MEET KATIE

Look, I'm going to be real with you guys here. I have tried writing an "About Katie" section for weeks as I work on this website. The type of third person description that makes people want to learn even more about me, something nice, upbeat, and deep. Along with a professional photo of me holding a brush or looking deep into a canvas.

Well, quite frankly, I can't do that. I'd have to call bullshit on myself if I did that.

I can't sit here and tell you all that I paint in translucent layers of paint to expose characteristics of my soul. I can't tell you that I've had my work in galleries across the United States and to check out my CV. I can't tell you that I received a fine art degree from a prestigious college. As much as I wish I could say all of that, it's simply not true.

So, what can I tell you?

My father died at the young age of 47 from cancer, and from the moment I watched the life escape his body, I felt empty. So empty that I wouldn't talk to anyone for months until my mom brought home a box of paints from a local thrift store. She told me that if I wasn't going to talk to anyone, that I needed to at least do something to take my mind off my fathers death. So I painted... and I never stopped.

When I started painting we were too poor to afford brushes, so I painted with Q-tips. Over the last few years I've had to discover different ways to be resourceful, otherwise I'd have no food, no electricity, and no money for supplies. Becoming resourceful has been one of the biggest blessings in disguise.

The Art Institute of Charleston is where I attended right after high school, majoring in Interior Design, until they told me I didn't qualify for the loans to finish my degree. So I had to quit.

I have experienced more in my 27 years than most people experience in their entire lives. I will talk more about all this in my blog.

Saving furniture is kind of my jam. I like to take something that people consider useless, ugly, or trash, and breathe a new life into it. So often in today's society we simply replace what's old and outdated with something shiny and new. I am trying to bridge the gap between trash and treasure.

I create incredibly colorful finishes that I paint on furniture, cabinetry, canvas, etc. I paint such vibrant colors because I've known a lot of struggles and darkness in my life, and I want to brighten up the world. That sounded cliche as fuck and I immediately cringed at it, but it's true, so it stays. I just want to tell a story with my furniture.

No bullshit. That's my attitude toward just about everything in life. We only get one life... one chance to make a difference, one chance to sing our song, one chance to change the world. I'm not letting that go to waste, you shouldn't either.

I swear too much, paint every day, and try to help as many people as I can along the way.

Life is too short to chase after anyone else's dream but your own.

Xoxo, Katie