The Woven Stories of Women Artists: Blending Life and Passion in Design

Have you ever felt the surge of empowerment through the stroke of a brush or the flourish of a design? This International Women’s Day episode is a tribute to the fierce and talented women who are redefining the creative industries, particularly in the realm of surface pattern design. 

We unravel the textures of a world once ruled by men, now vibrantly colored by the hands of female artists who are not just part of the art scene but are actively shaping it with their unique perspectives. 

Through candid discussions, we reveal how sensitivity fused with creativity results in art that resonates with people's hearts, and how these qualities are especially pronounced in the meticulous world of pattern design. The conversation dives into the soul-stirring power of art for women, and how the flexibility of creative careers offers a harmonious blend of passion and work-life balance.

As your host, I'm here not just to narrate but to inspire action. It's one thing to admire the gallery of female creativity - it's another to pick up the brush and join the ranks. This episode is a heartfelt call to arms for anyone teetering on the edge of their creative dreams, pondering the leap. We discuss the profound impact your unique voice can bring to the world and the importance of making that first daring step outside your comfort zone. 

Your story is a mosaic of experiences waiting to be shared, and this platform is here to celebrate and amplify those steps you take. So come, let's venture into this weekend with a pledge to support and uplift each other on this collective, creative journey.

Today's doodle over on YouTube is Women! Thanks to ElloLovey on Instagram!

Chapters

• 0:06 Empowering Women in Creative Industries
• 14:17 Empowering Others to Take Action

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Hey, good morning, happy Friday. Welcome back to Brutally Made Very excited about the weekend coming up. It's not going to be as warm as what it was earlier this week, but that's okay. It's still a pretty open weekend for art and different creative endeavors. Today, let's look at our sketches from our options from Elo Lubby. It is Friday and today's International Women's Day, and women is the prompt. We are going to do some little drawings, little doodles of what that represents women. I think that also gives me a great topic to talk about.

Speaker 1: 0:56

When it comes to women and being creative, it seems so funny to think about art and art history and thinking about what was so popular way back, way back when, and all the masters of oil painting and the different artists that have defined different art eras. There were a lot of men. Now, when you're on social media and you're looking at different classes and different things to take and follow, it just seems like there's a ton of women. There's just a lot more women that are in surface pattern design. I know I'm part of women who draw that directory, which is really cool. There's just a lot of female empowering, influential ladies out there and I love that there are a few men here and there that I follow that have wonderful accounts and have some classes that I'm taking and looking at and trying to see what they're doing, especially in the digital, the graphic design, I just feel like there's a lot more women. Why is that? Just trying to think about, why do women seem to dominate the surface pattern design world? I don't know if it's a few ideas like creativity. I think women can be considered a little bit more sensitive than men. I think that that is hand in hand being creative. I know for myself that when I am drawing, my emotions play into what I'm doing that day, either color wise or the marks that I'm making. I can see it in my work. I think that has a lot to be said. When you're making patterns or images for patterns or a piece of art, the creativity and the sensitivity kind of go hand in hand. I think that that's pretty essential in making different weights of marks and color choices. I think that has a lot to do with why we gravitate towards certain surface pattern designers and what they have created and what that evokes.

Speaker 1: 3:30

There's a lot of attention to detail whenever you're creating. I think that I don't know if this is true or not, but I feel like women have a great sense of attention to detail Not 100%, completely. I know my husband does a lot of models and they're very, very small and his attention to detail is tremendous. I think that overall, when it comes to artwork with detail, I think that there can be a lot to be said for women focusing on that and wanting to get all the details right. That sometimes leads us I know myself personally to overthink that that attention to detail. You can't stop working on something, it just continues to never be finished. So that's a good and bad thing. It causes us to overthink sometimes and I feel like when we are creating again I'm using myself as an example for a lot of this I feel very empowered when I get to express myself through my art and I feel like that is something that we teach to younger women and using art and creativity as a tool to feel empowered. That's important, and so I feel like that is a huge reason why I follow certain artists over others, because of the way that their voice is projected through their artwork, and that's a great strength and giving people the permission that we, as artists, seem to always look for in creating. You know, giving us permission to create what's on our mind and then hoping somebody else connects to that, that's huge. So that is another thing that I think strengthens women in a creative field.

Speaker 1: 5:40

I think also being creative and having creative, I guess, jobs and careers it's like a little bit of flexibility. Maybe that just stems from the old traditional ideals of, okay, I have a nine to five job, I work in this factory or this warehouse and I'm very either blue color or white color and that I want to have this office job or I'm managing people. You know, it's just like very cut and dry If, even if you're working hands on in a trade or if you're working in an office setting, it doesn't really lend itself to a lot of work, life balance and flexibility. But art and creative careers do, and now more than ever, where you can work, wherever you may be landing in there in your day, you can do something creative towards your creative work and career. So I think that that is also another reason why women tend to fall under a creative career faster or readily available or projecting it more, because they're looking for that greater work life balance, because we put a lot of stuff on our own shoulders managing our career and you know, we also want to manage our families and we want to manage creativity, and we seem to, you know, find ways to do all of that at once. So another thing that I think helps is that creativity for women gives you a voice in your community and provides avenues of collaboration, and we want to do that. Men do too, but for women, I feel like that is a huge plus.

