Honor What You’re Born With/ Julia Gilmore

As a young artist in the Montreal art scene, Julia Gilmore http://www.juliagilmore.ca/ discovered that she thrived from interacting with her audience and shifted gears. She formed an indie-punk band where she wrote and performed her original music for many years. Eventually, she discovered that her life lacked something she couldn't identify until the birth of her son. She longed for the tangible creation of her fine art, combined with the interaction of her collectors.  Armed with tubes of oil paint and a palette knife, she began to carve and create paintings that elevate the ordinary prosaic subject matter to a vibrant exuberant level of iconic imagery by using vintage objects to tell a story and make visceral connections with memory and the past. In her artistic view, she paints a world with intense beauty, even in mundane everyday objects. Her artwork re-examines the temporal world around her in a direct, straightforward joie de vivre expression of vivid color and gestural texture that reaffirms her zest and love for life.

In the preamble discussion, Douglas and Will discuss the grief of not jurying into one of your best shows, the final tour for the Radtke's, and when the elusive show doesn't meet your expectations.

Visual artists Douglas Sigwarth https://www.sigwarthglass.com/ and Will Armstrong http://www.willarmstrongart.com/ co-host and discuss topics affecting working artists. Each episode is a deep dive into a conversation with a guest artist who shares their unique experiences as an independent professional artist.

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Music  "Walking" by Oliver Lear
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Transcript

[Music] foreign
0:12
artist podcast sponsored by the National Association of Independent Artists also
0:18
sponsored by zapplication I'm will Armstrong and I'm a mixed media artist I'm Douglas sigworth glassblower join
0:25
our conversations with professional working artists
0:31
well Douglas are back from another busy weekend out on the road and I'm actually still on the road I'm hanging out here
0:37
in a hotel room in Austin Texas I see that the rest of the do you see it now you see it a little bit better look at
0:44
that hat you got going my friend oh that's awesome hat no cattle [Laughter]
0:53
sun shade this past uh well for one of the days I need a little sunshade anyway okay at the last show you're saying yeah
1:00
I was down in uh Fiesta this past weekend okay um it's a two-day show Friday and
1:06
Saturday ran into some uh some of our good friends from the radio show and some of the podcast here and so talk to
1:13
a couple of folks but yeah man how are you doing how was your weekend you were up in Fort Worth I was in Fort Worth uh
1:19
we just walked in the door a couple days ago and we're leaving again tomorrow but I tell you that that feeling of walking
1:26
in the door after being gone for 14 days it just it sure feels good even if it's fleeting you know if it's just a few
1:33
minutes I thought you flew home we did fly home but then we were on the road again I
1:40
remember I know it's been it's been a long time on the road and it and it's going to be another another run here
1:46
we've got two shows back to back again I don't recommend this for everyone but um we're making up for lost time so don't
1:52
hate us for for loading it all up yeah I don't think anybody's gonna be hating on
1:57
you um I think they understand yeah uh yeah I I've made a couple uh yeah I don't
2:04
know unquestionable business decisions and along the way and and we'll we'll get through it you know that's right all
2:09
Eva's out in the end yeah totally yeah no it's been good to be home for a few days even though it's been non-stop
2:15
non-stop running just going going you know I had some good conversations at
2:21
the last show that people really enjoyed our conversation that we had just the two of us um for the whole episode last
2:27
time so I kind of liked hearing that because it was a little bit of a we've done it before but not that many so it's
2:33
kind of good to hear that it you know they don't get sick of hearing us talk the whole time well when we change it up
2:39
a little bit it's good to get the input and you can always post and put on the Facebook page or send us private message
2:44
or come talk to us at a show I did talk to uh to Reiko which was cool nice he says hello sends her best she was down
2:51
in Fiesta in San Antonio as well man you know nothing it's funny because this is what I was talking to her about and and
2:57
I was talking my wife was showing it that show as well and cool we were down there and and uh had some time to kill
3:04
and we're talking I think we can read between the lines on that one unfortunately I'm sorry man I'm sorry to
3:12
hear that right there was a lot of rain you know a lot of rain on it was just a two-day show it's a sweet show and if it
3:19
works for you then um there's nothing easier and and more
3:24
friendly some of these shows that we do they make us feel good about what we do for a living and this is one of them yeah I couldn't think more highly of
3:31
Barbara Hill and the show that she puts on down there for Fiesta I agree yeah uh it did not work for me I should have
3:37
stayed you know if I'm looking at it hindsight I should have stayed home and just just plowed through some work but I
3:42
was trying to make up for the uh the Fort Worth sized hole in my schedule I hear you man yeah right so you know I
3:48
mean sometimes those things that if you can get uh I was thinking about this a lot while I was down there it's like if
3:54
you don't get those tried and true things where you you've got a following and and it means a lot to you it's like
4:00
I've been doing Fort Worth I'm you know I shouldn't even say this on the show but I've been doing Fort Worth now for
4:06
over 10 years wow yeah bro yeah you know how freaking lucky is that that is really yeah yeah and this this year uh
4:14
not just getting uh getting a double rejection on it with both bodies of work that I I kicked him uh you know it's
4:21
like you you established these relationships and you you established these these families that come and see
4:26
you and and I had folks that were like hey we going to dinner and you know this is customers are like we going to dinner again they want to take you to the to
4:33
his Club I went to this club with him one time um like a like a dinner dinner dining
4:38
club not a not a club it went out with him and his wife I mean
4:44
it's just it it's it's like you you get if you don't you know you've been going to a show for so many different years
4:50
that you almost end up with this weird it's not fomo as much as it is grief absolutely well there was another kind
4:58
of a another flip to that is you know some people who've been trying to do shows of that of that let's say a show
5:05
that really works for a lot of people and we we aspire to it being the thing we get into and then they get in there
5:11
like I've got my golden ticket and then it doesn't like work out for them and they're like jeez oh my God what's going
5:18
on here and so I mean there's that other side yeah carrot for so long and it's
5:24
like well I mean the first year I did it I didn't um well no I crushed it then too
5:30
I don't know it was your tone it was your tone yeah yeah it is you know and I
5:35
I had so many different messages from so many different clients over the weekend were like where are you and I'm like
5:41
dude I don't know what to tell you yeah it's like I don't want to say it didn't work out with my schedule you know my classic
5:47
line I'm like I just I got the big fat no and it was heartbreaking to me but you know Weep For Me Argentina I've been
5:55
in for 10 years right yeah right so time to stretch their legs and and they wanted to see other people Douglas it
6:01
does that's what I I got they wanted they wanted to see other people I think it's not you it's not you it's them
6:08
right all right unfortunately I think it's amazing take a deep dark look
6:15
I'll see what I can do with my application to make myself irresistible I'm gonna look so pretty next year I'm
6:22
gonna try to uh put my prettiest self forward and and uh dress up pretty from
6:27
my ab next year and see what it what it takes see what happens somebody was asking me you're like I mean the worst
6:32
part is like my my like you ever see that that scene in The Terminator uh
6:39
where it's you know years ago and it's like going through the the different responses somebody comes up and it's
6:46
like you can see from terminator's View and it's like the different responses and when people come up to me it's like
6:51
uh how come you're not in Fort Worth this year and it's like it just flashes red [ __ ] you [ __ ]
6:59
yeah still wrong still hurts oh it does
7:04
man I mean it's funny that you do do these shows it doesn't matter if it's you know one of your one of your
7:10
personal favorites uh and and you don't you don't get to go it's just like you got this this grief like I said I keep
7:18
saying yeah anyway uh how did you guys deal how was how was the weather this year uh so the weather wasn't too bad
7:25
until Sunday uh Sunday was and it wasn't none of it was super stormy uh which is
7:31
sometimes the the big uh challenge with doing that show it was just cold and it
7:37
was you know light rain and it kept it kept the numbers away on Sunday but I I
7:43
hope they came the other days I mean I know that was all across the board but I heard from people their reactions to the
7:49
show you know it's it's uh it's what it is it's it's a show it's a great show yeah and you know all shows are shows
7:56
you know sometimes it works really well for you and sometimes it doesn't but uh it's a it's my personal favorite so if
8:02
they call me next year and they're like well we want you to uh you're you're invited but you got to wear this narwhal
8:08
onesie and uh do this with the Taps I like the Taps you always you come back
8:14
