We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Megan Najera a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Megan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
It was definitely the first time someone asked me to do a painting for them when I was about 18. I originally started out taking people’s ideas or themes they had in mind, and I would turn them into a full blown piece. I remember painting in between my son’s nap times when he first born and slept a lot, and thinking this is what I want to do. I want to be home with my kid and be getting paid doing what I love. Some of the first commissions I did were collages of NOLA and Harley Davidson! I think after sharing those pieces publicly, I realized people actually wanted to hang what I made in their homes. Which was so wild to me, that was a huge turning point. I made a decision that day to never stop, I knew one day I’d be here.
Megan, 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?
The first thing I like mentioning, is that I’ve been a creative person for forever. I was the kid you wanted making your science tri-fold board look pretty, and who everyone asked to help them in art class. I grew up drawing on peoples arms, drawing pictures for my friends in class when I was bored and who also got in trouble for doodling on the sides of all of my assignments. People know me as, Megan the artist. I started my business by putting myself out there on social media. From there I was exposed to and also researched all of the opportunities in the DFW area for artists, since then I have taken every single opportunity that I could possibly take. As far as my style goes, I will say my work has always involved nature, hands and profiles – but with my own surrealistic twist. Any painting of mine you will see a flower or two! I struggle hard with anxiety and grounding myself through nature has always been my secret to subsiding that. My contribution to the world as an artist is really to recreate that reminder. The relation between being a human and being in nature is very apparent in my work. I do however offer pet portraits, tattoo drawings on the side and can take any idea you have in your head and put it on paper. I am definitely most proud of how much I care about my clients, and I will always keep them included on my process! MLNart is my own very personal brand of who I am as a person, and how that reflects into what I create.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
100% hearing how other people perceive my paintings. One of my favorite things is doing ArtsGoggle in Fort Worth each year and getting to hear peoples thoughts and ideas on how they see my work. It is the coolest thing to see someone being so moved by a piece, or hear about what they see in it. A lot of times it’s something I completely did not interpret it as, or it reminds them of something from their own memories – other peoples perceptions are so interesting me. I think my work, for just as weird as it is, can provoke some really interesting perspectives and thoughts in people and I love when I get to hear them. Even if we don’t talk and I can just listen to them talking with their loved ones about one specific piece and what they feel from it. It is so rewarding and makes me so happy that my work can create that kind of thought in people’s minds. I remember one time a little kid walked by my work very early on – probably like 2013 or so – and said ‘oh wow mom those are so scary!’ It made my day lolol
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I think that really, I personally feel like there is no other option for me. Art is it, and there is nothing really anyone can tell me that is going to make me feel differently. When you’re a creative person, and you aren’t creating – you aren’t alive. I work part time right now in addition to my art career because I have to, but I don’t get off work and binge Netflix. I get off work and paint for hours, I am constantly thinking of ideas for paintings and if I don’t get those feelings out on canvas I quickly loose my excitement for a lot of things. I think this goes for any type of creativity – cooking, jewelry making, screen writing and so on. I would definitely rather work 10x harder doing what I love doing, than anything else. The times I was not focusing on art, were way darker than any other life struggle I had that I painted through. I do want to add that my friends and family have never questioned me as a creative and have always been extremely supportive of my art journey and they motivate me every day to keep going too!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mlnart.shop
- Instagram: @meganleighnajeraart
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/meganleighnajeraart
- Twitter: @megannajeraart
Image Credits
Megan Najera