We’re looking forward to introducing you to Jodie King. Check out our conversation below.
Jodie, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
A lot of people assume I just teach others how to paint. And yes, painting is the medium but it’s never been the point. What I really teach is how to come back to yourself. Creativity is one of the most powerful tools we have for mental health, self-expression, and emotional resilience. When people pick up a brush in my classes, they’re not just making marks on a canvas. They’re releasing shame, reconnecting with joy, and remembering that they’re allowed to take up space.
Over time, my work has expanded far beyond the canvas. I support artists not only in making honest, meaningful art, but also in building sustainable, thriving businesses. Too many artists are told they have to starve for their craft and I’m here to disrupt that narrative! Through Honest Art® and my coaching programs, I help creatives turn their passion into income, claim their worth, and lead with both soul and strategy.
So, the biggest misunderstanding is thinking this is an art class. It’s really a movement – a way to heal, to grow, and to build a life and career rooted in creativity, courage, and truth.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m an Austin-based artist, educator, and entrepreneur dedicated to helping people excavate their truest highest self through the use of art and creativity. Like many women, I spent years prioritizing others, raising two daughters and managing successful ventures, while neglecting my own passions, and ultimately my own needs. At 35, I picked up a paintbrush for the first time and it ignited a passion that changed my life.
What started as a personal self-care ritual quickly turned into something bigger. Now, 22 years later, I’ve created programs and trademarked methods that help people overcome self-doubt and connect with their most authentic selves. My work has been featured in private collections worldwide, on national TV, and in Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Vogue. My Honest Art podcast ranks in the top 5%, leading candid conversations on creativity, identity, and worthiness.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
I grew up believing I wasn’t an artist. In third grade, we had a school project to make a mushroom. I finished mine and, feeling excited, used the leftover materials to add what I thought was a beautiful enhancement. When the teacher reviewed our work, she praised the kids who followed the instructions exactly and told me I hadn’t done what was asked. I can still remember how quickly that moment collapsed something inside of me. I decided right then that creativity must not be for me and that thinking outside the box meant I was “wrong.”
For decades, I carried that belief like a quiet shadow. What I know now is that my instinct to experiment, to add, to explore was the artist in me. It just needed room, not rules.
Today, my entire mission is built around undoing moments like that for others. I help people reclaim the creative identity they were told they weren’t allowed to have. And in doing so, I’ve rewritten my own story: I’m not just an artist. I am a woman who honors the contradictions within myself and I guide others to embracing theirs!
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
It happened when I hit a point of complete burnout. It was the kind of burnout that forces you to either crack open or shut down. For years, I hid my pain behind perfectionism, productivity, and pretending everything was fine. I thought my strength lied only in what I could offer others, while burying my own needs. But that was costing me my health, my joy, and my sense of self.
One day, in the middle of one of the hardest seasons of my life, I decided to pick up a paintbrush simply because I didn’t know what else to do. I wasn’t trying to make “art.” I was trying to breathe. And something shifted. The canvas didn’t ask me to fix anything. It didn’t demand I be pleasant or put-together. It allowed me to be honest, messy, emotional, raw.
That was the moment I realized my pain wasn’t something to hide. It was something to use as information, as truth, as fuel. Painting became the place where I learned that vulnerability isn’t weakness, it’s wisdom. It’s where my now trademarked Honest Art was born.
Now, I have made it my mission to help others do the same: to stop bypassing what hurts and instead transform it into expression, connection, and even leadership. Pain doesn’t disappear when you ignore it. But when you’re brave enough to create with it, it becomes power.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
One of the biggest lies in the art world is the “starving artist” narrative. This idea that creativity is pure only if it keeps you broke, that art is a hobby unless someone else decides it has value. It’s a belief system that has held artists back for generations, and it’s absolutely outdated.
I learned that the hard way. During my divorce mediation, things were not looking favorable for me. At the end of that long day, I said to my lawyer, “Well, I’d better start painting,” and she looked at me and said, “Jodie, I don’t think you understand how serious this is. You need to get a real job.”
In that exact moment something snapped awake in me. My whole body said, Absolutely not. My response…internally at first…was: “I’m a motherf***ing artist.”
It was a turning point. I realized that the real lie isn’t that artists can’t make money. It’s that we’ve been conditioned to believe we shouldn’t.
Today, a huge part of my work is helping artists dismantle that belief. I teach them not only how to make meaningful, honest art, but how to build a thriving business around it. Creativity and commerce are not enemies. When you honor both, you don’t just survive as an artist. You rise as a person.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
I’ve learned that we should never make decisions based on fear. Fear isn’t going anywhere, it’s part of being human but most people let it run the show. And because of that, they never step into their full potential. They stay small. They stay safe. They stay stuck.
What breaks my heart is how often fear silences our creativity. People think they’re not creative, when really they’re just scared to express themselves. Scared to make something imperfect. Scared of being judged. But creativity isn’t about talent. It’s about truth. It’s about giving yourself permission to show up as you are.
Art has been my greatest mental health tool because it bypasses the part of the brain that’s trying to manage, perform, or get it “right.” When you create honestly, you interrupt fear long enough to hear yourself again. You reconnect to intuition, courage, and clarity.
What I understand (and what I’ve lived) is that your creativity isn’t frivolous. It’s your compass. And when you trust it, you stop letting fear make your decisions for you. You start leading your life instead of reacting to it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jodieking.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jodie_king_/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JodieKingArt
- Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/honest-art-podcast-with-jodie-king/id1665682525
Image Credits
Alicia Leigh Photography / Jodie King Media
