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

Katie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I am an artist, and I do have a regular job. I still love my job after 25 years in the operating room. I feel, I have the best set up for a new artist. I can earn a living and evolve as an artist, without the stress of not being able to pay my bills.

Katie, 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?

I’m an abstract painter. My artwork is vibrant and emotive. Capturing the essence of self-exploration, freedom and flow. I always felt a void deep within my soul despite fulfilling nursing career and family life. Until I coming back to art and creativity and finding my purpose in life. Even though i still work as an Operating Room nurse, I’m building foundation for my future as a full time artist

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Answer: I love making meaningful connections with other people, but I was never very good at small talk or normal socializing. That is why my favorite aspect of being an artist, aside from the process of painting itself, is taking a feeling or emotion and translating it onto a canvas, where I can experiment and explore what I can create with it. I love it when I discover that one person who sees my artwork and translates the painting back into words by describing the emotions they feel when looking at my painting. Sometimes I struggle with describing my abstract art to other people, but that makes it even more rewarding when someone sees my painting and intuitively understands my intention. I love it when people can relate to my art and see beyond the art to glimpse my emotions and thought process when I was painting that canvas.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Question: Can you share the story of a time when you had to pivot (in business, career, life) Answer: To me, pivoting means to suddenly change direction, be it due to necessity, opportunity or vision. My biggest pivot so far was finding my purpose in life with art and learning how to take care of myself without feeling guilty.
Growing up in Ukraine, the oldest child of divorced parents, I always felt I had to meet my parents’ expectations, even though, their expectations were contradictory at times. I was quiet and shy. I only wanted to draw, paint, and read. Living mostly in my head, I never really knew what I wanted to do for a living. All I knew was that my parents expected me to get an education, profession, and start supporting myself. Being an artist was out of the question and funnily enough, both of my parents agreed on that.
In the early 1990s, the Soviet Union was falling apart. Being a teenager and a rebel, I skipped school to participate in demonstrations for Ukraine independence, peaceful and otherwise. I ended up expelled from high school and ran out of time to decide about my education and long-term future, so I switched gears and scrambled to get into a nursing program. After several years of schooling, I graduated as an operating room nurse.
Another major pivot happened when I became pregnant with my son and not willing to have him grow up so close to Chernobyl. I decided to immigrate to United States, leaving behind my homeland. I became a single mother in a completely unknown country, but I was determined to learn the language and continue nursing to support us.
I took any nursing job, eventually finding my way back into operating room. Taking care of others is what I did for a long time. However, I did not learn how to take care of myself until I was in my forties. Eventually I suffered from major burnout, relying on alcohol to help me cope, but I only temporarily escaped my problems. But drinking never helped me to forget how exhausted, depressed and unhappy I was. As my life began to spiral out of control, it was time for me to take the most important pivot of my life. I quit my job, went to therapy, got sober, and started to learn how to say no to others and began to take care of myself.
It was during that time when I remembered how much I love creating. I started exploring my interests and started painting again. It became clear to me that I was meant to be an artist. I found my purpose in life and haven’t stopped creating, learning, exploring. My biggest pivot was stepping away from what I knew and was expected to do in order to become an artist.
Although I had to go back to my nursing job, I am steadily developing my art life and setting up for my future as a full-time artist by making connections, showing my artwork in local shows and galleries, and evolving as an abstract artist.
I’m extremely excited for what the future holds and hope to make one final pivot to become a full-time artist very soon.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.katiedabstract.com
• Instagram: katie_denisova_abstract
• Facebook: katie denisova
• Linkedin: katie denisova