We were lucky to catch up with Madz Greenleaf recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Madz, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Three things have guided me to where I am today: Teachers, Youtube, and Tik Tok. I was able to take art classes from kindergarten through senior year of high school, where my incredible teachers showed us how to view the world differently and taught about groundbreaking artists. I remember sitting on the floor of the art room staring up at the projector screen in third grade to see Frida Kahlo’s self portrait for the first time and my mind was blown. Being exposed to the joys of art at an early age sparked a fire in me. Once I was in high school, my teacher encouraged us to try a variety of mediums. We used charcoal, built wire sculptures, did etching, and acrylic paintings to name a few, but the lessons on watercolors caught my attention. My current work focuses on watercolor paintings of pets, drinks, and homes. I learned one new artform after receiving a text from my brother with the message, “Learn how to do this!” It was a video of a guy making a rug in his house with yarn, monkscloth, and a tufting gun. I could not stop thinking about it, so I bought a tufting gun, built a rug frame- by following directions from a Youtube video- and started practicing. I watched MANY Tik Tok and Youtube tutorials to understand how to do the methods just right.
The second artistic avenue I found via Tik Tok was window painting. Again, I watched countless videos to learn the proper ways to have paint adhere to windows and how to remove it efficiently without damaging the glass. I practiced a lot on the windows at home and the practice paid off. After I felt comfortable with my technique I started reaching out to local businesses. It has been incredibly fulfilling to paint my unique designs around town.
Throughout my time creating art, one skill that I find essential is understanding that your art does not have to look exactly like the subject in real life. I had a teacher in middle school who would always say, “Paint what you see.” This simple phrase is pretty stressful, because if your creation does not look like what you see, it feels as though you are failing. As I continued my art journey, I had another teacher notice how particular I was about drawing and painting. He was very free flowing and relaxed compared to the teacher from middle school. One day when I kept altering a work to make it “just right” he told me that my art never has to look “finished.” Your work can have broken lines, parts of your work not filled in, and paint strokes that go nowhere- what you are painting does not have to look like the subject in real life. His explanations and reassurance relieved my art of stress and showed me how to have freedom with my work.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Madz and I have been creating art for as long as I can remember. I have always had a longing to make art, and this grew immensely when I went to college and could not fit an art class into my schedule while pursuing an Elementary Education degree. In my free time I started making small pieces of art for my friends’ apartments and bedrooms- silly giraffe paintings, quotes on canvases, and drawings of my friends. Since they really enjoyed them I made an instagram to document my work and to gauge if anyone else would be interested. Luckily, more of my friends and family saw my work and started to place orders. Additionally, I was one of the Homecoming Float Chairs for my sorority where I designed the float and painted murals to decorate it. After my work with Float, a fellow chair and I were asked to paint my sorority and a fraternity’s backdrops for a massive performance at Baylor called “Sing.” When I finished graduate school, I accepted a job as a Program Specialist and Camp Leader at a children’s museum in Kansas City, Missouri. In my off time, I was painting or making rugs. My art orders were increasing, so I decided to move back to Louisiana to pursue an art career full time. Before I left, the museum asked me to paint a 9×24 foot game board on a canvas tarp! This is how I spent my last two weeks at the museum and it reignited my love for large scale painting. Shortly after painting this, I found window painting as an artistic avenue. This now makes up a large portion of my business and is a joy to do! I collaborate with local business owners to plan fun designs that will captivate people passing by and entice them to check out the store or restaurant. I especially love it because I get to spend the whole day outside. When I am not painting windows, you can typically find me painting pets in bright color combinations! This is what I am best known for. Creating pet portraits is my absolute favorite and I add a twist of technicolor. All of my watercolor pet paintings have a retro/almost tie dyed look to them. With dog paintings, window art, rugs, painted champagne bottles, and everything I do, I want people to feel more joyful after seeing my work- that is my number one goal!
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I want my art to catch your eye and evoke joy. Life can be crazy. It seems as though people are becoming more and more overwhelmed. To combat this I create things that make people stop, look, then smile. My art can take the form of pets in wild bright colors or giant cartoony flowers on your favorite store’s windows. It is fun when the vibrant colors or bold lining on something I created catches someone’s eye and makes them stop to say, “Wait, I gotta look at this.”
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.madebymadz.com
- Instagram: @MadebyMadzArt
- Facebook: @MadebyMadzArt
- Other: TikTok: @madebymadzart