March 2, 2026

#064: Brandy Jones Becomes Brave Enough to Be Seen

Have you ever reached a point in your creative life where the work itself starts asking something deeper of you?

Not better technique.
Not more exposure.
But more of you.

In this conversation, Brandi Jones opens up about the quiet, internal shift that happens when creativity stops being something you do and starts becoming something that shapes who you are. She reflects on growth, mistakes, and the way art gently—sometimes uncomfortably—invites us into a new version of ourselves.

Rather than chasing perfection, Brandi speaks honestly about learning not to fear errors… about allowing discovery to lead instead of certainty… and about how each phase of her creative life has molded her into who she is today. Her story isn’t about arriving—it’s about allowing yourself to be changed by the act of creating.

This episode isn’t a roadmap.
It’s a mirror.

A reminder that creativity often grows us before it grows the work… and that becoming is part of the art itself.

If you’ve ever felt that subtle nudge—the sense that your creativity is asking you to step forward, take yourself seriously, or shed an old version of who you’ve been—this conversation will feel like a deep exhale.

You’re not behind.
You’re becoming.

Brandy's Profile
Brandy's Website

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For the Love of Creatives Podcast

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00:57 - Welcome And Guest Intro

02:09 - From Blankets To Art

05:58 - First Shows And Rapid Progress

07:07 - Hustle, Cold Calls, And Resilience

10:06 - Family Roots And Making Something From Nothing

16:06 - Core Values And Love As Craft

22:38 - Becoming: Strength Learned From Her Mother

28:35 - Art As Healing, Meditation, And Curiosity

34:29 - Community Then And Now

40:21 - Collaboration, Scale, And 3D Materials

47:26 - Play, Color, And Keeping Joy Alive

53:28 - Time, Failure, And The Right Moment

WEBVTT

00:00:34.149 --> 00:00:36.469
Who do I have had to become?

00:00:37.030 --> 00:00:37.350
Yeah.

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I would think my mother.

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I'm serious because what a what a magnificent woman.

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I mean, to bear.

00:00:58.790 --> 00:01:04.069
Hello, and welcome to another edition of the For the Love of Creatives podcast.

00:01:04.230 --> 00:01:07.989
I am your host, Dwight, joined by Maddox.

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And today, our featured guest is the lovely Brandy Jones.

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Welcome, Brandy.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for having me.

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Um, we're so glad that you could join us here.

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Uh, and uh I've gotten a chance to see some of your work.

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I I believe I saw you featured at the uh pencil and paper gallery a while back.

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Did you share it?

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Excellent.

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Absolutely.

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Um and I know that we've had a chance to talk a few times before, but how about you give just a little introduction to our listeners to let them know who you are and what you're about?

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Hi, everyone.

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I am Brandy Jones, founder of Rock and Yarn Artistry.

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Um, that is filled within its own um collaborative of yarn, gem, stone to bring one rugged but soft edge to artwork.

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Yeah.

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I love that.

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I love everything that sparkles.

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I do too.

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The creation of it all.

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Well, and and that is definitely something that is unique because uh I've seen some of your work, there's definitely images and there's kind of a uh a textured aspect that uh makes it a little more a little more warm than something that you would see that's normally in a frame hanging in a gallery.

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Um how did you come by uh creating these works?

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Um my process started from building and uh creating uh blankets.

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I created sports blankets, uh home blankets, couch blankets, blankets on your bed, uh more like uh quilting, but it's just more of a um crocheting.

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But I started doing blankets after COVID hit, and um, that was because I wanted to give my sisters something to hold on in memory of my uh mother, and uh started from there.

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Love the idea of well using them as uh uh I guess pig on the blanket.

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Guinea pigs, guinea pigs on the blanket.

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I love it.

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So and they loved them.

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They even though they was kind of like mixed up a little bit, different color, they loved them.

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But just pig on the blankets.

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I used them as guinea pigs, and I went from there.

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I had uh love of uh warmth, it was comforting, uh, takes your mind off of daily things.

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And um, yeah, I sent it to them and they loved it.

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So start from there.

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So you you started off, I guess quilting would fit more in a crafting genre than it would an art genre.

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And and then what was it that created that subtle shift to change from crafting to art?

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Things that people didn't wrap around them, but viewed and got all of the warmth from the the beauty.

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Well, that warmth and softness come from um what I saw while I was doing the blankets.

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I saw the comfort, I saw um the passion that people felt when they bought my blankets, the excitement of one person doing it handcrafted.

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And um, so from there I was like, you know, what else can I do?

