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Welcome to The Artist is In, where we explore the stories behind the work and the souls behind the studio doors. I'm your host, Kat Collins, and today's guest is painter Shia Phillips, whose work radiates joy, color, and structure, offering us a vibrant world where abstraction and design beautifully collide. A native of Los Angeles who spent her formative years along the Mediterranean before settling in Omaha, Nebraska, Shiri brings an international sensibility and a Mediterranean sun -soaked palette to everything she touches. Her impasto strokes, deliberate, bold, and bright, form paintings that feel both spontaneous and deeply intentional. Influenced by impressionism and the logic of graphic design, Shiri creates pieces that offer both emotional release and comforting structure. In this conversation, we'll talk about color as a way of life, how cultural landscapes shape creative identity, and the delicate art of letting go on the canvas and off. So Shiri, thank you for being here. I really appreciate it.

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Thank you. Thanks for having me, Kat.

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Yeah, I'm very excited to chat with you. I love your work. It is so engaging. And, you know, I'm one of those artists who I want to touch everything I see. But your work seems to invite that with the thick impasto texture that you give to it.

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I know. Thank you. I want to touch it too. And I encourage others to, if I'm around and I, it's funny, I tell kids all the time, if you don't have peanut butter and jelly on your hands, yeah, just touch it in front of me. Fine. Go up to it.

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Yeah, I know that, you know, but if you go to a museum, you get your hands slapped a bit for that.

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Exactly. I know. Yeah. If I'm around, if it's in my studio and I'm watching you, it's okay. Right. It's an invitation to explore what this material is. It's very inviting.

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Absolutely it is. So can you take us back to the early spark? What first drew you to painting and painting in this style?

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Oh, well, so what drew me to painting, I think really in my formative years, was school. Generally, I remember some of my first art classes in middle school. And, you know, you don't start right away with painting. You start with drawing. You start a little bit with clay. And I was always interested in painting,

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of course, but arts in general, I was just drawn to. So it started early. And also, I would say that a really big influence in my early days was my family. My father's a creative. My grandparents were big museum goers and raised me and my sister in museums, taking us to see the great works that they could. And being in Los Angeles at that time, it was easy to do that when there would be a really great exhibit coming up. So I feel very blessed that I got to experience those things and they exposed us to it. at a young age.

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But the painting style that I do now, up and about, about like five years ago. So this is like a newer style for me.

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I wasn't, I wasn't doing heavy bodied textured work before this. So yeah, this, this one's like, this is newer.

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And what inspired the newer direction?

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That's a good story.

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Sit back and listen.

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So back in COVID 2020, let's take us back. Yeah.

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I was postpartum. So my son was born January of 2020. And this was my second child. And I was already cooped up from being pregnant and then giving birth. And then a pandemic hits and everything starts, right?

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Yeah.

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And I already was creating. I had a space in my house for my creative place, my outlet of my own materials. But I was never selling anything. I was just creating for the sake of creating.

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And I was getting so cooped up, so frustrated. I wasn't working with paint at the time. I was doing mostly just collage work and working with paper. And because of all this pent up frustration, I got into the studio and I specifically remember this. I was in my studio. My mother -in -law's an artist too. And I was going through her supplies. It was COVID. We were cooped up. I had the baby. And I'm like, what are these heavy bodied materials? I want to learn how to play with this. So I pulled them out, experimented, and started throwing paint around simply because I missed the paint. And I hadn't played with paint in a couple of years. I mean, a little bit here and there, but I just didn't. outlet that emotional release that i was craving and and i like to tell people that like it just sort of just kind of happened during the pandemic that makes sense that's when i got back into painting more because of having to deal with those emotions and everything going on you needed some way to get that out it was a really big emotional release for me and in um

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makes sense that's when i got back into painting more because of having to deal with those emotions and everything going on you needed some way to get that out it

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was a really big emotional release for me and in um extremely therapeutic um i didn't even know i needed it until i looked back at those months and i was like oh okay it made a lot more sense once i looked back at it you know when you're going through all of that you don't you're in survival mode right and um i was just going through the motions for a solid year two little kids

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made a lot more sense once i looked back at it you know when you're going through all of that you don't you're in survival mode right

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um i was just going through the motions for a solid year two little kids daughter had started kindergarten on zoom you know and it just it was just a rough couple years for everyone not just me but that's just you know my experience was was that I got to go to the studio um and hang out with my amazing mother -in -law who was helping me with the kids too and so it was like our little village we were able to I was creating with my daughter and we were playing and

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hang out with my amazing mother -in -law who was helping me with the kids too and so it was like our little village we were able to I was creating with my daughter and we were playing and

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I was able to bring my son there with me. So it was an outlet for everybody. But at the same time, I was exploring this pent up energy that I had.

