Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Marie.
Hi Elizabeth, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Art as a child, were those moments of my mom giving praise for what was truly the ugliest drawing on the planet and lovingly taping it to the refrigerator alongside my sibling’s greatest works of art. Eventually, it expanded to an occasional art class, followed by the doldrums of technique, and I was graded for my creations throughout school and into college.
So many of us have lived this story! It was never my dream to be an artist. Adventure, travel, and so much captivated my passions. And yet, when meant to do something, it keeps finding its way back to the soul. To this day, I look into the opportunities as an artist and see how my art has come into the lives of hundreds of people. My greatest pleasure in art is exploring the different visions that float through my fingers onto the blank canvas and how to communicate it on the medium I pick.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’m a bit envious of the artist that seemingly has it all just manifesting easy-breezy: the art studio, funding, marketing, a following, and those dang Instagram photos so perfectly designed to make it look like there isn’t a care in the world except who’ll be buying their next work of art.
My art is complex. A great story is one night I was meeting friends for a psychic night. Wasn’t my thing, but it was a night out. I just picked the first available psychic: an older man with graying hair and glasses and a bit on the unkempt side. I sat at the table facing him, and he tossed out his hands with palms up and said, “Well, put your hands in mine.” So, I did. He began saying stuff that didn’t seem to be mine, and then out of the blue, he said, “Your art, it’s so happy, too colorful, oh, its dreadful, just too bright and bold. You need to go dark, really dark.” Those words hurt and it was all I could do to not grab his hands and slam them on the table. Instead, I listened and watched the clock wishing for my 20 minutes to be done.
The timer dinged, and I couldn’t let go of his hands fast enough. I left and sat in my car thinking I’ll show him, I’ll do dark!
The art he was seeing was my expression of healing after my divorce. The colors were bright and bold in each painting yet the stories behind the flowers and facade of happiness were of a different meaning than his perception in the experiences he holds towards color and objects.
The fantastic part of his tirade on my artistic choices pushed me to go to a place I wasn’t aware I could venture. I painted the canvas panel black and waited. And as I pushed colors, saturated the black acrylic paint with water, and created with whatever was happening, I began to paint what I now call Soul Portraits.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve been blessed with a flourishing right side and a logical, business-orientated left-side brain. I love the complexity of working in corporate America where my living needs are mostly provided for with a job. Which for the longest time, I’ve used it as an acronym: JOB as Just Over Broke. That’s where being an artist/creative steps in. Here, I get to step into the wonder of being a spiritual being, having a human experience, expressing it on canvas, in word, and in my physical being. And good fortune to supplement my income with my art.
My specialties are vast and varied throughout my life, everything being a private investigator, an actress, and a business owner. I have joy in recalling being cast in a TD Ameritrade commercial filmed in New York where my art was main focus in the commercial or the time; I was the stand-in on Star Trek The Next Generation for the actress who played the part of Dr. Crusher.
My art is storytelling, a story that I may have painted, yet much like a parable, you see and take what it invokes. I prefer to paint from my heart and soul verse, recreating icons or styles that are popular in the moment. Yet, the dream is to be a self-sustaining artist, earning a living and thriving, so, sometimes, painting for the popular is a great option.
What I believe from being in the art world for quite a while that sets me apart from others is that I truly get excited for my fellow artists when they make a sale. I’m currently exhibiting and selling my art at Art Machine Gallery in Houston, TX, in this great complex, Sawyer Yards, which is one of the largest artist communities in the country.
In my gallery, with 15 artists in one space and knowing that art is subjective, some artists sell more than others. it does get frustrating not to be selling as consistently, yet I light up in support of their success. Artists have big egos and rarely support another artist authentically. It’s our nature to love what we do and want it to be in the hands of collectors over another. I relish the creativity of all artists, and celebrate our sales. Living art is so much more enjoyable than the box store mass-produced home furnishing decor items, and meeting the artists truly makes the purchase piece an investment.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
As a child, I loved our family trips. My dad had the travel bug, and we would make the best of the times he was home. I loved visiting places like White Sands, New Mexico, and Carlsbad Caverns. And, of course, I loved the days when my mom would make her family’s traditional foods centered on Middle Eastern delights. I love being an adult more, I get to travel more often, and road trips with me behind the wheel are best!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.emarieart.com
- Instagram: elizabethmariefineart
- Facebook: elizabethmariefineart
