EP9: Katie Johnson - Katie's Design Studio

EP9:  Katie Johnson 

This Episode of Soul Aligned CEO features Katie Johnson – CEO of Katie’s Design Studio. 

Katie is an abstract Artist that draws geometric shapes, mandalas and pattern art.  She has recently expanded her offerings and shares about her journey running her own art business and how she is always open to trying new things and never stops learning.  She is an absolute joy and kind soul who’s spirit of adventure shines through in this episode. 

In this Episode we discuss: 

· Katie’s journey of going from Corporate Interior Design to her own Art Business and the continual expansion that goes on being in the creative world 

· The types of Art that Katie creates from Journal Notebooks, Coloring Books, Mandalas to Surface Pattern design art available on many types of items and where her art is available to view and purchase

· How Astrology has influenced Katie in different ways throughout her life

· Katie has generously offered our podcast listeners a free gift to download find out more at the end of the episode

**Note the topics discussed in this episode are not medical advice, always speak with your health care provider**

Katie’s Contact Information: 

Follow on IG --> @Katiesdesignstudio https://www.instagram.com/katiesdesignstudio/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/kjsouthernbelle

Website: https://thehug.xyz/artists/katie_johnson

Shopify: https://katiejohnsonsart.com

Society6: https://society6.com/kjsouthernbelle

Amazon shop offerings:

https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3Akatiej+111&s=relevancerank&text=katiej+111&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1

Soul Aligned CEO 

Follow on IG --> @soul_aligned_ceo

You Tube -->  https://youtube.com/@SoulAlignedCEO?si=MNY0fQ2v2zWbcn7G

Transcript

jenni (00:02.209)
Hello and welcome to Soul Aligned CEO Podcast, the show that shares the stories of entrepreneurs from all around the world who have started businesses and they are doing it soul aligned. I'm your host Jenni Morey and on today's episode, I am so excited that we have artist Katie Johnson and she is the CEO of Katie's Design Studio.

Welcome, Katie.

Katie (00:33.026)
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.

jenni (00:35.945)
Well, I thought we could share a little bit first about the different types of offerings that you have available for sale.

Katie (00:43.694)
Absolutely. I'm an abstract artist. I draw geometric shapes, mandalas, pattern art, kind of whatever's floating my boat at the moment. So I have a lot of art stuff that's for sale. I typically have that on my Instagram stories where people can reach out. Another thing that I have that really excites me that's on the smaller scale side is journal notebooks and a coloring book for those that need to zen out and chill, which I'm really excited about. Yeah.

jenni (01:07.821)
Okay.

jenni (01:11.493)
Nice. Those are really great. I love the coloring books. So we'll talk more specifically about all of your different pieces of arts and things that you have for sale and how to get in contact with you.

Katie (01:25.902)
great.

jenni (01:26.877)
So just to give a quick summary of the show, so we're gonna talk about Katie's journey and how she started out in the corporate interior design space and how she shifted to doing her own art business. We're gonna go over more about the different types of art that Katie creates and also just have a discussion about the importance of art and...

know what art can even mean in a non-artist life. And then, you know, because astrology is such an important aspect of the podcast and Katie is also very interested in astrology, we are going to dive into some astrological influences and some of Katie's own astrology on her chart. And so I'm really excited to talk about that.

And as always, anything that we're talking about in the episode is in no way medical advice. I always just like to mention that and just make sure that you always speak with your own healthcare provider. All right, so let's get started by just talking a little bit about your background and your journey. So you started in interior design in the corporate world, you had said.

Katie (02:46.558)
I did, I did. I pursued a second undergrad degree later in life, and it was interior design, because I knew I wanted to do something creative. I didn't completely know what that was or what it looked like. And so I went back to school, I think that was 2007, 2008, and pursued interior design. And when I graduated, it was December of 2009 is when I graduated. And that was after the housing crash. So interior design really wasn't popping job-wise.

jenni (03:03.1)
Okay.

jenni (03:15.109)
Oh gosh, yes. So did you end up working more in like a corporate space?

Katie (03:15.97)
Thank you.