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Absolutely. I think a lot of artists found growth during that period. And I think a lot of people started doing artistic things just to express how they felt.

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I think

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artistic things just to express how they felt.

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You know,

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know, because we're always drawn to being creative as humans. And I think it's a great way to heal in the process, you know, and it doesn't mean we have to paint. It can be any form of art, but absolutely. Oh, yeah.

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Oh, yeah. I'm an advocate. Like, start crafting if you have an idea. Like, it doesn't need to be paint and paper or paint on canvas. Be any creative outlet. Like, there were years where I wasn't pulling any paint out.

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Like I said, I was working with working with papers, recycled papers, wallpapers, which I still work with today. But like I was doing I was painting furniture for a while because I found my creativity through that. I anything that I could creatively put my ideas towards during this like I think it was about a 10 year gap between college and that time. I just wasn't. doing the type of art that I had always been. But I found it in other ways, right? Yeah,

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absolutely. I used to create little fairy people out of clothespins. I love that.

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I used to create

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love that. I love it.

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It's still being creative. It's being creative. It's just where you are in life. Exactly. And you still call yourself an artist. Always. Even when you're doing not artwork that's at a gallery or sells or something like that. Absolutely.

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I wasn't selling at a gallery ever four years ago. So this part of the art world, I'm a newbie. I mean, I still think of myself as an emerging artist. This is part of being an artist that I never knew.

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And I've had to self -teach myself this.

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had to self -teach myself this. I think every artist has to, really. We're all teaching ourselves how to be working artists. Absolutely.

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It's something they definitely don't teach you in school. They do not.

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do not.

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No matter what art degree you go for, they don't teach you the practicalities of how to market your art, how to approach galleries, how to sell art on your own, any of that kind of stuff. So a lot of times we're spent learning in honor as we go.

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And I think COVID was a unique opportunity for many artists. And many businesses at the time, everything became so online that we, so all I did was I started posting on my Instagram and then my friends and family saw it and they said, can I have a piece? And I said, what? Like, so the selling aspect was never an intention. It just fell into place. And it was all because of this cooped up time of just being online and everybody was online, right? Yeah. You almost had no choice if you want a connection.

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a connection.

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And this was a, it was a really fun way to connect with friends and family who I hadn't, I think friends reached out to me who I hadn't since gave or more before.

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And this

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and family who I hadn't, I think friends reached out to me who I hadn't

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or more before. Like I, it was really fun to. get these messages from people who had known me my whole life and reach out hey I would love a painting that's how it starts yes absolutely so to pivot a little bit you we were talking about school you studied art history yeah how is that academic lens shaped your practice as a painter has it had any effect on it I think that I think it did I mean I I

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yes absolutely

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to pivot a little bit you we were talking about school you studied art history yeah how is that academic lens shaped your practice as a painter has it had any effect on it I

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that I think it did I mean I I

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I'd say that a big chunk of my education was also in observing and learning about a variety of art and artists and even like local artists.

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of art and artists and even like local artists. So I was doing like, I really enjoyed gallery work and seeing how the galleries were run and how, you know, they would put on the show and. And how it just functioned in general. So in school, I made sure to do that type of work as well.

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But in regards to how my art looks today, I think that you could say that some of my love for Impressionism kind of comes out in my work. It's chunky, it's thick, it's colorful, it's bold, like it's more of an impression of something rather. then I'm not, it's not hyper -realism or, you know, doesn't represent anything in particular. It can be whatever you want it to be. I mean, you could argue that Impressionism is like that, but it's not necessarily.

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So I think that, yeah, I think my art history definitely played a role. And I think that, you know, with any artist, like, have your love of certain artists growing up that you... just always drawn to and felt something from. And, and it's funny how it plays out in life, how,

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funny how it plays out in life, how, how it becomes art and it ends up the way it looks. It's crazy.

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crazy. Yeah. Who are some of your influences?

