February 12, 2023 • 60 mins
On today’s episode of Creative Space, we have the pleasure of speaking with the super talented visual artist Krissy Whiski. Her work is described as “painting the spaces between dreams,” and Krissy creates as a meditative and cathartic means of reflecting on life and what it means to be human. Her bright color palette and line work is informed by her experiences of synesthesia.
We cover so much ground in our conversation, including Krissy’s artistic beginnings growing up in Hamilton, NJ and frequenting Grounds for Sculpture as a kid. We also get a glimpse into what it’s like to see the world from the perspective of a visual artist like Krissy, and how she blends her inner world with the outer world through her painting.
For more on Krissy Whiski, visit: www.krissywhiski.com.
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SHOW NOTES:
0:00—Introduction
1:16—How we met
3:30—Playing at Grounds for Sculpture as a kid
6:02—The journey to getting to paint her bedroom walls
10:50—Being the weird kid and seeing the world as an artist
13:45—Synesthesia, the Fibonacci Spiral, and Tool’s “Lateralus”
16:06—How sunglasses help Krissy filter signal and noise
18:50—On wanting to become an artist professionally
20:36—Losing her stepdad and the move to Florida
23:00—Learning the art of selling art by working at a gallery
24:45—Moving to Savannah, figure drawing class, and photography
30:21—Krissy’s definition of creativity
33:30—Forget balance: the creative life is a mosaic
34:30—The creative advantage of a disorganized sketchbook
38:55—The genius of Krissy’s burn pile
43:36—Her greatest challenge so far
44:24—Artists: do not measure yourself by clicks and likes
46:45—Breaking down her painting, ‘Gas Mask Kids’
49:51—Krissy’s 2016 short film, ‘Plague Doctors’
52:00—Breaking down her painting, ‘Rhiannon’
54:52—Krissy’s delivery experience for her art
57:54—Advice for aspiring visual artists
58:49—What’s next for Krissy?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jennifer Logue (00:10):
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode
of creative space, a Podcastwhere we explore, learn and grow
and creativity together. I'myour host Jennifer Logue. And
today we have the pleasure ofspeaking with a super talented
visual artist Krissy Whiski. Herwork is described as pinning the
spaces between dreams and Krissycreates as a meditative and
(00:35):
cathartic means of reflecting onlife, and what it means to be
human. Her bright color paletteand linework is informed by her
experiences of synesthesia,which we'll talk about in the
podcast. Krissy also has aunique approach and how she
sells her paintings withcollectors, which we'll discuss
as well. When you see her work,you'll be even more blown away
(00:58):
because Krissy is a self taughtartist. I've been a big fan of
hers for a while. Welcome toCreative Space. Krissy.
Krissy Whiski (01:06):
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. That
was an amazing intro.
Jennifer Logue (01:10):
Oh my gosh, wow.
For an amazing artists. So thankyou for being on the podcast.
Thank you. Where are you callingfrom today?
Krissy Whiski (01:18):
I'm Amish country, Pennsylvania.
Jennifer Logue (01:22):
What an incredible place to create from
Krissy Whiski (01:25):
very free of distractions quiet and
picturesque.
Jennifer Logue (01:29):
I love it. I love it. I love it. We see you
in your beautiful, creativespace of your own right now.
Thank you. Um, so how we met?
I'm trying to remember. I'mpretty sure I interviewed you
when I was at Metro back in theday.
Krissy Whiski (01:45):
Yes, um, you interviewed and photographed me.
I think we ran into each otherin DC. It was either I think it
was 2016 Oh, no, it was livepainting. It was crowded. It was
so packed in that building andcrowded and we had a moment
within the crowd. Like you werejust saw me live painting and
(02:08):
asked if you could photograph meand talk to me and read a moment
in this loud, boisterous place.
That was I think it was prettyspecial.
Jennifer Logue (02:17):
Oh my gosh, I love it. Yes, yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. I remember now sometimesthat needs to be prodded,
remembered certain things. AndI'm like, Oh my God, yes.
Krissy Whiski (02:27):
And then I saw the article be published because
I have a Google Analytics on myown name. Oh, artists job. So I
saw the article show up. And Ireached out to you and asked if
I could reshare it through mysocial channels. on Facebook.
Jennifer Logue (02:45):
Oh my gosh, and I've been following you ever
since. And just as a fan, I'mjust it's so refreshing to see
your work in my feed. And, youknow, as a musician, as a
writer, myself, I get inspiredby visuals. Like that opens me
up to layer in my own way.
Krissy Whiski (03:04):
That makes sense.
Because my first inspirationsfor music. Oh, here we go. Great
visuals for me.
Jennifer Logue (03:12):
Yes, yes. Yes, yes. So thank you for everything
you do it seriously. Your workjust adds a breath of fresh air
to all of our days, you know, wesee it. So let's start at the
very beginning. Where did yougrow up? And did you come from
an artistic family?
Krissy Whiski (03:32):
Um, that's an interesting one I was surrounded
to and exposed by a lot of art.
I grew up in Hamilton, NewJersey, okay, stepfather when I
was really young, worked forParks and Recreation. So I have
these memories that from very,very early of playing in the
grounds for sculpture. Oh, Idon't know if you've ever been
(03:54):
there. I've never been there.
It's like a giant to sculpture.
There's there's human life sizehuman people sitting on benches
that are very lifelike andrealistic. And I remember being
a child and this being like myplayground. Oh, it was very
Alice in Wonderland feeling likewhen you look back. And I didn't
realize that other people didn'thave that. And then my mother
(04:18):
worked for a printing companyfor a really long time. That
still exists today. It's onBroad Street and Hamilton, New
Jersey. And they printedPrinceton's college Tiger
magazines that contain out freeand art drawings of the
students. And I would sit andlook through the pages of them
that were printing like becausethings would get messed up in
(04:40):
the bookbinding office and theyjust tossed that stack of papers
to the side. So I do artalongside of these poems on the
extra sheets of paper and I'dsit and draw when I was with her
at work.
Jennifer Logue (04:56):
Oh cool. So much Art, that's a very different
upbringing.
Krissy Whiski (05:02):
Yeah, it was. I had a lot of I say that I was a
product of the late 80s, early90s. We were the latchkey
children. And we had a lot offreedom.
Jennifer Logue (05:13):
Yes, yes. Before the days of the internet, like,
we'd still go out and play, we,you know,
Krissy Whiski (05:19):
showed up. And it was, was that was an impactful
time to like, oh, the world justgrew a whole lot wider. But
having that in person, justfreedom. Nobody knew where we
were at for hours, or what wewere doing. So we got to kind of
explore the world, I think verydifferently than kids do today.
Jennifer Logue (05:40):
Yes, because now they're always connected. Yes.
And there's a lack of beingfully present unless you train
yourself to didn't know how todisconnect. Yeah, that is so
true. The physical world is sucha beautiful place to be. When
did you first start painting?
Krissy Whiski (06:00):
Haha, it first started through drawing and
crowns. I was trying to expressthis internal mind's eye thing
to others. And then art becameit like evolved into this coping
mechanism and supportive outletfor like, expressing myself and
dealing with my emotions. But Ido remember getting my first
(06:22):
like paint kit. And it was oneof those cheap stale like box
kits that have all the artsupplies, and I got it for
Christmas one year. And I wantto say I was like seven or
eight. And I was, I was sostoked to get these. And I was,
I should say I still am a messypainter. And I remember getting
(06:44):
paint on the kitchen chair andthen on the rug, and the paint.
Painting was an area ofcontention, my supplies were
taken away. In my parent'sdefense, I was compelled to draw
on walls. I literally took topainting the street, I found
(07:05):
leftover yellow curb paint sincemy dad works for Parks and Rec.
And I painted a son in thecenter of the road.
Jennifer Logue (07:14):
I'm sure your parents didn't love it. But
that's awesome.
Krissy Whiski (07:17):
I was being outdoors playing and no adults
are really keeping a close eyeout. So it seemed like a great
idea at the time. My parentsrealized I could get in trouble
for this. And I was compelledand obsessed to do it. I mean,
at one point, I was sneakingaround doing graffiti like my
(07:40):
middle school years with thegraffiti kids. Yeah. And my
stepdad since he worked forParks and Rec recognized my art.
Like, oh, no, I think this is mykid. Because you know, they
gotta show up clean thevandalism. And he confronted me
on it at home. I was surprisedthat he recognized that it was
my art. And he was worried likeI could get him in trouble. I
(08:03):
could just I could get myparents in some trouble and
myself. So they essentially wecompromised. And the walls of my
bedroom. were allowed to becomemy if you're compelled to paint
on walls or outside for summer,and we need to we can't
vandalize other people'sproperties. So they painted my
room, this sky blue, like amedium, they let me pick the
(08:25):
color. And then I was allowed tojust take pain through my middle
school years and just create onthose walls
Jennifer Logue (08:32):
incredible. Your walls are your canvas.
Krissy Whiski (08:37):
That was a huge like free like, I thought I was
the coolest. I would invite myfriends over and be like, do you
want to add to the wall and itwas like, some of them were so
daunted by it and others werelike, wait, what your parents
are letting you but so it was aplace my room became a Hangout.
So cool.
Jennifer Logue (08:58):
I love that. Who were your early inspirations
back then?
Krissy Whiski (09:02):
Oh, um, since I was exposed to all this are at
the ground for sculpture there.
I remember looking into thisartist, his name was Johnson,
Seward, Seward Johnson, I wantto say his name was his
sculptures are fascinating. ButI have to say my earliest
inspirations, absolutelyearliest feel like music. It was
(09:23):
one of the hardest things. Itwas tool. It was Jimi Hendrix. I
was seeing the shapes and linesand colors on a guitar sings
it's like a vibration. And I waslike, I'm compelled to like, I
thought everybody experiencedit. And when I realized they
(09:45):
didn't, they weren't having thislike beautiful. I was like,
Well, I gotta show you what thisis. And interestingly enough
family members like my dadworried that like float because
people had it too, like Iconnected this in many ways,
like there was somethingconnecting and going on, where
I'm abstracting things intolines and shapes and colors. And
(10:07):
my parents worried that I was.
Is there something wrong withyour eyes? Oh, my gosh,
floaters. Let's get you to aneye. Doctor. Are you sure you're
not hallucinating? And theycheck my eyes. They brought me
to some mental healthprofessionals. Yeah, she's fine.
(10:30):
Um, we don't know what this is.
It's so I have heard the adultoverheard the adult saying I was
just making up stories. And thentelling other kids, I became the
weird girl who sees ghosts, shesees dead people in middle
school. So in elementary school,it was like, I was just the
weird kid. Um, because I confidein a friend. And like one of the
(10:53):
friends. These were a group oftwins and told the other
brother, who was like, No,that's not. Oh my gosh, I
remember the weird kid. And Istopped telling people about it
for a while. My aunt joke that Isaw auras, like this is before
the internet was Yeah. Auraslike
Jennifer Logue (11:14):
people. Oh my gosh, you're just an artist. I
would be looking
Krissy Whiski (11:18):
everywhere, like in library books for Yeah. And
it led me to like EVP andparanormal, like, led me to your
rabbit holes of like trying tofind the answer for what is this
thing. And I just kept comingback to art. Like, it's just in
me. It's my thing. And I keptdrawing it and expressing it and
(11:42):
putting it out there. But Iwanted to blend the inner and
the outer realities, like myinner reality, with the outer
reality that everybody else willsee. Yes. So I kept trying to
think how can I do that so thatpeople can connect to it still?
Because it was too abstract?
Yes. And I remember the firsttime seeing Hilda clips work and
(12:03):
Kandinsky in an art museum, Iwas a dean, and we were on like
some school field trip. And Iwas like, Oh, they know. They
have the thing. But like, I'mnot alone. They know. And then
I, I saw Vincent van Gogh. And Iwas like, he knows and he's
(12:24):
learned, I think he knows. Andhe's learned how to blend it.
