We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Meredith Tillery a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Meredith thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I loved creating art as a kid. I enjoyed painting, calligraphy, and drawing but never had a consistent “style” or medium. A few years ago I started experimenting with heavy texture acrylics and never looked back! I love dimensional pieces that create a story from every angle.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started creating and experimenting during the peak of COVID when I was working in a hospital and realized I needed a creative outlet. I have always loved creating and experimenting, but never really knew what my “specialty” would be. I kind of stumbled into this design type on accident, but now I am in love with heavy textures and dimensional paintings and can’t imagine doing anything else. My hope is that people are intrigued by the texture and stay long enough to ask questions and study my paintings from different angles. I love the conversation that is created around art and hope my paintings always provide that opportunity.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I have learned many lessons since starting my creative journey as an artist, but I think one of the hardest to unlearn was perfectionism—and how to be bold regardless of what my mind told me.

Elizabeth Gilbert talks about boldness and letting go of perfectionism in her book, “Big Magic.”

“I don’t want to be afraid of bright colors, or new sounds, or big love, or risky decisions, or strange experiences, or weird endeavors, or sudden changes…or even failure.”

This quote changed a lot for me. I went months without showing or selling my pieces of art out of fear of rejection. Was I fearful others wouldn’t love it? Or was I scared it wasn’t perfect? When I finally realized my art didn’t have to be perfect (and that it never would be… because what is “perfect art” anyway ?) I gained a lot of confidence in myself.

It was such a freeing feeling when I sold my first piece to a friend who trusted me enough to create one for her.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

The greatest advice someone gave me starting out was to reach out to experienced artists and ask them for advice. You would be amazed how many people take the time to give you advice on how to advance your creative career. I think it speaks to welcoming and warm the creative world is

Contact Info:

• Website: meretilleryart.com
• Instagram: @ meredithtilleryart

Image Credits
Suzy Collins Photography