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

Tami, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I started a project of expressing my emotions that are the hardest to put into words. Growing up, I always found it hard to verbalize the things I feel and usually relied on other people filling in the blanks for me. I started trying to give visuals for feelings like my issues with my body, mental health issues, and constant frustrations I deal with in my life.

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

I got into artwork at a young age after wanting to see if I could replicate what I saw online and found that even when I did so, it always looked different than what I was looking at. Rather than getting frustrated by that, I started mixing together multiple references in order to create something new and unique to express my feelings. Now I sell artwork through prints or commissions. The most common requests I get are pet portrait commissions and tattoo designs.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Getting to express myself and see the enjoyment in other people as they collect my artwork. I’ve done commissions for people to their loved ones as gifts and seen my artwork become permanent tattoos on other people’s skin. I grew up with a love for artwork and wanting to collect it and being able to share that same enjoyment for a visual medium has been incredibly fulfilling.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

There seems to be a consistent issue with the narrative around “the starving artist” image. So many people love to collect or look at art but not many really want to pay for art unless the person is already famous resulting in a certain level of exclusivity to a name. There are so many “unknown” artist that are local that really have to put their heart and soul into their craft and often times get ignored because they aren’t well known enough for people to be willing to pay the price for their talents. Often times our artwork takes a lot from us mentally, emotionally, and financially. We spend years learning to create and often times hating our own creations for long periods of time. The toll is takes is often ignored because someone sees just the final product.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: tlruizart