to that one get the Taps on the shoes Taps on my toes and get going yeah Get Rhythm all right I guess the big thing I
8:21
wanted the takeaway that I wanted to to point out about this weekend was it was the first round of the Radke's farewell
8:28
tour and it was just oh it's so sweet I mean those guys have been around forever
8:35
and you know everyone calls them Road mom and Road paw and and they're doing
8:40
two shows this year and then they're they're hanging up their hats so there was a lot of amazing a lot of goodbye
8:46
weeping and and selfies and just just really I just want to send out a you
8:53
know a big congratulations to those guys because they do such amazing work and I
8:58
I'm just so happy to have them in my friendship Family artist group
9:03
incredible people I ran into the first met them at Coconut Grove for the first time and and I was kind of new-ish and
9:11
was taking an elevator and I bought myself a bottle of rum uh that I was going to try to share with some folks
9:18
see if I could run into some friends and I'd recognize them from the road so I was the proverbial uh Chum with a bottle
9:25
of rum drinking all night so uh that was a great memory and we've had so many I've
9:31
told the story about have I told the story about doing t-shirt for Des Moines doing the poster and the T-shirt
9:37
um related to the radkees yeah oh no I don't know this no okay so
9:43
I I did the uh the poster and the T-shirt the the promo stuff for Des Moines Arts Festival one of my my very
9:49
favorites another one of my very favorites there and uh I had done the promo stuff for them and they're coming
9:55
around with the t-shirts and she was standing there and we've called her like you just mentioned we call her road Mom right and um and I introduced her as as
10:03
my road mom and they misunderstood me and they're like where's the t-shirt for Mom oh there you go like your mom is
10:09
here absolutely and they ran off to get her a t-shirt it was like the only I feel like it was like the only one I'd
10:15
seen with that design on it was like my image and like like this really cool like pinkish uh mauve color long sleeve
10:21
t-shirt yeah the size that she wanted okay so uh they ran off to get her one like would you want one for my for your
10:28
dad too and I was like my dad I was like that's not my dad that's my that's my step dad I called Steve my my road step
10:36
dad and my road anyway it was just a big joke and we told him what was going on they're like oh no you can still have it
10:42
yeah oh that's incredible I still call him my good for nothing step dad he's a
10:48
wonderful Dude I love those guys I do too cheers and and what I me I guess I'll see you on the road I don't know
10:54
what else are they doing so their last show of the year is coming up in June it's like front Lakefront Festival of the Arts and it's they're coming home
11:00
they're coming home to Wisconsin where they where they both are from and it's going to be their goodbye show so if
11:07
anyone out there is at Lakefront be sure you stop by their Booth give them big hugs and let them know how much they
11:13
mean to you absolutely damn what a career yeah I had an interesting conversation on the road with Reiko and
11:20
my wife we were standing around talking about this particular topic because that this
11:26
past weekend like like has been discussed I've been used to doing the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival and
11:32
that is a show where they give you all day Wednesday and even Tuesday night I think for some to set up so you get
11:38
Tuesday night and Wednesday to set up you get Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday four day show that to me is ideal right
11:46
I was like man I feel like we've got a rainy day coming up on Sunday I was
11:53
like that can cut the show in half and it doesn't give us the opportunity to sell and I've talked on the show before
12:00
about this but they were like Reiko was saying her favorite show is a show where
12:07
you set up on Friday morning okay Friday night kickoff like a plaza
12:14
okay or uh Southlake coming up which I have never done are Fair on the Square I'm right I'm getting ready to do that
12:20
this coming weekend yeah they do that with the Friday night Friday morning set up then they give you all day to set up
12:25
Friday night kickoff five o'clock that's her favorite and meanwhile I'm like yeah
12:32
no I don't want to do it I want to like I'm such a baby about this like you want to spread it out you're saying you'd
12:38
want enough time yeah yeah I want to do fewer shows and I want these shows to be longer it's just like a different you
12:45
know I talked about business model again but that that is my particular favorite oh yeah I love having those three I like
12:52
like minimum I want three days anymore like I don't know what it is but they were like yeah you're nuts
12:59
um thinking like I don't why why would you want all this day these days away from home and and all the stuff on the
13:05
road I'm like man if I set up I don't know I don't I want more than two days you know yeah I mean if you have the the
13:11
one shitty day because of weather you want to have those other options for people to come and make you kind of
13:17
bulletproof in the sense that there's enough of a window of time for them to still still take in the show and buy
13:23
yeah so I mean it does make me crazy when they are like you get the four day show and then you get to the end of
13:29
Thursday or something and I I'm like there's some people out there who are like they've kind of already made expenses and they're going into the
13:36
weekend they're going to that Friday Saturday Sunday they're like holy you know this is the rest is profit and it
13:42
feels amazing I love that feeling where you're like oh my god I've got two or three days left and I've already made
13:48
profit whereas a lot of folks a lot of some of the uh and it's not just you know I I'm certainly not just saying old
13:54
timers but like there's a lot of folks out there who are like no way I don't want
14:00
to stand around the street for an extra day and get all tired by the time the real show starts I'm I'm exhausted okay
14:07
yeah yeah where do you stand on that what do you like well I guess um I'll I I want to make money so if it
14:14
if I can make it in in two days if it's a show that the extra day means standing around not making anything then yeah get
14:21
rid of it but if it's a decent show that has four days and you're making money all those days I'm all for it but the
14:28
thing I wanted to say what I've kind of gotten spoiled with this year was both Bayou City and the
14:35
woodlands gave us that extra day to set up so I literally took two days to set
14:41
up our show and then I go into Fort Worth and I've got a smaller booth and I'm on
14:47
and off shoot straight on 5th street where the driving lane for people to
14:53
unload is very narrow and we had to be the last flight in so I
14:59
then had like you know this this kind of panic feeling like I don't know if we're going to get this set up in time and
15:06
part of it was just the logistics not just my slow gimpy ass over here it was
15:12
like when you've got you know vehicles right outside of your inline booth and
15:20
your stuff is unloaded onto the curb but you can't get out of your booth to get your stuff to start putting your booth
15:27
together I mean I don't blame the artist who's got their vehicle there because that's just the logistics of that row
15:34
and you know they have to unload too so it just made it a little bit challenging we made it work it was fine but that was
15:41
something that was a little bit of a challenge for me this past weekend yeah yeah that's that's a lot and those
15:47
streets do get narrow and at least you get a little little room at the end of the block so you can do some finagling
15:52
but you guys had to do it in one day so yeah it was interesting to get together with some some folks and and uh yeah
15:59
talk to them uh how to had a good time like I said it's a sweet show and and
16:04
again and I'm certainly not bad mouthing the show because I had a bad weekend I just it's just not really uh the big
16:11
Originals market for me um my wife did great she meant a new collector uh sweet you know had a nice
16:17
weekend so yeah there was there was up and down all over the place I got to see Greg Davis and uh always enjoy seeing
16:24
his photography and got to see Oscar and yeah it was good times cool well we have
16:29
a really great talk this week with Julia Gilmore and I've been seeing her on the road at every show this year so far
16:36
we've just been kind of like on the same path so I'm glad we had the opportunity to kind of sit down and and get to know
16:42
her she is a firecracker man I just I just love her energy absolutely if you give her a hug and she
16:49
gives you a smack of a kiss on that cheek you can have red lipstick on yourself you're gonna be wiping that one off the
16:58
red days are like where have you been oh that's by Julia sweetheart
17:03
exactly or Ma and let's talk about Road Marshall plan a big old uh lipstick to
17:10
kiss on your cheek yes yes we all we all love the road mom's kiss but
17:16
um let's just do this let's let's uh listen to what Julie had to say and hear her story but she's great she's got a
17:22
great voice and an incredible presence out there at the in the art show world so I think you guys are really going to
17:27
enjoy this one all right Julia Gilmore from a lot of places out there but now she's
17:33
in New Hampshire again this episode of The Independent artist podcast is brought to you by zap the
17:39
digital application service where artists and art festivals connect you know well I started applying last week
17:44
for next season's art shows and I just really love that with the application we can categorize our shows by favorites
17:52
and then I can go in and sort those favorites by application deadline so I never miss an application to one of my
17:58