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Because I'm always looking for how to think outside the box, you know, bringing something us, something other than just um what it is, the this ISF, just think of the imagination of it all.

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So I went into the store and got some more blankets.

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Well, I was looking for more yarn, different, unique, different style yarn.

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And I saw some gems, I saw rocks, and I was like colorful rocks.

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And so I was like, okay, I wonder how that would look if I did a picture on the blanket.

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And it just kind of exploded from there, you know.

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Just I don't know, it was just something that said create, you know, and it just drew my activ my ideas from there.

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It was just an evolution, wasn't it?

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I believe so.

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I think so.

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And it continues to grow, it continues to grow from there.

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And and you have recently shown in in um pencil and paper, and that's that's a pretty cool gallery.

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I mean, that's that's quite a progression to go from making blankets for family to hanging on the walls in a prestigious gallery.

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What's the time frame from when you started creating blankets to now?

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It would um, let me see, about a year and a half, almost two, um, two years time frame of perfecting what I say is not always perfect, but just perfecting a skill set that was basically forced into, you know, so you start from there and just grow.

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And um, that's a good thing because now I have uh expanded into the arts of hotel viewing.

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So now I'm in the canvas hotel with my artwork.

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Yeah.

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Wow.

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Um Brandy, your progression has happened really fast.

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Yeah.

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So tell us a little bit about how you got in those fabulous places.

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What did you do to find yourself hanging in in a lovely hotel or or in a you know, a quality gallery?

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Yeah, well, nothing comes easy.

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It takes hard work, dedication, and um just believing in yourself, believing in your work.

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Um, I think that knowing your capability, knowing your skills, knowing that someone's no is someone else's yes.

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And just keep pushing yourself.

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So I just called around to different hotels, different schools, different churches to see if they have any events and uh just kind of went from there.

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You know, like I said, someone might say, hey, we're not doing it right now, we don't have any events coming.

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Just keep calling and call back.

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Like, do you have something else?

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I I love it.

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It's it reminds me of of something that I I say a lot, and that is if you don't ask, then the answer is already no.

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Absolutely.

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So you've already given up.

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You've already given up.

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Where did that sense of determination and persistence come from?

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Is that something that you were raised with as a child, or is that something you've had to develop along the way?

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Definitely raised up in as a child.

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My mother and father, um, we have 15 sisters and brothers.

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And my father has always been when he didn't go to high school, didn't go to junior high, where he dropped out of school in junior high, and basically just came became self-taught.

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Um, and I learned that from my my parents.

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My my father, he would just teach us like, you know, if you don't have anything, that you didn't we didn't have the money to go get some of the things, so you had to substitute and you just build off of that.

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We built goat cars and everything with just wood, tree limbs.

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So yeah, old lawnmowers.

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So just that seeing that effort, you know, not giving up, you know.

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My dad would always say, Stop using the word can't.

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Did you try it?

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If you hadn't tried, how you would know you can't do it.

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So you're kind of touching my heart a little bit because that was very similar to my growing up, didn't have that many siblings, but my my dad would make things out of nothing for me.

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I had toys that were handmade out of just whatever scraps were laying around.

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And um, you know, I look back, I don't know that I thought it was cool when it was happening.

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You know, I think I had the appreciation that I do now, but I look back now and and think, you know, that that was modeled to me in a way that made me really appreciate creativity in itself, you know, how as a kid I could take a bath towel and put a you know a clip or my neck and have a suit a Superman cape, or or take an old ivory liquid bottle and fill it with water.

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And I had a squirt gun.

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And and you're you're right, we did what we had to do with what we had on hand.

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And I and I look back on that with so much appreciation.

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I yeah, yeah, yeah, that just really that really touches home when you when you say you just made things out of what was that's true creativity.

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When you can spend something out of nothing, that's real creativity.

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Absolutely.

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And talk about giving.

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My um, like I said, I mentioned my we had 15 sisters and brothers and the same mother and father.

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So to see one day um a story, a backstory where my sister asked us to send to create letters for my father to honor my father and my mother, you know, just it was their anniversary.

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And we all were supposed to write letters and what was you were appreciative of.

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And we all stood up and said our letter to my parents, and my sister stood up, and her in her letter, she said she sat at the table when we were on dinner one day, and my dad was taking off his shoe, and she just happened to look at the bottom of his shoe with a hole in it.

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And my my sister was like, Dad, why are you wearing your shoes with a hole in it?

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He's like, I'd rather go with some shoes with a hole in it than my child, my children's to go without.

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And that said a lot.

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So for someone to take care of kids like that and not look at what they've gone through, but just continue to give, we can't.

