We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kelsey Paz Snyder a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kelsey , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
For me it’s always been this whisper in the back of my head and deep in my gut saying, ” You are meant to be an artist. Take the leap, do it.” But I always found an excuse not to or a work around in other ventures that were creative but not specifically creating paintings as a fine artist. You see, my mother, my grandmother, my great grandmother, my great aunt, they were all incredible artists with very talented shoes to fill. I learned everything I know from them and have admire their work my entire life (and still do). Creating a cohesive body of work was always a dream that I told myself I would one day do, but not now. I pursued a career in the television industry, then the floral industry, and then started my own candle company. All of these things felt creative “enough” and I loved them, but I instinctively knew it wasn’t what I was truly meant to be doing. In 2019 I was working as a full time graphic designer, another creative avenue I traveled down, when our son Hudson was born. Everything changed. Every little thing suddenly had deeper meaning and life’s questions started swirling around late night talks with my husband. One night while we were admiring our son through sleepy parent eyes, my husband asked me, “When Hudson has a project at school one day that requires him to draw a picture of his mommy with how he sees you, what would you want him to draw?” I thought about this and responded, “I want to have a paint brush in my hand as an artist, in the garden, with hearts all around me because I love him so much.” My husband looked at me and said, “If you want him to draw you as an artist then you have to be an artist.” And that was it for me. From that moment on I made the conscious decision to pursue art as my profession. No more excuses. I was determined to have my son see me doing what truly makes me happy, I was determined for him to see me working really hard at achieving success doing so and I was incredibly excited about taking him along on this journey with me, as hard as that wishful thinking turned out to be once this all came to fruition. So to answer your question, I have always known but it wasn’t until I saw myself through my son’s eyes that I was brave enough to do it.
Kelsey , 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?
When I was brave enough to make the leap and take myself seriously as a professional artist in 2020 I began teaching myself how to paint with watercolor. The medium I was comfortable with using growing up has always been acrylic. But the subject matter I had in mind as my debut collection really needed a medium like watercolor so I was determined to learn. My grandmother is a phenomenal watercolor artist so I had a lot of inspiration to pull from with her and a mentor to turn to. I mentioned before, but my journey to get where I am as an artist really had a lot of detours along the way that lent their teachings to my body of work thus far. The first collection I worked on was inspired by the period of time I went back to school to get an associates degree in floral design. I learned everything there is to know about flowers and foliage and in doing so realized a lot of plants are named after animals. This was a random fact that stuck with me when conceptualizing my first collection. Each piece is focused on an animal with the plant that is named after it surrounding that animal. For example, the Oxeye Daisy (my best selling limited edition print) is an Ox at the center of a gold leaf oval with beautiful oxeye daisies surrounding it. They are all painted with watercolor while the Ox is both watercolor and pen & ink. My other best selling piece (especially here in Florida) is the Anthurium, otherwise known as, the Flamingo Flower. In this piece, an amazing flamingo is carrying a bouquet of flamingo flowers in her beak with a delicate gold leaf string wrapped around them.
With my second body of work I drew inspiration from my time as a graphic designer. I created very detailed elements that I would then turn into surface patterns. Each series has many different components that are meant to be hung together as a cohesive collection in a gallery wall. Elements for each pattern include bees, butterflies, strawberries, pears, olive branches, ferns, etc. I take these elements and work my graphic designing magic to turn them into unique surface patterns. This is a collection that will continue to evolve and grow over time with plans to add more physical products with these patterns on them as well. We will be starting with a “Partridge in a Pear Tree” wrapping paper for the holidays!