favorite shows it's true it has lots of different options lots of different add-ons and tags that we can use and
18:03
there never seems to be enough time I just got home from a show I need to get back into the studio there's pieces to
18:10
be made but applications are coming due I'm so busy with all of the other hats that I wear to go on to other websites
18:17
to apply to shows to be honest I don't even do it I only go to zip yeah basically if I don't have to think about
18:23
it then I'm a happy man hey we have a call to entry this week for the Peoria Art Guild Fine Art Fair in Peoria
18:30
Illinois nice another good Illinois show there for your schedules you ever done that show Douglas I have nice size show
18:37
it's one of those that they keep the the numbers that are at a reasonable amount oh yeah you can keep the slice of the
18:44
pie just perfect for what we you know what we want to make very cool the Peoria article is actually one of the
18:49
oldest Arts organizations in the country it was founded in 18 and 78 they're 145
18:56
years old their mission is to bring art to the community and the community to Art they do a good job with that yeah
19:02
they sure do and I mean it's a it's an event that helps fund their Art Guild all year round and the the collectors
19:09
there they they line up they patronize that show and they are loyal to that show it's the 61st annual Peoria Art
19:16
Guild fine art fair that runs in the middle of September that's 23 and 24. they take such good care of the artist I
19:23
mean I think they feed you just about every meal throughout the course of the weekend you know there's special
19:29
Banquets and they're bringing your snacks and their lunches you don't have to worry about a lot of out-of-pocket
19:35
expense with this show you know because they're taking good care of you over 200 volunteers to take care of any artists
19:42
need so just about anything uh Douglas can get a foot rub uh
19:48
whatever you need they got them for you they do a good job at that so if you
19:53
want a chance to exhibit at the Peoria Art Guild fine art fair you're gonna have to apply and that application
19:59
deadline is coming up here it's on June 4th so make sure you get that in you're looking for another Midwest show for
20:05
your schedule in September to take a look at Peoria they take good care of you all right Julia so good to see you I
20:12
just we just saw each other down in Houston it's a nice treat practically Neighbors at the Bayou a Dublin street
20:18
that is you were between me and the bathroom so we saw each other every time I passed you bye
20:25
that's slow that slow March to the porta potty right well I brought this up
20:31
before we started recording this but I'm looking out your back window and I think I hate you right now
20:37
don't hate me I know I love you instead of hating me come and visit you
20:43
know oh my God I have an open door policy I would love you and Renee to come and visit anytime you'll love it
20:48
that back view is insane tell me about it oh what's going on here I am in New Hampshire and right in the middle of the
20:55
White Mountains on the Northern side of the presidential Peaks so outside my
21:00
studio outside my entire house is a view of the mountains which drives me crazy
21:06
because as beautiful as it is yeah the two things I love to do in life are
21:11
paint and Mountaineer and so on beautiful sunny days I'm out of the
21:17
studio right it's like I'm right you're like they're like I I love painting but right now I like mountains
21:23
more all of all of my all of my collectors that are waiting for custom pieces are
21:29
praying for rain in them White Mountains right so I don't go hiding foreign
21:35
gorgeous so you're you grew up in New Hampshire right and I've been there back now you're made kind of Full Circle I
21:41
did come full circle I grew up until I was about nine and my dad hauled us all uh to 400 miles north of Montreal um he
21:48
was in The Pulp and Paper business and then on the baby the family and everyone filtered back to the U.S um I have dual
21:54
citizenship and about five years ago I you know had a need to come back to my
22:00
country of origin and being self-employed could live and build a house anywhere I had million one options
22:06
and then finally said oh my what am I thinking I love the mountains this is home so about five years ago I purchased
22:13
about four acres of land and built a very open concept echoey
22:18
you might know thank you for that by the way I'll be working on your audio engineering right out in the open I'm
22:26
not living in a church Douglas well it's gorgeous it's so beautiful
22:32
thank you it is awesome it is a pretty sweet spot and it's quite remote and close enough to you know to get on the
22:39
highway and on the roads to head off to art shows so it's a good it's a good spot so not too remote not like yeah no
22:46
not too bad I'm not on like 50 acres in the middle of you know the Boreal forest or anything yeah well our internet
22:52
signal seems pretty strong so you're not too too much on the booties it's pretty miraculous when I first moved here there
22:58
was no internet and I'm like how can I run a business here that's insane exactly people would finally parked at
23:05
McDonald's and I had to put out a disclaimer I don't touch the food I'm there for the Wi-Fi for the life you
23:12
know the girls hit me after all my images you know important right I don't eat that [ __ ]
23:17
well it's iconic I mean that's what your your work is it's like that that kind of
23:22
iconic imagery that we think of over the last several decades exactly it's just
23:28
just stuff that is hits a nerve in terms of memory and kind of a gut visceral
23:35
little nod to the Past like I think of like the marketing idea
23:40
I mean you've got images of Wonder Bread and like you know spam and Wrigley's gum
23:47
things that like when we were kids when we were kids and it's just that it's just that it never ceases to amaze me at
23:54
a show someone will say oh my God look at that painting remember when popsicles
23:59
were two two pieces right like it's incredible what these these as you say
24:06
iconic images hit people right at a gut punch really it it's amazing and
24:13
everybody has a connection to to these images because they were everywhere at one point and that's pretty much how I
24:20
see the world this is there's cool fabulous Beauty everywhere just even you
24:27
know mostly in everyday stuff I mean look at where I live I don't I don't do Landscapes I don't need to you know
24:32
Landscapes can do themselves right right to honor a can of cocktail weiners now
24:38
that is taking it that's a whole there you go
24:43
what made you want to start into that well what was kind of the impetus behind it interesting story I um I went to Art
24:51
School in Montreal because I was still in Canada at the time and studied studied art I have my bachelor's in Fine
24:58
Art and at the time everybody there was no such thing as representational work if you weren't an abstract artist you
25:04
you couldn't go to school you couldn't you were out you were just like so passe right okay and um so at the time I was
25:11
doing great big huge abstracts um and after graduating from University
25:17
in college I kind of got just you know I'm a very social person I one of these
25:24
um human beings anyone who knows you will agree on that point to a fault maybe right you know me well
25:33
Julia get back in your booth and stop talking to neighbors and at the time Douglas after graduating
25:40
uh um seemed like the only direction to go at that point particularly in Canada
25:46
was to you know Mountain X exhibition work a year in your studio do a gallery
25:52
show and only really get to meet people at the opening and only have that that one-on-one with a potential collector
26:00
that way it really did not feed both sides of my personality I mean as much
26:05
as I love the Solitude and of creating in the studio if I don't get out on the
26:11
road and do art shows I go insane because that okay you know that dual it feeds both parts of my personality at
26:18
the time I didn't know that so I I kind of abandoned my career after not too long after you know graduating and we
26:26
started a band because that that was more of an immediate kind of thing that
26:32
was you know you had an audience right okay so you could do art shows I didn't
26:38
know anything about that whole circuit whatsoever it didn't was that a purely American thing I mean is that not
26:44
something as common in in Canada pretty darn much yeah there's maybe one
26:49
one well-known outdoor Art Festival in Toronto and that's pretty much it it's
26:55
not it's nothing like this you know here in the U.S yeah okay so art came first
27:01
but then this band thing kind of snuck in there right that kind of ignited that
27:08
that audience that that performer quality totally always a need to for
27:13
expression but this was a a way of expressing myself creatively that had
27:20
some feedback and some immediacy to it rather than being okay your work for six months to a year to mount your next solo
27:27
exhibition it's like boy that's a lot of quiet studio time and that's a lot of
27:33
emotional ups and downs with the whole process like are they gonna like it are they not going to like it and you kind
27:38
of just get out there with it and kind of what we do now exactly and there was none of that kind of back and forth
27:44
engagement with the with the with the audience is that we have now doing art
27:49
shows um so I abandoned it and started abandoned that and started this crazy he kind of it was an art school band kind
27:57
of combo it was a three-piece band with a guitar player um who I knew from art
28:03
school and we were working in a theater you know just uh bartending to to make ends meet while we're going to school
28:09
and met met a guy who was a tap dancer so we said okay
28:14
I said if you you're the drummer because if you can do that with your feet you can do it with your hands so yeah he
28:19
becomes the percussionist right and I had I had studied uh piano a long way