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I mean, come on, you gotta keep pushing.

00:10:48.629 --> 00:10:49.110
Yeah.

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Yeah.

00:10:50.549 --> 00:10:50.949
Wow.

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What and it was not a dry eye.

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I bet not.

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I bet not.

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Oh my gosh.

00:10:58.389 --> 00:10:58.789
Yeah.

00:10:59.110 --> 00:11:03.669
You you you really received some rare gifts as a child.

00:11:03.909 --> 00:11:16.870
I mean, we've had lots of conversations, and we haven't had very many conversations where the the other person talked about the great gifts that they received as as children.

00:11:17.029 --> 00:11:18.629
It's it's not usually that way.

00:11:18.789 --> 00:11:20.469
What what an amazing story.

00:11:20.949 --> 00:11:21.429
Yeah.

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Are you gonna be able to do that?

00:11:22.709 --> 00:11:23.269
It's very touching.

00:11:23.909 --> 00:11:28.629
Yeah, neither one of my mother passed in 2011 and my dad 2013.

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So yeah, we just took I I look at it as well polished parents because they taught us so much of so much of giving.

00:11:36.629 --> 00:11:41.269
And um, yeah, very touching.

00:11:41.669 --> 00:11:50.629
Well, it sounds to me like they they taught you core values, which is something that really has faded into black.

00:11:50.789 --> 00:11:53.990
We just don't have much of that going on in our world anymore.

00:11:54.149 --> 00:12:03.429
I mean, I ask people from time to time, so tell me what your core values are, and they look at me like I have three heads like like core values?

00:12:03.509 --> 00:12:04.309
What's that?

00:12:04.549 --> 00:12:09.669
Yeah, and and how do you really operate a meaningful life without core values?

00:12:11.350 --> 00:12:11.669
Yeah.

00:12:11.829 --> 00:12:18.389
Yeah, you have to go back and look at all the things that you are appreciative of because you know, when you're young, we're just living.

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Everything is easy.

00:12:19.669 --> 00:12:24.629
You know, we don't take a moment to look at what how our art really become.

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Because if you think about it, you know, the things that we look at and say, Oh, that's oh, we can just have that, we can just spend money to pay for that.

00:12:31.589 --> 00:12:37.509
Back then when my mother and my father had things, it was just putting things together to make it work.

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That's art.

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If you go back and look at it, that's art.

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You know, even the meals, if you don't have a lot of funds and take care of all those kids, you're putting a meal together.

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That's art.

00:12:48.709 --> 00:12:50.709
And at the end of the day, what comes out of it?

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Love.

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Because it was given to you out of something that didn't have.

00:12:54.789 --> 00:12:55.350
Yeah.

00:12:55.829 --> 00:12:56.789
That's beautiful.

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You you you have a very unique perspective and a very healthy perspective and and a very inspiring perspective.

00:13:07.189 --> 00:13:07.829
Wow.

00:13:09.589 --> 00:13:13.269
Well, we never know until we get into these conversations.

00:13:14.309 --> 00:13:14.789
Yeah.

00:13:15.029 --> 00:13:34.709
Out of out of coming from that huge home full of love, I I know that it took quite a journey to to get you to where you went before you made this uh big splash in the and the art world.

00:13:35.669 --> 00:13:52.230
Um how how do you looking back, how do you see that that through line of who you became coming from that home with the 15 siblings and your parents and uh making those stops along the way?

00:13:53.269 --> 00:14:00.309
Um, they see it's a um roller coaster ride, you know, nothing's life is guaranteed, but every risk you take is worthwhile.

00:14:00.629 --> 00:14:04.870
And that roller coaster ride, every stop that comes down, there's a lesson.

00:14:05.829 --> 00:14:05.990
Yeah.

00:14:06.149 --> 00:14:07.669
We don't know what that lesson is.

00:14:08.789 --> 00:14:11.589
But we take those stops to learn something along the way.

00:14:11.829 --> 00:14:18.549
And those stops could be a career that you get into that you didn't like, you know, but there's some type of art within it.

00:14:19.269 --> 00:14:32.069
And so everything that I'm learning, you know, in this journey that that is becoming into who I am today is something that has happened or transpired in my past, you know, and you just learn from it.

00:14:32.230 --> 00:14:38.469
And you they say you can test a man by him falling down, but his true honor is when how he get up.

00:14:38.949 --> 00:14:40.069
Can you get up?

00:14:40.389 --> 00:14:42.469
Yeah, and you get up.

00:14:42.789 --> 00:14:50.230
And you're you're really touching here on on a big part of what our our whole concept is, and that's the becoming part.

