Hello friends! I have always LOVED painting! Putting colour on canvas lights me up - and watching an artist create is the most thrilling spectacle. I am so fortunate that my friend, Sherrice invited me into her space to see her process and speak to her deepest emotions when she is painting. Read on to learn about Sherrice's creative journey.
Melodie Reynolds: Hey, friend, thank yo ufor inviting me into your space. Okay, let’s start by you introducing yourself.
Sherrice Kirby: Welcome! My name is Sherrice Kirby, and I'm an artist.
MR: Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
SK: Yes, I've always considered myself a creative person. Whether I think creativity is in everything we do, creating a piece of art, raising our children, or whatever we do, it needs an element of creativity.
MR: Tell me about your relationship with colour.
SK: My relationship with colour, I would say, is muted. I really do like my neutrals. I'm not into the primaries when I'm painting or creating or anything. In my home, it tends to be fairly neutral unless it's blue, and then I do like dark blue.
MR: Blue! Love it - what draws you in more than other colours?
SK: There's something to do with the chakras. Maybe around my throat. Something to that. Maybe it's kind of a primal thing, speaking my truth. The drawing to water. Blue pulls me in the most right now.
MR: I love that - like the colours you use are defined by how your body feels.
Tell me, what is your definition of creativity?
SK: I think creation is life. That is what it is. I would say creativity is what saves my soul. If I am unhappy in a space that isn't functional for where I want to be, if I go to creativity, that's where I find myself again. That's where I come back to calm. And that's the space that I think I inherently recognize. No matter what I'm doing. It's that creative space. Especially these last five years. It has really saved me
MR: What are you most inspired by?
SK: I'm most inspired by my daughter in witnessing her, what she creates, how she is maneuvering and growing up in this world, and the education she brings to me about things that we didn't think about when we were her age. So I would say she is what inspires me most. And nature. My daily walks, getting outside every day, hiking, and everything I see outside is what I bring into what I'm creating, into my art. So whether it's with my pen in hand that I'm writing or no matter what I'm doing, it's elements of nature that I'm looking for and seeing. And then that's what shows up the most. That's when I'm creating.
MR: What do you think about when you are being creative? Whether it's painting or any of the other ways you express yourself, where does your mind go?
SK: I would say it empties. And I think that's why I do it. It empties my mind. My mind does go empty. And I think it's a bit of a trance state. There's nothing there anymore. There's an emptiness until I start to see something. And then I'll go to that place. Sometimes when I'm painting, I do see the scene. Like, even though it's so abstract, what I create, I start to see it, and it starts to come to be. But my mind is probably the one space where I do go empty.
MR: I love that so much. Final question is, what is your most creative pursuit? Where do you feel that emptiness or that trance state the most out of all of the creative things that you do?
SK: Oh, that's really hard to answer. I would say my most creative space right now,is in the way I'm creating within my home. I feel really creative right now when I look at a piece of furniture and think about how I'm going to alter it and when I look at the wood and the grain, and then sometimes I'm bringing that wood grain into the next painting with the colours I choose. So right now, it's playing with wood.
MR: HAHAHA! I love that so much. Playfulness.
SK: Yes! And one of my most creative spaces is raising my daughter right now, requiring every piece of my creativity. Great kid, but it's still it's a lot of work.
MR: I hear you. Parenting is all the things. Thank you so much for this. Where can we find you can see more of your art?
SK: You can find me on instragram at @studiosherrice and my website is https://www.studiosherrice.com/gallery