28:26
back when so I was the keyboard player kind of a little bit like the doors not sound wise but line up was because we
28:33
didn't have a bass player I played all of the bass lines on this old Yamaha
28:38
yc10 and the cheesy Eerie fills with the right hand that were kind of cross
28:44
between well we loved the B-52s at the time but we we were a little bit more like the cramps and maybe you know Nick
28:52
Cave and the Lounge Lizards which were really kind of cool underground ground New York kind of a pump kind of a punk
29:00
flavor yeah definitely Punk new wave-ish very really uh a lot of free-form stuff
29:06
music kind of changed when once I figured out how to play the bass line cheesy feels and sing so that was a
29:13
whole nother yeah it's kind of like padding your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time right that takes some practice it does wow so did
29:21
you say use you built this band together or I did yeah I was a songwriter
29:26
Lyricist wrote the songs and I was kind of the head Chief I would book The gigs
29:31
and stuff and we were at the time we had no place to live we were squatting in an old abandoned building in in Chinatown
29:38
and downtown Montreal and we subsequently turned the place um we
29:43
gilded the city uh of Montreal who owned it into preserving Heritage housing
29:50
because they were quite there were maybe 20 in a square block of the these old two-story flats from like the turn of
29:56
the century that were working plus homes near the port of Montreal but beautiful
30:02
you know they hadn't really been kept up a beautiful slate Roost and still stole a lot of the architectural Integrity to
30:09
it and so we eventually got caught and then gilted the guilted the city of
30:14
Montreal into turning them we formed a cooperative and turned them into low-income housing but kept the Heritage
30:22
element to it oh yeah that's all interesting so I mean it kind of like
30:27
you had that that one kind of um intention you know to create yourself
30:33
be expressive but then they're also kind of crept in they're kind of a little bit of advocacy in a way there was and a lot
30:40
of that was mainly born from need sure you know that need I mean we were
30:45
dirt poor we were we didn't want to pursue a career that was going to stop us from being you know underground
30:52
musicians kind of thing so it was pretty uh it was pretty there were different times it was it's pretty cool well I I
30:58
did Google you and your group what was the name of the it had two incarnations
31:04
it was basically the same I don't remember now why we we changed the name but initially we were the name of the
31:10
band was condition condition and we um we called the our brand of Music Urban
31:16
primitive swing which was pretty much it was very primitive and it you know it
31:21
had a swing flare to it and it was definitely it certainly wasn't country music right so it reminded me like right
31:28
off the bat I saw a performance of mumbo jumbo was that that one that song by the
31:33
tracks and it had a real feel of like um Susie and the Banshees when she was with the creatures it happened to the total
31:40
Vibe of that I can see that yeah that that that's that's a great observation it was really pretty it was a completely
31:47
interesting time because it was a uh we were doing a lot of innovative stuff it was quite a critical success totally not
31:54
a financial success story is that why it didn't last forever or
32:00
what was it kind of went from one I went from that band and was pretty much the same Personnel
32:06
um we might have had a new member come in and then the band became the pallbearers and
32:13
we put out a bunch of videos and I've yet to post it on Vimeo and social media
32:19
I my son recently when we moved from Canada here I I found this like
32:26
three million year old copy of the last video we put to a song that I wrote
32:31
called beat my daddy to the grave and it's basically about you know you're you're living your life so hard yeah
32:37
you're going to be and eat your daddy to the Grave kind of thing and it it was I said oh look at this video it's like
32:44
some some format that hasn't existed in 100 years right and so he was in film
32:49
school and in Toronto at the time and so as a Mother's Day present he figured out
32:55
he you know he was able to get a transfer on to you know reasonable right
33:01
on a newer technology right wow that must have been a cool
33:07
experience to see that fine because I hadn't seen you know how when you had a career it's kind of like looking at older work like that you did when you
33:14
were in art school or something it's like oh my God that's all you don't even want to look at it so it was a little
33:19
scary but I was pretty pretty tickled to see that it kind of stood the test of time I guess it kind of to express
33:27
yourself ahead of your time okay but then what brought you back to you
33:34
know being a painter and expressing yourself that way it's an interesting story I was still doing the band thing
33:41
and putting out some albums and we had uh you know done some pretty cool interesting things we were chosen as a
33:48
cultural exchange to the city of Berlin for the 350th anniversary and did a lot
33:53
of really cool stuff but it was when I had my son who's now 24 and things were
34:00
quieted down you know I'm not I mean we didn't tour extensively but a fair bit and you know the life of of a musician is a
34:09
lot of late nights and and so with a newborn I had put the band on hold and I
34:16
just for years and years Douglas I felt like you know there's something lacking in my life there's something lacking and
34:24
you know it was everybody else's fault you know my parents my then husband my this my that whatever
34:30
you know I look for and then once I had my son it was like holy [ __ ] it's because I'm not creating I was
34:37
writing the songs and creating in in in in in in a venue of right of Music which
34:43
is not making something tangible like art and then the light bulb went on it's
34:49
like I created a a human being and then I realized that what I was missing was
34:55
creating a art and making art and so the act of of birthing a human
35:01
was like I need some tangible stuff that I can look at that I make and pass on to
35:06
the world I think that was the need you had yeah it was like this trigger that just it was you know just like oh I get
35:14
it right the light bulb really went on and so it had been many years that I was
35:19
working with the band like 15 years or something since art school and so when he was napping as a newborn I said okay
35:27
I'll get back to doing some doing some art and you know the tools were pretty Rusty right oh for 14 years
35:35
well those tools right I was gonna say so getting back into it did it feel a
35:41
little bit like you know self-discovery again and all of that first it was like I think a human and the natural human
35:47
tendency is okay I'll go right back to where I was where you were yeah these big vast you know because it's what I
35:54
know and I started working on this huge canvas about Route 66 but all abstract
36:00
and I had hold on second you're dooming yourself to failure somebody's going to be waking up from a
36:06
nap any minute and you'll never finish it so I forced myself to pull
36:14
everything right back down to Basics and so what I started doing was creating little first off little pencil drawings
36:21
of everyday objects and apple and utilizing colored paper and pencils and
36:28
you know negative space that built in then that then that became little tiny paintings and I realized when I
36:35
underpainted the canvas with a color that was like a jump ahead I was already one step into the creative process and
36:42
then the next step was realizing that if I used a palette knife I could get a lot
36:47
of paint on there quickly before Adam woke up and so it it it's interesting to
36:52
to me that what was a need to create in a short period of time because my
36:57
newborn was napping is basically what is the style I've created that I'm known
37:03
for which is basically large colorful palette knife paintings of everyday
37:09
objects on an underpainted canvas so you don't use brushes I don't use brushes no
37:15
so the palette knife was like I can rinse this off and go I don't have to
37:20
sit and rinse all my brushes on a piece of cloth I don't have to exactly that was another was all about saying being a
37:27
Time Saver I mean is that kind of thought process kind of followed you throughout your career in other aspects
37:34
too savings no I'm a big thing oh no no but I mean like like thinking about how
37:41
can I boil it down to the kind of the the simplest steps for myself or is that
37:46
a theme or is it was it just in that aspect of a newborn I think it was just in that in that in that in that in that
37:53
in that venue and where my you know where that went and I think that was a
37:59
larger function of that was my incredible thirst to be creating again that I would do anything anyway any a
38:06
figure anything out to be to be doing that so I guess I guess what I come up
38:11
from talking to you is I I get that what you're saying that thirst for the creativity but there's something that's
38:17
very fast about you there's something that like it's like a very rapid fire kind of like inspiration like a
38:24
firecracker and I can see that you're like that in that sense you know I that's that's a great observation and
38:31
and I take that as a compliment it is a compliment oh no I mean it because it's extremely like enthusiastic and it's uh
38:39
charged it's energetic it's happy it's bright you know and that's it and and
38:45
that is really the person I am and that's why somehow something connected
38:51
on that level at that point that maybe because I had no time to think about it
38:57
my intuition just hit hard on on how to create this and be honest with you
39:04
Douglas I I don't I don't agonize over over my art it
39:10