00:14:50.469 --> 00:14:53.750
And that's another thing that makes people kind of look at you like, huh?

00:14:54.389 --> 00:15:08.629
That three hit thing, you know, when you when you say, you know, who did like you know where you are right now, you know the level of of um success that you have gained, accomplishments that you've been able to achieve.

00:15:09.029 --> 00:15:15.750
And uh one of the questions we love to ask is so who looking back now, it's harder to look forward.

00:15:15.909 --> 00:15:17.589
And it's not, and that's a process.

00:15:17.669 --> 00:15:19.509
You can't do that right here in a question.

00:15:19.589 --> 00:15:21.429
We've discovered that from asking the question.

00:15:21.509 --> 00:15:28.629
So we're looking at now from more the past, but looking back on that journey, who did you have to become along the way?

00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:31.350
That inside thing, not what did you have to do?

00:15:31.589 --> 00:15:35.990
Who did you have to become in here to get you where you are today?

00:15:36.149 --> 00:15:37.909
Can you articulate that?

00:15:38.549 --> 00:15:40.629
Who do I've had to become?

00:15:41.269 --> 00:15:43.509
Yeah, I would think my mother.

00:15:45.350 --> 00:15:49.750
I'm serious because what a what a magnificent woman.

00:15:49.829 --> 00:16:05.990
I mean, to bear, it would have been 18 children, but to bear 15 and to you how many characters is coming in the house, and she had to be sane enough to deal with all of us, not alone a husband.

00:16:07.269 --> 00:16:09.269
Yeah, yeah, she really is 16.

00:16:09.829 --> 00:16:11.509
Yeah, you're really 16.

00:16:11.669 --> 00:16:24.149
But the strength of a woman and the strength of someone who knows you don't always just say know yourself, but you can know that there's something that you can get out of it that's if you keep going.

00:16:24.709 --> 00:16:29.829
And that's something that you know you will learn, something that you will learn about yourself if you keep pushing.

00:16:30.949 --> 00:16:36.870
You know, so just the strength of that woman pushes me to be who I am today.

00:16:37.509 --> 00:16:42.870
So you're describing determination, persistence, yes, resilience.

00:16:43.429 --> 00:16:44.949
Courage rolled in there somewhere.

00:16:45.029 --> 00:16:47.269
Yeah, yeah, courage, yeah.

00:16:47.429 --> 00:16:49.750
Keep pushing, bravery, yeah.

00:16:50.069 --> 00:16:50.549
Mm-hmm.

00:16:50.949 --> 00:16:52.949
Honor, because it takes that too.

00:16:53.029 --> 00:16:57.110
You know, because you gotta trust yourself and honor, you know, you gotta believe in yourself.

00:16:57.350 --> 00:16:57.909
Yeah.

00:16:58.230 --> 00:17:05.829
Now, looking back, did you know in the early years that you needed to focus consciously focus on becoming those things?

00:17:06.069 --> 00:17:11.589
Or is it now looking back, you see that you did that kind of unconsciously?

00:17:12.069 --> 00:17:12.470
Yes.

00:17:12.710 --> 00:17:16.710
Looking back, yeah, that's a scary scene.

00:17:17.670 --> 00:17:20.309
You look back, but you know, you learned a lot.

00:17:20.390 --> 00:17:23.269
And I think that that helped mold who I am today.

00:17:23.430 --> 00:17:28.150
Um, not being afraid of mistakes, you know, errors, you know, that's part of growth.

00:17:28.230 --> 00:17:30.070
That's development, that's discovery.

00:17:30.150 --> 00:17:32.470
You're discovering some new things about yourself.

00:17:32.710 --> 00:17:35.509
You're gonna continue to discover new things about yourself.

00:17:35.670 --> 00:17:37.110
Yeah, yeah.

00:17:37.430 --> 00:17:41.190
Yeah, reflect on all those moments, you know, good and bad.

00:17:41.269 --> 00:17:42.950
You know, you reflect on all those.

00:17:43.269 --> 00:17:50.390
We we believe this becoming conversation is a vital part of our life as a creative.

00:17:50.710 --> 00:18:08.310
And our conversation is about taking it out of the unconscious and bringing it into the conscious and intentional, you know, because now, you know, we won't ask this question today for you to answer, but we'll ask it for you to think about as you move beyond our conversation today.

00:18:08.390 --> 00:18:12.790
And that is, you know, what got you here won't get you there.

00:18:13.430 --> 00:18:20.710
That next stage, that next step, who do you have to become now to get there?