Speaker 1: 7:35

I know again myself. That is a huge reason why I love sharing my creative ideas so I can do more in my community with my talents and offer what I can do to other organizations and businesses and nonprofits. So that's huge for me. It's also a way that I can become an entrepreneur. I mean, I can have my own business, I can have my own website, I can offer my own creative services, and that's awesome because that investment in myself turns into a way I can make a living. So that's huge. It's very empowering. And showing other people that have creative ideas on how they can do that and create a career out of being creative as a woman, that's huge. That's so important. So that's why I like sharing how I've done something or showing someone this is how I've done it, modify it to make it work for you. But this is how I started, and sharing that knowledge just makes everything in the creative world better, and that's huge. That's important. It also lends itself to being very versatile, so I have lots of different ways.

Speaker 1: 9:01

I like to create and work on creative endeavors, so I love doing murals. I'm offering now self-adhesive murals, so if I can't get to a location and actually paint it in person, we can design it and then I can ship to you and it can be installed. So you still get to have my artwork on it, on something, and it's a little more readily available and I can place it anywhere. I love creating custom personalized pieces, but then other people love to be part of that process. So now, offering my paint by numbers, I can create a piece of maybe it's a pet or a house that you just purchased, and then I can turn that illustration into a paint by number. So it's a family activity. So you get that piece and you put it or you paint it together as a group and then you hang it up, and so not only is it my illustration turned into an activity, but then you're creating a memory by doing that activity together. So my gosh adaptability and versatility. It's been huge for me this year.

Speaker 1: 10:12

I enjoyed creating some huge paint by numbers for organizations, for group activities. You know we're only into March and I've done like four, four foot ones. It's been amazing and I'm so excited that that's been embraced the way that it has. And then I've got a bridal shower coming up at the end of the month with like 40 of them created a little, you know, paint by number kit for all the attendees and we're gonna paint together and that's just so fun. It's a different spin on like the sip and paint events, so it's kind of cool. So I love that. I love being, you know, adapting to new ideas. I feel like that's just a huge emotional connection to others.

Speaker 1: 11:01

Creativity is so. I don't wanna say that it's frightening to some, but it is. People were like I can't do that. I can't draw a straight line. I can't tell you how many times I've heard that I can't draw a straight line either unless I'm using Procreate and I draw it and hold it to let it snap in place. Doesn't matter, I don't care if it's straight or not, just draw, but you get that connection with someone. You know it opens a door for them to say something to you. Some people have such a fear of public speaking or talking to someone and if I'm out painting a mural and the quietest, most shy people will just say, oh, that's really nice, or oh, I like that color or I like the overalls that you're wearing. It's just a reason for them to strike up a conversation and then you get to know someone and talk to someone and that's huge. It's wonderful. I've had the nicest things done when I've been at, you know, public places doing murals. People have brought me cards and wrote me notes because you're there a couple of days sometimes and they know to come back and see the progress and it's just the most kind things and I love that. You create that connection and that again another way to create community and I am a storyteller and I love sharing someone's story.

Speaker 1: 12:18

Someone has an idea. They wanna see it come to life. You get those ideas. You translate it into an image. Yes, no, I like this. That change this or that. It's all part of the process and it's beautiful.

Speaker 1: 12:31

Sometimes it can be, you know, daunting, but that's okay. You know no rush. You know deadlines yes, there are deadlines, but we'll get through it and it's again a way to storytell together and create that narrative, and it just again comes back to empowerment for women being able to have that power to do that and representing you know your heart and your mind and what you're doing, and there's just so many different views out there. You can be given the prompt that 10 other people will be given the same prompt and yours will look nothing like theirs, and that is amazing. If you stop and think about it, you know to see the diversity and ideas that people generate. That's beautiful and it all comes from creating art and women using that voice to do a lot of amazing things in the world, and we just have to keep celebrating that and keep doing that.

Speaker 1: 13:38

And so, at the end of this whole thing, the whole statement that I have today for International Women's Day is just as you are. That is what matters most. You show up just as you are. You're here just as you are. You are enough just as you are. Don't change, stay just as you are. That's what's most important. Your voice needs heard, your creativity needs seen, your support needs to be given and received, and that is beautiful.

Speaker 1: 14:17

That's so empowering and I hope that this whole conversation makes you feel like you have the power to step out of your comfort zone and do something that has been on your heart and on your mind for a long time, because we need to see it, we need to experience it, we need you, we need more of you in this world, and I would love to see it. So tag me, message me, share with me what you're doing, and I will share it, reshare it, because you are brutally made and I am here for it. So have a wonderful weekend, have a great Friday, and I will talk to you again next week. Take care bye.