Brit Parla on Creativity, Finding Flow and Evolving
“Why not, you know? I would rather fail and at least say that I tried, and I put my best forward than to have not tried it all and to live the rest of my life. Wondering what if.” - Brit Parla
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Brit Parla is a Chicago-based visual artist. Her main artistic mediums include, but aren't limited to, abstract fluid painting, drawing, and graphic design. Her goal is to continually create original and innovative works of art that evoke a sense of wonder and interconnections in others. Brit's artistic style influences are the science of color theory, Mother Nature, street art, abstract impressionism, as well as the art of the 1960s counterculture movement. You can find Brit showcasing her work at various venues and art exhibitions around Chicago.
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Show Notes
[00:04:06] Where The Interest In Art Begin?
Starting with journalism and writing. Eventually dropped writing for digital art and deciding to go school for graphic design.
[00:05:29] How Acrylic Pouring Entered the Picture
[00:06:27] Saying Yes To Things That Interest You
“It's wild how like it does work like that. I am don't know like it wasn't what I had planned on doing, but it just has worked a lot. I just needed something different. And I think just that willingness to expand and to explore Impacted me positively as an artist, and as an overall person, I feel like there's been a lot of like personal growth within the last two years because of it as well.”
[00:07:34] Does Creating Give You A Sense Of Ownership?
“I find myself putting myself out there and reaching out to and trying to start conversations with other artists just because we have this simple thread that might not have anything to do with each other in common. I liked that. It's really fun. Like I meet a lot of interesting people, and I meet people that I look up to like on a regular basis, and it just blows my mind that I'm here right now.”
[00:08:38] Community Building
“I owe a lot of where I'm at right now to the people that are around me and just like the artistic community that exists where I'm at right now. When I was younger, I used to be more like threatened by people who were really successful and who I thought were doing something really positive. And now like I don't view people like that as a threat. I'm not sure what changed, but I enjoy cheering people on and like building a community and creating this.”
[00:09:53] Why Push Your Way To The Top When You Can Bring Others With You?
[00:12:39] Learning From Others Within The Same Space
[00:13:31] Supporting Local Artists
“Oh, because when you're supporting local art, you're supporting someone's dream essentially. Do you know what I mean? It's not like a giant corporation. It's one person up late at night working on stuff to try to, you know, beautify the world a little bit.
I think that's really important. And someone like me personally, like I'm trying to break away from working a day job, and I would love to try to make a full-time career out of this, and every single purchase or a pat on the back or word of encouragement I think helps me get one step closer to that.
You know, it's not all about the financial aspect of it either. It's just independence. Yeah. I guess the word independence. “
[00:15:40] You Have To Try And To Put Yourself Out There
“I don't want to be another one of those people like another one of those stories. I want my kids to be like pulling my grandkids up to my gallery and strollers one day.
Do you know what I mean? I don't want to be that person. Amazing things happen when you start like putting yourself out there. And that was a really big struggle. And I still struggle with it sometimes.”
[00:16:55] How Do You Get Past The Fear?
“Sometimes I'll run things past like family members, you know, before officially jumping into something, whether it's like a project or like I did it the other day with stickers I want to print.
It can be mundane. Encouragement from the people around me really helps. And when I don't feel like reaching out, just like reaching within myself, it's helpful just to think what's the worst that can happen? The worst that can happen is that you know. Nothing will happen.”
[00:17:53] Dealing With Artist's Block
“First of all, I don't give up because you know, there's some, I don't know if it's momentum or what, but something is happening right now, and I need to keep pushing through. So if I'm saying I've been painting for a couple of hours, and I'm feeling stuck or don't want to keep going, but I have to because I have a commission due or something like that.
They're just silly things that I'll do. Sometimes it's as simple as a walk around the neighborhood or like keep a hula hoop in my studio, which I don't know. That's just like something fun for me to just, it's like it's physical movement. It takes me out of like my Headspace for a second, and it's just like freeing in that sense.”
