Painting with The Fluid Fox
Have you ever seen the stunning paintings that are a result of the pour painting methods like the above? The Fluid Fox creates some of the most beautiful and stunning ones I’ve seen and we have had the awesome opportunity to interview Katie about her story as well as share her artwork below. :).
You can find her work on her website as well as her books (she has several that teach you about this beautiful technique and they are highlighted after the interview), and find her behind the scenes as well as her upcoming work and other announcements on her Instagram account.
Painting with The Fluid Fox
By Michele of VAMICreations and Katie of The Fluid Fox
How did you start The Fluid Fox?
I started The Fluid Fox instagram account back in 2017, I started experimenting with fluid acrylic work in April 2017 to get me back into creating artwork, I had taken a few years out of creating art after I had finished a Foundation Degree of Art and Design at college; a course you do before going to university; but I never went to uni for art and I jumped straight into a job, meaning I didn’t have much time to create any artwork and so my creativity came to a complete stop. In December 2016 I got a new job, allowing me more time during the days, meaning I could start creating again, so I started doing fluid pours initially just to get something on a canvas to kickstart going back into what I used to do which was realistic and fantasy work, as well as conceptual and quite gorey work, I used to focus a lot on mental health and psychology in my work, but when I started doing fluid acrylic pours, the dynamic changed, and instead of working on pieces about mental health, I then focused on using my fluid acrylic pours as a therapy for my own self. I began developing my work further, trying different additives, surfaces, and creating my own style and way of working. I then moved onto experimenting with resin in September 2016, and have developed on that ever since which is what I am most known for. This year I have also got back into my acrylic brush work which I absolutely love doing. I use the natural outcomes of resin and translate the fluid outcomes into brush strokes to create natural but carefully curated brush paintings. I am still developing this avenue but I am excited for where this path will lead.
What gave you the idea/inspiration?
What inspired me to create a business out of my artwork was how one thing led to another and I could see a future for The Fluid Fox as both a business and a creative outlet for me, I developed more on my styles with different mediums and focused on growing my audience, which is now at almost 52,000 on Instagram which I am so grateful for!The ideas and inspirations for my work itself comes solely from nature itself, the colours of the sky at different times of the day, the changes of dusk and dawn, the colours and textures found within oceans, the greens of sunlit forests and the rock formations of cliff edges. I transcend these natural inspirations into carefully manipulated abstractions and selected colour schemes to match the inspiration.
Tell us a little about yourself.
I am 25 years old, I have loved creating art for as long as I could hold a paint brush, I am a driven and determined person and I love nature and old cities. I love to travel, who doesn’t, last year I went to Rhodes and Nice which both had the biggest inspirations for blue works with their incredible ocean landscapes.
How long has The Fluid Fox been around?
Since April 2017 when I created @the.fluid.fox on instagram. The more interest that gathered in my work, the more this pushed me to take it seriously as a business, after a few sold to family and friends, I then created an Etsy shop for my work to market via instagram, the more followers I got, the more sales I got and this really pushed me more to think about the long term business plan. I then created my own website which launched 1st January 2020.
What is The Fluid Fox all about?
The Fluid Fox is all about my own interpretation of the world around me, as I said before, nature is a huge inspiration, so to have an outlet to create and develop artwork and have clients who buy my work worldwide is just amazing. I want people to recognise the importance of supporting living artists rather than buying prints that 1000s of other people have in their homes. I think there's so much more magic in looking at an original artwork where you can see the care, the time and the layers that go into creating all of the details.
How has COVID changed or impacted your vision/strategy?
Yes definitely, although artwork is selling still, it’s usually the smaller pieces that continue to sell, so over the UK lockdown period a lot of people were at home, looking to learn new things or develop on their skills, so I have written two guides over this period to help other artists evolve their trades and skills. One is ‘The Fluid Acrylic and Top Coating E-Guide’ and the newest one is ‘The Abstract Resin Art E-Guide’. I did them as e-guides so they were more easily accessible worldwide and without worrying as much about delivery delays across the world which was an issue at some points of the lockdown.
What is something that has helped you get through, during this global pandemic? Something that is encouraging or a positive thing for you?