Like he's seen in
Jennifer Logue (12:30):
places. Yes, he's putting into his
landscapes. He's seeing it in
Krissy Whiski (12:33):
people, I would say I will bill, I see paintings
that he's done with people and Icry, because I'm like, Oh, she
sees it too. Or he's, I say it'sthis. It's visual for me. But
it's not all the time. It's likeyour mind's eye your perception
of something beyond what you'reseeing visually. So if you stare
(12:56):
at something, and you look at itfrom different angles, and you
kind of let your eyes do almostthis, like this focus, you see
what you see internally, like itbreaks it down in your brain to
simple shapes and lines. And theonly thing I could find close to
that made sense of it was, um,well, I found it numerous places
(13:19):
like I kept coming back toScience was it's like a
metaphysical, like consciousnessthing. Have you keep finding the
same patterns and shapes? Andlike all of nature, the building
blocks of life? And unless allmatters,
Jennifer Logue (13:34):
it's all connected, I'm convinced.
Krissy Whiski (13:37):
Yes, it definitely is.
Jennifer Logue (13:40):
So once you realize, we touched on your
synesthesia, yes, in your intro,but you want to talk about that
you eventually discover like,this is part of that too.
Krissy Whiski (13:51):
I have to think about how to convey this because
we've touched on my son's aseizure a bit, but this has
always been a hard one for me tolike, share, because it's one of
those there aren't a lot ofwords.
Jennifer Logue (14:04):
I think it's just that simple. idea of like,
when you hear music, you seecolor.
Krissy Whiski (14:13):
Yes. Oh, here's a good explanation. So I sent tool
was inspiring. Morales by tool,it was one of my favorite songs.
And it was because I wasconnected to this the fiber non
tree spiral. And then we so ifyou listen to the song, and you
listen to the way the drums areplaying, and the guitar sings, I
don't know if you've ever heardthe song, but there is the
(14:37):
Natalia shape, that spiral thatyou see in ram's horns. It's the
fiber Nachi spiral. It happensin the song over and over and
over again. I put that song onwhenever I need to do those
spirals. So some of my paintingsyou'll see that and until your
shape and then you'll see thewaves. Alex gray is another
(14:59):
artist who I stumbled uponthrough tool who raised this so
beautifully. He's blended thatinner and outer reality.
Jennifer Logue (15:08):
So cool.
Everything is energy.
Krissy Whiski (15:12):
Yes, everything is energy and all of matter
vibrates. So I see it in people,I hear it in music. It's like
this brain connection. It liketickles on the brain and it
creates these visualprojections.
Jennifer Logue (15:31):
Absolutely fascinating because I see it in
your work.
Krissy Whiski (15:34):
Thank you. Even sometimes objects in places can
have it. And when it when it'sthere, and it really presents
itself. It's like a fun thing.
It's like, why
Jennifer Logue (15:48):
it's a heightened sense of reality to
because you're able to see theworld in a different way. So
then even you know, when you'rein Amish country, there's so
much to be inspired by.
Krissy Whiski (15:58):
That is so true.
Amish country is also a veryeasy there's no crowds. Oh
crowds of people like I can getoverstimulated by this time
crowds of people with musicplaying. Especially if the
sounds are all like they're notpretty shapes and patterns. And
it's just all over the placesounds and chaotic, like the
people are because I watchpeople's body language and that
(16:20):
abstracts and the things becauseit's energy and vibrations. And
when there's airports are reallystressful for me. I put on
sunglasses as a means to not letmy eyes do this thing.
Jennifer Logue (16:34):
You know what's funny, I also get overstimulated
in crowds. And a song that Iwrote when I was living in New
York City is called incognito.
And it's about that it's aboutbeing overwhelmed by the world.
Like sometimes I want to bealone. Sometimes I don't want
the world to know, I put up myshades in a way I go incognito.
Like oh my god, I gotta hearthis song. Yeah, it's just and I
thought I was just weird. But Ithink a lot of our artistic
(16:58):
people, because you're so easilyinspired. You're such a raw
nerve that too much like anambivert. I can handle both. But
I need the sunglasses.
Krissy Whiski (17:11):
Same here. The sunglasses are mechanism. It's
almost a visual way to I call itsignal and noise. There's a lot
of noise. I just want to findsignal. What what is interesting
in this yes, I'm always lookingfor
Jennifer Logue (17:26):
Oh my gosh. So interesting.
Krissy Whiski (17:29):
Noise and not any interesting signal. It's tiring,
like it's just the sensoryoverload and overwhelming trying
to process that I'm like, I needa day. So I used to do art shows
every weekend. Oh, well. I'm atone point in my career. And I
needed like two days todecompress, like the more people
I had to deal with and the morecrowds I needed a way to just so
(17:54):
it led to me not being able tolike put out as much heart so
Jennifer Logue (17:58):
and now you have a balance. Yes,
Krissy Whiski (18:01):
I found a way to make it manageable for me to
like out approach for me thatworks.
Jennifer Logue (18:08):
Yes, because we're all different. All of us.
Some of us really thrive. Beingout with people all the time.
Yes, some of us are moreintroverted, some of us are in
the middle. But wherever we are,we got to like, accept who we
are. So we can be the best wecan be and create what we're
meant to create on this planet.
You know, exactly.
Krissy Whiski (18:29):
I go were periods of the introvert and the
extrovert. It's like a shiftchange in different transitions.
Jennifer Logue (18:37):
That's so interesting. I need to that's so
interesting. Um, so when did youknow you wanted to paint
professionally?
Krissy Whiski (18:49):
Oh, the paint professionally is an interesting
concept. Because for a while, Ididn't consider myself an artist
during this thing, because Ijust loved it. I loved the idea
of painters, I rememberstumbling upon it, we can do
(19:09):
this for a living. I remember,like I went back and forth on it
on the realistic Is thisrealistic? Um, maybe because the
stories that are told about VanGogh and how he didn't have
success in his life, and the wayin society, we measure success
these days. All but at six yearsold, as young as six years old
(19:33):
when they asked me what do youwant to be when you grow up? I
wrote down artists and I wouldnever change that. Even know it
seems like maybe this is anunapproachable reality. I kind
of just joked that I was goingfor a really hard thing. And for
(19:54):
some reason, I just kept comingback to it. I went and tried
other things, but I kept comingback to the
Jennifer Logue (20:00):
This okay, what are their paths as you go down?
Krissy Whiski (20:03):
Oh, I did all sorts of odd jobs. I worked in
the corporate realm I workedHugo Boss distribution. I worked
in distribution centers, settingup shipping and receiving. Let's
see, I did odd gig jobs. But Ieven from high school, I guess
(20:25):
cuz in high school, I took a jobpainting walls, painting walls
white. That was the, I wasn'tallowed to have paint, like
women's in my house on thosebedroom walls. We left like my
(20:46):
mom and my stepdad separatedwhen I was in high school. And
we moved to upstate New York,and it was a very big change for
me. And I delved back into art,in sketchbooks and drawing, but
I didn't have that ability topaint wall freedom. So I took a
job I didn't live with my mom,my senior year, this like
(21:08):
fractured our relationshipbecause it was a time where I
was exploring my identity untilkind of shift everything in my
life. I pushed really hardagainst that, to uproot my life
at a point where I felt likethings were going just right for
me, and now we gotta move. But Iadapted and I explored other
(21:28):
things. I was in drama in highschool, but I found myself in
the art room a lot. And then Ihad a part time side job of
painting walls white. And then aweek before I graduated high
school, my stepdad who I wasstill in contact with, I wasn't
living with my mother, he passedaway. Like right before I
graduated, oh, my, kind of beingconfronted with like the death
(21:53):
of a parent. It kind of made medrop everything else I was
thinking about doing. Andnothing really mattered anymore.
And I moved to Florida, fromupstate New York, I was like, I
don't want to be where it'scold, I need to go next to the
ocean. And I lived in the FortMyers, Cape Coral area of
(22:16):
Florida. And worked at HomeDepot, mixing paint for a while
and took all kinds of odd gigjobs. And that's where the good
jobs happen. But I was alwaysdoing art on the side. Yes. And
I ended back up at a paintcontractor doing faux finishing
and murals. I was back topainting on walls. And I was
like, Oh, yes, this the God I
Jennifer Logue (22:37):
love this. Yes, yes.
Krissy Whiski (22:38):
And then an interesting thing happened. When
the mural contractor jobs kindof slowed down, I took a tile
distribution, I wasn't reallyhappy there. And I knew I needed
to get back to art somehow. Andthis kind of maybe became the
catalyst for thinking aboutpainting professionally. Welcome
(22:59):
to this art gallery in MandalayBay, Florida. It's this. It's
this wonderful town and that artgallery and there had sister
galleries that I worked at, Iwalked in there and I knew, like
something told me I had to behere. I kept coming back to it.
And I was working a terrible jobI hated. So I just asked the
staff, it was all women around.
There were all women runningthis gallery. And I approached
(23:21):
one of them and had aconversation and said, What are
you guys looking for any helpand like, anyway, like, I need
to be here. I want to be here.
I, I want to be an artist. I waslike, I need to learn how to
sell art. If I can learn like ifI can work here and like watch
(23:44):
that. Yeah, part of thatsomehow. Maybe that'll unlock
this being an artist thing forme. So I actually got hired
there. And I was like 19Amazing. The girl I approached
and talked to told me how to gethired there and I best job ever.
(24:07):
That's i That place wasfundamental to me learning the
business art. And I worked thereuntil I was pregnant. When I
worked there. My first son wasborn 2006 2007 my first son was
born. And I left there rightafter I had him. And that was
(24:28):
when it was it was oddly a goodtime to leave. The housing
market was collapsing. And itstarted in Florida and the art
gallery. Art sales were nothappening as much anymore
because people didn't have moneyfor the extra luxury of art and
people in that area. Wereleaving Florida all these new
(24:49):
homes weren't being built. And Iended up moving to Savannah,
Georgia area. And then Savannahbecame the next fundament until,
like shift in me for an artistthe next level of growth, I say.
So I didn't go to college forart school. And I say I'm self
(25:11):
taught. But first, I watchedthese groups of professional
artists and these women at thegallery selling and then I threw
Savannah, there's classes youcan take and sit out sit in on
even if you're not getting adegree. Yeah, you know, how
colleges offer classes to localcommunity? Well, I wanted to do
how to paint people better,because having synesthesia and
people have shapes and colors,but I can't really, like
(25:32):
accurately draw a person. How doI convey the shapes and colors
and things happening in theperipheral? If I can't get the
person, right? I'm like thatit's pleasing when somebody gets
the person, right. It's so Iwant to be able to do that. So I
took a lot of classes on figuredrawing and drawing people in
the moment and getting thatright. And that helped. And then
(25:55):
I started a photographybusiness. Oh, cool. Because
composition, I was like, thewhat's in that frame matters.
And I need to be able to, like,determine that, how do I do
that? I picked up a camera. AndI was like, learning how to know
when you see it. That's theThat's where it is. For me, I
(26:16):
had to know when I saw it andcapture it like quickly and a
camera made that a way to learnhow to do that. Especially when
it's when things are happening,like in a moment to capture. It
freezes a moment is a camera'sability.
Jennifer Logue (26:33):
Yes. I never thought about it that way. Yeah,
that is my work. Now I didphotography for a little while.
Concert photography was yearsago. But what you're saying now,
Krissy Whiski (26:46):
I'd won because of the energy. I worked with
women who were pregnant, I wasnear military community and
Spanish women who were pregnantwomen who wanted to send their
boudoir pictures that was athing for military women wanting
to send pictures overseas thatso they were there other half
was I miss you type thing,family photos and babies. I
(27:08):
absolutely love doing babyphotography. And trying to make
people in the boudoir it wastrying to make them feel
comfortable and beautiful. Andnot a lot of women were doing
it. A lot of men were doing it.
Some of them are predatory init. Like I learned the
difference between likeperspective, then doing
photography perspective and yourlike your view on it of what's
(27:32):
interesting. That was aninteresting thing. So that kind
of influenced and shaped my artin its own little way. I think
that everybody's art, or whatthey put out creatively is just
a series of like, the influencesthat at the time, they were like
if I can just get this right.
(27:52):
Yes.
Jennifer Logue (27:54):
Like we just follow our intuition one step at
a time. And someone out from theoutside might be like, Oh, well,
you're a painter. Why are youtaking? Why are you doing
photography? You should bepainting. And it's like these
little side steps we take itteaches us something else.
