Last month I was contacted by the host of the Fluid Arts Podcast, Kévin White Jr.
He had heard of me through another artist, Ashley Krieger. He asked if I would be interested in being interviewed about my pouring watercolor technique and my book for the podcast. I was surprised and to be honest, very nervous about this idea.
Even though I have taught for years and discuss my art all the time, due to the pandemic and the other preceding events, I am out of practice! Speaking to a camera while recording videos is a little different (and often feels strange) and it has been a few years that I have been before an audience on a regular basis. I thought, “What if I trip over my words? What if I don’t understand what he is asking? What if I ‘ummm’ or “aaaaa’ too much? What if I’m boring?” I am sure many of you have been there before when the prospect of speaking before an audience presents itself.
However, I am a big believer of say yes to opportunities as well as faking it until you make it. Plus, there is nothing I would rather do than paint and teach others how to paint. If this is what it takes to live my dream, then so be it.
Fortunately I realized that the session would not be live. Whew! That made it less nerve wracking. Then Kévin made me feel very comfortable before he jumped into the interview. I discovered that we had a few things in common beyond both being artists, like we both grew up in Maryland and had a connection to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He went there for university and I was offered an adjunct position there a few years ago that I unfortunately had to turn down.
Yesterday, that interview was released on the podcast. At first I didn’t want to listen to it because I was so nervous about it and I was desperately trying to get other work done. But my other work refused to get done until I listened. And you know what? It wasn’t that bad. I actually sound like I knew what I was talkin about and it there were any ummm’s and aaaaa’s, the producers took them out. Yay!!
If you haven’t listened to the interview already, you can go to the Fluid Arts Podcast which can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Play. You can also listen to the YouTube video or go to Acrylicpouring.com. There are images and other links on the website which you can view by clicking below.