Delores Naskrent: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome back to the Creative Juggle Joy. I'm especially excited about today's conversation because I'm catching up with my friend Kay, who I met back in 2022. That's a while ago, isn't it?
Kay Meadows: Yes.
Delores Naskrent: I can't believe it's already been four years. So a lot has happened in Kay's creative life since then.
She has continued illustrating children's books, which is how I first knew of her. She's become an author herself. She has really extended her fine art practice. It's really taken off, and she's been exhibiting and winning awards and teaching, working on commissions and becoming increasingly involved in the arts community in Mississippi.
And then last year, something happened that changed the trajectory of her career even more. After 30 years working in graphic design... 30 years, wow ... Kay's remote job ended. Suddenly the question wasn't just how to fit her art around her [00:01:00] career, it became could art actually be the career? And that's really what I wanted to explore today.
What happens when all of these different creative threads start coming together into a completely new chapter? Kay, welcome. Welcome to the Creative Juggle Joy. I'm so happy we're finally doing this.
Kay Meadows: Thank you. I'm excited too. I can't believe it's been since 2022 myself, and a lot has happened since then.
Okay. So much has happened since then that when I started trying to write it all down for you, I realized there were probably 100 things I was forgetting. But it's really exciting to be able to look back at where I was when we met and where things have taken me since.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah. Let's look back to 2023 maybe. Let's start there. When we met in 2022, what did your creative life look like? And when you compare that version of yourself with where you are now, what feels like the biggest change?
Kay Meadows: At that point I was still working in graphic [00:02:00] design, having a day job, which had been my career for about 30 years, while I was also doing my illustration and other creative work.
I was already illustrating children's books and exploring different opportunities with my art, but I think the biggest difference now is that I've really started thinking of my art as the center of what I want my career to become. Fine art in particular has become much more important to me. I'm painting regularly now, doing a lot of plein air work and experimenting with acrylic, oil, watercolor, and pastel.
Delores Naskrent: Wow.
Kay Meadows: Yeah. I've been also exhibiting entering competitions, teaching, taking commissions, and becoming more involved in the local art community. So I think the biggest change is that all these different pieces of my creative life have started coming together.
Delores Naskrent: Wow. That is a lot. One of the biggest changes came when your remote graphic design job ended so abruptly after roughly 30 years in the industry.
I'm sure that alone was a huge transition. What [00:03:00] was going through your mind when that happened? Was there ever a point where you realized this might actually look more like an opportunity to build the next chapter around your art?
Kay Meadows: It was definitely a big adjustment. Graphic design had been such a huge part of my working life for so long that suddenly not having that regular job was both scary and freeing.
Sometimes you get what you really want. So I actually was very excited that I was getting my chance to step out and spread my wings, but it also forced me to think seriously about what I wanted the next stage of my life to look like. Instead of always trying to fit my art around my job, I've suddenly had the opportunity to ask what would happen if I really gave the art a chance.
So I'm still figuring out exactly what that looks like because there are so many different directions I enjoy. But I'm much more intentional now about building a creative career around the work I actually want to be doing.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah. What really struck me in everything you sent me was just how much fine art has now moved to the [00:04:00] forefront.
You're doing plein air painting, working in acrylic, oil, watercolor, and pastel. That's a lot of different things. And you're entering shows, which I think takes a lot of guts, and competitions, and really developing this whole other side of yourself. What do you think drew you back toward painting so strongly?
Kay Meadows: I've wanted to be a fine artist ever since I was a little girl. When I was in college, I just didn't have a good idea of what that meant. I had no voice at the time, so I decided to change to graphic design. At least I knew I could make a living with that. I, of course, have aged since then, and I've begun to find my voice and what I think my art will say and look like.
I love illustration and design, but there's something very different about standing in front of a landscape or a subject and responding to it directly.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah.
Kay Meadows: Plein air painting especially has challenged me in a really good way. You have to make decisions quickly. The light changes, the weather changes, and you can endlessly fuss with things.
Also, it [00:05:00] gets you out of the studio, and often I'm with other artists, so it's good networking and making friends. Traveling to different places is a lot of fun for me as well. I enjoy sightseeing and learning about different cities and locations.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah.
Kay Meadows: I've also enjoyed experimenting with different media instead of feeling like I have to choose one and stay there.
That explanation has helped me develop my own voice as a painter.
