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

Tracey, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I think without taking risks, life remains stagnant. I think you have to ask yourself why you’re taking the risk and what you’re going to get out of it? If your making a huge life decision, you probably want to be on stable footing, with nothing clouding your mind especially negative controlling people who will sabotage your progress! If you’re a creative person, taking risks is essential for you and your work to grow! The risk of throwing money away on art supplies, or wasting time is probably the biggest hindrance to creativity ! There are inexpensive art materials, and you can work small, set a goal of one hour everyday, after 1 month you have an art practice, after 1 year you have a body of work!

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

My name is Tracey Russell, I’ve been a professional fine art painter for 25 years. I was born in Kansas City, I studied Fine Art at a small liberal arts college in Kansas . I moved to Denver, Co. After college, I got a degree in Design.
I grew up the youngest in a creative family of six. My father was an art professor, who thought we should always be making stuff, clothes, art, or reading books. Our house had lots of art and books and hand made furniture.
I think we all grew up with the idea that no-one should live in a house without original fine art!
In my mid twenties I worked as a corporate art consultant for a few years and learned that some artists can make a pretty good living! I opened a gallery in the mid nineties for a few years. I learned I am not a business person so it only lasted a few years. I lived in the foothills by Morrison Co. I couldn’t wait to get back to making art while my daughter grew up. In 2000 I moved to downtown Denver where I opened a studio. I started teaching, painting and showing my paintings full time. My paintings are available now at 931 Gallery on Santa Fe Dr. in Denver.
Right now I am living and painting in Boulder, CO. and get all my mental stimulation for my abstract expressionist paintings from the Beautiful outdoors there!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I started a regular painting practice I realized that mistakes were a very important part of the creative process. if I’m being too careful and worrying about my piece being perfect, it will have no soul or life. My painting will have no history, or richness built up in it, it will be shallow, boring, and rigid. If my work starts looking flat, boring, redundant, I will throw a completely wild color of paint right down in the middle of it, this totally opens new doors to the piece and makes it come alive and gives you something totally new to work with! This method always
gets you unstuck, gives you a new problem to solve. It trains your brain to be resilient and flexible, and gives me a whole new perspective!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think the most rewarding part of being an artist is meeting other artist! I love traveling somewhere and finding galleries , fairs, studios and meeting other artists and they’re so happy to talk about their work and compare notes. It’s kind of like having a very accepting tribe ! also having a different perspective about my life then most other people.

Contact Info:

• Website: TraceyRussell.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/traceyrussellart
• Facebook: Facebook.com/TraceyRussell