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Well, I'm just imagining like walking through a museum. And so it's funny. I never lie. I never liked. the modern art wing I was never a modern artist or abstract artist like lover I of course I studied it and and and it was definitely present but it never resonated with me when I was younger um but I always found myself drawn to the emotional release of creating it so it was very interesting push and pull in my work. And, um, I, I found myself drawn though, to like impressionism and like Monet mayonnaise, like, um, Sarah and birth Morisot is a long time favorite. Um, all the great impressionists. Um, because there was this sense of flightiness there was a sense of like um a moment in time and and the way that certain artists use their brush strokes and it was very appealing to me but um and i think also the story and fascinating and you know well yeah i mean they broke free of the strengths of the art world

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yeah i mean they broke free of the strengths of the art world

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they broke

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Yeah, they were doing something rebellious. I think that that always resonated with me.

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But it's funny how like my work is so abstract today, but it has a sense of like some of my works you could say are,

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some of my works you could say are, they are something, right? Like, you know, that's a cake on a wall. But that's an abstract cake on a wall, right? But that's not the kind of art I was always drawn to. So it's interesting how my work is that.

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So it's almost, especially when you start looking at your cakes, I think of impressionism mixed with pop art a bit and how that kind of go together. So it's fascinating.

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Yeah. Yeah, it definitely is. Yeah.

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So you've lived in Los Angeles, Israel, and now you're in Nebraska. Yeah. different environments influence the way you see this color because your work is very colorful um it's I think it's just the way you you know look at everything around you I don't know I I don't know if it's like like a wavelength that runs through my eyeballs or um you know we're just like built differently like we see certain colors I don't know um I think what really influenced my work in color just going

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I think it's just the way you you know look at everything around you I don't know I I don't know if it's like like a wavelength that runs through my eyeballs or um you know we're just like built differently like we see certain colors I don't know um

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think what really influenced my work in color just going and taking art classes studying color and like learning about how color works and um but living in different places i always could tell like okay so for example like growing up in the midwest now like i say i'm from here i've been here since i was in third grade like i've been here a long time west has seasons and

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has seasons and We go through like these dark periods. We go through these like very gray winters, brown. There's like a lot of everything is sort of dying off and sleeping. And then we go through the red phase and the autumns and the browns. It's just beautiful. And everything's blooming into, sorry,

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blooming into spring. You know what I mean? Like we have all the seasons.

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we have all the seasons.

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In the Mediterranean,

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it's always in bloom and the blooms come in the winter. So I think seasonal changes as a young person always influence the way I see color around me.

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Outside of my home, but.

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No, you know, in general, I'm not really sure other than just being surrounded by colorful homes in like. You know, my family's house has color in it.

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I don't know. Makes sense. You know, I always use color as emotion,

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you know, and it's the way I feel and the way I see.

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know, and it's the way I feel and the way I see. And it's funny because my wife and I argue all the time. She'll say something's a certain color. And I'm like, no, it's not. She's like, it's green. I'm like,

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I'm like, no, it's not.

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no, that's like teal. Yeah. You get used to as an artist seeing the variations. and the different shades of hues. And I find that in your work tremendously in the way that you place color next to each other. Yeah.

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the way that you place

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And you mix colors in each stroke too. So it's not always just a solid color.

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No, it's not. And I would say that a lot of that came from experiment. So I was actually thinking about this just like two days ago, thinking about. why I have the technique that I have with the pixelation series. And I think what I was doing subconsciously, not like really thinking about it, but now I'm looking back, I'm like, oh, that's what I was doing. I do this a lot. I feel like, oh, okay. Happens a lot. I was teaching myself how to make colors. So in school, I always got frustrated with myself where I, and recently,

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I've been painting for Father's Day. I'm painting these like portraits of my kids right now. I can't get the right face color, like the skin color. I'm trying to get the right own.

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And I think what I was doing is like years of being frustrated with mixing because that takes years of learning. I mean, I'm still learning. I think what I was doing was like, I'm going to get this. I'm going to like, right. I'm going to know how to mix every single color ever. Like how many colors can I get from these three paint tubes? Right. And I was doing it and I like a whole painting. Right. And I, and it would happen. I, so I think I was just challenging myself subconsciously.

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Yeah, absolutely. Did you keep a. A written record or anything of the way you did that?

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the way you

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Never.

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Girl, I'm not that organized.

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I'm not that organized.

