Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Monica (M.D. Art). We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Monica, appreciate you joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
When I first started my business in 2021, I was doing art full time & was able to sustain for a little over a year. I got my start on Etsy making crystal mushroom jewelry, which was a fairly small niche at the time, then branching out with my own sales platform & more experimental pieces. Back then, I was living in rural Wyoming where my expenses were low & I had decent enough savings to make it work. Being in the middle of nowhere surrounded only by nature & wildlife was my happy place – I delighted in spending long days foraging for food & medicinal plants, antlers, feathers, skulls, bones, & natural crafting materials. Cultivating this connection to the land & exploring the bounds of my own creativity lent me the fortitude to pursue social media consistently- I went viral several times & had a steady stream of online orders as my following grew. I did commissions, & in the summer sold my creations at local markets. I’d taken some online courses in art entrepreneurship, & was on a good trajectory before circumstances abruptly forced the move to Denver… life is different & much more expensive here, so I’m no longer a full time artist but I look forward to continuing to learn & eventually get back to it one day.
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?
I first got into painting when I was 2 years old & it remained a favorite hobby for the rest of my life! I’ve always been crafty- as a kid my military family moved around a lot, but I found solace in nature & loved to build fairy houses out of sticks & moss. This love of nature & the nomadic lifestyle carried over into adulthood as I became a seasonal worker in the National Parks, continuing to make art in my spare time. I’d honestly never considered pursuing a career as an artist. At many points my craft served as a deeply personal form of self-therapy, & I feared that the pressure of relying on it for money might destroy this connection. After the pandemic however, I decided to give being my own boss a try & to heed the life-long advice of others to put my talents to better use. With my husband’s encouragement, I started my business & journey as a social media artist. I think it fitting that this new beginning took place in the wilds of Wyoming, at a time when I felt most spirtually at peace. My audience resonated with this energy & the messages I strove to convey, of the power of nature & sense of magic in the universe. I was experimenting with cleaning foraged skulls/bones, crafting with antlers & feathers, honing my skills as a painter, & learning how to run a business until circumstances forced our move to Denver. Far from a city person, it has been a struggle to adapt but I am grateful for the many opportunities civilization has afforded. 2023 was my first year here, & in that time I got into my first gallery, followed by 2 more. I started teaching paint/sip classes, facepainting, & did many markets. I won a mannequin-decorating competition, was featured on the news, & participated in several local art fundraisers. Being in a more open-minded area allowed me to pursue more psychedelic themes in my work, & I began to dream of becoming a prominent visionary artist. In addition to nature, much of my work confronts Western taboos of death & seeks to frame it in a less fearful light. Though my style continues to adapt, my favorite medium is still oil paint, which allows me to work in hyper-detail & vivid colors.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
As a creative, for me art has long served as a powerful outlet for dealing with the complex experience of being human. Coming from a low-income background, I could never afford therapy & art was my method of processing trauma. Being constantly uprooted as a kid lead to a reliance on my creativity as a sort of anchor amidst uncertainty. As I grew older & more spiritual, I began to feel it as a channel for some greater force- “magic in the universe” for lack of a better description. In these recent years of global upheaval & fear, I had an epiphany that perhaps my gifts were meant to be shared with a wider audience with the greater purpose of helping to open minds & raise the collective vibration. Though I’ve struggled to keep touch with myself at times, this sense of purpose has remained & fills me with satisfaction each time it is validated by a purchase, compliment, or encouragement from others. I’ve done a good number of commissions over the years as well, each experience so rewarding to see the reactions of clients whose visions I have brought to life. With pet & human portraits or memorials especially, it is gratifying to witness how deeply I can move people with my art. It’s a powerful thing
Have you ever had to pivot?
There have been so many pivot points in both my personal & business life, it is difficult to choose just one to talk about! Like many artists, there have been a lot of different thematic & stylistic phases in my art career reflective of the personal journey at the time. Perhaps the most stark was my ink phase of 2019, when painting was still just my personal therapy & never intended to share with a broader audience. At this point I was going through a traumatic experience & simultaneously delving into deeply-buried past traumas. Discovering mindfulness meditation as a tool for self-centering & healing, my first time using ink was an extension of this practice & I created a series of pieces that stylistically differ greatly from the rest of my work. Though slightly more sad than usual, thematically this series still communicated the natural beauty & hopefulness that carried over in my work for the next few years. In 2023 I shocked myself with my first rather dark & nihilistic painting: a giant fan featuring visions of the apocalypse that came in a covid-induced fever dream. Usually I have some sense of direction when I start a painting, but this time I felt barely conscious of what I was doing as I brought images of nuclear war, greed & destruction to life. It was very upsetting at the time as prior to this, my work had always communicated positive messages. Some viewers suggested that in my fevered state I may have been energetically tapping in to the collective sense of unease across the planet. Whatever it was, it was disturbing to create something so devoid of hope & I became uncertain about my former sense of purpose to raise the collective vibration through my art. This large, hyper-detailed painting is still a work in progress but I am trying to find a way to tie it all together in a more optimistic light somehow, still struggling to rediscover that greater sense of purpose
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mdart.store
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/m.d.art.llc
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/m.d.art.llc
- Other: Tiktok @m.d.art.llc