Today we’d like to introduce you to Catie Lewis.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started my creative practice about two years ago when I first moved to Austin! Prior to that, I was living in SC as a full time student with two to three jobs and no time for creativity. My plan was to continue that here in Austin, but when I arrived, I was so inspired by all colorful murals around the city and the creative community here. I decided to start painting again after years of doing nothing even remotely artistic. I started out with local art markets, taught a few workshops, popped up at certain art shows & overtime began refining my art practice and painting murals for clients. My focus now is mainly telling a narrative of my personal story / heritage through oil painting, while doing murals for businesses and homes here. My latest clients have been Lexus and Google, but I’ve loved the work I’ve done for local non-profits BossBabesATX & DeedsNotWords as well as small women owned businesses like EleMINT Skin and TinyTatsATX.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been exactly smooth, but it hasn’t been so hard that I’ve ever felt like it wasn’t worth it. I’m a self-taught artist so most of the journey was literally just me experimenting with different styles and mediums and exploring the kind of art that I like to make! I think the bumps in the road have been everything on the business side of being an artist. It was a lot of reaching out to other artists, watching YouTube videos and Googling things I didn’t know about and being patient enough to know that you’re not going to build your goals in a day! It’s more of a long term process.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve played with a mix of styles in the past two years, but a year of quarantine and sitting with myself in my studio sort of revealed the type of art that I’d like to make from now on. I’m really drawn to oil paint and creating compositions that share a story versus the very minimalist, objective work that I started out with. I’m most proud of my last collection, called ‘Bahay’. It was a series of paintings based on my time in Siargao, Philippines where my birth family lives. Painting it during lockdown helped me reconnect with them in a time where I couldn’t visit- but sort of revisit the affect that their presence and the magic of the island / the Philippines in general has on me.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Don’t worry about style / being a perfect artist!!! Literally just try anything and everything when it calls to you- that way you’re keeping your creativity open and flowing from the beginning. It’s very easy to narrow down too fast and start catering your artistic skills to your audience. Not everyone goes through that but i definitely did for a second and wish I stuck with what I wanted to do- not what immediately worked because the style happened to be trendy at the time. Also- don’t be afraid to ask for help or reach out the creative community near you.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@catielewis.com
- Website: www.catielewis.com
- Instagram: @catiegl.art