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Girl, I see artists doing that. I'm like, how?

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I know. I've tried. I got a page in and I was like, yeah, I can't do this.

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Oh, I think I only have something on my wall in my studio for background colors because I need to know what I painted certain paintings with background colors.

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But when it comes to mixing, there is no way in hell that I could ever write that all down. It would take all day. Yeah. Yeah.

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Yeah. It does make it harder to go back to a certain color sometimes that you've used before.

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I know. And this is why when I commission work, I have to tell clients that I will try so hard to get close, but I can't. The process of mixing is just as much part of the painting as it's just, it's just part of the process. Like I can't. Absolutely. Redo it. And I don't want to. I don't want to make the same thing again. Right. Like it. I think that that's just as important.

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Yeah. I've had people ask me to reproduce a painting and I always tell them that's not possible.

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It's just not. I do.

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just not. I do.

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I mean, with abstract work, like I don't. If I was doing portraiture and I got a portrait of something, yeah, I will try to do this for you. But I think any artist can, we can't.

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It is challenging, that's for sure.

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Yeah, and that's why we make prints.

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Yes, that's the way to do it. Yeah. So your impasto technique and graphic structure creates such a unique visual language. So can you walk us through your process in the studio a bit and how you do that?

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Like we were talking about, I can't save a color. I don't want to save a color.

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But the graphic like look sort of just happened where I was, you know, over time, it just became more condensed, more uniform, more structured. It was much looser four years ago, maybe less graphic looking, more movement, sort of my color scapes.

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of my color scapes. series which is like less pixelated um and then this pixelation work just kind of happened where it's sort of interwoven interwoven itself and I work wet on wet so the paint is mixed on the table on my palette and then placed on the canvas and I'll just build up

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pixelated um and then this pixelation work just kind of happened where it's sort of interwoven interwoven itself and I work wet on wet so the paint is mixed on the table on my palette and then placed on the canvas and I'll just build up

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So your colors, as you're working on the canvas, are they mixing as well?

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Yeah. Yeah.

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I always love the effect when that happens.

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Oh, yeah. It's delicious.

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So how do you strike the balance between deliberate placement and expressive abstraction, especially with your pixelated series? Well, I don't know. I think I just have a sense for...

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know. I think I just have a sense for...

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You know, an overall composition. So when I get to a place, I'll step back.

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I'll even step away for the night a lot of times and then come back and maybe add. So I think it just depends on the piece.

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Perhaps. Yeah, I don't know. That's a tough one.

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tough one. Do you plan your pieces in advance?

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pieces in advance? In a sense, I do. When it comes to like, if it was a body of work that I'm making, that I'm doing something, you know, in particular I need to do, yes, there's planning involved. But in general, I have no plan. I go in. I love to explain this process of like, if I had my choice of doing any painting right now today, this is what would happen. I stand in front of the canvas. It's ready to be painted on. And I go over to my paint wall and I choose colors that feel good to me.

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Oh, I feel like that hot pink is awesome right now. That's making me feel better. Or,

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okay, well, with this neon pink, this orange is super complimentary. Or like this yellow, it's like a daisy yellow. It's perfect with neon pink.

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So I'm thinking of color theory as I go. Also, I'm thinking of experience with color matching, like what looks good together. So that's color theory playing in.

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But it's all intuitive and I'm just grabbing what feels good.

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Your work is often described as joyful and energetic. Do you start with a mood in mind or does it emerge through the act of painting?

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with a

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I think it emerges through the act. But sometimes I notice later that it's definitely a vibe, like it's a mood of something.

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Going with that intuition, but it's not a set thought in your head.

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No, it's not. I think because I'm just an emotional person, you know, I think that how do I keep that from not coming out?

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know, I think

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do I keep that from not coming out? I don't I don't know how I put other unless like it's. a commission, right? Where you have to, where they want to look a certain way. If this was just me doing whatever I want, I have pieces that I look back on. I'm like, wow, that's really blue. Why was I picking all blues and greens that day? Like, you know,

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I have a whole series like that. It's like, well, yeah,

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yeah, a blue period. Yeah.

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No, I get it. I get it.

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Like,

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I think there's a reason subconsciously every choice that we make in the studio. Even if you're not thinking about it. Absolutely. It's just part of the process. Part of an artist.