00:18:20.870 --> 00:18:22.870
And like I said, that's a pro that's a process.

00:18:22.950 --> 00:18:30.070
So we don't ask it as a question anymore, other than just something for you to reflect on and ponder about as you move forward.

00:18:30.230 --> 00:18:43.910
It's kind of a not that we're ready to part right now, but it's a parting gift that we are doing in our episodes because it's it just starts something that has, if you follow the trail, has a beautiful ending.

00:18:44.230 --> 00:18:51.190
Yeah, it has many layers, and there's it's a well that you can keep drawing from.

00:18:52.150 --> 00:18:59.670
You know, I I really do believe that we get to choose who we are, and we get to choose how we show up in life.

00:18:59.910 --> 00:19:09.830
There's a lot of things that that we don't get to choose, but those two things we get to choose, and those two things influence everything that we experience.

00:19:11.269 --> 00:19:11.590
Yeah.

00:19:11.910 --> 00:19:18.070
The new ideas, um, the material that you use for those my uh ideas all makes you.

00:19:18.230 --> 00:19:22.310
You know, you don't just sometimes just go out and pick out something to create something.

00:19:22.470 --> 00:19:30.470
That's the reason why you pick that, whether it's the color, the shape of it, the object itself, it's it's those things that create art.

00:19:30.710 --> 00:19:35.590
That those things are very connected to our thoughts, our feelings, all of that.

00:19:35.910 --> 00:19:38.390
What emotion came out of it when you thought of it?

00:19:38.630 --> 00:19:54.070
Yeah, I've I've come to believe that creating is it's a like a form of meditation and it's very connected to our mental, emotional, spiritual health, and well-being.

00:19:55.670 --> 00:19:56.230
Yeah.

00:19:56.550 --> 00:20:05.190
It tells a lot about us as we as we create what we're creating, tells a lot about what's going on inside of us at the time that we're doing that creating.

00:20:05.509 --> 00:20:06.150
Yeah.

00:20:06.710 --> 00:20:07.110
Yeah.

00:20:08.310 --> 00:20:09.430
It can be very healing.

00:20:10.230 --> 00:20:12.150
It is, it can be methodical.

00:20:13.350 --> 00:20:16.310
And it's a it's a uh forward thinking, you know.

00:20:16.390 --> 00:20:24.070
Um, we don't know what tomorrow holds, but it's that curiosity that gets us to the next day to see what's gonna happen.

00:20:24.550 --> 00:20:25.029
Yeah.

00:20:25.350 --> 00:20:26.310
Exactly.

00:20:26.950 --> 00:20:33.670
So tell us a little bit about how community plays into your creative journey.

00:20:36.310 --> 00:20:47.670
I can think of what I'm learning the new create creativity of community today versus how it was in the future, I mean the past.

00:20:47.830 --> 00:20:59.509
I mean, we we had a community where no one had an issue with chastising or you know, having a thought to say something to your kid when they were wrong.

00:20:59.830 --> 00:21:08.390
And so much came out of that where you say you realize when you say, before you got in trouble, you you know, you let me let me get up right, let me do right, let me do the right thing.

00:21:08.630 --> 00:21:16.630
And it was more of fun, it was more of gathering together, community, working on the same thing, building.

00:21:16.790 --> 00:21:34.310
And now it's like finding those communities that does that, giving that helping hand, lending that that father figure, lending that mother figure to be able to build and pull out what these kids need today, or just you know what anyone needs today to just continue to go.

00:21:34.790 --> 00:21:37.750
Yeah, it's it's either finding it or it's building it, one of the two.

00:21:37.910 --> 00:21:38.790
Yeah, absolutely.

00:21:41.910 --> 00:21:44.150
If you can't find what you're looking for, build it.

00:21:44.470 --> 00:21:45.350
Absolutely.

00:21:45.990 --> 00:21:57.430
I think that you were uniquely positioned coming from such a large family to draw on tools that may come a little harder to people who weren't as fortunate.

00:21:59.190 --> 00:22:00.070
I believe that.

00:22:00.230 --> 00:22:19.110
Um I think back just when you say you you look at what your parents did do for you, and I'm grateful because I know that there are situations where even then parents didn't have some of those things to give to their kids.

00:22:19.269 --> 00:22:22.870
And to see that my father did everything he could to make sure we did.

00:22:24.070 --> 00:22:26.390
Yeah, I'm very appreci appreciative of that.

00:22:26.470 --> 00:22:27.910
I'm very appreciative.

00:22:28.310 --> 00:22:28.710
Yeah.

00:22:29.110 --> 00:22:31.509
They were special souls for sure, weren't they?

