We recently connected with Lizzie Clark and have shared our conversation below.

Lizzie, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

When I was about 9 years old, my best friend and I would spend hours sitting at her kitchen counter, looking out at the lovely back yard, drawing floor plans and talking about how we would design and furnish the spaces. MANY years later, and some career path detours on both sides, we are still best friends—she is an interior designer and I create patterns to decorate spaces.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

While I’ve always considered myself creative, my a-ha moment came over 20 years ago, when my husband fired me (in a loving and supportive way), from the company where we both worked. He told me to buy a printer, take classes if I needed them, and be the artist he knew I was. That turned into 15 years as a solopreneur graphic designer. Then I had a stroke.

After that experience (from which I fully recovered) I lost my drive to do graphic design work. Our son was going to be starting college, and my husband looked at me (again, lovingly) and said that I needed to find something to do, or I would drive us both loony.

I started making collage art on business card size canvases, with beautiful art paper. After I started doing art shows, it seemed the next step was to have my own designs on the paper I was using. That sent me scouring the internet for instruction on how to make a repeating pattern. I quickly found Jessica Swift, Molly Hatch and Bonnie Christine—all lovely humans and excellent teachers. When I made my first repeating pattern, the JOY light turned on inside of me. And when I realized I could put patterns on more than just paper, that was it! I haven’t stopped since.

In the past seven years, my patterns have found their way onto fabric, dresses, kitchen linens, table linens, needlepoint canvases, bedding and wallpaper, among other things. And, I’ve designed some products of my own, that are available on my website, including melamine trays, canvas totes and pouches, and linen tea towels and aprons.

Sustainability and eco-friendliness are two values that are important to me, and my brand, in the products I offer, the way they are manufactured, and the packaging and shipping used to deliver them to customers. I believe in functional beauty. Lizzie Clark Designs, “Brings art to life and beauty to the function of every day.”

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Hmmm. . .I think it is the privilege of being in a supportive and encouraging community. Learning from others and sharing the bits that I’ve learned, in a non judgmental and generous environment. The experience has made me grateful and continues to teach me that each one of us is enough, and when we collaborate, we’re a force to be reckoned with.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

During the pandemic, like many others, I leaned in to online educators. I found a lot of value from Bonnie Christine’s early days building her business. There is also a significant amount of knowledge I’ve gained around finding clients and “leveraging” my art from Stacie Bloomfield.

Betsy Cordes created a fabulous community, the Art Brand Alliance, just prior to the pandemic, that has been a life line for me, and I hazard to say, for many others. It offers so much goodness in terms of processes, resources, and guest speakers on all kinds of topics, not to mention the type of community I’ve already mentioned.

Since my stroke reading non-fiction books is a bit of a challenge, and I love that there are so many available as audio books—Seth Godin’s “The Practice,” Donald Miller’s “Building a Storybrand,” James Clear’s “Atomic Habits,” and Ellen Marie Bennet’s “Dream First—Details Later,” have all been favorites.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lizzieclarkdesigns.com
• Instagram: @lizzieclarkdesigns
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizzie-clark-5b69043/

Image Credits
Needlepoint Canvases © the collection designs