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Part of

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artist. It's those deep emotions that I have. They're coming out through the colors I choose. Like the technique I'm using. Because that can shift too.

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Absolutely.

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So you live by the mantra, color is life, and talking all about color here. What does that phrase mean to you, especially as an artist? So that came to me because in Judaism,

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came to me because in Judaism, we use the word chai,

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which means life.

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To think about my life, the way I would want to live or the way that my ancestors would have hoped I lived is to live the best life possible, right? And to experience the world the best way that I can, the best way I know how to. And that's what I want to, you know, enlist on my children. I want them to have that when they grow up. And to me, color. is this language of my life it's it's just I see the world I don't know it's it's like right now I can't get over how green in my grass it's like this I get over I overcome with um emotion seeing so much green right now like it's just life that's we're so blessed to see these colors I wish I had more colors bigger color spectrum in my eyes that I could see, you know, like some animals.

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you know, like some animals.

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So I think of the word chai when I say that.

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It makes me think of Mark Rothko's paintings and how he always said that he intended for them to be in a church or, you know,

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think of Mark

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how he always said that he intended for them to be in a church or, you know, in some sort of room that would be like a temple. Because the art was about the emotion of the color and how it really enveloped you. And that really makes me think about that as well.

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Yeah, I'd say his work is definitely influential in my world, in my life. But yeah, I never, that's really interesting.

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I haven't thought about that one.

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that one. Something to think about.

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And you know what I've always wanted to do? I haven't had one yet. But I'm going to, I think this coming year, I have not had a solo show with just pixelation. So I'm really excited to be surrounded by just those pieces.

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Because I think there's something to be said by being surrounded by more than one of them.

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Absolutely. And it's always something magical. When you get to immerse yourself in it and the impact that that can have on you.

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the impact that that can have on you.

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That's what people say when they walk into my studio.

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It's a rainbow.

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It's not a bad thing. No, it's a good thing. I'm like, good. Come on over. Yeah. Absolutely. Happiness in here.

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Yeah. Pretty sure the answer to this question. But do you think color has the power to shift a viewer's emotional state? And how conscious are you of that? Was you in pain?

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Oh, gosh. Every day. I'm so conscious of it. Because it affects me. Like right now I'm going through this state with my bedroom and the color of the walls. I just, I don't know if I want it. Because it's giving me this like. This feeling, like I really loved it three years ago, but now I'm feeling very different about it. You know, like color is shifting how our mood is.

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our mood is. Like it shifts mood.

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And it also creates, there's also memory there too.

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too. Color creates memory. Like I have very vivid memories of certain colors throughout my life. So I remember I was painting just a simple one, a pixelation, and I pulled out certain colors and I finished it. And I was like, this looks like my bike shorts from 1993.

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It was the same colors. That is my work.

00:31:23 SPEAKER_00
Moments in time. And it's involving. a different sense, you know, because you always think smells are memories. But color brings back such a memory as well. You know, I, for me, pink was always a difficult color for me.

00:31:40 SPEAKER_01
But there's so many pinks.

00:31:41 SPEAKER_00
Oh, I know. And so I did the series that we're showing together at No Name Gallery right now. Yeah. And it became me taking back the color of pink.

00:31:47 SPEAKER_01
And it

00:31:48 SPEAKER_00
became me taking back the color of pink. Oh, I love that. It's amazing to me how much color has such an impact.

00:32:00 SPEAKER_01
I see that in the last couple of years I have started. So it's interesting. When I paint, I really don't like picking up black. But I observe my house and the art that I have in it all has black in it. Interesting.

00:32:20 SPEAKER_01
I know. So there's something to be said about perhaps subconsciously like they're black. Emotionally, I don't want it near me. Because it is representative of something deep down that I don't want.

00:32:39 SPEAKER_02
down that I don't want.

00:32:39 SPEAKER_01
down that I don't want.

00:32:44 SPEAKER_02
But aesthetically.

00:32:47 SPEAKER_00
But I want it.

00:32:48 SPEAKER_01
I want it. But I live with it. Right. And we all live with it. Like it's part of our life because my house is my life. I mean, the color black is part of my life. Why am I not reaching for it? Why am I so against it when it comes to putting it in my paintings? So I get it. The struggle is real, my dear. I know.

00:33:14 SPEAKER_00
It is. I would challenge you to try creating a painting using it just for yourself.

