We were lucky to catch up with Natalia Rodriguez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Natalia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with 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.

I started painting when I was a kid and I did it just for fun like I believe most kids do. Painting has always been an intuitive process to me. I naturally improved as I kept doing it but I was not aware of it. I have stopped painting during long periods of time throughout my life and I’ve found that I keep falling in love with panting over and over again. Painting and I have this weird unstable but endless relationship.

There are many elements involved in painting: composition, perspective, drawing, color, materials, subject matter, choosing the right format and the need to communicate something.

I believe that learning about pigments, colors and materials has been helpful to me and has made a reasonable difference in my Art. I didn’t learn from a school but I learned from the act of painting itself. It has also helped, that loving it as much as I do, I find myself reading about it, researching and experimenting all the time!

Knowing what I know now, I could have done a lot different to speed up my learning process. First of all, I would have been consistent, disciplined and I would have not stopped painting for such long periods of time. But in the end, it is perfect as it is because I’m happy with my personal process and painting is a personal journey to me.

I think one of the most essential skills is observation. Just stopping to watch and contemplate what surrounds me has allowed me to perceive things differently. For painting matters, I try to see objects with new eyes every time.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

As I mentioned before, I started painting when I was a kid just for fun. I participated in some collective shows and I usually gifted my paintings to friends and family. They would ask me to paint something for them and I loved sharing my Art with them, but I never thought about selling my paintings.

I went to college and after graduating, I pursued my Civil Engineering while I kept painting as a hobby.
Around 2014 I started focusing more on painting, I launched my small Art studio and I started teaching drawing and painting lessons. I remember I stopped painting for a while and then, when I started painting again I felt that my skills improved and I felt a big urgency to paint. My relationship with painting has been like that… I feel that there’s improvement in my technique every time I start painting again.

I had my first solo show in 2018 and I moved to Dallas later that year. Here in DFW I have been teaching painting lessons, participating in exhibitions and taking commissions.

Lately, my body of work is about fantastic elements interacting with nature. There’s usually living things present in my paintings. I love feminine beauty, animals, storms, flowers and how they coexist.
I love how nature communicates with us and takes care of us, it’s just about paying attention to the messages. Some of my paintings reflect my introspection and the examination of my thoughts and feelings. My paintings are all about the inner voice, intuition, messages, chaos, mutation and possibilities. Well, that’s what my paintings mean to me and what I’m trying to let out, but what’s best is the interpretation of the spectator. We all see things as we are and depending on what we are going through.

I believe my biggest strength and what I’m best at is portraiture. I have been doing commissioned human and animal portraits for a while now. I would not know how to describe my style… some define it as ‘realistic’ but I believe there’s no such thing, for me it’s just a representation of the subject matter and it could not be realistic because the medium is bidimensional.

Not only I love and enjoy painting portraits but knowing that my work brings joy to my clients is very rewarding to me. I’m grateful that I’m able to communicate and share who I am through painting.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I believe society must first understand the importance of the presence of Art in our lives. It’s challenging to support artists if people don’t recognize the real value of Fine Arts. There’s skill, time, passion and talent poured into art pieces and I think our society is every time more appreciative of it.

A great way to support artists is to go to Art shows, buy original art and simple things like sharing artists posts and events with friends and family. There are many ways to help even if you don’t need to or don’t want to buy/collect Art. Some people sponsor exhibitions, some people own a nice space that can be used to host a show, etc.

As a society we should support kids who want to learn. Art should be part of our culture and should be accessible to everyone. As artists we should also give back to society by sharing our knowledge, by mentoring and motivating other people to get involved in the Arts and we should also participate in fundraisers and events that benefit society.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Yes. My goal is to preserve the Fine Arts and to make original Art accessible to people. On a more personal level, I want to keep painting because I have learned very much about myself from painting. My creative journey is all about growth and evolution.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nataliarodriguezart.com
• Instagram: @nataliarodriguezart
• Facebook: @nataliarodriguezart