Krissy Whiski (28:08):
Yes. During all of this I was still painting on
the side. I tried to doCommission's I did on and off I
was painting portraits of peopleat sea had this when Etsy first
booted up, I was on it and itwas called alchemy. You could
you could ask if you were abuyer for a thing you wanted and
(28:29):
then look at what an artistgeneral work was. And then the
artists would say how much moneythat was going to cost an
artists would like bid to doprojects that they found
interesting. I was so sad whenthat collapsed because the whole
China market was just coming inand like I don't know if it was
the whole China market, butpeople were ordering things in
(28:50):
the mass producing, like payingan artist for one off and then
mass producing. And there was nocopy, right? Like it created.
Like we're going to mass producethis for Home Goods it created
and we're like, no, no, no, no,this was that was not the intent
of this. And there became alearning for me in that on like,
(29:12):
what what are protect, like,what do you do when that
happens?
Jennifer Logue (29:17):
You have to know your rights as an artist. That's
if you want to do itprofessionally. And now, you
know you're selling tocollectors. You're able to do
this full time. How does thatfeel?
Krissy Whiski (29:31):
Oh, it's great to be able to have time as time is
always the thing you need. Youneed time and you need space.
And time is the thing I fightagainst so much because it feels
so temporal. It feels likerelative to the moment so I
think being full time and havingmore of that time to explore.
(29:53):
It's just um, it's, it helps mecreate routines and habits of
just what muscle Do you want tobuild on now? Like, what are you
mining for in this thing thatyou're creating?
Jennifer Logue (30:05):
Yes, you need that to keep moving forward. So
this is creative space. And Iasked this question of everyone
on the podcast, but what is yourdefinition of creativity?
Krissy Whiski (30:21):
That is such a good question and such a
certain, almost difficultoneness sum up because it is so
many things. But I like to saythat creativity is a catalyst,
it's finding the signal from thenoise. And taking that input of
your signal and saying, Well,what if I tried this, and then
(30:45):
putting your take on it. So it'swe're taking from like a, I say,
it's the source. It's everythingyou're taking from everything
all around you, but you'retrying to find the signal in it,
what's interesting, and why, andthen build on and grow and
evolve that it's almost likeit's in our nature, all of us as
humans, everybody has it. Andyou just have to kind of work at
(31:08):
it, to know what your nature is,and how that'll take hold to
create something new.
Jennifer Logue (31:15):
I love that. I love that. I love that. Because
there's so much stimulus aroundus all the time. And it's taking
that seed of an idea, that thingthat's interesting, and then
having your own opinions enoughas a person, you're putting it
through that filter.
Krissy Whiski (31:33):
Yes. And then of all your experiences.
Jennifer Logue (31:38):
Absolutely love that. What's your creative
process as a painter,
Krissy Whiski (31:45):
as a painter, I get up every day, I have my
breakfast and my coffee, and Ihead up to my art studio and
unusually shut the door. And I'min there for eight to 10 hours.
And there have been points whereI haven't painted for a while,
like a long stretch during COVIDhad to get my kids through
school. I'm a mom, I'm a mom oftwo boys and my youngest on
(32:08):
lockdown happened. That's like afundamental time of learning to
read your letters. Yeah, so andthe school required, we sit down
in Google chats and needs. Andso as a parent, you have to be
in the video tracks with them.
Because you can expect five anda six year old sit in front of
incidentally, nine followinstructions, so you got to aid
(32:30):
them. So that was an interestinglearning time, but I had less
time to create. And then gettingback into it was like rebuilding
a muscle. It was like one smallstep at a time. And you had I
had to let go of what I hadpassed.
Jennifer Logue (32:49):
Yes, that's so important.
Krissy Whiski (32:51):
I couldn't even look at the past artwork. I was
like, we need to take it down.
It can't be anywhere because itwas creating, I want my art to
be back where it was
Jennifer Logue (32:59):
yes, I totally relate.
Krissy Whiski (33:01):
And it was not that it was something different.
And I had to be, I had to beokay with that, but also learn
where I wanted to be. And so mycreative process is that eight
to 10 hours a day in the studio,it's not all spent painting,
there's a lot of time that issharing content, I go through
phases where that's the focus.
And I have to learn how tobalance it, or maybe mosaic it
(33:24):
balance is hard. Because that'slike an always fine tune thing.
And I heard somebody say it'smore of a mosaic.
Jennifer Logue (33:33):
That's really smart. I like that idea. Much
more than balance,
Krissy Whiski (33:38):
go to wide because I've noticed its
patterns and routines. And it'sjust, you can only focus on so
many things in your time in yourday. So how do you box it and
make it a pattern and routinethat just makes it easy to keep
replicating on and likeiterating on until you get it
right and good? Yeah, it's likea recipe. Yes, exactly. And when
(34:01):
you have the recipe and all theyou have the materials and the
space and all the things are inplace, you can just keep doing
it. But I don't think all thosethings need to be perfect,
right? You can start with whatyou have wherever you are, and
just slowly make more room foryourself.
Jennifer Logue (34:18):
Yes, as you grow Yes. As your career grows.
That's beautiful. So what is theprocess like because I I've
never painted anything before. Imean, everything sketching?
Krissy Whiski (34:31):
Yes, everything usually starts as a drawing.
Sometimes it's a photograph or amoment and sometimes it starts
is just words on a paper. So thewords on a paper one is
interesting because I will beout somewhere I carry a
sketchbook everywhere and ideaswill just whoa this is a neat
concept or I found thatinteresting write it down and my
(34:52):
sketchbooks are in no wayorganized. And I think I do that
for a reason. There's been manyreasons I think I do that. But
one of the things that I findinteresting and doing this
sketchbook kind of disorganized,is you open it and have to find
where was that idea? I want towork on that some more. So I
need to find that page. Andsometimes you'll land on a
(35:13):
different page and say, no, no,no, no, it's this right here. Or
I can blend these two things.
It's almost like it's a weirdsynchronicity. And I always I
joke that if you just listenlike it, it'll tell you what it
was just let it happen.
Jennifer Logue (35:30):
I love that it's just listen. Absolutely love
that. How long did it take tocreate one of your paintings?
Because there's, there's so muchhappening that you feel so much
emotion, taking it in. So howlong does
Krissy Whiski (35:49):
it take? That's a hard thing to measure. I joke
that time for me is verytemporal. And it is I, there
have been days I have come up tomy art studio. And I think I'm
in here for 1520 minutes. Andthen my other half was
wonderful, comes up and says,It's like past the time.
Usually, we usually make dinnerand like the kids are home and
(36:10):
I'm like, Whoa, it's what time.
Wow. And sometimes I've createda whole painting and other days,
I've just like sat and journaledand like drew in my sketchbook
and tried to flesh out an ideathat was happening. So I do
record the process of all of mypaintings so that I have the
content and the time lapses toshare. So just the painting part
can take about 40 hours. Wow, itcould before that. It's it's
(36:34):
hard to measure becausesometimes an idea comes and you
work on it for days and days anddays, and it just doesn't go any
further. And other times you canI make a whole painting. And
just say, you know why? I got tostart it over there. There was
something really incorrect here.
(36:55):
Like the way I approached thiswas not the right one. And I'll
iterate on it again. So there'sa lot of like, where time just
goes missing?
Jennifer Logue (37:03):
Yeah, because you're you're on the road to
getting the idea to its fullestpotential and just like
listening to your intuition.
Krissy Whiski (37:11):
Yes. And there's an interesting thing there where
you don't want to be aperfectionist about it. No,
you're trying to do the best.
Yes, you make this idea comeacross the way you're kind of
seeing it or experiencing it.
You're like, I gotta conveyedthat. And if it's not, right,
(37:33):
like I say you have to be a fanof your own work first. Before
before you share it. Because ifyou share something that you
don't like, that's a weird, Ilearned that while doing
commissions for people. Oh,you're never going to like it or
be happy with it. And it justlike weighs it's like a weird
(37:54):
weight on your wasn't my best.
Jennifer Logue (37:57):
And the energy that gets sent out is different.
Yes, you probably. I neverthought of that before. That's
really interesting. What do youdraw inspiration from today?
Krissy Whiski (38:10):
Oh, I my rabbit holes all over the place. It's
like that signal from noisething. And the universe just
kind of shows up and tells youwhat it wants you to create. You
sit down and you're like, Whatdo I want to draw today? It's
odd things. I'll be having mycup of coffee and the birds
coming to the window now becauseI'm a crazy bird lady I feel.
(38:36):
And a bird will come to thewindow and tap on the windows.
Like they're insisting werelike, Oh, maybe I should add
that bird to the painting. Maybethat's a concept like we had
when I came home from. I don'tknow if you saw the three month
long road journey trip where Iwent back into photography.
Fully. I have a whole differentpage with all the photography of
(38:58):
the places we went to it wasnational parks. We were on the
road for three months.
Jennifer Logue (39:04):
I did see the Burning Man stuff, but I didn't
realize it was a three monthjourney.
Krissy Whiski (39:08):
Remarkable. 16 states I think I can't even
remember. That's cool. Yeah, somany national parks. It was just
the time to do that. And Iphotographed and experienced a
lot of animals. But when we camehome from that, our two
Cardinals say this is the crazybird lady thing. The two
(39:29):
Cardinals that were in our yardhad babies, and there was more.
And the two youngest babies werejust learning how to fly and my
youngest son he absolutely lovesbirds. So him watching this and
just the joy he was experiencingof oh, these new baby birds. And
so I decided to do a paintingabout time and like aging. And
(39:50):
the Cardinals like in my head. Iwas like symbolically the four
cardinal directions and like howtime and space are just a very
temporal thing. It's like aphysical thing, but
metaphysically it doesn't. Idon't think it exists. It
doesn't feel real to me.
Jennifer Logue (40:10):
Time is subjective.
Krissy Whiski (40:12):
Yes, it is. It's very subjective to the moment
until you start analyzing it andtrying to measure it. And you're
like, wait a minute. Didn't feellike yours. I think we all got
to experience that. I'm like,finally everybody's Where
Jennifer Logue (40:30):
are you been?
I've been talking about this solong. I want to see that
pitting. I don't think I've seenthat one. The forger, the carnal
direction?
Krissy Whiski (40:39):
down because I did not do the idea. I think I I
shared it. And then it went tothe burn pile.
Jennifer Logue (40:47):
Okay, we've talked about the burn pile
because I know about the burnpile. I think it's so cool. But
you want to tell listeners aboutyour burn pile?
Krissy Whiski (40:55):
Yes. So I'm burned my art. The pieces that
over time as an artist, youshift and change and evolve,
your work grows and moves indifferent directions. And I
think you get a better eye forwhat pieces are actually the
good ones and which aren't.
Because every piece is not amasterpiece. And it allows you
it gives you more permission totry something and just know if
(41:20):
it if it's not working. It'sit's not so because I sell my
art, I have to think it's notsellable. Like if I wouldn't
want this to be out there longterm because it's just, it's
just missing that one littlething. Then I set it aside and
it's not for sale, and it getsburned. Because it wasn't, it
wasn't the best it could be. Andthen that gives me the space to
(41:46):
recreate it new without thatdebt of the old one. This was
the old one looked like and I'mlike, no, no, no, think about
just what you can change withthat and do it a new and let it
be it's
Jennifer Logue (42:00):
letting it go.
Letting go is so important andcreation of any kind.
Krissy Whiski (42:05):
Yes, I also I also think that I didn't go to
college. But I think a lot ofart in the beginning is just
trying to master the medium. Andlike translate your thing into
the medium. And when I sat downto paint full time for like
(42:25):
that, eight hour a day stretch alot of those paintings. Not
good. I just had to be okay withthat. I realized this is like
going to the gym, it's building.
Yes, I just have to learn how todo this thing here and find a
groove with it or where it'sworking. So you got to be okay
with failing a whole bunch oftimes, or maybe not getting it
100% Right. Because that's part
Jennifer Logue (42:49):
of the process too. You know, it's not going to
be amazing out the gate even.
Even when you're an amazingartist. When you're working on
an idea for it to be the best itcan be. My friend Calvin on the
podcast talked about creativitybeing like a hose. And like
sometimes when you first turnthe hose on, you get like the
dirty water. It's like
Krissy Whiski (43:12):
Oh yeah, that is such a good metaphor for it.
Jennifer Logue (43:17):
Yeah, but then eventually that Clean Beautiful
water comes out like full blast.
Krissy Whiski (43:23):
But each time you stop and restart or even change
mediums
Jennifer Logue (43:30):
yeah, great metaphor is so interesting. What
is the greatest challenge you'vefaced in your career so far?