My art is what got me through, 1000%. It is the way I escape, so I started created larger work over the lockdown period as well to pass the time, as well as writing the guide, overall the pandemic has been a time of focus for my business so it has been a positive thing for me as a person to sit down and write down all of my business plans and begin executing them.
How do you choose the pieces you create?
My choices are made very intuitively, so it's just what I feel like doing at the time. As my work is colour based, I love trying new combinations, I also sometimes just ask people I know to choose two or three colours at random to challenge me, the most recent example of this is one of the largest pieces I have created, someone chose purple and orange for me to use, so I thought why not just apply this to the biggest canvas I have ever done and I’ll just make it work haha. Now it is one of my favourite works in progress ever.
How do you choose the colors and way you paint?
Colour is my work so I guess it's the same answer as above.
What has inspired you to create different paintings and other pieces?
As an artist, it's all about challenging yourself, so I have experimented with textures in resin, alcohol inks, multimedia work, acrylics and combined them all in some pieces. I love developing my style and trying new things that might not necessarily work but trying them anyway in case they do work and they create something magical.
What is your favorite painting, artwork medium to work with?
I love using resin the most, but with all of the safety precautions that are necessary to do when using resin, I have used it much less this year, especially with Covid being a respiratory disease, I have looked after my respiratory health more so I have created less resin work this year as resin is a chemical at the end of the day, I wear a full respiratory mask but sometimes this isn’t very therapeutic which is why I have done more acrylic paintings this year.
What would you tell a new painter, artist for encouragement?
Trial and error always. Don’t rely on YouTube, rely on your hands to teach you what you love to do! Just try it and see, if it doesn’t work, then it is a lesson learnt, and if it does work then develop on it!
What is something you are passionate about and why?
As cliche as it is, I am literally passionate about art haha like it is my whole life. I don’t know what I would do without it.
If you had one (or several) things to share with a woman entrepreneur, what would it be? What would you encourage them about?
Do not allow others fears to impose on your own passions. Do not soak in the doubt of others, block it out and continue working on what you love.If anybody questions your plan, tell them to just wait and see and then work even harder. Be confident, even if you’re not feeling confident, just trust in yourself and your vision. A lot of people are quick to judge, but that is based on who they are and their own expectations of themselves. So don’t take judgement too seriously.
What is a lesson learned for being a woman entrepreneur that you wish someone had told you when you first started?
I learnt to just work hard behind the scenes rather than constantly talking about it, people notice when you are creeping up the ranks, a lot of people won’t understand what you're doing or why or how it will work, that does not matter, because only I needed to understand why, and now I am at the place I am now, and a lot of artists look up to me and want to learn from me, so if I hadn’t trusted myself a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t be in this position now, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
What is your dream for The Fluid Fox to be (where do you see The Fluid Fox in 5+ years)?
I would love to write a few more guides to help upcoming artists, I would also love to have my work displayed in public spaces and local businesses (of course covid has now affected a lot of businesses so this is of course an issue) I would love to have work in a gallery but I am also happy to just continue working and growing at the rate I am currently growing.
If you like this, you may like:
Love what you see and want to start pour painting yourself? You can learn from Katie herself with her two books and get started today :)
The Resin Art E-Guide: A Complete Guide to Abstract Resin Wall Art is one of the e-books where Katie will teach you the following:
And her second book, Acrylic Fluid Art and Top Coating Guide, delves more into how to top coat and acrylic fluid art.
Here you will learn the following:
Thank you for joining us for this interview with Katie of the Fluid Fox and thank you Katie for doing the interview with us!!! I’d love to hear from you about what you’ve gotten from Katie and showing your piece of art done by her or what you’ve created using her books! Please let me know by commenting below or sending me an email. I’d also love to hear from you about what types of resources you want more information on as well as Makers you would like to nominate for a Maker Feature/interview! Please email me or leave a comment on this article! Looking forward to hearing from you and have a great day!
Have you ever seen a painting that speaks to you or been inspired by a person to become the best person you can be? Jessica of the Becoming has created paintings and artwork as well as used it and her story to inspire others to find who they are and become the best you, you can be :). She’ll reveal to you how you can become the artist you dream of becoming, give you inspiration for growing as an artist and entrepreneur, and share some of her journey for how the Becoming started and so much more.