00:33:20 SPEAKER_01
I see what happens. I'm doing one for a client right now. And there's a black background. And I'm like,

00:33:21 SPEAKER_00
see what happens.

00:33:25 SPEAKER_01
I'm actually loving it.

00:33:29 SPEAKER_01
Loving it. So I'm going to play with it. I'm going to really push myself. I challenge you to push yourself to get more pink out.

00:33:38 SPEAKER_00
I am. I'm actually going to start a new series. I've been doing some small studies for it. That is all these real soft,

00:33:45 SPEAKER_00
all these real soft, pale pinkies. Almost like a dirty pink. I love that color.

00:33:49 SPEAKER_03
like a dirty

00:33:51 SPEAKER_00
And I'm excited. It's never a color I use, but I'm like, oh, I'm liking what this is doing. So yeah. So serene and yeah,

00:33:59 SPEAKER_01
So serene and yeah, I mean, it probably brings up this like a memory of something in your life that you rebelled against.

00:34:13 SPEAKER_00
And that's why we do what we do now. Yeah. Are there any particular palettes or tones you're drawn to right now? Oh,

00:34:23 SPEAKER_01
I don't know. Right now, I cannot.

00:34:27 SPEAKER_00
now, I

00:34:29 SPEAKER_01
cannot. No, I think right now I would say that I'm drawn to like a more natural tone palette, which is more in the sense of like landscape.

00:34:39 SPEAKER_01
the sense of like landscape. I'm starting a new grouping of paintings, just sunsets.

00:34:51 SPEAKER_01
And Artspace Warehouse has them. And they're such a hit, but I'm having such a great time making them. And studying the gradients of the sky, I've been taking photos of sunsets and just admiring. I mean, it's something you always admire when it's a beautiful sunset.

00:35:16 SPEAKER_01
But translating that into a painting and taking just like a little eye shot of a sunset, it's really fun to paint. So I'm playing with that right now. That's got my interest. That's beautiful.

00:35:30 SPEAKER_00
beautiful. And I like it because as artists, we take things we see every day and make them into something else and kind of elevate it for other people to get a different perspective of it. Yeah.

00:35:43 SPEAKER_00
Yeah. I'm glad it's a hit for you. Good.

00:35:46 SPEAKER_01
Thank you. Yeah, it's fun to make.

00:35:49 SPEAKER_00
So this season, throughout this podcast, we've been exploring the idea of letting go, which you've touched upon a little in this conversation. But how does that show up for you in your painting process?

00:36:07 SPEAKER_00
Or does it?

00:36:08 SPEAKER_01
It does. I mean, so like I... said earlier um i've been working in abstract for a while now and i was always drawn to very so i was working before with paper and i was very controlling of measurements everything was perfect like perfectly aligned um like a type a controlling narrative of what it looked like um like architectural about it

00:36:33 SPEAKER_01
a type a controlling narrative of what it looked like

00:36:39 SPEAKER_01
architectural about it And you can see in some of my bodies of work, I still have that, my building block series. But when it came to most of the work that I do now,

00:36:49 SPEAKER_01
it came to most of the work that I do now, I had to overcome and let go of that side of me. And it was the most therapeutic part of my life,

00:37:05 SPEAKER_01
of my life, just in general. Like just saying, Go of that perfectionism, Sherry. Just get it down on the canvas. Just get it out. Don't worry about the lines or not being straight. Don't worry about what it's going to look like in the end. Just do it. And it took a long time to get to that place, but it was one of the biggest parts of moving from one body of work to the next body of work.

00:37:37 SPEAKER_01
body of work to the next body of work.

00:37:41 SPEAKER_01
Of like letting go of that part of me that wasn't serving me. Wasn't serving me well anymore.

00:37:49 SPEAKER_00
Do you see it as a growth in yourself and in your practice?

00:37:55 SPEAKER_01
I think so. So I think it comes up a lot still. It's always gonna fester. Never go away. But it's there. But it, yes, I have. worked really hard to just that part go.

00:38:03 SPEAKER_02
go away. But it's there. But it,

00:38:12 SPEAKER_01
part go.

00:38:15 SPEAKER_00
Have you ever had it happen where you've had to let go of structure or perfectionism or even a finished vision that you had in order to follow the work where it wanted to go?