Krissy Whiski (43:38):
For the greatest challenge always feels like the
current one that you're in.
We're in it and you're facing itat the time. So it's whatever
you're confronting at the momentum but the restarting every time
I've had to stop because being amom requires stopping sometimes
the focusing on the other thingthe reality real world the inner
(44:01):
world and that's finding thespace to create and the
restarting and being okay likeletting go of the past debt. And
I think the burning art helpedwith that. And the sometimes not
sharing sometimes I'll go quieton social media.
Jennifer Logue (44:24):
Social media is an energy drain
Krissy Whiski (44:27):
yes it is this constant feed the content feed
the beast but you don't thefeedback you get is not always
genuine or sincere or eventhoughtful. This this
appreciating art through thumbsup and clicks and likes and then
(44:48):
measuring the feedback based onthat is so it's not I know it's
our current modality but artistsdo not. That is a good advice
artists do not measure yourselfby these clicks and likes, it's
just like building thecreativity muscle, you have to
learn how to feed this almostbeast, you don't have to. But if
you want to grow on that, that'sits own learning thing. And I
(45:12):
learned about that both throughthe gallery with marketing my
other artists work. And throughlooking into the startup world,
and like how these platformswork, and what the intention
drivers are. And I don't play inall of them. Because the current
one, the attention drivers pushto divide people. I'm very
(45:32):
tribal, it's to start fights andarguments, because that's what
people queue into. And as longas I can get, maintain your
attention and your focus andsell more ads. That becomes the
driving mechanism. And I won'tplay into that one. I tried to
just look for the dopaminerelease of I'll just put out
something that I think is reallycool. And if people connect with
(45:55):
that, so I don't often go viral.
I used to before the drivingmechanism was tribal. But
Jennifer Logue (46:04):
yeah, I look forward to your posts though.
Like, you know what I'm having along day. And just seeing that
pop of color and something youcreated, like maybe think of
something, maybe see somethingin a different way. Like ah,
yes, I guess I enjoyed thedopamine release. And I think a
lot of us do enjoy your dopaminereleases your paintings.
Krissy Whiski (46:24):
Thank you. I figure if you communicate in the
way that's most genuine, theright people will find you. And
your
Jennifer Logue (46:31):
Yes, yes. So, so true. Now, obviously, I love all
of your work. But my personalfavorites are Rhiannon vanity
program. And gas masks kids isalso really interesting. I'll
just quickly give a visualdescription for people. It's
given a classroom, they'rewearing gas masks, and on the
(46:54):
chalkboard you've written noclimbing, no playing No
scissors, no daydreaming, nobullying, no joking. No laughing
No talking, no singing, nohumming, no winning, everyone is
special. You're all winners? Doyou want to talk about that?
Because it resonated with me.
I'm like, oh, man,
Krissy Whiski (47:10):
a hard piece. And it has I do some hard pieces
that are political or dwell onHard, hard themes. Not
everything is happy. And thisone was actually from 2016. And
it hasn't made it in any fire.
It was I sometimes have dreams.
(47:30):
And I keep a notebook next to meeven in bed, I will wake up and
try to write down just the core.
What was I feeling? What? Whatdid I see in the stream, like
what was shocking. And thisstream felt like a Cold War era
imagery of the kids in gasmasks. And it felt very like,
like I felt what the kids werefeeling and that they were being
(47:53):
very stifled. And the emphasison keeping them safe wasn't on
the right things. And I wasworried and I have kids. So I
was like, what does this mean?
I'm always trying to like,search out dream meanings and
try to figure out the archetypeslike what does this mean? What
am I seeing here? And I think itwas with my kids in school, I
(48:20):
was reading headlines of thisconformity to like school
started to feel like aconformity machine. And that
served us well as a society forlike, quite some time. But there
were issues in it. Um, recessbeing cut, more and more kids
not playing outside. Separatingthe kids who eat peanut butter
(48:42):
and like a different area, notletting him like, not like not
letting those kids sit near tothe kids who hadn't have peanut
butter. And I'm like, How doesthis impact the children like
are we thinking about what it'slike for them? And then
interestingly, I went through aphase right before COVID Where I
(49:03):
painted plague doctors. Andsomebody pointed out that
gasmask kins painting from 2016Doesn't that newspaper on the
floor and the painting are likezoomed in, and it says epidemic.
And I was like, Yeah, I'vehandled that in 2016. It was
just like this worry and concernand they're like, it was a
person who purchased one of myplague doctors. This was 2019 in
(49:24):
the fall like October, myHalloween focus was plagued
doctors and it wasn't just me. Ifeel like the Gates Foundation.
Bill Gates Foundation wasputting out there pandemic like
the the reality of that couldhappen. neuter museum I went to
spit spreads plague, huh. Andthey hadn't in Philadelphia,
(49:44):
they had an exhibition and Iwent and I was like, wow, yeah,
this is I'm going to do theplague doctors for Halloween.
Yeah. And then I made like ashort little film. It was like
two minutes long and it wasbased on a fever dream. I had it
in October. It's still theresomewhere in my I use social
media Facebook like quash theheck out of that fun. After
COVID Happiness started gettingshared around people were like,
(50:06):
Yo, what is the news headline toher across the bottom of it? And
it was just a woman and a plaguedoctor mask. I filmed myself as
a woman and a plague doctor masktreating a patient in bed.
Jennifer Logue (50:20):
Oh my gosh, that's crazy. Yeah, it
Krissy Whiski (50:22):
was really weird.
It was. I have not I tried tomake it into a painting. And I
was like the paintings notright, it has to be a short
film, and I don't even do film.
I was like, half the camera andjust try. And then that
happened. And it and COVIDhappened locked down happened a
few months later, in March of2020. And it was like, oh, was
(50:48):
this related to that? It justlike made you Oh, was this like
a message in my dream. So I paya lot of attention to dreams.
And like, I feel like oursubconscious going, Hey, there's
something happening here. If youjust listen to
Jennifer Logue (51:02):
this is our subconscious. We could we could
do a whole nother episode justtalking about our subconscious
in that role. Its role increativity, because I've even
written songs in my sleep, likeI've dreamt up songs, but this
is another level
Krissy Whiski (51:20):
in my sleep, and then I wake up and I have to try
to recreate. I've had sleepissues and I have come upstairs
and created an entire paintingand thought I slept the night
and the next day come up into myart studio and a painting is
halfway started. And I'm like,Oh, I didn't believe that when
you guys try not to do itbecause I grew really bad
(51:41):
insomnia and I went through aperiod where I didn't sleep at
all and had to be hospitalized.
Not sleeping very incredibly badfor your entire body. I
recommend sleeping is
Jennifer Logue (51:53):
amazing.
Sleeping is a magical gifts. Andyeah, I had a similar
experience. We'll talk about it.
But I also love Rihanna in thatpainting. There's been so much
joy, like, do you want to talkabout it? I know how I feel but
this is about I want tointerview you I want to hear.
Krissy Whiski (52:15):
Okay, I hope I don't take your view. You know,
it's an interesting thing. Howother people experience art is
completely related to theirexperiences. But Rhiannon is a
mystical goddess I, I'veactually looked into her. She
showed up in dreams. She's acelestial meaning from the other
(52:36):
world and West mythology andWelsh mythology. The Celts
called her opponent. They hername means Queen of the Night,
okay, Fleetwood Mac wrote a songabout her. And that is the
painting I had to herperformances, and watching some
of her live performances. I waslike, I have to paint this. And
(52:56):
oddly, the first time Iattempted to paint her was after
I had my second son in 2013. Andyou always remember
historically, like what's goingon when you're working on a
visual painting. And I rememberRussia was invading Ukraine in
2013. And it just like sort ofhappened. And then it kind of
like, all went away. Like Isince I got the Crimea
(53:19):
peninsula, and then it all justlike News didn't focus on that
anymore, for whatever reason.
And then I sat down and wantedto that painting didn't work.
But for whatever reason, I waslike, It's not good enough yet.
It's just not working. Iattempted again. And I was
listening like morning coffee,looking at a couple of news
headlines and taking things inand I'm like Russia's invading
(53:41):
Ukraine again. Why is it everytime I'm compelled. There's some
strange like she shows up whenhe's being invaded. I don't know
if it's signal or noise.
Jennifer Logue (54:03):
But the inspiration behind it?
Krissy Whiski (54:06):
Yes, definitely.
Stevie Nicks the lyrics in thatsong and the like, dreams on
unwind loves the state of mind.
Jennifer Logue (54:17):
I love Stevie Nicks. Why? I interviewed her on
the red carpet years ago, and Ijust felt such a connection. I
mean, everyone does obviouslyStevie Nicks, but she she's out
of this world magical.
Krissy Whiski (54:30):
Well, yes, she is. She's very in touch with
that other realm. Yes.
Jennifer Logue (54:35):
Oh, she's so is.
So that's probably why I lovethe painting so much. I love it.
You answered the question I waswondering about. Um, so you have
a unique approach in how yousell your art to collectors. Do
you want to talk about that?
Krissy Whiski (54:57):
Yeah, sure. Um, I consider it. Let me let me think
about how to phrase this. Yes, Icall it the delivery experience.
It's how I deliver art. So Ipersonally hand deliver my
pieces of art. This just startedhappening when people bought art
locally. And it evolved. Fromthere, I started realizing that
(55:17):
this art is like a shared, itresonates with people. And it
becomes like a sharedexperience. And it's almost a
container for how these twopeople relate to this thing. And
I think it's really important asan artist to like, own your
audience a bit. Like to kind ofknow who they are and understand
(55:40):
why. Because I've always justbeen trying to connect and blend
my inner reality with the outerreality. And when other people
see it resonates. It's like whyI need to know why. So this
allows us to like curate a day,I've had really cool days where
I've gone out to Colorado areato meet a collector who bought a
(56:00):
couple of pieces of my work. Wespent a day at Garden of the
Gods and meow Wolf. Heintroduced me to Korean food,
which was, yes, thank you forthis. I love Korean food. I've
had days where I've just come toa person's home, I brought Amish
doughnuts out to a collectorphone. I've had other people
(56:22):
from New York City come to meand say, Can I bring my kids
because this is a gift for mykids. And I just want them to
beat you.
Jennifer Logue (56:29):
Oh, so cool
Krissy Whiski (56:30):
gum and the kid with us in the kids, it just
sporadically happened, we endedup doing art together in my
studio. So I was doing art. Andthen now I'm experiencing Amish
country, which was a nice breakfrom New York City.
Jennifer Logue (56:43):
Oh my gosh, what a memory to have.
Krissy Whiski (56:45):
So the painting ends up being the container for
this memory. And I also offerthese art manuscripts. It's a
book with what, like what music,I was listening to what inspired
the art and the words poetry, Itry to pull those artifacts
together. And first, I make surethe art is delivered. And we
(57:06):
have our experience, I believeblank pages in there for them to
write an ad anything. And thenthis book becomes a way when the
art is inherited more longerterm to understand, like, why
did why did dad buy this thing?
Like? Because I like the historyof art. And the stories are
interesting. Like why did thisresonate for him? And like, why
(57:27):
did the artists create this? So
Jennifer Logue (57:31):
that is so unique, I love it. Because life
is experiences and you know,when you're able to connect your
art to that it makes it somemorable and just more of a
multi dimensional experience.
Krissy Whiski (57:44):
Yes. Yes. And I think that's important.
Jennifer Logue (57:48):
So important.
What advice do you have foraspiring visual artists?
Krissy Whiski (57:56):
I say just create and make a little bit progress
every day, and give yourselfpermission to try things. And
no, or try to understand yourvoice within what you want to or
have to say like what is it I'minterested in. I'm gonna expect
to love your work right from thestart. It's a journey. It's an
(58:19):
evolution. And what you createtoday, or what medium you work
in today might not be the oneyou're working in tomorrow,
meditate, take care of yourself,learn to balance are not
balanced, that's a terrible,learn to mosaic the day and get
good at quieting all the outsidenoise and distractions. So you
(58:43):
can focus on signal versusnoise. And I for me, meditation
has been a huge form of doingthat.
Jennifer Logue (58:49):
What's next for you?
Krissy Whiski (58:53):
I keep saying it's it's just continuing to
make the work. It's continuingto put out my art and to the
universe. I'm takingopportunities that show up as I
see fit. And just seeing wherethe journey takes me. Hopefully
I get discovered by more peopleand my with whom my artwork
resonates. And I just got tofind ways to amplify myself.