[00:19:26] Cleaning Your Space
[00:20:32] Leaving Projects Unfinished
“Sometimes that comes from a space of like me working on something for a long time and not liking it. Like, oh, I just put so much time and energy into it, and I don't like the way that it is right now. So sometimes the best thing for me to do is to step away from a project. And that has been a thing that has been learned. If I hadn't learned that, I would have worked on things for like hours on end tirelessly. And wouldn't have stopped and would have burnt myself out.
So sometimes the best thing to do is to just kind of step away from things like gathering myself, you know? And then once I freshen up my perspective a little bit and go back into it. You see it with a new set of eyes, like with fresh eyes. You know, sometimes you need to step away for a minute.”
[00:22:18] Knowing When To Quit and Repurposing The Rejects
“It's also funny because sometimes people will come over and look through that then and like to take things home out of it because they like it.
And sometimes I struggle with that because it's like not up to my standard, but at the same time, it's like if that does something for someone, then they should have it, you know? It's interesting. It's all about perspective.”
[00:23:55] How Do People View Your Art?
[00:25:32] Having A Fixed View
“I can learn how to alter it the way that I need to. But coming into it, that loss of control was huge and truly beneficial for me. It taught me a lot as an artist about how to let go and how to leave things up to chance in a good way.“
[00:26:51] Understanding What You Can Control
[00:27:45] Getting Into Flow
“And there are other times where like I am completely in the flow state where I'm not in my head. I'll look up at the clock and it's like six hours later, like, how have I been painting for six hours? That's wild. “
[00:29:20] Going Part-Time Employment
[00:32:08] Having A Creative Space
[00:33:41] The Space for Creating Is Also The Space for Relaxing
[00:35:01] How To Turn On The Focus
“ So the lighting is first. I love creating during the day, though, when I don't have to worry about lights. Natural sunlight is my favorite, and then, music is also really important.
However, there are days where If I'm like going through something or really trying to like process something, it's rare, but I just won't turn on music, and I'll just work. And those are oftentimes the most interesting creative like periods for me. And then that won't last forever. Maybe it'll just be like an hour of creating that way, and then I'll turn on music. But sometimes I just need to like zero in on what I'm doing and focus.”
[00:37:43] Tash Sultana and Creating
[00:39:30] Listening To An Album From Start To Finish
[00:40:26] Giving The Story Behind The Art
[00:41:33] Expanding Beyond Painting
[00:42:51] Making Use Of The Rejects And Waste
“That was something that had really bothered me about this painting style when I had started was that it did seem like there was a lot of ways, and I am really grateful that I have learned how to navigate that better.
To the point where I would say 90% of the paint that is intended to go on the canvas truly does or is used in another way. If the paint doesn't get used for jewelry, I save it. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet, but I have like a collection of like the drip off paint.”
[00:44:32] Passion Is Contagious and Social Media
[00:46:11] Restoring The Coffee Table
[00:48:39] One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure
“It makes you think more creatively instead of just like walking into a craft store and grabbing canvases. Like I like walking through like a thrift store and being like, what can I turn into a piece of art? Like what can I paint on? And I found some interesting little things over the years, and those were some of my favorite pieces because they're so unique in comparison to say anything else.”
[00:49:11] Dream Goal For Functional Art?
[00:50:19] Mural Paintings
[00:52:05] Physical Routines Or Overall Wellness
[00:54:28] Plants and Nature
“Oh, obviously, you can see how many freaking plants there are in this, I try to have a plant within. I read a study, and it was like you're supposed to have it within like every 10 feet. We have like every 10 inches.”
[00:57:24] Getting Stuck Working For Too Long
[00:59:19] Creativity and Introspection
[01:01:30] Working Solo And Going To A Bar
[01:04:55] The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
[01:06:13] Morning Pages
[01:06:57] Artist Dates
[01:08:08] Other Books Recommendations
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
Listen to a previous podcast on Fight Club if you want more!
[01:10:56] What went well in 2019?
“It's been a year of growth, and I'm having a hard time articulating it right now, but. I'm really proud of where I am now in comparison to where I was when the year started. I feel like I'm a lot more organized, and I'm already trying to plan shows for 2020. And that feels really good.”
I feel like I was kind of like a fish out of water, where's the show that I can do? Like I wasn't like doing like the true research for it, but this year I like sat down and made a whole list like applied. It feels good.”