comes really easily yeah I mean that's really being connected to that
39:16
um Carolyn mace talks about it being like living on the vertical where you are just like on this upward trajectory
39:22
where it's like you don't sit and have not saying you but people who would maybe have and how about something they
39:27
can't make a decision they're not sure if it's right it's like your gut tells you you and you are trained to react to
39:33
it just go with it I think I think Douglas I I firmly believe that as human
39:38
beings we're taught okay if you want it to be good if you want to be successful you've got to work really really really
39:45
really really really hard and it's going to be very very difficult for you to achieve that I personally believe that's
39:51
very very very wrong okay on the contrary we should be doing whatever it
39:57
be being a chef being an accountant you should be doing what comes easily to you
40:03
because that's the message that's you're the conduit it's there naturally yeah right so fortunately I had that
40:09
experience with with giving birth to my son and needing to create you know I think it just all kind of came together
40:17
for like the subject of your work it's like okay I want to paint the Lone Ranger you don't like sit in Hammond
40:22
Hall about uh are people is someone gonna like The Lone Ranger should I do the Lone Ranger you know is it gonna hit
40:28
you're like I you feel it in here and I I feel there's sometimes you know I usually put together
40:34
um 89 of my work now is custom work but I still hold back enough for myself to
40:40
put together four or five times a year a new collection a new body of work that kind of works together and truthfully it's
40:47
often theme oriented like a Texas theme or if I'm going to do the Florida shows you know it's kind of like doing the
40:53
Macy's day parade or something kind of like a theme right yeah put a bunch of
40:58
ideas together and I think oh that's really cool and sometimes particularly with the Lone Ranger I thought oh boy in
41:03
the times we're in right now A man standing there holding guns at you might not sell right that might be kind of and
41:11
then I thought well the hell with it I mean it's a cool iconic image and it can
41:16
be interpreted in any way you want no you know you don't know what my statement on it is if you really other
41:23
than that it's a cool image from the past that's that's only ever my statement and I worried about dragging
41:31
The Lone Ranger around with me for because I had just finished him at the at the bio show we were together and I
41:37
thought oh boy you know that Lone Ranger might be with me for a long time
41:46
you know I think it is a lot of I do think all the time about subject matter and cool stuff and my deal is that I
41:54
think artists often worry about running out of ideas and running out of subject matter and I keep it kind of very
42:00
organic and very basic I only paint stuff I like I like a lot of stuff I'll never run out of ideas
42:07
that way and the kind of cool thing is a lot of other people like the same stuff so they buy it it's kind of it's really
42:13
pretty basic and organic well to back up to what you said earlier I did I hear you right you said 85 of your work is
42:21
custom I said 89. I hate to correct the hosts but that's
42:27
even higher I usually don't get math right but yeah okay so people walk in
42:32
and they see your representation of images that you connect to and they're like I connect to this energy can you
42:40
make me a painting of this bottle of tequila or something is that how it works it's usually what they want okay
42:46
exactly oh there's usually subject matter course it's you know it's got to
42:52
be within my vision in my room and my subject matter if you want a painting of your grandmother keep moving right okay
43:00
yes I'm not doing portraits address and I'm doing tigers in the
43:05
jungle you know so the connections always come from the shows people yeah
43:11
who I've I've met there and I do a lot of in homes and a lot of consultations I Douglas I'm the baby of the family and
43:19
uh and I think and I think that makes me a pleaser so I you know trying to make
43:25
everybody happy I have two older sisters that never were so I'm always quite the Diplomat that way so I think that's why
43:32
I'm a lot of artists will tell potential collectors go fry an egg if they want a custom piece sure um I like I don't do
43:39
that they're like I don't do that and I don't do commissions and and you're like let's talk right exactly and maybe maybe
43:47
I'm just a lousy salesman on the spot and maybe on the long term but you know it's all about the connection and it's
43:53
all and those connections lead to other connections and if a show hasn't if you
43:58
if I've zeroed at a show and people say well how was the show I'll say I'll tell you in six months because it's a real
44:05
long game um totally and I'm a monster follow-up I'm a ma you know well it's all the long
44:12
game it's all about relationships how does that work for you so if you feel like you've got the spark due then
44:18
before they get the heck out of your booth you're like can I have your name and number I'll follow up with you uh
44:24
I'll send you sketches or something I mean is that how it works nobody gets a nobody that gets out of my booth that
44:30
likes my work without me obtaining their email and their cell phone oh so that
44:36
I've got two ways to communicate with them because as we know not everyone not everyone's favorite way of communicating
44:42
is Instagram message or telephone you know everybody you know kind of complicates the world because you can
44:48
email someone until you're blue in the face shoot them a text and they'll say oh great to hear from you you know right and you're like I don't know I thought
44:55
it was bothering you our years ago came to the conclusion if you have given me your email address or
45:02
form of communication with you and expressed a great deal of interest in my artwork I will keep at you until you
45:10
either tell me to f off or you buy a painting don't lie to me tell me tell me if that's not you know if you don't want
45:17
me to follow up and 95 of the time people have thanks for following up on
45:22
this thank you for reminding me people's lives get busy it's not their responsibility to remember me it's my
45:29
responsibility to remember them a lot of us artists will feel like I'm bothering them I'm doing the Hard Sell they are
45:35
not responding and it really just comes down to like finding them at the right moment in between whatever busy lives
45:42
they've got going on they really do want want what you have but they can let that
45:47
stuff just kind of slip out from under them if we're not you know persistent enough that that's exactly right it's my
45:52
it's my business to be looking after my business it's not not the other way around okay so you you've kind of
45:59
developed yourself as an artist and you've and you've you fall into the shows you talked about the challenges of
46:05
of painting while you've got an infant but then how do you how do you form a career of selling at
46:12
the shows raising a child kind of in toll like that well it was it was quite
46:17
a quite a challenge as of the as of at the age of six I raised uh my son
46:23
completely on my own so yeah pretty much and and at the time I was living in Canada so that's an added layer of
46:29
something to put on the list of extra things you have to do apart from you
46:34
know packing your tent booking your hotel you still got to get across the damn border right which is oh God which
46:40
is a whole nother parameter um you're saying like with like the like the list of sheets of inventory and all
46:48
that kind of stuff you have to have ready to present at the border right you go you go on the truck side you have to
46:54
go through a broker even though I uh for many years I because I'm an American citizen I was playing that card until
47:01
that card didn't work anymore and then I had to do it you know the the opposite
47:06
way which is the the way you're supposed to do because it is um essentially
47:12
taking canadian-made Goods across the border for sale in a foreign country
47:17
right because they're not made in the U.S but before you were kind of held to that it was like I'm a dual Citizen and
47:24
I'm just taking my stuff with me across the border yeah and and some of them I created my U.S studio and kind of like
47:30
it was always a major run around in a major you never knew if you were going to get across the border I could I could
47:37
because I'm an American citizen but they couldn't essentially refuse my goods my payments right so getting back to um
47:45
being on the road and doing we all know what it's like to be on the road and uh all all of you know the the challenges
47:53
and things that we have to face and think about for years for all of my son's life until he he you know is on
48:00
his own I was supporting him Selling paintings at art
48:05
shows in the U.S so crossing the border I would I would put him on I had a very good good friend he didn't do the back
48:11
and forth thing with his with his dad his dad was a musician and not really there for him so I had a really good
48:17
friend from yoga class that would I would put Adam on the Bus Say on Thursday morning drive to Philadelphia
48:24
600 miles set up at Rittenhouse Square do the three-day show
48:30
and she would pick him up on the bus Thursday afternoon do the three-day show and drive halfway back Sunday night so
48:36
that you know after tear down and then drive the rest of the way from from like
48:43
Buffalo no from Rochester to Canada so that I could be there to pick him up on the bus after so it was a major juggling
48:51
act that's exhausting oh geez and I mean but the dedication to
48:56
your work and to being a good mom but then to keep to keep at that I mean some
49:02
people might just become a waitress or you know what I mean or do something more more home or something like that I'm very stubborn