Jennifer Logue (59:17):
Yes. I mean, your art makes such an impact on
me on so many people already.
Like I think it's only justgoing to keep growing
Krissy Whiski (59:26):
from here.
Awesome. And thank you forhelping amplify me.
Jennifer Logue (59:29):
Oh my gosh, my pleasure. Oh my goodness. At my
absolute pleasure, Chrissy. Formore on Chrissy whiskey, visit
pricy whiskey.com And thank youso much for tuning in and
growing in creativity with us.
I'd love to know what youthought of today's episode. You
can reach out to me on socialmedia ads Jennifer Logue or
leave a review for creativespace on Apple podcasts so more
(59:52):
people can discover it. Iappreciate you so much for being
here in the beginning stages ofthis My name is Jennifer Logue
and thanks for listening to thisepisode of creative space until
next time
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode
of creative space, a Podcastwhere we explore, learn and grow
and creativity together. I'myour host Jennifer Logue. And
today we have the pleasure ofspeaking with a super talented
visual artist Krissy Whiski. Herwork is described as pinning the
spaces between dreams and Krissycreates as a meditative and
(00:35):
cathartic means of reflecting onlife, and what it means to be
human. Her bright color paletteand linework is informed by her
experiences of synesthesia,which we'll talk about in the
podcast. Krissy also has aunique approach and how she
sells her paintings withcollectors, which we'll discuss
as well. When you see her work,you'll be even more blown away
(00:58):
because Krissy is a self taughtartist. I've been a big fan of
hers for a while. Welcome toCreative Space. Krissy.
Krissy Whiski (01:06):
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. That
was an amazing intro.
Jennifer Logue (01:10):
Oh my gosh, wow.
For an amazing artists. So thankyou for being on the podcast.
Thank you. Where are you callingfrom today?
Krissy Whiski (01:18):
I'm Amish country, Pennsylvania.
Jennifer Logue (01:22):
What an incredible place to create from
Krissy Whiski (01:25):
very free of distractions quiet and
picturesque.
Jennifer Logue (01:29):
I love it. I love it. I love it. We see you
in your beautiful, creativespace of your own right now.
Thank you. Um, so how we met?
I'm trying to remember. I'mpretty sure I interviewed you
when I was at Metro back in theday.
Krissy Whiski (01:45):
Yes, um, you interviewed and photographed me.
I think we ran into each otherin DC. It was either I think it
was 2016 Oh, no, it was livepainting. It was crowded. It was
so packed in that building andcrowded and we had a moment
within the crowd. Like you werejust saw me live painting and
(02:08):
asked if you could photograph meand talk to me and read a moment
in this loud, boisterous place.
That was I think it was prettyspecial.
Jennifer Logue (02:17):
Oh my gosh, I love it. Yes, yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. I remember now sometimesthat needs to be prodded,
remembered certain things. AndI'm like, Oh my God, yes.
Krissy Whiski (02:27):
And then I saw the article be published because
I have a Google Analytics on myown name. Oh, artists job. So I
saw the article show up. And Ireached out to you and asked if
I could reshare it through mysocial channels. on Facebook.
Jennifer Logue (02:45):
Oh my gosh, and I've been following you ever
since. And just as a fan, I'mjust it's so refreshing to see
your work in my feed. And, youknow, as a musician, as a
writer, myself, I get inspiredby visuals. Like that opens me
up to layer in my own way.
Krissy Whiski (03:04):
That makes sense.
Because my first inspirationsfor music. Oh, here we go. Great
visuals for me.
Jennifer Logue (03:12):
Yes, yes. Yes, yes. So thank you for everything
you do it seriously. Your workjust adds a breath of fresh air
to all of our days, you know, wesee it. So let's start at the
very beginning. Where did yougrow up? And did you come from
an artistic family?
Krissy Whiski (03:32):
Um, that's an interesting one I was surrounded
to and exposed by a lot of art.
I grew up in Hamilton, NewJersey, okay, stepfather when I
was really young, worked forParks and Recreation. So I have
these memories that from very,very early of playing in the
grounds for sculpture. Oh, Idon't know if you've ever been
(03:54):
there. I've never been there.
It's like a giant to sculpture.
There's there's human life sizehuman people sitting on benches
that are very lifelike andrealistic. And I remember being
a child and this being like myplayground. Oh, it was very
Alice in Wonderland feeling likewhen you look back. And I didn't
realize that other people didn'thave that. And then my mother
(04:18):
worked for a printing companyfor a really long time. That
still exists today. It's onBroad Street and Hamilton, New
Jersey. And they printedPrinceton's college Tiger
magazines that contain out freeand art drawings of the
students. And I would sit andlook through the pages of them
that were printing like becausethings would get messed up in
(04:40):
the bookbinding office and theyjust tossed that stack of papers
to the side. So I do artalongside of these poems on the
extra sheets of paper and I'dsit and draw when I was with her
at work.
Jennifer Logue (04:56):
Oh cool. So much Art, that's a very different
upbringing.
Krissy Whiski (05:02):
Yeah, it was. I had a lot of I say that I was a
product of the late 80s, early90s. We were the latchkey
children. And we had a lot offreedom.
Jennifer Logue (05:13):
Yes, yes. Before the days of the internet, like,
we'd still go out and play, we,you know,
Krissy Whiski (05:19):
showed up. And it was, was that was an impactful
time to like, oh, the world justgrew a whole lot wider. But
having that in person, justfreedom. Nobody knew where we
were at for hours, or what wewere doing. So we got to kind of
explore the world, I think verydifferently than kids do today.
Jennifer Logue (05:40):
Yes, because now they're always connected. Yes.
And there's a lack of beingfully present unless you train
yourself to didn't know how todisconnect. Yeah, that is so
true. The physical world is sucha beautiful place to be. When
did you first start painting?
Krissy Whiski (06:00):
Haha, it first started through drawing and
crowns. I was trying to expressthis internal mind's eye thing
to others. And then art becameit like evolved into this coping
mechanism and supportive outletfor like, expressing myself and
dealing with my emotions. But Ido remember getting my first
(06:22):
like paint kit. And it was oneof those cheap stale like box
kits that have all the artsupplies, and I got it for
Christmas one year. And I wantto say I was like seven or
eight. And I was, I was sostoked to get these. And I was,
I should say I still am a messypainter. And I remember getting
(06:44):
paint on the kitchen chair andthen on the rug, and the paint.
Painting was an area ofcontention, my supplies were
taken away. In my parent'sdefense, I was compelled to draw
on walls. I literally took topainting the street, I found
(07:05):
leftover yellow curb paint sincemy dad works for Parks and Rec.
And I painted a son in thecenter of the road.
Jennifer Logue (07:14):
I'm sure your parents didn't love it. But
that's awesome.
Krissy Whiski (07:17):
I was being outdoors playing and no adults
are really keeping a close eyeout. So it seemed like a great
idea at the time. My parentsrealized I could get in trouble
for this. And I was compelledand obsessed to do it. I mean,
at one point, I was sneakingaround doing graffiti like my
(07:40):
middle school years with thegraffiti kids. Yeah. And my
stepdad since he worked forParks and Rec recognized my art.
Like, oh, no, I think this is mykid. Because you know, they
gotta show up clean thevandalism. And he confronted me
on it at home. I was surprisedthat he recognized that it was
my art. And he was worried likeI could get him in trouble. I
(08:03):
could just I could get myparents in some trouble and
myself. So they essentially wecompromised. And the walls of my
bedroom. were allowed to becomemy if you're compelled to paint
on walls or outside for summer,and we need to we can't
vandalize other people'sproperties. So they painted my
room, this sky blue, like amedium, they let me pick the
(08:25):
color. And then I was allowed tojust take pain through my middle
school years and just create onthose walls
Jennifer Logue (08:32):
incredible. Your walls are your canvas.
Krissy Whiski (08:37):
That was a huge like free like, I thought I was
the coolest. I would invite myfriends over and be like, do you
want to add to the wall and itwas like, some of them were so
daunted by it and others werelike, wait, what your parents
are letting you but so it was aplace my room became a Hangout.
So cool.
Jennifer Logue (08:58):
I love that. Who were your early inspirations
back then?
Krissy Whiski (09:02):
Oh, um, since I was exposed to all this are at
the ground for sculpture there.
I remember looking into thisartist, his name was Johnson,
Seward, Seward Johnson, I wantto say his name was his
sculptures are fascinating. ButI have to say my earliest
inspirations, absolutelyearliest feel like music. It was
(09:23):
one of the hardest things. Itwas tool. It was Jimi Hendrix. I
was seeing the shapes and linesand colors on a guitar sings
it's like a vibration. And I waslike, I'm compelled to like, I
thought everybody experiencedit. And when I realized they
(09:45):
didn't, they weren't having thislike beautiful. I was like,
Well, I gotta show you what thisis. And interestingly enough
family members like my dadworried that like float because
people had it too, like Iconnected this in many ways,
like there was somethingconnecting and going on, where
I'm abstracting things intolines and shapes and colors. And
(10:07):
my parents worried that I was.
Is there something wrong withyour eyes? Oh, my gosh,
floaters. Let's get you to aneye. Doctor. Are you sure you're
not hallucinating? And theycheck my eyes. They brought me
to some mental healthprofessionals. Yeah, she's fine.
(10:30):
Um, we don't know what this is.
It's so I have heard the adultoverheard the adult saying I was
just making up stories. And thentelling other kids, I became the
weird girl who sees ghosts, shesees dead people in middle
school. So in elementary school,it was like, I was just the
weird kid. Um, because I confidein a friend. And like one of the
(10:53):
friends. These were a group oftwins and told the other
brother, who was like, No,that's not. Oh my gosh, I
remember the weird kid. And Istopped telling people about it
for a while. My aunt joke that Isaw auras, like this is before
the internet was Yeah. Auraslike
Jennifer Logue (11:14):
people. Oh my gosh, you're just an artist. I
would be looking
Krissy Whiski (11:18):
everywhere, like in library books for Yeah. And
it led me to like EVP andparanormal, like, led me to your
rabbit holes of like trying tofind the answer for what is this
thing. And I just kept comingback to art. Like, it's just in
me. It's my thing. And I keptdrawing it and expressing it and
(11:42):
putting it out there. But Iwanted to blend the inner and
the outer realities, like myinner reality, with the outer
reality that everybody else willsee. Yes. So I kept trying to
think how can I do that so thatpeople can connect to it still?
Because it was too abstract?
Yes. And I remember the firsttime seeing Hilda clips work and
(12:03):
Kandinsky in an art museum, Iwas a dean, and we were on like
some school field trip. And Iwas like, Oh, they know. They
have the thing. But like, I'mnot alone. They know. And then
I, I saw Vincent van Gogh. And Iwas like, he knows and he's
(12:24):
learned, I think he knows. Andhe's learned how to blend it.
Like he's seen in
Jennifer Logue (12:30):
places. Yes, he's putting into his
landscapes. He's seeing it in
Krissy Whiski (12:33):
people, I would say I will bill, I see paintings
that he's done with people and Icry, because I'm like, Oh, she
sees it too. Or he's, I say it'sthis. It's visual for me. But
it's not all the time. It's likeyour mind's eye your perception
of something beyond what you'reseeing visually. So if you stare
(12:56):
at something, and you look at itfrom different angles, and you
kind of let your eyes do almostthis, like this focus, you see
what you see internally, like itbreaks it down in your brain to
simple shapes and lines. And theonly thing I could find close to
that made sense of it was, um,well, I found it numerous places
(13:19):
like I kept coming back toScience was it's like a
metaphysical, like consciousnessthing. Have you keep finding the
same patterns and shapes? Andlike all of nature, the building
blocks of life? And unless allmatters,
Jennifer Logue (13:34):
it's all connected, I'm convinced.
Krissy Whiski (13:37):
Yes, it definitely is.
Jennifer Logue (13:40):
So once you realize, we touched on your
synesthesia, yes, in your intro,but you want to talk about that
you eventually discover like,this is part of that too.
Krissy Whiski (13:51):
I have to think about how to convey this because
we've touched on my son's aseizure a bit, but this has
always been a hard one for me tolike, share, because it's one of
those there aren't a lot ofwords.