00:38:30 SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I think pixelation turned out that way. I think that's why it looks the way it does today. You know, for like, I think for a good solid year, I was like really not happy with how it looked. I thought it was too mushed together. Like, it's just not quite right. You know, you put all this narrative in your head. It's not, imagine you don't want to be compared to others,

00:38:59 SPEAKER_01
don't want to be compared to others, da, da, da, da, da. And then I stopped worrying so much. And I also stopped thinking about past paintings that I did. So I stopped thinking about how I was doing it and I just let it happen.

00:39:17 SPEAKER_01
Served me well because I just do the thing it was used to doing. And then I didn't worry about smearing paint together.

00:39:22 SPEAKER_01
the thing it was used to doing. And then I didn't worry about smearing paint together. Good. Let the paint smear together.

00:39:30 SPEAKER_01
It's okay.

00:39:33 SPEAKER_00
So what advice would you give to someone? Wants to embrace more freedom or joy in their own creative process.

00:39:42 SPEAKER_01
That's such a good question.

00:39:46 SPEAKER_02
I think give yourself the grace of time.

00:39:52 SPEAKER_01
And. Time in a sense of like give yourself time to create. So like give yourself that time to sit down. But then once you have had that time to sit down and it's. Maybe years and years and years of practicing something. Know that those years and years and years, it's going to shift over time. But give yourself that time.

00:40:18 SPEAKER_01
Because that's part of the process.

00:40:21 SPEAKER_00
Absolutely. You can't rush the process.

00:40:24 SPEAKER_01
No. And I think many times I tried. And I realized, oh, this is what it is. This is the process. Oh, okay. Slow down, Shiri. Just give myself. Okay.

00:40:44 SPEAKER_01
Like there's a body of work. I dabble in so many things. That's just how my brain works. And there is a body of work that has evolved from 15 years of playing with it. Like right now, I wasn't doing what I was doing with it 15 years ago. 10, 15 years ago. No, more than 10 years, yeah. And I just, I'm letting that shift happen. Just let time take its course.

00:41:14 SPEAKER_00
I think when we do that, when we allow ourselves to trust the process,

00:41:16 SPEAKER_01
that,

00:41:19 SPEAKER_00
that's when our greater work comes out. Yeah.

00:41:26 SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it is.

00:41:29 SPEAKER_00
So what's something you've recently had to unlearn or release creatively? Oh,

00:41:38 SPEAKER_02
my gosh, I don't unlearn. Oh, that's a tough question.

00:41:51 SPEAKER_02
I think when it comes to.

00:42:01 SPEAKER_01
You stumped me. Oh, I'm glad I could do that. No, I'm just kidding. No, it's fine. I, I don't know. Well,

00:42:10 SPEAKER_00
I, you know, I think we've talked about a lot of it, which is the perfectionism.

00:42:15 SPEAKER_01
I think, I think just like giving myself that permission to like,

00:42:16 SPEAKER_00
think just

00:42:18 SPEAKER_01
myself that permission to like, not do the things that I usually do.

00:42:27 SPEAKER_02
You know, Even just when you get upset,

00:42:31 SPEAKER_01
you get upset, you're sitting in the session with one painting and you're sitting there and you're like, you get so angry. I mean, it would affect my mood in a way where I'd come, I'd leave the studio and I would just be raging. Now, I think I've worked past that phase of

00:42:50 SPEAKER_01
think I've worked past that phase of knowing that that's normal it still it still gets me just this week I had that moment I'm feeling that way about a certain painting right now like I'm having that anger do you know what I mean like how do you even describe it like you're you're painting something it's just not right and it and it just and you cannot get it right I have bodies of work like that I have paintings like that like But being accepting of that as part of the process is the work.

00:43:34 SPEAKER_00
Absolutely. You know, every painting we create, it won't be an amazing painting. No. You have to have the other ones that you struggle through to get to the good ones too.

00:43:45 SPEAKER_01
What is it? I think so. What's the quote? I love this quote from Bob Ross.

00:43:46 SPEAKER_00
it? I think so. What's

00:43:50 SPEAKER_01
Ross. Happy little accident.

00:43:56 SPEAKER_01
Is that the quote? Yeah. Something like that. Because every accident you make or every oops, it leads to something every single time.

00:44:06 SPEAKER_00
Yes.

00:44:07 SPEAKER_01
Every single time. Like,

00:44:10 SPEAKER_01
like not, it doesn't fail.