Delores Naskrent: All right. And you're not just painting quietly at home. You've been putting the work out into the world. You've been doing exhibitions, competitions, and commissions, and you've had some wonderful recognition along the way. What has it been like to start seeing your fine art work recognized?
Kay Meadows: It's been very encouraging and validating. Anytime you put your artwork into a show or competition, there's vulnerability involved because you're letting other people judge something that's very personal to you. Receiving awards and recognition has helped confirm that I'm moving in the right direction.
But I think the bigger benefit [00:06:00] has been becoming part of the art community.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah.
Kay Meadows: I'm meeting other artists, learning from them, and getting opportunities that I probably wouldn't have found if I'd kept the work to myself. So each experience seems to lead to another one.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah.
And meanwhile, you haven't left illustration behind at all. You've continued to illustrate children's books, which I think is so cool, but now you've also crossed over into writing and illustrating your own work. I'd love to hear more about that. Like, how different does it feel when the story and the artwork are yours?
Kay Meadows: It's definitely different. When you're illustrating someone else's book, you're interpreting their story visually. You want to bring your own creativity to it while still respecting what the author is trying to communicate. When it's your own story, you have control over the whole world. That's exciting, but it also means you're responsible for everything.
Yeah. It's been a, it's been another way for me to combine the skills I've developed over the years, design, illustration, [00:07:00] storytelling, and art, instead of feeling like they have to live in separate boxes.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah. I totally get that. Another piece that feels very familiar to me is teaching, and I know you've been teaching art as well as making it, and you've become more and more involved in your local arts community.
Do you feel like teaching has changed the way you think about your own work?
Kay Meadows: Oh, yeah, definitely.
Teaching makes you slow down and think about why you do something rather than simply doing it instinctively. When you have to explain a process to someone else, you often understand your own process better. This can be a challenge because of my experience of painting for so long, to simplify a step for beginners makes you really dig for a way to explain it, and it sometimes surprises me at how far I've come as a painter/artist.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah.
Kay Meadows: The best part is I really enjoy encouraging other people creatively. So many come to me saying they can't paint or draw a [00:08:00] straight line, which I can't draw a straight line or paint one either. But often these same people surprise themselves, and they do so much better than they thought they would.
So being involved with other artists also have been important because creative work can be very solitary. Having that community gives you people who understand both the exciting parts and the difficult parts.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah, for sure. Of course, this podcast is called the Creative Juggle Joy, and I think you're the perfect example of that-
talking to you here. You're painting, you're illustrating, you're writing, you're teaching, you're taking commissions, you're exhibiting, and still figuring out the business side of making all of this sustainable, especially because you're doing it all on your own at the moment. How do you decide where to put your energy when you have so many creative interests?
Kay Meadows: I'm still figuring that out. 'Cause I'm unable to narrow myself down to one thing. Working in corporate America has helped me though. It's helped me learn how to organize my own work and time, and that is something I'm [00:09:00] very grateful for. Since I'm easily distracted, this has helped ground me.
From naming files to organizing the folders on my computer, what I will do each day, and so forth. For a long time, I think we're told that we need to choose one specialty or one clear identity, but I've realized that all these different things feed each other.
Also, I don't think people realize this, but when you start expressing your creativity, it just starts flowing.
I've had so many creative ideas, it's ridiculous. I will wake up some mornings in the twilight sleep and start getting ideas, or I'll see something somewhere and it'll create an idea. So that keeps things interesting for me. I think as well, being a graphic designer helped me be brave enough to illustrate children's books because I understand the whole process.
Not only can I paint the illustrations, I can get the artwork ready to be put in the file to create the book, and I understand the process of creating the book and it going to the printer. This has helped as well with learning surface pattern design. So having a lot of interests has helped me [00:10:00] more than hinder me.
My graphic design background affects how I compose paintings. Illustration affects how I tell stories visually. Fine art makes my illustrations stronger. Teaching makes me think differently about technique. After doing all of these different things, I know what I enjoy, so I try to make sure that whatever I'm being offered is something I really wanna do. If it's a job that I can take or leave it, I try to recommend someone I know that prefers that kind of work whatever that is.
So I'm learning that I don't have to do everything at once. I
Delores Naskrent: I think this part of your story is going to resonate with so many people listening. I know many people who are just the same as we are, that whole squirrel or shiny object syndrome.
Kay Meadows: Yes.