Jennifer Logue (14:04):
I think it's just that simple. idea of like,
when you hear music, you seecolor.
Krissy Whiski (14:13):
Yes. Oh, here's a good explanation. So I sent tool
was inspiring. Morales by tool,it was one of my favorite songs.
And it was because I wasconnected to this the fiber non
tree spiral. And then we so ifyou listen to the song, and you
listen to the way the drums areplaying, and the guitar sings, I
don't know if you've ever heardthe song, but there is the
(14:37):
Natalia shape, that spiral thatyou see in ram's horns. It's the
fiber Nachi spiral. It happensin the song over and over and
over again. I put that song onwhenever I need to do those
spirals. So some of my paintingsyou'll see that and until your
shape and then you'll see thewaves. Alex gray is another
(14:59):
artist who I stumbled uponthrough tool who raised this so
beautifully. He's blended thatinner and outer reality.
Jennifer Logue (15:08):
So cool.
Everything is energy.
Krissy Whiski (15:12):
Yes, everything is energy and all of matter
vibrates. So I see it in people,I hear it in music. It's like
this brain connection. It liketickles on the brain and it
creates these visualprojections.
Jennifer Logue (15:31):
Absolutely fascinating because I see it in
your work.
Krissy Whiski (15:34):
Thank you. Even sometimes objects in places can
have it. And when it when it'sthere, and it really presents
itself. It's like a fun thing.
It's like, why
Jennifer Logue (15:48):
it's a heightened sense of reality to
because you're able to see theworld in a different way. So
then even you know, when you'rein Amish country, there's so
much to be inspired by.
Krissy Whiski (15:58):
That is so true.
Amish country is also a veryeasy there's no crowds. Oh
crowds of people like I can getoverstimulated by this time
crowds of people with musicplaying. Especially if the
sounds are all like they're notpretty shapes and patterns. And
it's just all over the placesounds and chaotic, like the
people are because I watchpeople's body language and that
(16:20):
abstracts and the things becauseit's energy and vibrations. And
when there's airports are reallystressful for me. I put on
sunglasses as a means to not letmy eyes do this thing.
Jennifer Logue (16:34):
You know what's funny, I also get overstimulated
in crowds. And a song that Iwrote when I was living in New
York City is called incognito.
And it's about that it's aboutbeing overwhelmed by the world.
Like sometimes I want to bealone. Sometimes I don't want
the world to know, I put up myshades in a way I go incognito.
Like oh my god, I gotta hearthis song. Yeah, it's just and I
thought I was just weird. But Ithink a lot of our artistic
(16:58):
people, because you're so easilyinspired. You're such a raw
nerve that too much like anambivert. I can handle both. But
I need the sunglasses.
Krissy Whiski (17:11):
Same here. The sunglasses are mechanism. It's
almost a visual way to I call itsignal and noise. There's a lot
of noise. I just want to findsignal. What what is interesting
in this yes, I'm always lookingfor
Jennifer Logue (17:26):
Oh my gosh. So interesting.
Krissy Whiski (17:29):
Noise and not any interesting signal. It's tiring,
like it's just the sensoryoverload and overwhelming trying
to process that I'm like, I needa day. So I used to do art shows
every weekend. Oh, well. I'm atone point in my career. And I
needed like two days todecompress, like the more people
I had to deal with and the morecrowds I needed a way to just so
(17:54):
it led to me not being able tolike put out as much heart so
Jennifer Logue (17:58):
and now you have a balance. Yes,
Krissy Whiski (18:01):
I found a way to make it manageable for me to
like out approach for me thatworks.
Jennifer Logue (18:08):
Yes, because we're all different. All of us.
Some of us really thrive. Beingout with people all the time.
Yes, some of us are moreintroverted, some of us are in
the middle. But wherever we are,we got to like, accept who we
are. So we can be the best wecan be and create what we're
meant to create on this planet.
You know, exactly.
Krissy Whiski (18:29):
I go were periods of the introvert and the
extrovert. It's like a shiftchange in different transitions.
Jennifer Logue (18:37):
That's so interesting. I need to that's so
interesting. Um, so when did youknow you wanted to paint
professionally?
Krissy Whiski (18:49):
Oh, the paint professionally is an interesting
concept. Because for a while, Ididn't consider myself an artist
during this thing, because Ijust loved it. I loved the idea
of painters, I rememberstumbling upon it, we can do
(19:09):
this for a living. I remember,like I went back and forth on it
on the realistic Is thisrealistic? Um, maybe because the
stories that are told about VanGogh and how he didn't have
success in his life, and the wayin society, we measure success
these days. All but at six yearsold, as young as six years old
(19:33):
when they asked me what do youwant to be when you grow up? I
wrote down artists and I wouldnever change that. Even know it
seems like maybe this is anunapproachable reality. I kind
of just joked that I was goingfor a really hard thing. And for
(19:54):
some reason, I just kept comingback to it. I went and tried
other things, but I kept comingback to the
Jennifer Logue (20:00):
This okay, what are their paths as you go down?
Krissy Whiski (20:03):
Oh, I did all sorts of odd jobs. I worked in
the corporate realm I workedHugo Boss distribution. I worked
in distribution centers, settingup shipping and receiving. Let's
see, I did odd gig jobs. But Ieven from high school, I guess
(20:25):
cuz in high school, I took a jobpainting walls, painting walls
white. That was the, I wasn'tallowed to have paint, like
women's in my house on thosebedroom walls. We left like my
(20:46):
mom and my stepdad separatedwhen I was in high school. And
we moved to upstate New York,and it was a very big change for
me. And I delved back into art,in sketchbooks and drawing, but
I didn't have that ability topaint wall freedom. So I took a
job I didn't live with my mom,my senior year, this like
(21:08):
fractured our relationshipbecause it was a time where I
was exploring my identity untilkind of shift everything in my
life. I pushed really hardagainst that, to uproot my life
at a point where I felt likethings were going just right for
me, and now we gotta move. But Iadapted and I explored other
(21:28):
things. I was in drama in highschool, but I found myself in
the art room a lot. And then Ihad a part time side job of
painting walls white. And then aweek before I graduated high
school, my stepdad who I wasstill in contact with, I wasn't
living with my mother, he passedaway. Like right before I
graduated, oh, my, kind of beingconfronted with like the death
(21:53):
of a parent. It kind of made medrop everything else I was
thinking about doing. Andnothing really mattered anymore.
And I moved to Florida, fromupstate New York, I was like, I
don't want to be where it'scold, I need to go next to the
ocean. And I lived in the FortMyers, Cape Coral area of
(22:16):
Florida. And worked at HomeDepot, mixing paint for a while
and took all kinds of odd gigjobs. And that's where the good
jobs happen. But I was alwaysdoing art on the side. Yes. And
I ended back up at a paintcontractor doing faux finishing
and murals. I was back topainting on walls. And I was
like, Oh, yes, this the God I
Jennifer Logue (22:37):
love this. Yes, yes.
Krissy Whiski (22:38):
And then an interesting thing happened. When
the mural contractor jobs kindof slowed down, I took a tile
distribution, I wasn't reallyhappy there. And I knew I needed
to get back to art somehow. Andthis kind of maybe became the
catalyst for thinking aboutpainting professionally. Welcome
(22:59):
to this art gallery in MandalayBay, Florida. It's this. It's
this wonderful town and that artgallery and there had sister
galleries that I worked at, Iwalked in there and I knew, like
something told me I had to behere. I kept coming back to it.
And I was working a terrible jobI hated. So I just asked the
staff, it was all women around.
There were all women runningthis gallery. And I approached
(23:21):
one of them and had aconversation and said, What are
you guys looking for any helpand like, anyway, like, I need
to be here. I want to be here.
I, I want to be an artist. I waslike, I need to learn how to
sell art. If I can learn like ifI can work here and like watch
(23:44):
that. Yeah, part of thatsomehow. Maybe that'll unlock
this being an artist thing forme. So I actually got hired
there. And I was like 19Amazing. The girl I approached
and talked to told me how to gethired there and I best job ever.
(24:07):
That's i That place wasfundamental to me learning the
business art. And I worked thereuntil I was pregnant. When I
worked there. My first son wasborn 2006 2007 my first son was
born. And I left there rightafter I had him. And that was
(24:28):
when it was it was oddly a goodtime to leave. The housing
market was collapsing. And itstarted in Florida and the art
gallery. Art sales were nothappening as much anymore
because people didn't have moneyfor the extra luxury of art and
people in that area. Wereleaving Florida all these new
(24:49):
homes weren't being built. And Iended up moving to Savannah,
Georgia area. And then Savannahbecame the next fundament until,
like shift in me for an artistthe next level of growth, I say.
So I didn't go to college forart school. And I say I'm self
(25:11):
taught. But first, I watchedthese groups of professional
artists and these women at thegallery selling and then I threw
Savannah, there's classes youcan take and sit out sit in on
even if you're not getting adegree. Yeah, you know, how
colleges offer classes to localcommunity? Well, I wanted to do
how to paint people better,because having synesthesia and
people have shapes and colors,but I can't really, like
(25:32):
accurately draw a person. How doI convey the shapes and colors
and things happening in theperipheral? If I can't get the
person, right? I'm like thatit's pleasing when somebody gets
the person, right. It's so Iwant to be able to do that. So I
took a lot of classes on figuredrawing and drawing people in
the moment and getting thatright. And that helped. And then
(25:55):
I started a photographybusiness. Oh, cool. Because
composition, I was like, thewhat's in that frame matters.
And I need to be able to, like,determine that, how do I do
that? I picked up a camera. AndI was like, learning how to know
when you see it. That's theThat's where it is. For me, I
(26:16):
had to know when I saw it andcapture it like quickly and a
camera made that a way to learnhow to do that. Especially when
it's when things are happening,like in a moment to capture. It
freezes a moment is a camera'sability.
Jennifer Logue (26:33):
Yes. I never thought about it that way. Yeah,
that is my work. Now I didphotography for a little while.
Concert photography was yearsago. But what you're saying now,
Krissy Whiski (26:46):
I'd won because of the energy. I worked with
women who were pregnant, I wasnear military community and
Spanish women who were pregnantwomen who wanted to send their
boudoir pictures that was athing for military women wanting
to send pictures overseas thatso they were there other half
was I miss you type thing,family photos and babies. I
(27:08):
absolutely love doing babyphotography. And trying to make
people in the boudoir it wastrying to make them feel
comfortable and beautiful. Andnot a lot of women were doing
it. A lot of men were doing it.
Some of them are predatory init. Like I learned the
difference between likeperspective, then doing
photography perspective and yourlike your view on it of what's
(27:32):
interesting. That was aninteresting thing. So that kind
of influenced and shaped my artin its own little way. I think
that everybody's art, or whatthey put out creatively is just
a series of like, the influencesthat at the time, they were like
if I can just get this right.
(27:52):
Yes.
Jennifer Logue (27:54):
Like we just follow our intuition one step at
a time. And someone out from theoutside might be like, Oh, well,
you're a painter. Why are youtaking? Why are you doing
photography? You should bepainting. And it's like these
little side steps we take itteaches us something else.
Krissy Whiski (28:08):
Yes. During all of this I was still painting on
the side. I tried to doCommission's I did on and off I
was painting portraits of peopleat sea had this when Etsy first
booted up, I was on it and itwas called alchemy. You could
you could ask if you were abuyer for a thing you wanted and
(28:29):
then look at what an artistgeneral work was. And then the
artists would say how much moneythat was going to cost an
artists would like bid to doprojects that they found
interesting. I was so sad whenthat collapsed because the whole
China market was just coming inand like I don't know if it was
the whole China market, butpeople were ordering things in
(28:50):
the mass producing, like payingan artist for one off and then
mass producing. And there was nocopy, right? Like it created.
Like we're going to mass producethis for Home Goods it created
and we're like, no, no, no, no,this was that was not the intent
of this. And there became alearning for me in that on like,
(29:12):
what what are protect, like,what do you do when that
happens?
Jennifer Logue (29:17):
You have to know your rights as an artist. That's
if you want to do itprofessionally. And now, you
know you're selling tocollectors. You're able to do
this full time. How does thatfeel?
Krissy Whiski (29:31):
Oh, it's great to be able to have time as time is
always the thing you need. Youneed time and you need space.