If you haven’t noticed, my work is very much inspired by nature and our interconnectedness to the world around us. I was raised by a nature-loving momma that constantly had us exploring barefoot in the woods where I grew up. My “roots” will always have an impact on my work and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
This actually occurred very recently and the wound is still healing but I have been so proud of myself for not letting this person and situation bring me down and instead it has fueled my fire. Here’s what happened. Throughout the year I will accept a handful of commission pieces. Most of these pieces are pet portraits in the same style as my Animal Plant collection. Each of my commissioned clients have been absolutely lovely. We really get to know each other and towards the end of our time together while I create these very personal pieces of art for them, we have become friends. This particular situation was even more elevated because we already had a history of friendship from my time at Auburn University. I was so excited when he reached out and wanted me to create a pet portrait of his King Charles Cavalier named Harbo, similar to the gummy bear brand he said. We were in constant contact about the size of the piece, placement of his dog, the direction he wanted his dog looking with wind blowing in it’s hair. He chose very specific florals to surround the dog that all have deep meaning to him and his family. I then created a sample of the florals for his approval before beginning the actual piece and he approved with flying colors. This back and forth was over a span of a couple of months. I then began creating the actual piece of art that also took me another month to finish because it was very detailed! When I tell you I was proud of this piece, I really was. I sent a photo of the final art to him and he replied with “I love it!” I then proceeded with obtaining logistics like where to mail his art to and an email for the invoice. No response. He had been instantly responsive the entire time up until this point. But things in life come up unexpectedly which I am very empathetic to so I waited a couple more weeks and reached back out. No response. Over a month of follow ups with no response and I had come to grips with the fact that this person, who I referred to as a friend, was ghosting me. I sent him one last message letting him know that I completely understand if something has come up and we need to work something out or he is no longer able to purchase, I just wanted honesty. But instead I got nothing. So I wished him the best and tried to move on. Did I fall into a bit of a funk with my art for a bit? yes. I did. I felt stupid and untalented with imposter syndrome rearing it’s evil head at once. Honestly, I know I am none of those things, but it’s easy to beat yourself up after situations such as this. But once that dark cloud had passed, I picked myself up and was determined to push forward better than before. But not without learning some very valuable lessons which I would love to share with you here in case they resonate with another creative. Always have your client sign a contract, that includes all of their contact information for shipment and billing, no matter how close you are to them. And always get a deposit, again, no matter how well you think you know that person. You have to protect yourself and your business in case something falls through. Unless you are my Momma or my husband, you are signing a contract and putting down a deposit on future commissions. I’ve also become very picky with what commissions I take on now. I’m currently working on one for an active collector so I know I’m in a safe place.
Going through this situation really made me want to put down my watercolor brushes for a while and switch things up. I wanted to make pieces that were very large statements that screamed “I am here! and I’m not going anywhere!” So I reverted back to when I first studied art in high school and I fell in love with acrylics. The collection started from a very interesting moth my son and I found in our backyard called a Polka Dot Wasp Moth. It looked as though it could hurt you but after doing some research it was completely harmless and stunning. I had to paint it, so I did! Then I realized that, while moths only come out at night, they are still absolutely beautiful. I wanted to create a collection that resonated with me and this current darkness I was emerging from but also in hopes that it resonated with others as well in the darkness I know many people are going through, no matter how big or small it may seem. There is always beauty to be found even in the darkest of nights, just like with moths.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
My answer is two-fold.
First, when I begin a piece that I had this vibrant image of in my head, it goes through this journey. Me and it really, we both go through this journey. There is a point in the painting when I absolutely abhor it and want to start over. But I push through because I know that with more layers it’s going to evolve into something spectacular. When I step back after finishing a piece, it’s one of the most rewarding feelings. For me, I persevered and trusted in my skills that I could pull off the vision in my head. I’m always amazed by what I can do. Seriously, every time. I step back, look at it, and think, “wow, I can’t believe I did that.” Every time.
The other rewarding aspect of being an artist is seeing my work in collector’s homes or a product they are personally using with my art on it. The fact that someone chose the art that I created to adorn the walls of their homes feels so personal and I am deeply honored every time I see it. I also have stickers available for some of the surface pattern collection elements. I will see these stickers unexpectedly on random people’s water bottles or phone cases and immediately get flustered and blush. Not in a bad way but in such a way that I can’t believe they chose my butterfly or my bumble bee art to carry around with them on a daily basis. It’s rewarding to feel so connected to all of these people, some I know and some I have never met but feel as if I do know them through my art.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kelseyps.com
- Instagram: @Kelsey.ps
- Facebook: @kelsey.ps
- Other: email: hello@kelseyps.com You can sign up for my newsletter on any page of my website for exclusive deals and fun behind the scenes stories.
