We recently connected with Kristine Palmer and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristine, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

This may sound cliche, but I have known ever since I was little. Like a deep seated feeling that I knew would come to fruition for me. I still feel like I’m working towards it in many ways too. Throughout my childhood and young adulthood that feeling always stayed, the inner knowing that someday I’m going to be an artist. Towards the end of high school I was really eager to make the leap into being a professional artist and earn an income from my creations, but I didn’t know what career paths existed. I knew there were animators for movies and childrens books, and that is as far as my knowledge went. At some point I learned of graphic design and started taking classes, I fell in love. I thought, “This is it. This is how I make a living doing what I love.”

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?

I was lucky enough to be accepted into a program in high school where students could take college courses and earn both their high school and college credits. It was at this time I took my first graphic design courses. It was so exciting, up until then I had been drawing and painting, but to learn digital art creation and the principles of design opened up another realm.
After a year, I did have to put my creative pursuits on hold, due to learning that this amazing program was cut from the school district’s budget. All the students & faculty poured our hearts into letters to the district hoping to appeal to them about how much this program meant to us. I found out years later it worked! Unfortunately, due to my living circumstances at the time, and being in the pre cell phone era, I had no idea the program remained, and did not return for my senior year. Instead, the direction I went was taking some computer based classes, graduating early and began working more hours at my multiple jobs.
Within another year I was a mother and my creative pursuits would continue to be on hold for nearly a decade. I didn’t draw, paint or doodle at all. I tell this to students who attend my workshops pretty often. Even if it has been years, it’s never too late to pick back up again where you left off, your creative practice is waiting for you. Even if life seems to keep throwing sticks in your spokes, you can always get back up again. Once my daughter was out of daycare, I was able to begin enrolling in courses again.
Everything had changed, it took a bit to gain my footing, all the interfaces on the programs looked different, it was nearly starting over for me. I am so grateful to those I sat next to who would help me fumble around. I worked a full time retail job and took a three quarters (almost full!) course load, slowly chipping away at my degree, until finally, I was officially a graphic designer!
From there I landed my first freelance gig, designing layouts and advertisements for a publication called Reno Tahoe Tonight. The late Oliver X found me at an event where students showcased their portfolios to industry professionals. He loved my style and hired me to work on his magazine. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have worked with him, and it really helped boost my confidence as I entered the industry.
Shortly after graduation I became a full time designer in a boutique agency where I learned the ins & outs of the business. I learned that a lot of it wasn’t as creative as I had hoped. Branding was my favorite, though I’m also a fan of layout, it has always reminded me of the game tetris. What I really wanted to be able to do was more illustrative work, though I didn’t realize this was a whole separate career path. I fulfilled that part of me by starting to create my own art collections and began doing art showings as well. Looking back at some of this work, I can see these personal projects really helped me to improve my illustrative skills and start to gain a personal style. Those collections let me experiment & explore on my own terms, outside of client work.
After five years the agency owner decided he did not want to be an employee based business anymore, he returned to being a solo freelancer, and those of us that were employees were effectively laid off. I was eight months pregnant at the time, talk about a wild inconvenience. After a few months I began the job hunt and my friend let me know they were hiring for an artist. “This is it!” I thought, now I’ll finally do what I love and support myself and my family. This artist role was in slot gaming, and I was able to use so much more of my artistic abilities. It also really expanded my capabilities in the digital illustration space, I even did 2d animations. It was a dream.
As dreamy as it was though, I would still have that little feeling creep in from time to time. I wanted to work for myself, create my art all day long. A couple months into the pandemic, the slot gaming industry would have substantial layoffs, and I was a part of that. I took it as a sign from the universe to go all in and launch my business.
And here I am today. My business is all the parts I love about illustration and design. I do watercolor commissions, portraits of people & pets, watercolor botanicals, digital illustrations, brand development, design and layout of print collateral & digital assets, and even some web design! I have been able to take what I love about fine art and design and roll it into my offerings. I have also been teaching watercolor workshops and retreats, and this fall will begin teaching graphic design.
Recently I have decided to sunset my business name, Mrs. Kristine Palmer Illustration & Design. For one, that’s a mouthful, and two, I do so much more than illustration and design now, my business has evolved to include teaching, pop up markets, wholesale products, live art at events, murals, and more. My new business is Water & Shadow, the name coming from an intuitive place, much like my desire to follow a creative life path, representing emotion, fluidity, my craft and embracing the ever evolving aspects of myself and my business.
I’m excited to continue to grow and evolve as I provide beautiful illustration & design services and create more products.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

There are a couple of ways, that I see, that society can support artists & those in the creative industries. Collect their original art, nothing tells an artist you value them more then wanting to collect an original piece. It shows them that their work matters and has an impact upon others. Purchase prints & other products they make, contribute to their Patreon, follow and like their socials so they can have more of an impact on the algorithms. Attend their showings, their pop up markets, let them know you see them and what they’re doing. Another impactful way would be to learn that there is a far reaching myth of artists & creatives being naturally talented, that somehow their skills come easily. The contrasting truth is, most of us spend years attending school, workshops, courses, as well as countless hours of trial and error. We have degrees and student loans just as many professional industries do, and our work is no less valuable to society. Yet because of this myth of an artist possessing talent without effort we are often asked to work for free, to try out for competitions in hopes of getting paid, and to work for publicity or exposure. When you really look around, you can see that the arts, design & creative industries are what make life beautiful. Everything that has typography on it was designed, menus, street signs, t shirts, the games we love, the movies, the book covers, the concert posters, the art on our walls, the patterns on our clothes, the wallpaper, art & design are such an integral part of our lives that we exist among it without even realizing that there really isn’t anything that wasn’t designed or created, including the divine design of mother nature herself.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

There can be a lot of imposter syndrome that sets in as you begin to build something on your own, and even before when you’re just daydreaming of it. I turn towards a lot of podcasts and books to help shift my mindset. And I really love to listen & watch “how they got here” stories. An incomplete list of some that have impacted my outlook are:

• You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero
• The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
• Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
• Untamed by Glennon Doyle
• Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski, PhD & Amelia Nagoski, DMA
• Know Thyself Podcast
• To Be Magnetic Podcast
• Do it for the Process Podcast
• Creative Peptalk Podcast
• 99% Invisible Podcast

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mrskristinepalmer.com
• Instagram: @mrskristinepalmer, @waterandshadow

Image Credits

Emily Najera, Kelly Schuermann, Kristen Furleigh, Kristine Palmer