Katie (03:21.822)
Yes, yes, I ended out in the technology sector planning out cube designs, their real estate portfolios and building maintenance, all that. Not exactly creative. Yes.

jenni (03:32.509)
Okay, I see. And so, but you have always had kind of a passion for art, right?

Katie (03:40.678)
Yeah, I think it got buried for a while. Like a lot of people, something that you dabble with as a kid and then just life takes you in a different direction and then all of a sudden something comes back and you're like, oh yeah, I forgot I liked that. I forgot. Yeah.

jenni (03:53.333)
Right. So did you, I think you had mentioned your grandmother was also...

Katie (03:57.114)
Well, my grandma was an artist and I think I probably got drawn back into it. Well, interior design we had to hand draw that also kind of started sparking some memory for me. And when I graduated interior design, I had figured out that my mom was in the early stages of Alzheimer's. She wasn't fully diagnosed at the time, but I had lost my maternal grandfather to early onset Alzheimer's. So I knew what it was and knew that's kind of where we were headed.

jenni (04:16.501)
Hmm.

Katie (04:26.55)
being in the corporate world and super stressful, I needed a way to like unwind after work, even though like I've always worked out, it just wasn't enough. So I found that drawing helped slow my brain down and just kind of process everything that was coming, getting ready to, you know, come down the pipe, yeah.

jenni (04:38.55)
in.

jenni (04:43.849)
Right. So you really were using art kind of in your own personal life to help you breathe and relax and all of that. So then after that experience, how did you then kind of, or what changes were occurring in your life that you decided to shift out of that corporate space?

Katie (04:49.526)
That was my therapy. Yeah.

Katie (05:07.73)
yeah my mom passed away. Like that was a long period. I think it was probably 2010 when I really started drawing and she passed away in 2017. And I had known for a while I didn't, I was at the time I was living in Austin, Texas and I didn't want to be there anymore but didn't really know what was next. And it's like once she passed away I just yeah I flipped the whole ship. Sold my place, packed all my stuff up and just kind of did a little bit of traveling, bounced around like

jenni (05:09.45)
Okay.

Katie (05:37.578)
just started. Really, yes, yeah.

jenni (05:39.429)
exploring like what was right. Yeah, there's almost like somewhat of a spiritual like component to that. Yeah. So then how did you start feeling like you wanted to actually pursue art as a business?

Katie (05:47.09)
Yeah, there definitely was. Yeah.

Katie (05:56.766)
It had been on my mind for a while. In the beginning, I had been drawing, I would take like a piece of paper, like a mixed media piece of paper. Those are like thicker in paper that's stronger, that can handle a lot of ink. And I would draw on one side and then write little notes to mail to people. So I kind of started in the snail mail world, sort of stationary. And I actually was in like an art show, a craft show, and printed a whole bunch of

jenni (06:17.054)
Mmm.

Right.

Katie (06:25.294)
prints and stationary. It was a whole lot of work. And I wasn't sure what was next. Like I didn't love the whole craft fair industry, if anyone's ever done that before. It's a lot that you may get nothing on. So that's where it all started. That's what I enjoyed the most. Yeah.

jenni (06:33.749)
Mm-hmm.

jenni (06:39.957)
Right?

jenni (06:43.973)
Got it. Okay. And so then you started to realize that this could be something that you could actually do like full-time as a business and create. Yeah.

Katie (06:55.798)
slowly but surely. Like I had some side stuff on the side just because it's arts tricky. I mean it's a very cyclical kind of business. It took a while. It took some moves. I was also, I had my real estate license in several states so kind of had that on the side as well while I just drew and figured things out and trying to put my stuff on different products to sell it that way. Like Society6 is a website that a lot of artists have their stuff on. They license their stuff.

jenni (07:01.406)
Mm-hmm.

jenni (07:06.803)
Yeah.

jenni (07:20.831)
Mm-hmm.

jenni (07:24.121)
Okay.

Katie (07:25.57)
to the little knickknacks that are great gift items for people.

jenni (07:29.565)
Right, right. And so I think when we were talking before, you had mentioned something about a Peru trip that you had gone on that was pretty influential.

Katie (07:40.006)
Yeah, very much so. Yeah, that was an ayahuasca journey that, yeah, not for everyone, but yeah, I did. I did go down that road.

jenni (07:49.105)
and that helped kind of bring even more clarity.