Delores Naskrent: There are a lot of artists like us in mid-life and beyond who wonder whether they've somehow missed their chance.
And here you are, after a 30-year career in graphic design, you're actively building this new version of your [00:11:00] creative life, and how wonderful is that? Yeah. What would you say to somebody who's thinking, "I'd love to do that, but isn't it too late?"
Kay Meadows: It's definitely not too late. I'm going to be creating till I die.
That's just the way it is. , I have to be learning, growing, and seeing what I can do next. In some ways I think everything you've done before gives you something to bring to, into the next chapter. This has been so true for me. I had a painting instructor in college who was very upset when she found out I was going to switch to graphic design.
She told me I'd never paint again. Of course, that was upsetting. But now that we are in this computer world, I'm so glad I went that direction. Yeah. I'm ahead of the game because I know the programs needed to do the children's books or the surface pattern designs and and illustrations for all kind of products.
I know how to set up my art to create prints, et cetera. I don't have any regrets.
Delores Naskrent: Awesome.
Kay Meadows: I'm, yeah, I'm not starting from zero. So I'm bringing 30 years of [00:12:00] design experience, problem-solving, working with clients, understanding composition and color and all those things with me.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah.
Kay Meadows: But I'm also allowing myself to be a beginner again in certain areas.
So that's really exciting. You don't have to know exactly where it's gonna lead you before you start. Sometimes you just have to follow that thing that's interesting you and see where it takes you.
Delores Naskrent: For sure. So with all of these things happening, what are you most excited about right at this moment?
What would you- ... love the next couple of years to look like?
Kay Meadows: I'd love to continue developing my fine art practice and exhibiting more. I'm working on a series of paintings called The Pilgrimage that was born out of my trip to Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. Georgia O'Keefe lived there and created some of her best-known artwork.
I had an experience on that trip that I felt opened me up being able to create a series that tells a story, and this is expanding my storytelling and authoring of a different kind of message. This is the first [00:13:00] large series I've ever created, and I hope this will give me an opportunity to show this work and maybe be asked to speak at organizations, you know- Right
or other places.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah.
Kay Meadows: And I want to keep working on illustration and books as well. I'm interested in seeing where teaching and commissions take me. And I'm about to pitch my Surface Pattern home decor to some art agencies. Like I mentioned earlier, I've finally got my website looking pretty good.
So- Excellent ... I'm ready to send that out. But I think the bigger goal is creating a life where my creative work isn't something I squeeze into the leftover spaces. You know- Yeah ... I want it to be the work. And I wanna stay open enough that opportunities I haven't even thought of yet can become part of that.
Delores Naskrent: Great. When you wake up in the morning, when you're getting those thoughts- creeping in, that's when you can decide whether or not you want that to be a part of it, and I just love that. I think that's a good place to end our podcast here, because your story really demonstrates something that I feel very strongly [00:14:00] about.
A creative career especially, doesn't have to be one straight line.
Kay Meadows: Yeah.
Delores Naskrent: Sometimes everything you've done before, even the things that seem unrelated at the time, become part of what you're building next. It doesn't mean that you had to have been in the art field to continue with it. I have- Right
lots of people in my classes, memberships, and so on, who had been a nurse for 30 years or had worked in the public sector for 30 years. Yes. I'm really proud of everything you've accomplished since we met. I love hearing these stories, and we had a group of four, our peer group of four, and we've all gone in such different directions.
I am so excited, Kay, to see where this next chapter will take you. Thanks so much, really, for taking this time out to come onto the Creative Juggle Joy and to catch up with me. This has been so fun.
Kay Meadows: Thank you. I am so [00:15:00] honored that you asked me because sometimes it's not always easy to realize the accomplishments till somebody asks you, so it was nice going through this and thinking about what all has been going on and I appreciate that you see, what's happening with me, and I'm excited and proud of you too, 'cause you're doing a lot. But you've always impressed me, ever since I met you. Well- So thank you so much for having me on.
Delores Naskrent: Yeah. If you were here in the room with me, you'd be getting a big hug right now. Yes. And to everyone listening, to everyone who has heard Kay's story here, thanks for joining us. I hope her story reminds you that there is no expiration date on the building of a creative life, and you don't have to have the entire path figured out before you begin, right?
You don't know. You have no idea. Yes. Just keep making, keep experimenting, and keep finding your own way to juggle creativity with everything else life brings your way. I'll see you next time on The Creative Juggle Joy.