00:22:31.750 --> 00:22:32.390
Absolutely.

00:22:32.710 --> 00:22:42.470
And so that's why when I talk to people and I share, you know, I have no problem sharing them what my experiences was with my parents because I know you never know who it might help.

00:22:43.029 --> 00:22:48.230
And it takes that conversation, that one conversation to help someone get through that day.

00:22:48.950 --> 00:22:52.150
We never know what a person wakes up in their mind to the thought.

00:22:53.670 --> 00:22:54.950
So yeah.

00:22:57.110 --> 00:22:58.070
That's true.

00:22:59.509 --> 00:23:16.950
So what experience, I mean, I know you've only been in in your big creative mode for about a year and a half, you said, but what have there been any kind of collaborations or anything where you have worked with another artist or anything like that?

00:23:17.750 --> 00:23:18.390
I have.

00:23:32.310 --> 00:23:38.630
And different types of forms to be able to do that, but it's the learning curve that I am in.

00:23:38.790 --> 00:23:41.430
You know, it's a learning, and I'm okay with learning.

00:23:41.670 --> 00:23:47.269
And but it's learning to be able to evolve just other things around just what you have.

00:23:47.670 --> 00:23:49.190
And you don't know who it may touch.

00:23:49.990 --> 00:23:56.630
You know, me creating something different may give the view of someone else like, oh I didn't know that, I didn't see that.

00:23:57.509 --> 00:24:00.150
But I think that collaborating is good.

00:24:00.470 --> 00:24:07.110
You know, two minds come with something, you know, very different, very unique, touching.

00:24:08.630 --> 00:24:20.870
I think I think it can be an integral part of our our journey, and and yet we find in in most of our conversations there's a lot of isolation in the creative community.

00:24:21.269 --> 00:24:24.070
People work in isolation, that's true.

00:24:24.390 --> 00:24:28.950
And they don't don't really have much community around them.

00:24:29.269 --> 00:24:33.990
Um so how did you come by this collaboration?

00:24:34.150 --> 00:24:36.470
How did that how did that manifest?

00:24:38.470 --> 00:24:45.910
Um, I think it was someone who saw my work and saw how detailed that I am in my work.

00:24:45.990 --> 00:24:50.070
And it's more of just expression, it's it's shaping art.

00:24:50.310 --> 00:24:56.630
Um it's a vision, it's a story, and I believe in telling a story, you know, through art.

00:24:56.870 --> 00:25:06.630
And they ask, you know, have I thought about you know, expanding on what you have, not just staying in a box, not staying in that frame.

00:25:06.870 --> 00:25:14.390
And that was a good thought, like, oh yeah, let me expand out of my frame and see what what happens.

00:25:15.350 --> 00:25:16.870
And yeah, it took on.

00:25:17.190 --> 00:25:19.750
Brandy, what scale is your art right now mostly?

00:25:19.830 --> 00:25:22.790
Is it is it smaller pieces or is it really large?

00:25:23.110 --> 00:25:23.590
Large pieces.

00:25:23.990 --> 00:25:24.870
Large pieces.

00:25:25.269 --> 00:25:27.190
Yeah, like 36 by 36.

00:25:27.269 --> 00:25:27.509
Yeah.

00:25:27.910 --> 00:25:28.230
Okay.

00:25:28.630 --> 00:25:33.110
So incorporating wood in that could make it really, really heavy, really fast.

00:25:33.830 --> 00:25:36.230
It can make it heavy, but also can tell a story.

00:25:36.630 --> 00:25:40.630
And we see the ages of the wood, the bark, you know.

00:25:41.110 --> 00:25:57.029
Well, and beyond just what could be found wood, you also could cut and create three-dimensional things that yeah, there's some cool tools out there for now.

00:25:57.110 --> 00:26:02.310
We I've I've been looking at a um I think it's called a hoxo.

00:26:04.630 --> 00:26:05.990
No, I'm not sure.

00:26:06.390 --> 00:26:07.910
Yeah, but it's a handheld tool.

00:26:08.070 --> 00:26:25.830
It won't cut big tree limbs or anything like that, but it'll it'll cut valsa wood and the the lighter forms of wood where you can literally just carve things uh and and make whatever you want, and then put holes in it and weave it into your art with your yarn.

00:26:25.990 --> 00:26:27.990
I mean, yeah, the sky is the limited.

00:26:28.390 --> 00:26:28.950
Stack it up.

00:26:29.110 --> 00:26:30.310
Yeah, you can stack it up.

00:26:30.470 --> 00:26:31.269
It's 3D.