49:10
I'm also basically unemployable because I can't get anywhere on time so you know
49:16
it's not that why most of us are art fair artists because we're just downright unemployable in any other
49:21
setting
49:26
I can't if you're late if I'm late
49:34
that's hilarious so yeah but I but I do know that I mean that must have been
49:39
when he was he was young because he became a staple on the road I mean people knew you and Adam I know you were
49:47
like he was like your Sidekick he was my sidekick and it's a pretty darn cool thing uh to note Douglas that yes you
49:55
can grow up a secure human being as a Roadshow kid right on the art show
50:00
circuit he you know when he was little when he started he was really you know kind of an insecure kid that didn't know
50:06
anybody didn't talk to anybody was very shy and to this day he'll go anywhere and any you know he's very you know the
50:13
the manners and the the ability to talk to anyone and you don't know who your neighbor's gonna be at a show and how to
50:19
get along with human beings uh that you'll never see again potentially and you have to work together and it was
50:25
pretty cool over the years what I saw it did for his personality and and a really
50:30
cool person he has become oh my God that's so that's so cool I mean you know
50:35
we get to be who we are and our kids can grow up healthy and you know
50:41
self-actualized and they can become their own creative forces themselves by
50:47
your example it's so true and he um became quite a little entrepreneur
50:52
watching his mom you know selling selling her paintings and he had a little tractor business and when he was
50:59
in high school and made all kinds of money doing that it's pretty neat to think even it's that not every path has
51:05
to be the same not not every formula has to be repeated again and again and again all things can be taken into account and
51:13
all things can work I'll think you know with enough with enough good example and and patience and trust and he knew yeah
51:21
dinner often was on the table at 9 30 10 o'clock at night because if I didn't close the studio until then but he knew
51:27
it was out of love of what I I do and and love of my family meaning he and I so it would it uh it's a pretty cool
51:34
thing my sister and I also grew up in a not in a traveling situation with my mom
51:39
but but we grew up with a single mother who didn't have a husband who was helping her out and I did find it kind
51:46
of feel like that that kids who grow up with a single mom like that with that kind of dedication that they the
51:52
relationship gets kind of elevated there's a tightness there's kind of a bond almost like you're you're two peas
51:57
in a pod or you're like the child almost grows up a little bit faster
52:04
I mean was that your experience that you guys very much so it kind of become it
52:09
became quite interesting I I think Adam was very much born just a very relaxed comfortable human being he's an
52:17
old soul and as you've quite rightly noted about me everything is fast with
52:22
me I make decisions quickly I move you know I'm like I'm not an old soul I'm like dumb and brand new Soul kind of
52:29
thing so we kind of to quote Marilyn Monroe or whoever said that yeah
52:36
we were kind of you know he was always oddly enough of the level-headed one
52:41
that very you know patiently listened to some of my crazy ideas on what you know what to do with a a an art piece or he
52:49
also became a fabulous foil to questions on okay what color should the background on this be you know so because someone I
52:58
um like a stabilizing Force right totally totally totally totally yeah well I sometimes feel like in a
53:04
situation like that that there's a lot of things that our children bring in naturally through their own
53:10
personalities and their own their own DNA that sort of thing right but then I also feel like in that sense if he was
53:16
calm he knew that everything was going to be okay he didn't like have to fix the situation so he could trust that
53:23
things were all just going to be all right and things work out even if it looked a little messy on the surface you
53:28
know what I mean a little frantic and a little disorganized but he always knew
53:33
that I could always land on my feet with things that I could it would always work out he is cockamamia's nuts as some of
53:40
the schemes would be in driving until two o'clock in the morning to avoid construction on the highway you know
53:46
yeah it uh he he was probably the most secure kid I've ever met wow but what's
53:53
he doing now you say he's 24. well he he's 24 he graduated from Film School in
53:58
Toronto top-notch school with honors and has one film you think oh you think you know where this is going
54:05
and one awards for short documentaries in like the New Hampshire Film Festival
54:10
well he announced that in his mom I knew that we um in our family we get a
54:17
post-secondary education and now I've done that and now I'm going to do what I've wanted to do since I was two and be
54:23
a trained engineer well didn't surprise me at all because
54:30
it's all he's ever talked about he you know and so he's now working for a railroad in New Hampshire and he's
54:37
basically running everything he's engineering conducting doing track work you name it he he's repairing
54:44
locomotives he just you know it's it's funny I think we all have someone in our families that has either a family member
54:53
usually a family member who's just insane like insane Beyond insane about trains right and usually it's your you
55:00
know your unmarried 68 year old Uncle living in his mother's basement no
55:06
that's my my cool dude's son okay did he have the train set that went all
55:12
around oh my God don't even ask but he's he's you know living his dream
55:19
and you know back to Parenting as much as I would love to see him pursue a a
55:25
career in in filmmaking because he's very gifted he's doing what he speaks to him and what comes to him easily what
55:31
comes what he loves well I think for for uh for Renee and I you know we raised our our two kids and they're in the same
55:38
age range as your son if anything what we we teach them in this in this career that we do is that
55:46
they can shift and they can they they can do something he can finish film school and then say I'm done with that
55:52
and it's okay they can follow the they can chase the next thing that brings them Joy exactly and it's a it's a world
55:59
now where uh it's not like you're going to be a doctor lawyer Soldier sailor for
56:05
the you know have one career path for the rest of your life right life if you play your cards right and eat your
56:11
vegetables can be long and happy and healthy right yeah you could have chapters and all that kind of thing
56:18
exactly you can do more than one thing I I consider myself very fortunate to have
56:23
had that whole career with music and now have all of right brain stuff
56:32
I'm probably never going to entertain the left brain
56:37
boring right yeah Douglas I'm so right-brained I tip when
56:42
I walk
56:47
[Applause] oh God right that's why we hire people exactly
56:55
Outsource well you've said about your work and about your yourself as a person
57:00
that you are like optimistic to a fault that that you are just totally totally
57:05
so tell me what does that mean I mean describe that that quality in yourself I honestly think it's got a lot to do I
57:11
think I was just born happy I'm gonna slam back to that baby of the family concept again I was the baby of two
57:19
daughters that we were the Gilmore Girls three three Gilmore Girls and wasn't there a TV show about that
57:26
we're ahead of our time uh you know all stuff you can't Bank on
57:32
though right yes um it was um you know my parents didn't
57:37
get along one sister didn't get along with them like everybody the whole the whole family was always against each
57:45
other in one fashion there was a bit of chaos oh yeah now it was a three-wing circus really and I was The Peacemaker
57:51
right and oddly enough I think I think that's what made me a happy person
57:57
because I can see everybody's I can see all sides yeah uh and they drove me so
58:03
insane with with with their unhappiness that I said I think at an early age it
58:08
taught me I'm not going down that path that path sucks well happiness is a choice right it's so easy to be happy
58:15
yeah I mean you not to be Pollyanna about it but just like somebody can list
58:23
the things that are going wrong in their lives and be just a total curmudgeon you can flip it and do the same thing and it
58:30
becomes a complete self-fulfilling prophecy if you're you know if if it's like well that show didn't work out well
58:36
I zeroed at it well I won't go back to it or I would you know that that that that now I'm starting to feel like I saw
58:42
okay why just and a lot of a lot of that when
58:48
you know we all we all have challenges we all you know have flat tires and shows that don't work and it's just like
58:54
my three is just keep moving just keep on going that's not it's not the ending
58:59
it's not the end of the road look it takes too much time to wallow in it and don't manifest it so it turns into
59:05
anything bigger like just keep moving and put a smile on your face I know it
59:10
sounds ridiculous but it's it's not it's not it's not there's so much in the world it's such a big beautiful place
59:16
it's yeah well it sounds to me I mean I could relate and I don't mean to put
59:22
words in your mouth but when you're in a young family life as a kid and you feel like things are chaotic or you're
59:28
walking on eggshells there are two things that come out of it you come you get the the hyper Vigilant pleaser you
59:35
know you get that which has served you with your collectors and serves you in
59:40
so many ways but then you can also be the one with the positive attitude that can be like to survive you have to be
59:49
positive or it's going to take you down and down fast exactly it's it's you it's your your