Katie (07:52.574)
Yeah, well it showed me that I hadn't let my mom go. Like I was still grieving, still like really deep in the process and so it kind of broke that up and brought that to my attention that I had no idea was still there and lingering. And that was a year after she had passed. So it was kind of a bizarre experience.

jenni (07:57.434)
Okay.

jenni (08:05.555)
Hmm.

jenni (08:12.141)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I have not ever done it, but I have known people that have gone through it, and it's definitely kind of a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. And so, so you made the shift out of kind of the corporate interior design and then kind of gradually, you know, built up different types of art that you were creating and putting it up on different websites to sell. So let's talk a little bit more just about the type of art that you

Katie (08:17.046)
Yeah.

Katie (08:21.099)
Yeah.

jenni (08:41.729)
create. And so you had said the style. How did you refer to it?

Katie (08:47.318)
So it's a mix between abstract and then geometric patterns, geometric shapes. I'm obsessed with lines and triangles and putting them all together and figuring out the space of a piece of paper and how to make it flow and come together. So that's just fun to me.

jenni (08:51.562)
Okay.

jenni (09:02.121)
Right. I see. And so then how did you decide to expand from the stationary into other modalities? I don't know how you would call it.

Katie (09:14.582)
Yeah, modalities. That is a good question. I think it was the pandemic, honestly. The pandemic, I actually hired an artist, another artist to teach me mandala work because it was just drawing me in. And I took off from there. Like I started doing mandalas. It was the same time that NFTs were taking off, the digital world, web three space. And so I moved a lot of stuff into that realm, which was...

jenni (09:18.886)
Okay.

jenni (09:26.987)
Mmm.

jenni (09:35.201)
Mm.

Katie (09:40.778)
great, a lot of fun in a really fast-paced environment that got things sold quickly. And then I had, I didn't have to physically ship things. It's a little easier on my world. Yeah, yeah.

jenni (09:49.286)
Right, or go sit at a craft, yeah, at a craft booth somewhere. So you said, so what is a mandala? So that's like a...

Katie (09:57.498)
So it's, how do I even explain that? It, I'm trying to think that I have one. It's a circle with shapes, all pattern inside. It's just, yeah, it's really meditative. Like my coloring book is a Mandala coloring book. Yeah.

jenni (10:05.363)
Uh huh.

jenni (10:10.921)
Oh, okay. Interesting. And so, so then you expanded into like stationery, you'd said gift wraps.

Katie (10:17.558)
Oh, well, I'm working on that now. I'm now moving into surface pattern, actually taking a class on that.

jenni (10:19.506)
Okay.

jenni (10:23.169)
Okay, so let's talk a little bit about that. So then let's talk about what is that surface pattern.

Katie (10:29.098)
So surface pattern design, that is any object you see that has some type of a design on it, that's a surface pattern design. Like a water bottle, a coffee mug, gift wrap, wallpaper, fabric. That's all surface pattern design.

jenni (10:45.845)
Got it. Okay. And so there's there a special technique that goes into like creating that that's different from like the stationary

Katie (10:55.646)
Yeah, you have to create me. Yeah. Oh, yeah, it's like I don't even really touch stationary anymore I mean, I haven't touched stationary in probably ten years Although like my society six they print on the stationary for me You have to create what is referred to as repeat repeating patterns Yeah, and you do that digitally, yeah

jenni (11:01.019)
Oh, okay.

jenni (11:15.157)
Okay, okay. I see. Okay. Yeah, I guess I never thought about that. Like when you're looking at wallpaper, like somebody actually made that, like that design. So, well, that's really incredible. So you said you're in a class right now that's...

Katie (11:25.618)
Yeah, yes, yeah, exactly.

Katie (11:34.282)
Yeah, working on art licensing, learning all that, like who are the art licensors, like how do you pitch people or companies, yeah, learning that whole avenue.

jenni (11:44.097)
Got it. So you're kind of, you're really kind of expanding your current business and offerings and growing into a different space right now. Okay. Right.

Katie (11:47.666)
Yeah, yes, yes. Yeah, it's always changing. Like, you know, just, you get a paying or you get an interest and kind of follow and see where it goes.

jenni (11:59.677)
Right, and I would assume it's also based just kind of on trends too, and like what's occurring, like in the marketplace or like stylistically, you know what? Yeah. Got it.

