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

Meaghan, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I have been interested in the visual arts since a very young age but it wasn’t until I had my first child that I felt compelled to create. After Artie was born, I experienced a severe postpartum psychosis. As I recovered, I compulsively wrote, drew and painted as a way of coping with the huge emotions I felt. I happened to be employed at a university at the time where staff could take up to 6 credits a semester for free. My very perceptive husband saw potential in my haphazard creations and he encouraged me to take a college course to hone my craft. I ended up taking a drawing class and learned how to use several media and different techniques.

Once I picked up a stick of charcoal, I was in love. The way the material flowed across the thick paper, the bold, dark strokes and the soft blended grays…I used it to capture faces and expressions in an ambiguous state. I enjoyed harnessing a bit of the human soul in the eyes of my portraits. My goal was to allow the viewer to relate to the subject; to look at the portrait and think “I’ve felt that way before” and then maybe feel a little less alone. The feedback I received on my projects encouraged me to continue after the class was over.

But, where was I going to draw and paint with a tiny human roaming around our tiny house? I put away my supplies thinking “maybe someday” I could come back to it.

After I had my second son, Timmy, my midwife saw some of my work and said, “I didn’t know you were an artist!” That was the first time I had been called an artist for real. A couple of weeks later, my husband and I were at the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce Gala and happened to be seated at a table with Tom Gittens who owns Art and Frame of Falls Church. Inside his business, he rents out studio space to starving artists! It is called Jefferson Street Artists and is a tiny mecca of creativity. Tom and my husband struck up conversation and my husband introduced me as an artist! Tom offered me a studio space, which I accepted and have continued to rent for 7 years now. Being a part of the little artist community has enriched my life almost as much as having children. I’m able to retreat to my own special space where I can create works of art and experiment with different methods. Being able to express myself and my big feelings in a healthy way has made me a better mom and a better wife. Plus, I’ve been able to share my work with the community.

I’m still growing and learning how to be a professional artist. I have 5 full-time jobs now (aka, kids), a day job and my passion for art. I dream of being able to focus solely on art as a profession. Just this year I sold my first piece and am expanding into selling prints of my originals. Good things are on the horizon!

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?

For Meaghan, drawing is a way to express the bittersweet moments of parenthood, and the often-conflicting priorities and emotions that come with working and raising little humans. She uses her charcoal drawings to portray the complexities of human sentiment. Her portraits capture this mixture of emotions which can be viewed differently even within the same audience: a squint of the eyes that give the hint of a smile or perhaps disdain; lips pursed mid-laugh or out of frustration…

Meaghan’s work is primarily realistic with hints of fantasy and imagination. She often collaborates with her husband, Brian, a photographer, for ideas and sometimes subject matter, making her work a family affair.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I was taught that art is not a career. Art can be a hobby but it will never be a source of income or stability. I was encouraged to study business in college and to leave art behind.

It wasn’t until much later that I realized I needed my passion. I needed to pour my energy into something I enjoyed rather than only thinking about how to pay the bills.

Now, I still have my day job because selling art has not been especially lucrative for me. But, keeping my “hobby” as a practice allows me to hope and plan for a time when it can be my only career.

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

Watching the faces of those viewing my work. I relish in the way people pause and gaze into the eyes of my portraits. I wonder what they are feeling but even more so, I am grateful to be seen. Grateful to leave a little mark on humanity.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @meaghan.decelle.artist
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meaghan.decelle.artist