59:56
worst enemy right it's it's I take it a
1:00:01
step further I don't as crazy as this sounds you know people are always talking about all the bad in the world
1:00:06
there's no such thing as bad there are varying degrees of good Douglas it's not
1:00:11
all there's no bad there's no evil don't give him yeah I just sorry this is the way I see things and I also believe that
1:00:19
no situation is hopeless there's always a solution to
1:00:26
every you know you might have to bend and move it uh rules are guidelines right
1:00:33
parking behind your booth you know but but uh I know I know all the artists out
1:00:41
there and it might be listen to this now I am not sure
1:00:46
but seriously I've had enough points in my life with all careers with everything
1:00:52
I've done where it's like okay this is the end we're screwed here this and there's always if you just you just give
1:00:57
it enough belief and time to think about all there's always another root I mean I
1:01:03
think if anything what I learned in art school Douglas was how to think creatively and that's what that is oh so
1:01:10
it wasn't necessarily about designs I mean that was important but it was like a model for how to be how to how to
1:01:18
think how to think completely you know how to honor what you were born with because I I I I pretty much believe
1:01:25
artists are born that way and so it it it was learning to honor that in your in
1:01:32
your personality but then then then uh learning to adopt that way of create
1:01:39
thinking creatively to all aspects of your life not just doing art yeah I've
1:01:45
I've learned this about you at Bayou City last week you even enjoy the setting up the art fair the sweating the
1:01:52
tearing it down you're like happy and and some people are like I gotta get this done as fast as possible and get
1:01:58
the hell out out of here right I'm a weirdo but no I mean years ago when
1:02:04
Renee and I started this I can be more of the one that can get growly you know with the setup and she said listen setting up an art show is as much of our
1:02:12
life as making the work as traveling and going to that restaurant these experiences yeah I love that you embody
1:02:20
that when I first started it's I I I'm with Renee when I first started doing shows you know I could see everybody was
1:02:27
like oh set up tear down oh whoa I have to get out of here it's raining oh oh whoa whoa whoa whoa you know and I
1:02:34
thought okay if I'm going to be doing this and this is going to be my life I'm going to if I have to brainwash myself
1:02:39
into loving it I will and I think you know I think a lot of what I do is a little bit of self-brainwashing you know
1:02:46
at the time I was like okay this is a workout I'm gonna get muscles from setting up this is great yeah yeah tear
1:02:52
down tear down there's a nice cold beer at the end of it wait for that you know kind of like that right it's like
1:02:58
parenting yourself right it's like it's like what's uh what what do they
1:03:04
say with kids uh instead of like a punishment a positive redirection so you have to positively redirect yourself
1:03:12
loves dogs there's a drink in my future
1:03:21
oh yeah well ice cold beer is my entire motivation for everything I may as well
1:03:26
be honest that's awesome that keeps it keeps it happy keeps it light and Lively right
1:03:35
modest and modest so we are we're basically on on the same
1:03:40
tour I looked ahead to see what you're up to so we were down in in Houston and I think the next three Texas shows we're
1:03:47
going to be we're going to be like uh we're like a big Caravan of Cardi's driving in the same
1:03:54
it's like the circus train right circus train yes exactly that's delightful news
1:03:59
I knew we were at The Woodlands together this this weekend and then uh Fort Worth and Salt Lake yep we'll be there too so
1:04:06
um yeah so do you do the Florida Market or is is Texas where you kind of kick
1:04:11
off your year I I actually came to the show at Bayou uh after five shows in a
1:04:17
row in Florida pretty much WoW years ago I didn't do the I stopped doing you would think my work would
1:04:24
Kick-Ass in Florida okay you know big bold colorful and I found I it didn't do
1:04:30
it it wasn't so I I stopped doing the Florida Circuit years and years ago and then went back in 2021 because they were
1:04:37
basically the only game in town because a lot of you know Texas didn't reopen after covet a lot you know and so so
1:04:45
they got the they got the early bubble basically Florida did precisely right so it um it was quite encouraging and then
1:04:52
last year even more so and this year was super great so now I'm in in the happy
1:04:59
but unhappy situation of doing you know the Florida Circuit and the Texas circuit which is no break in
1:05:06
between with no break in between um just two weeks off now to you know
1:05:11
between Bayou and and the woodlands but it is kind of a grueling schedule because it's five and five and then I'm
1:05:18
back and have just about a week before I head to to do shows on the East Coast
1:05:23
wow but I'm getting a little smarter in my old age last year I decided okay I'm
1:05:29
taking the summer off so that I can enjoy where I live and and Hike right basically and if I don't take some time
1:05:37
off my collectors would kill me because some of them have been patiently waiting for their their
1:05:43
paintings so uh so you're able to kind of push them out a bit if if the schedule gets too tight they're the I
1:05:50
have the best collectors on the planet Earth and patient very patient well they're they're they like what's what
1:05:57
you're making our collectors do know us they do know you know that we are one of
1:06:03
a kind original what we do who we are what we make and you know they're not
1:06:09
looking for cookie cutter factory made type things so there is no timeline in that regard exactly I also um I kind of
1:06:16
employ a little uh uh something that I used to do as a bartender and I would run the bar and
1:06:24
the restaurant myself sure so I get slammed at the bar or the tables and someone would come in and a lot of my
1:06:31
collectors are booking multiple pieces okay so um most of them so with with
1:06:37
Bard make sure everybody got a drink oh yeah so when collectors if they've booked three paintings I make sure they
1:06:44
get one of them then I move on to the next person gets kind of like right kind
1:06:50
of I'm I'm like you know I'm making sure that everybody again is is happy they're
1:06:56
not sitting there not sitting there looking at their watch like I haven't had a drink if you give
1:07:02
them that first drink and then they can just settle in right so you get in that first painting they settle in and they
1:07:07
know the rest is coming and they're fine and they're fine and then they've got that to enjoy and then I Circle back to
1:07:13
them for the second one and that you know it's kind of it's it it kind of an interesting little dance that I do but
1:07:20
you know we all know how to that that feeling of sitting at a bar and not getting served oh I've worked in fine
1:07:27
dining and bartending and waiting and it is it's a total I you know coming back
1:07:33
to that that being able to read people you know I feel like I'm like that too you can feel when they're getting that
1:07:38
little like uh it's like rising up in their chest like they're about to say excuse me but you you go to them right
1:07:46
before they get to that point totally and don't we get to be incredible reads of of of human beings in the art shows
1:07:54
yeah well I think a lot of it a lot of it for me was my was my upbringing and
1:07:59
just wanting to make sure there was no chaos and nobody was going to get upset because then I could kind of keep things
1:08:06
level but it has really served me in this in this industry it's so true so so
1:08:13
so true same same as me that and having worked in the you know in in the service
1:08:18
industry and not being you know afraid to talk to anybody and everybody everybody is valuable everybody it's
1:08:25
it's uh that human connection and the connection with the collectors that become long-term friends that again that
1:08:34
long game thing it's I I may never retire from doing the shows because I love all of that aspect of it so much
1:08:40
would you say that you form friendships with collectors that are long lasting and stuff like you go to stay at their
1:08:46
houses and foreign I have a very excellent collector in
1:08:54
Disney World that had hired me a couple of years ago they they have some of my work in their New Jersey home and they
1:09:01
were building this big really gorgeous contemporary home in Disney World and hired me to do
1:09:09
a companion painting for their original War Hall and I thought okay no pressure here yeah right okay Andy and so
1:09:19
um consequently did they're delighted and now they're booking another piece and had me for dinner when I was at a
1:09:25
show nearby in in in in Florida this last time and invited another couple who
1:09:32
admired the work and now have booked six large pieces and then the Andy Warhol
1:09:38
people have booked a seven by eight foot painting it just kind of it snowballs
1:09:44
and so much of that is the connection between people and just being you and
1:09:53
not be having any disconnect I think that if you could say anything about about
1:09:59
my artwork and me there's no disconnect my art is me I am my art we you know
1:10:06
they they it's it's honest statement it's straightforward that's what I am
1:10:11
it's happy it's uh no you know no artifice no no hidden agenda and so when
1:10:19
someone likes your art like that then they're gonna be bound to like the person yeah and so that just enhances
1:10:25
and adds to it and I'm now working on this crazy wacky idea of I have a couple
1:10:31
of custom pieces booked very large pieces you know most of our people have
1:10:36
multiple homes and so some of these pieces need to be I've decided created
1:10:43