00:44:15 SPEAKER_02
Every single time. I'm like, oh, I learned something new from that accident.

00:44:24 SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I'm in a constant therapy session in my studio with myself.

00:44:26 SPEAKER_01
therapy session in my studio with myself. Yeah, pretty much.

00:44:31 SPEAKER_01
Pretty much.

00:44:33 SPEAKER_00
So what's currently lighting you up in your practice or life? Oh, well,

00:44:41 SPEAKER_01
I think right now I'm feeling really energized by summer. That's I'm a very seasonal being.

00:44:52 SPEAKER_01
I struggle with seasonal depression.

00:44:58 SPEAKER_01
But in the summer, it's warm out. My kids are around more. We're going to go do fun things. We go to the pool. Things like that in my life are lighting me up, which makes my work more exciting. When I get that time to be in the studio, then... It makes it that much more enjoyable because I know I have something to look forward to. Do you find your work getting happier in the summer months? I do. I see it in the past. So I look back at work of what seasonally I was making and it's definitely brighter in the summer,

00:45:28 SPEAKER_00
do. I

00:45:32 SPEAKER_01
what seasonally I was making and it's definitely brighter in the summer, which is fun to see. Yeah. And then when the leaves start changing here, I gravitate towards like more browns. It's interesting. More gold.

00:45:51 SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it's funny how that affects us and we don't always notice it. No, but I look back at my archive of work and it's there.

00:45:54 SPEAKER_01
but I look back at my archive of work and it's there.

00:46:00 SPEAKER_00
All right. So and finally, to wrap this conversation up, what does being an artist mean to you right now?

00:46:12 SPEAKER_02
I think we have this unique power.

00:46:17 SPEAKER_01
We have like this superpower in a way that I think others, maybe not that I wouldn't say that others are afraid to use, but others don't even know that they have. Like everyone has it. Everyone has that creative spark. We were all kids. And I think that we have a unique power to use it and to bring it out. Which,

00:46:47 SPEAKER_01
so when you have kids, like, I sort of forgot about this. I used to work with kids. I used to be a youth director at one point in my life and taught lots of art classes. And the young kids influence me so much when it comes to creative ideas. And so stuck being adults and growing up and life starts to take hold. And that creative spark fades. And I think that we are just such a unique group of people that it just never faded.

00:47:28 SPEAKER_01
I think it's our superpower. And I think,

00:47:31 SPEAKER_01
not I think, I know it's a superpower. It's really special.

00:47:42 SPEAKER_01
So I see that when you hear adults say, oh, I could never do that. Or, yeah, I don't know how to paint. Well, sure you do.

00:47:55 SPEAKER_02
It's in there somewhere. We're all young ones. Absolutely. Yeah.

00:48:04 SPEAKER_00
We forget how to be creative as adults.

00:48:07 SPEAKER_01
Yeah, we do. We definitely do. And I think that there's so many ways. And we were talking about this. There's so many ways to be creative. Not just paint and paper and canvas. It's like so many ways. It's landscaping your yard. Yeah, like gardening. This summer I've been gardening a lot. That's been a big creative outlet. I love it.

00:48:32 SPEAKER_01
So harnessing that, that's really special.

00:48:36 SPEAKER_00
I love that.

00:48:38 SPEAKER_01
I love it.

00:48:38 SPEAKER_00
love it. But thank you so much for being here for this conversation, Sherry. I really appreciate it.

00:48:41 SPEAKER_01
for this conversation,

00:48:44 SPEAKER_00
Thanks, Kat. Tell us how we can find you and your art right now.

00:48:49 SPEAKER_01
I have a website. So it's just SherryPhillips .com. Instagram, I'm on there. At Sherry Phillips.

00:49:03 SPEAKER_01
And...

00:49:07 SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and you can reach out to me through there. You can email me, but I get back really quick. So yeah, you can find me on those platforms.

00:49:18 SPEAKER_00
Perfect. Well, thank you again.

00:49:22 SPEAKER_00
Sherry Phillips reminds us that color isn't just a visual language. It's an emotional one.

00:49:30 SPEAKER_00
Her work gives permission to feel boldly, to embrace beauty unapologetically. and to find balance between freedom and form. If today's episode left you smiling or reflecting, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with a fellow art lover. Every listen helps us keep these artist conversations blooming. Until next time, remember, let the color in, let the structure go, and trust that the artist is always in.