00:26:31.350 --> 00:26:34.150
Most of my art now is 3D, and I love it.

00:26:34.310 --> 00:26:39.430
I love that you you can come and touch it, you can feel it, you see it.

00:26:40.070 --> 00:26:42.150
Now you said 36 by 36.

00:26:42.310 --> 00:26:46.550
Do you do this and weave it into a canvas or is it matted on board or what?

00:26:46.790 --> 00:26:48.150
It's matted on the frame.

00:26:48.310 --> 00:26:53.670
I have the frame made, and uh I matted on the frame.

00:26:56.230 --> 00:27:05.190
So is it a is this the surface when you say matted, is it a solid like a canvas, or does it have individual threads running across like a web that's around?

00:27:05.670 --> 00:27:07.110
No, it's a thin piece of wood.

00:27:07.350 --> 00:27:08.390
It's a thin piece of wood.

00:27:08.870 --> 00:27:09.590
Cradle board.

00:27:09.830 --> 00:27:10.150
Got it.

00:27:13.269 --> 00:27:16.390
That way it helps on the size and and the weight of it.

00:27:16.870 --> 00:27:18.150
I love it.

00:27:18.230 --> 00:27:19.509
I love cradleboard.

00:27:19.590 --> 00:27:21.590
Oh my god, I love cradleboard.

00:27:22.550 --> 00:27:23.110
Yeah.

00:27:23.430 --> 00:27:27.590
And you can build a frame, you know, even if it's damaged a little bit, that gives character.

00:27:27.750 --> 00:27:33.029
And then even depending on how the frame is, that helps me create an idea.

00:27:33.430 --> 00:27:38.390
So if I have something rugged at the end, then make that more power of my art.

00:27:39.269 --> 00:27:40.790
Yeah, make it strong.

00:27:41.110 --> 00:27:55.430
You know, I bet you could also rummage around in in garage sales and places and buy old frames, yeah, and put a backing behind it.

00:27:55.509 --> 00:27:56.950
Um, so many options.

00:27:57.190 --> 00:27:58.870
Yeah, and and I spray paint it.

00:27:58.950 --> 00:28:02.070
I spray I spray paint it to meet my what my design is.

00:28:02.230 --> 00:28:06.230
Yeah, I can just spray paint one half of it and be something different, you know.

00:28:06.950 --> 00:28:07.830
I love that.

00:28:07.990 --> 00:28:11.430
You're you're highly creative, you got a lot of ideas and you're fearless, girl.

00:28:11.509 --> 00:28:12.950
You'll just try anything, won't you?

00:28:13.269 --> 00:28:14.470
That's because, yes, I will.

00:28:14.550 --> 00:28:15.750
That's because I'm in the siblings.

00:28:15.910 --> 00:28:20.230
You know, I told you there's so many characteristics in their head, so you can go over a lot of things.

00:28:21.670 --> 00:28:23.350
Come over with a lot of things.

00:28:24.710 --> 00:28:33.350
You know, with what one of the things that I'm I'm kind of hearing a theme come out in your conversation, and it is play.

00:28:34.870 --> 00:28:36.230
You you make your work.

00:28:36.310 --> 00:28:39.350
I that's what I'm sensing, that you just play.

00:28:39.509 --> 00:28:39.830
Yeah.

00:28:39.990 --> 00:28:44.950
You know, I I think sometimes we get so serious about our art.

00:28:45.670 --> 00:28:55.750
Um, and there's a lot of things that show up there, you know, we we're we're comparing our art to other people's art and and we're operating from a place of gee, am I good enough?

00:28:55.830 --> 00:28:57.110
Is my work good enough?

00:28:57.350 --> 00:29:02.870
And and this built in kind of this fear to this pressure and to perform.

00:29:03.029 --> 00:29:06.950
And and and are we going to be criticized so we feel unsafe?

00:29:07.029 --> 00:29:08.470
And it kills all the fun.

00:29:08.630 --> 00:29:10.550
Yes, kills the play.

00:29:10.950 --> 00:29:13.750
And and then and then we feel blocked.

00:29:14.070 --> 00:29:14.710
Yeah.

00:29:14.950 --> 00:29:15.190
Yeah.

00:29:15.430 --> 00:29:27.350
So how do you how do you stay in that play and not get sucked into the varying different things that could take it to a a serious place where it would be less fun?

00:29:27.430 --> 00:29:29.190
How how how do you manage that?

00:29:29.509 --> 00:29:31.670
I think because I use a lot of color.

00:29:31.990 --> 00:29:34.230
Color is, I love color.

