Today we’d like to introduce you to Ruth Weatherford.
Ruth, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 2014 I left my desk job. I had just become so tired of the normal, boring, every day that never seemed to fit with me. I had always felt very pulled to be creative, so that year, I really felt like God was telling me to start an Etsy shop. At the time, I was selling hand-lettered art prints, and honestly, they weren’t that good-haha!! But, I built something out of that and I was able to grow and develop my skills, and figure out more of who I wanted to be and what I wanted to make. I was so blessed to be able to connect with other small business & shop owners, and I started to do a lot of graphic design work for them making everything from textile designs to hand lettering to logos. Meanwhile, I was trying to grow my art business and I found myself with this idea to pick up watercolor paint, and that is truly where my love for painting began. I flourished there, I found my style, and I have not stopped painting since then.
Fast forward to 2020. I have found so many more amazing avenues for my paintings and I have been really focusing on making very large pieces of art, which are often used for weddings, events, and retail decor. I’ve got a dedicated studio now where I work out of, and I am excited to grow and paint more and more!
Has it been a smooth road?
I really had to figure out my “place” in this big, online, creative business world, which is kind of tough. You can feel like a small drop in a big bucket at times, but that’s something that you just have to fight against. It’s also hard to figure out the balance of wanting to create so much, but also want to make a profit from it too.
I’ve also had issues where people have stolen my designs and sold them as their own (the worst), copying, etc. That’s never very fun to deal with, but I think over time, you grow and realize that you are strong enough to handle it and those issues won’t be your downfall. You put so much of yourself into art when you make it, and it can feel like a very personal attack when it doesn’t go over the way you’d hoped, but that’s just how it is. A lot of the struggles are mindset, and if you decide that you won’t fail and won’t let those negative circumstances get you – you’ll totally make it.
We’d love to hear more about your art.
I paint very largely, abstract, watercolor-esque murals. My very favorite medium is watercolor paint and I started out by doing pieces on paper. Now I’ve translated that to a much bigger scale and while I don’t use watercolor on my large pieces, I do like to play with my paint to make it look as if it were the same as watercolor. I love blending color and seeing how it interacts, and I almost always throw a lot of black ink on my pieces, as well as incorporate some sort of topographic looking lines into all my work because I’m kind of obsessed with those details.
I’d say that over the last few months, I really had this vision to create large pieces that would be used in events as real statement backdrops and also murals to cover walls (in retail or home spaces) so I’ve focused on that. It’s been so fun and so fulfilling seeing that dream come to life. Most people tell me they’ve never quite seen work like my paintings, and especially not in those event/retail environments, so I am really looking forward to expanding and putting more art out in the world. It’s just so fun to take the desires and dreams that I have and put them on something tangible.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I truly love Fort Worth, even though I am not originally from here. I’ve lived here for 10+ years now, and it’s just a super cool city. It’s cultured but homey, edgy but historic. We have great restaurants and wonderful museums, and all around, its just a really amazing place to raise a family. What do I like least? Maybe that we have lost some really beautiful historical or just downright cool buildings to modern development over the last few years, and I wish that were not so.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ruthweatherford.com
- Phone: 682-261-2333
- Email: artistrweatherford@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/artist_ruthweatherford
Image Credit:
Katherine Frances Photography, K Callan Photography, Alt Photography, Playful Soul Photography
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