Meet Katie Stevens | The Messy Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie Stevens and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I spent years contemplating if I should start making a career out of my art. Fear and risk go hand and hand and it wasn’t until I was hit with a sign that I decided to take a chance.

I was reading one of my late father’s journals. I do this every so often to feel closer to him and find answers to questions he can no longer answer. I randomly opened the journal to a page and the first thing I saw in his scribbled writing is “take a chance”. I don’t know what exactly about those words change my whole mindset but suddenly everything made so much sense.

I was running away from the risk of making my life better just as much as I was running away from the risk of losing it all!

I ended up getting those handwritten words tattooed on my forearm with an arrow pointing outwards and since then, whenever I have a risky move in front of me that I’ve been putting off due to fear I see his words pointing towards that thing and I go all in.

It’s helped me find my art style, persist on making my art a career and almost everything else. So I would suggest to anybody worried about a risk, just take a chance.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My art style started the moment I heard my college professor say these words, “Katie, you have Crap-manship when you should have Craftmanship.”

At first I was extremely hurt by what he said because I had worked so hard on whatever project we were making. But years later I made it my brand and Katie The Messy Artist & a new mantra was born: Life Is Messy, Embrace It.

So you might not see clean lines and perfect details in my art but you will see passion, creativity, and heart.

Through the years my style has changed but that mentality has not. It wasn’t easy to accept this but it’s been worth it to be able to see my business grow.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Downtown Alpharetta is my go to! My husband is a chef at Citizen Soul so hitting that up for their yummy drinks and food never fails. Then a trip to All Fired Up for some pottery painting would be the second stop. Ending the night by going to the many amazing bars for some drinks and to listen to some live music at the many festivals they have.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would love to shout-out my wonderful husband for supporting me as I changed our lifestyle to make my dreams come true.

My mother for always standing beside me and helping anyway she can.

And I couldn’t do any of this without my messy art fam. My clients, peers and social media fam are literally the best.

A special shout out to my biggest fan, my dad who is no longer with us. His support of every creative idea I ever had made me feel like an artist from day 1.

Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheMessyArtistKatie

Instagram: katie.the.messy.artist

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katiethemessyartist?mibextid=LQQJ4d