00:29:34.390 --> 00:29:38.150
And uh in most of well, pretty much all of my art is color.

00:29:38.630 --> 00:29:44.310
Whether it's red, future, purple, black, green, loud, yellow.

00:29:44.550 --> 00:29:44.950
I love color.

00:29:45.190 --> 00:29:45.830
I love color.

00:29:46.070 --> 00:29:48.390
And what it was color, it's it's it's fun.

00:29:48.550 --> 00:29:53.029
My mother used to say, you know, when people feel blue, we're colors, we're all other colors.

00:29:53.190 --> 00:29:56.150
So when people feel down, you enlighten them with color.

00:29:56.310 --> 00:30:01.430
You know, when you build you, when you're buying a home, they say, Oh, it's dull white, you know, it's no feel, it's not feeling like home.

00:30:01.590 --> 00:30:03.430
You add a lot of colors like, oh, it pops.

00:30:03.509 --> 00:30:05.110
Just because you put a little gray in there.

00:30:05.269 --> 00:30:05.430
Yeah.

00:30:05.590 --> 00:30:08.390
You put a little blue in there, it pops now.

00:30:08.550 --> 00:30:09.110
Yeah.

00:30:09.670 --> 00:30:12.550
My our our house is very colorful.

00:30:12.870 --> 00:30:13.509
Yeah.

00:30:14.870 --> 00:30:24.310
And I want to roll back a little bit when Maddox, when you were talking about how play is is what came to mind.

00:30:24.790 --> 00:30:33.830
Um, I'm reminded of the the seven levers of creativity uh that are in Never Play It Safe.

00:30:34.070 --> 00:30:35.350
Play is one of them.

00:30:35.430 --> 00:30:36.470
It's a big one.

00:30:37.110 --> 00:30:45.190
And it made me reflect on a lot of the other things that you've shared uh that kind of speak to the others that are in there.

00:30:45.430 --> 00:30:49.430
So one of them that's a big one is time.

00:30:50.070 --> 00:31:01.670
And uh I think time is relevant because you've you've been at this for a relatively short time in the grand scheme of your life, right?

00:31:02.310 --> 00:31:04.550
Last year and a half you've been active in this.

00:31:05.350 --> 00:31:09.670
But it you've also had to bring them all to the table.

00:31:09.830 --> 00:31:14.230
Uh you've uh this is where you've focused your attention.

00:31:14.390 --> 00:31:28.390
You've used intuition to try to weave in you know different things that you might try, and you know, trusting your gut to to go different directions and and it's all just been a a practice.

00:31:28.630 --> 00:31:42.230
And I think one thing that I I think is not really getting a lot of attention is uh even though we might have hinted at it, failure is one of those things too, and it can be the best teacher.

00:31:42.550 --> 00:31:48.390
Um what are uh some moments where you've had to take the hard lesson?

00:31:48.870 --> 00:31:53.029
Yeah, and when you say that I can relate that to time, and you said timing is everything.

00:31:53.190 --> 00:31:55.029
I relate failure with time.

00:31:55.190 --> 00:31:58.870
Um, just because you come up with a piece doesn't mean that's right for that time.

00:31:59.670 --> 00:32:02.310
And someone might see it and it's not timing.

00:32:02.710 --> 00:32:08.310
And then two weeks later you take it at another event on good timing, and someone loved it.

00:32:09.190 --> 00:32:15.910
And to uh when you say failure, uh like I said, my father always taught her, you know, that's just somebody else's yes.

00:32:16.230 --> 00:32:22.310
So that's what gets me to keep pushing because that's somebody else, that's just somebody else's yes, you know.

00:32:22.630 --> 00:32:25.910
But um, yeah, that's somebody else's yes.

00:32:26.470 --> 00:32:27.910
I love that framing.

00:32:28.150 --> 00:32:36.550
I I love how you have such a positive frame around how you approach everything.

00:32:38.470 --> 00:32:45.430
Yeah, you you you really have um I don't even know what word I'm trying to come up with.

00:32:45.590 --> 00:32:58.870
It's like there's a stability um that you you just have put some things in place in your life that you you you don't let the turkeys get you down, as the saying goes.

00:32:59.590 --> 00:33:09.830
I I can tell you you talk with a conviction that lets me know that you're a person who gets up every morning and you decide what your day's gonna be like.

00:33:10.230 --> 00:33:10.710
I do.

00:33:11.269 --> 00:33:12.630
I mean, I just sense that from you.

00:33:12.710 --> 00:33:14.710
I'm an empath and I really sense that.

00:33:15.269 --> 00:33:19.670