Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Trueblood.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in a creative home. My dad is a graphic designer and my mom got her degree in interior design. I was always making trips to my dads office where they were always doing a lot of screen printing as well as creating big commercial displays, usually for an upcoming holiday. There was always something creative to keep me busy while I was there. At home, there were always a lot of supplies for drawing and crafting. I remember sitting and watching my mom do Batik work that she would sell at local art markets. My siblings and cousins were also creative and many of us took art classes together from elementary school all the way through high school. It was just the natural choice when I got to college to choose to study art. It was just what I had always done and I planned to keep doing it, so when I learned it was an option for my major, I jumped right in. I feel lucky to have landed in the program that I did at BYU. I studied at BYU in the illustration program. I had been in a high school level art show at a local museum and through that, I met the professors that I studied with through college. These mentors changed my life and I still consider them great friends and mentors, even 13 years after graduating. In the illustration program, I also met my husband, Houston. He has been such a great support and has always been encouraging and supportive of my art career. After we graduated we decided to move to NYC. With no jobs lined up and our bachelor’s degrees and a couple of thousand dollars we moved out to the city and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, it was 2010 and our country was in a major recession, so work was not easy to come by. The clock was ticking and we were running out of money. After countless interviews and several weeks of living off of as little as we could manage, we both finally landed jobs at “Pop Tarts World” in times square. This was definitely not what we had in mind when we moved to the city, but we couldn’t be picky at this point. We were in charge of a counter where customers could come order custom t-shirt designs and we would screen print them to order. The job kept us humble and also kept us going for about 4 months until my husband got a paid internship with Johnson and Johnson as a graphic designer and I started picking up some freelance work. Our three years in New York were very formative for us. We came out of there with lots of grit and many connections that have helped us both grow over the last 8 years. I didn’t really get back into traditional painting until 7 years ago. I was sitting down with my cousin Brooke and a couple of our roommates from college. We were all talking about our creative pursuits and how we wished we were doing more with our work. We decided to commit to a 100-day project where each day we would create something. We each decided on our own goals for the project and then kept each other accountable over those 3 1/2 months of daily creating. I think for each of us, it was a turning point in our career, a time the launched us into the path we are on today. Each of us are still working and finding successes as we keep moving forward. Each of us has children and that has affected our journeys as well. For me, being a mom artist has really impacted my process as well as my work. I spend my days caring for children, so my creativity during those hours is mostly observational. I pay attention to the things going on around me and I find inspiration in my daily life. I think that is reflected in my work. Most of what I paint is subject matter that is all around me. Household objects, the food I’m preparing, things I find in nature as I’m out playing with my children. Sometimes it’s even the toys my children play with or their favorite candies. The feeling of my work is also affected by my busy days with my children. My days are full and loud and fun and messy. Once I get my kids to bed, I head down to my studio to paint. It’s time to myself that I really look forward to. It’s a few hours a night in my own little peaceful haven. My work is often really simple. My design and my use of color and subject matter attempt to create a feel of quiet and calm. My work brings balance to my full and busy life. I think many people can relate to that feeling of needing a place to go after a busy day. I hope that my work can bring that feeling to it’s viewers and those who take my work home to hang on their walls. Our busy lives are, in so many ways, rich and rewarding, but we all need breaks and time to recharge.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There have definitely been ups and downs along the way. I can’t pretend that I constantly sustain my working habits. My family life can get really busy and there are many nights that I don’t make it into my studio, sometimes for even weeks or months. I always find my way back though. I think all of us need a creative outlet and for me, it’s making art. There is a pull that I can’t resist and even when things are busy, I can’t stay away for too long. I think another struggle is just dealing with rejection. As a creative, it’s inevitable that my work will be rejected. I have dealt with so many rejections and I’m sure I will continue to in the future. The key is to remember that you are creating because it makes you happy and let that be your fuel. It’s always a bonus when someone else connects with your work and of course, I’m always happy when my work is well received, but I come back to it cause I want to create.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a contemporary still life painter. In college, as I studied, I focused on figurative work. That’s always what I thought I would do. Somewhere along the way, during my adjustment into motherhood, I shifted into still lifes. It was just easier. I could paint anything, I didn’t need a model, I could work whenever the timing was good for me. I fell in love with the still life and have been doing it ever since. I am also influenced by some stages of my career where I was working abstractly. I love playing with color texture and design and during my time doing abstract work I learned a lot through experimenting with all of these elements. I felt the pull back to my representational roots, but I definitely brought some of the playfulness and looseness of my abstract work with me.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
I have learned that even though a lot of my work is done alone in my studio, connection is such an important part of art and life. During covid, I was home a lot, but my art output slowed down. I think interaction with family and other artists and collectors is so important. Just like the 100-day project that I did with my 3 friends, I do need some accountability. I also feel inspired when I am talking with other people about art or talking with other creatives about what they are doing. One of the things that really helped get me going in my art career was being a part of a local group of women artists. We would meet quarterly and talk and learn from each other. The amount of encouragement I got from these women, the goals I set with them and the ideas we bounced off of each other, really gave me momentum in my work. When the pandemic hit, I feel like that support really dwindled because we weren’t able to be together. Now that things are getting back to normal, I am feeling new life in my life and work. Connection is such an important part of life and creative pursuits.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.megantrueblood.com
- Instagram: @megantruebloodart