And time is the thing I fightagainst so much because it feels
so temporal. It feels likerelative to the moment so I
think being full time and havingmore of that time to explore.
(29:53):
It's just um, it's, it helps mecreate routines and habits of
just what muscle Do you want tobuild on now? Like, what are you
mining for in this thing thatyou're creating?
Jennifer Logue (30:05):
Yes, you need that to keep moving forward. So
this is creative space. And Iasked this question of everyone
on the podcast, but what is yourdefinition of creativity?
Krissy Whiski (30:21):
That is such a good question and such a
certain, almost difficultoneness sum up because it is so
many things. But I like to saythat creativity is a catalyst,
it's finding the signal from thenoise. And taking that input of
your signal and saying, Well,what if I tried this, and then
(30:45):
putting your take on it. So it'swe're taking from like a, I say,
it's the source. It's everythingyou're taking from everything
all around you, but you'retrying to find the signal in it,
what's interesting, and why, andthen build on and grow and
evolve that it's almost likeit's in our nature, all of us as
humans, everybody has it. Andyou just have to kind of work at
(31:08):
it, to know what your nature is,and how that'll take hold to
create something new.
Jennifer Logue (31:15):
I love that. I love that. I love that. Because
there's so much stimulus aroundus all the time. And it's taking
that seed of an idea, that thingthat's interesting, and then
having your own opinions enoughas a person, you're putting it
through that filter.
Krissy Whiski (31:33):
Yes. And then of all your experiences.
Jennifer Logue (31:38):
Absolutely love that. What's your creative
process as a painter,
Krissy Whiski (31:45):
as a painter, I get up every day, I have my
breakfast and my coffee, and Ihead up to my art studio and
unusually shut the door. And I'min there for eight to 10 hours.
And there have been points whereI haven't painted for a while,
like a long stretch during COVIDhad to get my kids through
school. I'm a mom, I'm a mom oftwo boys and my youngest on
(32:08):
lockdown happened. That's like afundamental time of learning to
read your letters. Yeah, so andthe school required, we sit down
in Google chats and needs. Andso as a parent, you have to be
in the video tracks with them.
Because you can expect five anda six year old sit in front of
incidentally, nine followinstructions, so you got to aid
(32:30):
them. So that was an interestinglearning time, but I had less
time to create. And then gettingback into it was like rebuilding
a muscle. It was like one smallstep at a time. And you had I
had to let go of what I hadpassed.
Jennifer Logue (32:49):
Yes, that's so important.
Krissy Whiski (32:51):
I couldn't even look at the past artwork. I was
like, we need to take it down.
It can't be anywhere because itwas creating, I want my art to
be back where it was
Jennifer Logue (32:59):
yes, I totally relate.
Krissy Whiski (33:01):
And it was not that it was something different.
And I had to be, I had to beokay with that, but also learn
where I wanted to be. And so mycreative process is that eight
to 10 hours a day in the studio,it's not all spent painting,
there's a lot of time that issharing content, I go through
phases where that's the focus.
And I have to learn how tobalance it, or maybe mosaic it
(33:24):
balance is hard. Because that'slike an always fine tune thing.
And I heard somebody say it'smore of a mosaic.
Jennifer Logue (33:33):
That's really smart. I like that idea. Much
more than balance,
Krissy Whiski (33:38):
go to wide because I've noticed its
patterns and routines. And it'sjust, you can only focus on so
many things in your time in yourday. So how do you box it and
make it a pattern and routinethat just makes it easy to keep
replicating on and likeiterating on until you get it
right and good? Yeah, it's likea recipe. Yes, exactly. And when
(34:01):
you have the recipe and all theyou have the materials and the
space and all the things are inplace, you can just keep doing
it. But I don't think all thosethings need to be perfect,
right? You can start with whatyou have wherever you are, and
just slowly make more room foryourself.
Jennifer Logue (34:18):
Yes, as you grow Yes. As your career grows.
That's beautiful. So what is theprocess like because I I've
never painted anything before. Imean, everything sketching?
Krissy Whiski (34:31):
Yes, everything usually starts as a drawing.
Sometimes it's a photograph or amoment and sometimes it starts
is just words on a paper. So thewords on a paper one is
interesting because I will beout somewhere I carry a
sketchbook everywhere and ideaswill just whoa this is a neat
concept or I found thatinteresting write it down and my
(34:52):
sketchbooks are in no wayorganized. And I think I do that
for a reason. There's been manyreasons I think I do that. But
one of the things that I findinteresting and doing this
sketchbook kind of disorganized,is you open it and have to find
where was that idea? I want towork on that some more. So I
need to find that page. Andsometimes you'll land on a
(35:13):
different page and say, no, no,no, no, it's this right here. Or
I can blend these two things.
It's almost like it's a weirdsynchronicity. And I always I
joke that if you just listenlike it, it'll tell you what it
was just let it happen.
Jennifer Logue (35:30):
I love that it's just listen. Absolutely love
that. How long did it take tocreate one of your paintings?
Because there's, there's so muchhappening that you feel so much
emotion, taking it in. So howlong does
Krissy Whiski (35:49):
it take? That's a hard thing to measure. I joke
that time for me is verytemporal. And it is I, there
have been days I have come up tomy art studio. And I think I'm
in here for 1520 minutes. Andthen my other half was
wonderful, comes up and says,It's like past the time.
Usually, we usually make dinnerand like the kids are home and
(36:10):
I'm like, Whoa, it's what time.
Wow. And sometimes I've createda whole painting and other days,
I've just like sat and journaledand like drew in my sketchbook
and tried to flesh out an ideathat was happening. So I do
record the process of all of mypaintings so that I have the
content and the time lapses toshare. So just the painting part
can take about 40 hours. Wow, itcould before that. It's it's
(36:34):
hard to measure becausesometimes an idea comes and you
work on it for days and days anddays, and it just doesn't go any
further. And other times you canI make a whole painting. And
just say, you know why? I got tostart it over there. There was
something really incorrect here.
(36:55):
Like the way I approached thiswas not the right one. And I'll
iterate on it again. So there'sa lot of like, where time just
goes missing?
Jennifer Logue (37:03):
Yeah, because you're you're on the road to
getting the idea to its fullestpotential and just like
listening to your intuition.
Krissy Whiski (37:11):
Yes. And there's an interesting thing there where
you don't want to be aperfectionist about it. No,
you're trying to do the best.
Yes, you make this idea comeacross the way you're kind of
seeing it or experiencing it.
You're like, I gotta conveyedthat. And if it's not, right,
(37:33):
like I say you have to be a fanof your own work first. Before
before you share it. Because ifyou share something that you
don't like, that's a weird, Ilearned that while doing
commissions for people. Oh,you're never going to like it or
be happy with it. And it justlike weighs it's like a weird
(37:54):
weight on your wasn't my best.
Jennifer Logue (37:57):
And the energy that gets sent out is different.
Yes, you probably. I neverthought of that before. That's
really interesting. What do youdraw inspiration from today?
Krissy Whiski (38:10):
Oh, I my rabbit holes all over the place. It's
like that signal from noisething. And the universe just
kind of shows up and tells youwhat it wants you to create. You
sit down and you're like, Whatdo I want to draw today? It's
odd things. I'll be having mycup of coffee and the birds
coming to the window now becauseI'm a crazy bird lady I feel.
(38:36):
And a bird will come to thewindow and tap on the windows.
Like they're insisting werelike, Oh, maybe I should add
that bird to the painting. Maybethat's a concept like we had
when I came home from. I don'tknow if you saw the three month
long road journey trip where Iwent back into photography.
Fully. I have a whole differentpage with all the photography of
(38:58):
the places we went to it wasnational parks. We were on the
road for three months.
Jennifer Logue (39:04):
I did see the Burning Man stuff, but I didn't
realize it was a three monthjourney.
Krissy Whiski (39:08):
Remarkable. 16 states I think I can't even
remember. That's cool. Yeah, somany national parks. It was just
the time to do that. And Iphotographed and experienced a
lot of animals. But when we camehome from that, our two
Cardinals say this is the crazybird lady thing. The two
(39:29):
Cardinals that were in our yardhad babies, and there was more.
And the two youngest babies werejust learning how to fly and my
youngest son he absolutely lovesbirds. So him watching this and
just the joy he was experiencingof oh, these new baby birds. And
so I decided to do a paintingabout time and like aging. And
(39:50):
the Cardinals like in my head. Iwas like symbolically the four
cardinal directions and like howtime and space are just a very
temporal thing. It's like aphysical thing, but
metaphysically it doesn't. Idon't think it exists. It
doesn't feel real to me.
Jennifer Logue (40:10):
Time is subjective.
Krissy Whiski (40:12):
Yes, it is. It's very subjective to the moment
until you start analyzing it andtrying to measure it. And you're
like, wait a minute. Didn't feellike yours. I think we all got
to experience that. I'm like,finally everybody's Where
Jennifer Logue (40:30):
are you been?
I've been talking about this solong. I want to see that
pitting. I don't think I've seenthat one. The forger, the carnal
direction?
Krissy Whiski (40:39):
down because I did not do the idea. I think I I
shared it. And then it went tothe burn pile.
Jennifer Logue (40:47):
Okay, we've talked about the burn pile
because I know about the burnpile. I think it's so cool. But
you want to tell listeners aboutyour burn pile?
Krissy Whiski (40:55):
Yes. So I'm burned my art. The pieces that
over time as an artist, youshift and change and evolve,
your work grows and moves indifferent directions. And I
think you get a better eye forwhat pieces are actually the
good ones and which aren't.
Because every piece is not amasterpiece. And it allows you
it gives you more permission totry something and just know if
(41:20):
it if it's not working. It'sit's not so because I sell my
art, I have to think it's notsellable. Like if I wouldn't
want this to be out there longterm because it's just, it's
just missing that one littlething. Then I set it aside and
it's not for sale, and it getsburned. Because it wasn't, it
wasn't the best it could be. Andthen that gives me the space to
(41:46):
recreate it new without thatdebt of the old one. This was
the old one looked like and I'mlike, no, no, no, think about
just what you can change withthat and do it a new and let it
be it's
Jennifer Logue (42:00):
letting it go.
Letting go is so important andcreation of any kind.
Krissy Whiski (42:05):
Yes, I also I also think that I didn't go to
college. But I think a lot ofart in the beginning is just
trying to master the medium. Andlike translate your thing into
the medium. And when I sat downto paint full time for like
(42:25):
that, eight hour a day stretch alot of those paintings. Not
good. I just had to be okay withthat. I realized this is like
going to the gym, it's building.
Yes, I just have to learn how todo this thing here and find a
groove with it or where it'sworking. So you got to be okay
with failing a whole bunch oftimes, or maybe not getting it
100% Right. Because that's part
Jennifer Logue (42:49):
of the process too. You know, it's not going to
be amazing out the gate even.
Even when you're an amazingartist. When you're working on
an idea for it to be the best itcan be. My friend Calvin on the
podcast talked about creativitybeing like a hose. And like
sometimes when you first turnthe hose on, you get like the
dirty water. It's like
Krissy Whiski (43:12):
Oh yeah, that is such a good metaphor for it.
Jennifer Logue (43:17):
Yeah, but then eventually that Clean Beautiful
water comes out like full blast.
Krissy Whiski (43:23):
But each time you stop and restart or even change
mediums
Jennifer Logue (43:30):
yeah, great metaphor is so interesting. What
is the greatest challenge you'vefaced in your career so far?
Krissy Whiski (43:38):
For the greatest challenge always feels like the
current one that you're in.
We're in it and you're facing itat the time. So it's whatever
you're confronting at the momentum but the restarting every time
I've had to stop because being amom requires stopping sometimes
the focusing on the other thingthe reality real world the inner
(44:01):
world and that's finding thespace to create and the
restarting and being okay likeletting go of the past debt. And
I think the burning art helpedwith that. And the sometimes not
sharing sometimes I'll go quieton social media.
