I pulled out a cheap set of kids’ watercolor paints, a ‘Winnie the Pooh’ book, and painted Tigger, freehand. I was pleased with how much my painting actually looked like THE Tigger (akin to coloring in the lines). But was this a fluke? To find out, I painted Flounder from ‘The Little Mermaid.’ Again–success! Man, could those kids sleep like champs.

Well, my attention span is short and art as a career still wasn’t on my radar. Never crossed my mind again, really. Fast-forward through college, where I finished a B.A. in Public Administration. I worked in local government in NC for a few years, got married, had my son, not necessarily in that order, and decided to stay home for the reasons many people do. During this time, I became obsessed with HGTV. I designed and re-designed my home so many times that I decided my only way to scratch this itch better (and save us a bazillion dollars) would be to go back to school for interior design so I could do it the ‘right’ way. I was living my best life, caring for my kiddo, loving the program and making friends, when my husband’s job required a move to SC. We were in SC for less than a year, then moved again to Orlando, FL. After a few years in Orlando, I decided to start another interior design program. Not quite through my first semester of my second attempt at design school, we were called to move to West Palm Beach, FL–3 hours away. (Are you as frustrated reading that, as I am writing this?)

A few years later, and after yet another move back to Orlando, a wonderful company called ‘Let’s Make Art’ found/targeted me on Instagram, offering monthly watercolor subscription boxes. They provided paint, reference photos, outlines, step-by-step instructions, and a weekly project that was to be done alongside a video of the amazing Sarah Cray showing how simple it could be. Once more, I was enthralled; the medium found the part of me that needed support and calm in my life, and led me to paint enough and until I considered myself an artist.

Buoyed by the confidence this gave me, I became a fanatical attender of local art classes. Watercolor, acrylic, collage, oil, pastels, encaustic. Online ones too; a class called ‘Art to Print’ by LaurieAnne Gonzalez taught me to scan and edit my paintings so that I could create enlargements & art prints of my work. It was then that I began to put myself out there for the first time as an artist; I started K Larabee Studio and created my website. Other classes helped me learn Procreate on the iPad; I learned art licensing and surface pattern design in Adobe Illustrator from Bonnie Christine, portfolio building in Adobe InDesign from Genna Blackburn. I wanted to learn all of it, make my very own individualized art school, to find what was most ME, something that touched that same place that watercolor had years before. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, I had found a love for painting acrylic landscapes and portraits. That was the work that sustained me, and I was focused in that space, when I began to really connect with surface pattern design. Not only was I able to use components of my paintings for my surface designs, but I knew that creating passive income through licensing my pattern designs would offer stability, no matter what I went on to pursue.

Each new skill I learned fed the next, and each one added more character and dimension to my work. So ultimately, I believe that just about everything I do these days is a sort of hybrid creation, maybe not so specific to an individual craft or medium.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As it stands now, I am building my portfolio of surface pattern design collections, and working to connect with preferred licensing partners. And after trying all the things I have, a real vision is emerging. Remember my obsession with interior design? It never went away; in fact, this upcoming fall I am planning to return to the very same program which I began in a small NC town all those years ago. Except I’m an empty nester now; it has been that many years. The idea of this is something I think I’ve needed; to complete the circle, to unlock what’s next. I’ve become so grateful for the time that has passed. I’m better, smarter now, more dialed into what is good for me, not based on accommodating a child or spouse. Because of the knowledge I’ve built upon, I can see where the threads of all these experiences have woven themselves together, creating a net of support for my future going forward. I will be painting original works and creating large-scale art prints that I can use in spaces I design, and creating patterns for the textiles, wallpapers, and decor that is *just right* to truly and literally create the beauty I want to see in this world.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Family members and friends who are not creatives are accustomed to my fits and starts around new projects and interests of mine. But I do feel them rolling their eyes at me on the inside, wondering why I spend my time like I do, why I can’t just be normal or get a job, or start something–anything–and stick with it. And believe me, I’ve often had the same frustrations myself. Part of me also yearns for predictability and a schedule I can count on. It is not easy to live this way.

But the reality is, at this point in my life, I have the option to explore, to travel, to experience, to attempt, to see, to visit, to question. So why WOULDN’T I do that? Isn’t that what most people spend their working years dreaming of, what they are looking forward to doing in retirement, or when they’ve saved enough? Now happens to be the time I have, and often I feel like I’m running out of it.

An example of how this can go is as follows: I was briefly in Paris last summer, after not having been for about a decade. I love the complicated energy of the city. I returned home and learned that the American University of Paris offered a yearly summer French Immersion program. I decided this was right up my alley and applied. This summer I will live in Paris for 2 months and learn to speak (some) French (hopefully). I follow my interests, and seek out new experiences that appeal to me. This time, it may involve navigating riots in the streets over the 2-year increase in the retirement age for French workers, but again, it is all a learning experience, nonetheless.

What some may see as entirely out of left field, I see as an opportunity to get out of my comfortable little suburban-American-housewife box. These experiences inform my work, inspire me to create, open my mind, and lend perspective. I would even argue that having this diversity of experience is what is helping to actually build my energy and create my future. Pieces and parts and changes and ideas that come from the things I have done connect in unexpected ways and result in magic.

I know that many don’t understand this about my journey as a creative. The responses of friends and family can feel downright patronizing (it’s all that loud internal eye-rolling) when I tell them about a new venture. They tend to smile and say “cool!” but not ask any questions…like, “oh, she’ll grow out of this too.”

The insight I’d offer to others on their creative journey is to simply focus on finding fellow creative people. That has been the most rewarding thing for me. When you find your people, you will KNOW. You’ll click, and it will feel like you’ve known them forever. They are not only fascinating to speak with, but tend to be the ones who just ‘get you’ and always have something interesting going on.

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

Society… as a whole, I’d love to see the ‘starving artist’ narrative/judgement burn itself out. I believe it’s a lot better now than it was when I was growing up, if only because of all the avenues where work is now visible able to be shared online. I remember a great book I read a number of years back called ‘Real Artists Don’t Starve’ by Jeff Goins, and that was really helpful to inspire a mindset shift on the part of the artist.

As part of that, if I was to make a specific suggestion, it would be: Please don’t ask artists to work for free/for ‘exposure.’ Exposure does not pay the bills.

Contact Info:

• Website: klarabee.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/klarabeestudio
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/klarabee

Image Credits
Photos of the artist by KT Wise.