in their space so I've got a couple of different things going on where I'm going into collector's homes while
1:10:50
they're not there and getting a vacation on the ocean and creating them a five foot by five foot Lobster painting like
1:10:57
yeah getting the vibe and feeling it but um and then getting a vacation and getting a vacation on the side of course
1:11:04
well to me like you were saying that and I didn't even realize what I was thinking I'm like you sound like a rock star and I'm like well wait a minute she
1:11:10
was a rock star and this is like being a rock star on like in the art fair industry kind of okay
1:11:18
level of um it's a little bit like what was that inventing what was that recent Netflix show yeah yeah
1:11:25
my sister has mentioned to me you're kind of like that you're going into these people you know but I'm honest I'm
1:11:32
not taking advantage of him but here you are you know I have I have people building um building a house in the Jersey Shore
1:11:39
in Margate New Jersey they're they're putting and they're going to have six bedrooms and they've made it very clear
1:11:45
to me that one of those bedrooms is mine you may think well the world owns her right what's going on Julia so that I
1:11:52
can because they want me to come and do a collection of art once the place is built and so on that will be my my room
1:11:58
it's kind of this interesting morphing of uh collector's relationship and going
1:12:07
places and staying in lovely places it's kind of like this look at the beautiful homes are our art live in yes right like
1:12:16
I'm always flabbergasted by that yeah well now hold on a second why can't we enjoy those places I mean we're an
1:12:22
extension of that right the work is an extension of us so so it's it's a couple
1:12:28
of cool little new projects and it's also a thought pattern of maybe eventually taking a couple of shows off
1:12:35
and just you know and doing this kind of artists in residency you've booked a commission with me I and you want me to
1:12:42
go to your Park City house and create it on site well but like what you're
1:12:48
describing to me here's here's my take on it when you said like the inventing Anna idea it's almost like it's not that
1:12:54
you're putting on a fake persona because it's 100 genuine who you are and it's your work is an extension of who you and
1:13:00
and all that but so many people can be like who am I to think I'm on the same
1:13:07
level as my collector and we can like talk ourselves out of like wanting to to
1:13:12
push them or guide them into a sale or to suggest something that they might like for their wall you step into that
1:13:19
role and you are like a hundred percent confident in who you are and what you create I think I can do this and I can
1:13:25
do that for you and they fall in love with that I absolutely and really when you get right down to it you know your
1:13:32
collectors um who wouldn't want you to create a
1:13:37
piece in their space right to to go I mean like for them how how crazy is that
1:13:44
and it's almost like that yes they they fall in love with the piece that they get to live with but think about the
1:13:50
stories they get to tell people at dinner like they get to tell them about the cool artist who was a who was a
1:13:56
singer and part of a band and get to know you and your story so so so true
1:14:02
yeah and then during all of that time you know they introduce you to other people it's a whole different whole
1:14:09
different network and you know this this you are like your collectors you yeah
1:14:15
you you um is a concept that I always apply to showing up at the shows you know I don't
1:14:22
you see me setting up and you see me at the show it's a whole different different
1:14:27
Persona in terms of presentation right what what are we doing what's it called
1:14:33
it's a show so we should you know be approaching the art shows a little bit
1:14:39
maybe as if we're on stage a little bit as if I am of the same level of you who
1:14:44
is The Collector right and you should be able to represent your work in the way
1:14:51
you look that's what I mean that's an attractive thing for collectors to to not feel a sense of hesitancy in in what
1:14:59
we're trying to portray exactly and and it it it takes a whole level of social
1:15:05
awkwardness out if if you can if it's just straight direct right right off the
1:15:11
bat and you know when you get right down to it what um what are we doing as
1:15:17
artists anyway it's all about communication so if you can facilitate
1:15:24
that form of communication and then hence that form of connection
1:15:29
you're way ahead of the game you not only should you be
1:15:35
trying to do that with your actual art but the same thing is true when you're selling it
1:15:41
true absolutely Julia this has been a great talk I really enjoyed spending time with you I
1:15:47
really connect with you on this kind of this zest for for a life this kind of like you know the choice to to to be on
1:15:55
the upward spiral instead of the downward spirals absolutely I don't know what it was it Schlitz beer that said
1:16:01
you know grab all Augusta or something just like they're telling me we got one of these so let's let's go and you know
1:16:08
why wouldn't you want to just live happy and as full as you possibly can it's
1:16:14
really easy yeah yeah totally just have to brain you watch yourself it's gaslighting you have to cast light
1:16:21
yourself but yeah I'm very happy I'm very happy I'm very
1:16:26
happy I'm very happy oh man this has been a joy and I think we are going to take you up on that offer we're going to
1:16:32
come visit you out there on the mountains oh my God I would love it I would love
1:16:37
it I'm here from uh right after Rittenhouse until um the written house and I'm here all
1:16:43
summer get your asses out here I would love that I would love it so much that's
1:16:48
so sweet the Sun moved out about a year ago I got a sweet spare bedroom with a view of the presidential Ranch come on
1:16:54
out now while this is probably taking us back into the conversation but was that a hard transition for you for him to
1:17:00
move up and out I mean after you spent so many years so together it was Agony
1:17:05
this was the hardest thing you know it that that that is the oddest thing about
1:17:12
parenting Douglas you you throw everything all your love all your energy everything you have into raising this
1:17:20
human being and giving them all of your best just so that they fly out of the nest just so they leave you they abandon
1:17:26
you see you later no Christmas card nothing I'll be back for the holidays Bye Mom
1:17:34
maybe maybe well that's why you have to move to a beautiful place on the mountains because
1:17:39
he'll want to come back and Ski and all that good stuff right exactly right yeah I got the place you got the place Julie
1:17:46
this has been awesome and I will see you in a few days I can't wait I look so fortunate give it give Renee a big hug
1:17:53
and a kiss until I can give her one myself will do alrighty bye-bye Take Care thank you bye-bye
1:17:59
great talk with Julia Douglas and thank you Julia for sharing your time and your expertise and and your wisdom with us
1:18:05
and we really really enjoyed the talk there um man New Hampshire she's got the opposite end of the country for me I
1:18:12
feel like New Mexico is hard to get to shows they just ain't nothing up there in the Northeast is there right and but
1:18:19
you know it was a lot harder when she was in Canada so do you know what I do she's she's in God's country right now
1:18:25
looking over those mountains so that was a beautiful background she had as we talked on on the uh on the calls on the
1:18:33
uh the podcast calls so I really enjoyed our talk nice I did too we all did well
1:18:38
thank you Julia uh we will uh we've got lots of uh fun things exciting things happening I've got um Camille Marchese
1:18:46
coming up next I cannot wait to hear that talk that's going to be awesome it's been a while since we've talked to
1:18:51
a director it's nice to have somebody who has uh the experience that she's had as well as a new voice uh coming to a
1:18:59
new show it's it's interesting to see these directors take on different opportunities and challenges so lots of
1:19:05
fun things to talk to her about and that's going to take us thanks so much for dealing with the echo as I'm in my
1:19:11
hipster hotel in Austin Texas here with the polished concrete and the John
1:19:16
Coltrane posters on the wall so yeah I I I'm hip stirring out here Douglas yes
1:19:22
you are yes you are all right looking forward I'll be we'll be neighbors again at the next show I'll see you at South Lake in a couple of days here so we'll
1:19:29
sit down there don't don't count on my help breaking down this time sir you just about killed me taking four booths
1:19:35
down nope I'm in better shape I will not even walking with a cane as much so I'm I'm
1:19:41
getting stronger getting strong now I hear the Rocky theme playing in the background here well I tried to call you
1:19:48
the other day and we were talking and you were holed up in this hotel and you were like huffing and puffing and I'm
1:19:53
like kind of I was like what is going on in the background you're like I'm doing my PT I'm like what were you taking your
1:19:58
phone calls while you're doing your PT because I wanted a break for crying out loud yeah I was I was talking about the
1:20:05
the Austin motel and I'm I'm nothing more hipster has happened in Austin and
1:20:11
that's that's Ground Zero for lots of hipster activity but I'm not sure anything more hipsters happen than me
1:20:17
walking across the courtyard of uh this hotel where I am okay carrying my mobile
1:20:22
podcast Studio under my arm
1:20:28
all right buddy I'll see you next week all right take care about bye this podcast is brought to you by the
1:20:34
National Association of Independent Artists the website is naiaartists.org also sponsored by
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1:20:54
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