Jennifer Logue (44:24):
Social media is an energy drain
Krissy Whiski (44:27):
yes it is this constant feed the content feed
the beast but you don't thefeedback you get is not always
genuine or sincere or eventhoughtful. This this
appreciating art through thumbsup and clicks and likes and then
(44:48):
measuring the feedback based onthat is so it's not I know it's
our current modality but artistsdo not. That is a good advice
artists do not measure yourselfby these clicks and likes, it's
just like building thecreativity muscle, you have to
learn how to feed this almostbeast, you don't have to. But if
you want to grow on that, that'sits own learning thing. And I
(45:12):
learned about that both throughthe gallery with marketing my
other artists work. And throughlooking into the startup world,
and like how these platformswork, and what the intention
drivers are. And I don't play inall of them. Because the current
one, the attention drivers pushto divide people. I'm very
(45:32):
tribal, it's to start fights andarguments, because that's what
people queue into. And as longas I can get, maintain your
attention and your focus andsell more ads. That becomes the
driving mechanism. And I won'tplay into that one. I tried to
just look for the dopaminerelease of I'll just put out
something that I think is reallycool. And if people connect with
(45:55):
that, so I don't often go viral.
I used to before the drivingmechanism was tribal. But
Jennifer Logue (46:04):
yeah, I look forward to your posts though.
Like, you know what I'm having along day. And just seeing that
pop of color and something youcreated, like maybe think of
something, maybe see somethingin a different way. Like ah,
yes, I guess I enjoyed thedopamine release. And I think a
lot of us do enjoy your dopaminereleases your paintings.
Krissy Whiski (46:24):
Thank you. I figure if you communicate in the
way that's most genuine, theright people will find you. And
your
Jennifer Logue (46:31):
Yes, yes. So, so true. Now, obviously, I love all
of your work. But my personalfavorites are Rhiannon vanity
program. And gas masks kids isalso really interesting. I'll
just quickly give a visualdescription for people. It's
given a classroom, they'rewearing gas masks, and on the
(46:54):
chalkboard you've written noclimbing, no playing No
scissors, no daydreaming, nobullying, no joking. No laughing
No talking, no singing, nohumming, no winning, everyone is
special. You're all winners? Doyou want to talk about that?
Because it resonated with me.
I'm like, oh, man,
Krissy Whiski (47:10):
a hard piece. And it has I do some hard pieces
that are political or dwell onHard, hard themes. Not
everything is happy. And thisone was actually from 2016. And
it hasn't made it in any fire.
It was I sometimes have dreams.
(47:30):
And I keep a notebook next to meeven in bed, I will wake up and
try to write down just the core.
What was I feeling? What? Whatdid I see in the stream, like
what was shocking. And thisstream felt like a Cold War era
imagery of the kids in gasmasks. And it felt very like,
like I felt what the kids werefeeling and that they were being
(47:53):
very stifled. And the emphasison keeping them safe wasn't on
the right things. And I wasworried and I have kids. So I
was like, what does this mean?
I'm always trying to like,search out dream meanings and
try to figure out the archetypeslike what does this mean? What
am I seeing here? And I think itwas with my kids in school, I
(48:20):
was reading headlines of thisconformity to like school
started to feel like aconformity machine. And that
served us well as a society forlike, quite some time. But there
were issues in it. Um, recessbeing cut, more and more kids
not playing outside. Separatingthe kids who eat peanut butter
(48:42):
and like a different area, notletting him like, not like not
letting those kids sit near tothe kids who hadn't have peanut
butter. And I'm like, How doesthis impact the children like
are we thinking about what it'slike for them? And then
interestingly, I went through aphase right before COVID Where I
(49:03):
painted plague doctors. Andsomebody pointed out that
gasmask kins painting from 2016Doesn't that newspaper on the
floor and the painting are likezoomed in, and it says epidemic.
And I was like, Yeah, I'vehandled that in 2016. It was
just like this worry and concernand they're like, it was a
person who purchased one of myplague doctors. This was 2019 in
(49:24):
the fall like October, myHalloween focus was plagued
doctors and it wasn't just me. Ifeel like the Gates Foundation.
Bill Gates Foundation wasputting out there pandemic like
the the reality of that couldhappen. neuter museum I went to
spit spreads plague, huh. Andthey hadn't in Philadelphia,
(49:44):
they had an exhibition and Iwent and I was like, wow, yeah,
this is I'm going to do theplague doctors for Halloween.
Yeah. And then I made like ashort little film. It was like
two minutes long and it wasbased on a fever dream. I had it
in October. It's still theresomewhere in my I use social
media Facebook like quash theheck out of that fun. After
COVID Happiness started gettingshared around people were like,
(50:06):
Yo, what is the news headline toher across the bottom of it? And
it was just a woman and a plaguedoctor mask. I filmed myself as
a woman and a plague doctor masktreating a patient in bed.
Jennifer Logue (50:20):
Oh my gosh, that's crazy. Yeah, it
Krissy Whiski (50:22):
was really weird.
It was. I have not I tried tomake it into a painting. And I
was like the paintings notright, it has to be a short
film, and I don't even do film.
I was like, half the camera andjust try. And then that
happened. And it and COVIDhappened locked down happened a
few months later, in March of2020. And it was like, oh, was
(50:48):
this related to that? It justlike made you Oh, was this like
a message in my dream. So I paya lot of attention to dreams.
And like, I feel like oursubconscious going, Hey, there's
something happening here. If youjust listen to
Jennifer Logue (51:02):
this is our subconscious. We could we could
do a whole nother episode justtalking about our subconscious
in that role. Its role increativity, because I've even
written songs in my sleep, likeI've dreamt up songs, but this
is another level
Krissy Whiski (51:20):
in my sleep, and then I wake up and I have to try
to recreate. I've had sleepissues and I have come upstairs
and created an entire paintingand thought I slept the night
and the next day come up into myart studio and a painting is
halfway started. And I'm like,Oh, I didn't believe that when
you guys try not to do itbecause I grew really bad
(51:41):
insomnia and I went through aperiod where I didn't sleep at
all and had to be hospitalized.
Not sleeping very incredibly badfor your entire body. I
recommend sleeping is
Jennifer Logue (51:53):
amazing.
Sleeping is a magical gifts. Andyeah, I had a similar
experience. We'll talk about it.
But I also love Rihanna in thatpainting. There's been so much
joy, like, do you want to talkabout it? I know how I feel but
this is about I want tointerview you I want to hear.
Krissy Whiski (52:15):
Okay, I hope I don't take your view. You know,
it's an interesting thing. Howother people experience art is
completely related to theirexperiences. But Rhiannon is a
mystical goddess I, I'veactually looked into her. She
showed up in dreams. She's acelestial meaning from the other
(52:36):
world and West mythology andWelsh mythology. The Celts
called her opponent. They hername means Queen of the Night,
okay, Fleetwood Mac wrote a songabout her. And that is the
painting I had to herperformances, and watching some
of her live performances. I waslike, I have to paint this. And
(52:56):
oddly, the first time Iattempted to paint her was after
I had my second son in 2013. Andyou always remember
historically, like what's goingon when you're working on a
visual painting. And I rememberRussia was invading Ukraine in
2013. And it just like sort ofhappened. And then it kind of
like, all went away. Like Isince I got the Crimea
(53:19):
peninsula, and then it all justlike News didn't focus on that
anymore, for whatever reason.
And then I sat down and wantedto that painting didn't work.
But for whatever reason, I waslike, It's not good enough yet.
It's just not working. Iattempted again. And I was
listening like morning coffee,looking at a couple of news
headlines and taking things inand I'm like Russia's invading
(53:41):
Ukraine again. Why is it everytime I'm compelled. There's some
strange like she shows up whenhe's being invaded. I don't know
if it's signal or noise.
Jennifer Logue (54:03):
But the inspiration behind it?
Krissy Whiski (54:06):
Yes, definitely.
Stevie Nicks the lyrics in thatsong and the like, dreams on
unwind loves the state of mind.
Jennifer Logue (54:17):
I love Stevie Nicks. Why? I interviewed her on
the red carpet years ago, and Ijust felt such a connection. I
mean, everyone does obviouslyStevie Nicks, but she she's out
of this world magical.
Krissy Whiski (54:30):
Well, yes, she is. She's very in touch with
that other realm. Yes.
Jennifer Logue (54:35):
Oh, she's so is.
So that's probably why I lovethe painting so much. I love it.
You answered the question I waswondering about. Um, so you have
a unique approach in how yousell your art to collectors. Do
you want to talk about that?
Krissy Whiski (54:57):
Yeah, sure. Um, I consider it. Let me let me think
about how to phrase this. Yes, Icall it the delivery experience.
It's how I deliver art. So Ipersonally hand deliver my
pieces of art. This just startedhappening when people bought art
locally. And it evolved. Fromthere, I started realizing that
(55:17):
this art is like a shared, itresonates with people. And it
becomes like a sharedexperience. And it's almost a
container for how these twopeople relate to this thing. And
I think it's really important asan artist to like, own your
audience a bit. Like to kind ofknow who they are and understand
(55:40):
why. Because I've always justbeen trying to connect and blend
my inner reality with the outerreality. And when other people
see it resonates. It's like whyI need to know why. So this
allows us to like curate a day,I've had really cool days where
I've gone out to Colorado areato meet a collector who bought a
(56:00):
couple of pieces of my work. Wespent a day at Garden of the
Gods and meow Wolf. Heintroduced me to Korean food,
which was, yes, thank you forthis. I love Korean food. I've
had days where I've just come toa person's home, I brought Amish
doughnuts out to a collectorphone. I've had other people
(56:22):
from New York City come to meand say, Can I bring my kids
because this is a gift for mykids. And I just want them to
beat you.
Jennifer Logue (56:29):
Oh, so cool
Krissy Whiski (56:30):
gum and the kid with us in the kids, it just
sporadically happened, we endedup doing art together in my
studio. So I was doing art. Andthen now I'm experiencing Amish
country, which was a nice breakfrom New York City.
Jennifer Logue (56:43):
Oh my gosh, what a memory to have.
Krissy Whiski (56:45):
So the painting ends up being the container for
this memory. And I also offerthese art manuscripts. It's a
book with what, like what music,I was listening to what inspired
the art and the words poetry, Itry to pull those artifacts
together. And first, I make surethe art is delivered. And we
(57:06):
have our experience, I believeblank pages in there for them to
write an ad anything. And thenthis book becomes a way when the
art is inherited more longerterm to understand, like, why
did why did dad buy this thing?
Like? Because I like the historyof art. And the stories are
interesting. Like why did thisresonate for him? And like, why
(57:27):
did the artists create this? So
Jennifer Logue (57:31):
that is so unique, I love it. Because life
is experiences and you know,when you're able to connect your
art to that it makes it somemorable and just more of a
multi dimensional experience.
Krissy Whiski (57:44):
Yes. Yes. And I think that's important.
Jennifer Logue (57:48):
So important.
What advice do you have foraspiring visual artists?
Krissy Whiski (57:56):
I say just create and make a little bit progress
every day, and give yourselfpermission to try things. And
no, or try to understand yourvoice within what you want to or
have to say like what is it I'minterested in. I'm gonna expect
to love your work right from thestart. It's a journey. It's an
(58:19):
evolution. And what you createtoday, or what medium you work
in today might not be the oneyou're working in tomorrow,
meditate, take care of yourself,learn to balance are not
balanced, that's a terrible,learn to mosaic the day and get
good at quieting all the outsidenoise and distractions. So you
(58:43):
can focus on signal versusnoise. And I for me, meditation
has been a huge form of doingthat.
Jennifer Logue (58:49):
What's next for you?
Krissy Whiski (58:53):
I keep saying it's it's just continuing to
make the work. It's continuingto put out my art and to the
universe. I'm takingopportunities that show up as I
see fit. And just seeing wherethe journey takes me. Hopefully
I get discovered by more peopleand my with whom my artwork
resonates. And I just got tofind ways to amplify myself.
Jennifer Logue (59:17):
Yes. I mean, your art makes such an impact on
me on so many people already.
Like I think it's only justgoing to keep growing
Krissy Whiski (59:26):
from here.
Awesome. And thank you forhelping amplify me.
Jennifer Logue (59:29):
Oh my gosh, my pleasure. Oh my goodness. At my
absolute pleasure, Chrissy. Formore on Chrissy whiskey, visit
pricy whiskey.com And thank youso much for tuning in and
growing in creativity with us.
I'd love to know what youthought of today's episode. You
can reach out to me on socialmedia ads Jennifer Logue or
leave a review for creativespace on Apple podcasts so more
(59:52):
people can discover it. Iappreciate you so much for being
here in the beginning stages ofthis My name is Jennifer Logue
and thanks for listening to thisepisode of creative space until
next time
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