Katie (12:10.21)
Like yes and no. It's like anything. It's like an algorithm. You might follow it and you may just stick to what you know as well and find your people that like that. Yeah.

jenni (12:16.937)
Okay, got it. Yeah, no, that makes sense. So let's talk a little bit about just art and kind of what the purpose of art is from your perspective.

Katie (12:30.778)
Art is something to slow you down, bring you back to you, the present moment. It's kind of a Zen thing for me and what I hope to share with people when they look at my art. And that's my goal. My art, it's always moving, but I also want you to like move with yourself, like to breathe. Just take a pause and just enjoy it. You know, forget about all the to-do list. The next thing.

jenni (12:50.271)
Hmm.

jenni (12:55.327)
Mm-hmm.

Katie (12:59.134)
everything that's hanging in the balance waiting on you. Just pause and breathe.

jenni (13:04.853)
That's beautiful. I mean, that's really kind of, that's a perfect description of kind of what art should be used for, you know, and obviously appreciating art and the effort that goes into it, but then thinking about how you can like be with it and have that experience. And so with your coloring books that you do,

Um, you know, how do you kind of see people, you know, working with your coloring books or using them, um, in their day to day? Is that a meditative? Yeah.

Katie (13:38.93)
Take a minute, yeah, take a minute and color a page. I recommend colored pencils to use it. Yeah, and just zone out. However you wanna color it, it's yours.

jenni (13:50.169)
Yeah, that's really fantastic because it is kind of a an intro into like almost a meditative state like you mentioned like you can kind of really focus on what you're coloring in, you know, it's it right, yeah, no, I think they're very relaxing and I had told you that I did a lot of like adult paint by numbers when I was kind of dealing with different

Katie (13:57.91)
Absolutely. Yeah.

Katie (14:06.506)
Yeah, it forces you to be there with it.

jenni (14:20.145)
hardships and experiences in my life and they were always so relaxing. So I'm excited to try the coloring books and get some coloring pencils. That sounds fantastic. Yeah. Um, so let's talk a little bit. So let's shift gears a little bit and we'll come back to how to get in contact you with you and all of the business stuff, but let's talk a little bit about astrology, um, because you know,

Katie (14:29.182)
Yay, I can't wait to hear.

jenni (14:47.037)
Astrology is a really interesting and influential part of my life. And so I always like to find out from the guests, you know, how did you even start getting interested in astrology? Like what piqued your interest? And then we'll talk a little bit more about how it influences you.

Katie (15:04.834)
I have always been interested in horoscopes. I loved horoscopes. I also wanted to predict the future all the time, especially my teenage years. It's like when you're like, I don't know what's going on, I don't know how to handle any of this. I would always read my horoscopes, which we all know horoscopes are a crock-a-poo. So my sun and rising are cancer, which never really spoke to me because it's very, they're always talking about for cancer, like family and nurturing and...

jenni (15:07.144)
Okay.

jenni (15:11.461)
Oh, okay.

jenni (15:20.307)
Right.

jenni (15:27.613)
Okay.

Katie (15:33.922)
like the kitchen and cooking and I'm like, I couldn't be any further from that. And then one day I learned that my moon sign was Virgo and Virgo is more like systems and efficient and into fitness and health. And I was like, that speaks to me. Like that makes sense. But funny just to backtrack a little, I started tracking the moon, actually when I was in corporate America, cause I found that when a full moon was coming, everyone was bonkers. Like,

jenni (15:38.064)
Okay.

jenni (15:45.847)
Mm-hmm.

jenni (15:50.367)
Right.

jenni (15:57.979)
Okay.

Katie (16:03.99)
everything was just like freaking out over nothing. Like all my steady people in the corporate world that I dealt with were like, just, I was like, I don't, what's going on here? So I started tracking the moon then, just so I could prepare, so I could look like a couple of days in advance and go, okay, I need to just chill. Like I'm gonna get some angry emails, it's got nothing to do with me. There's gonna be a lot of crazy. And I talked to my doctor friends, I have a friend that's an ER doctor, she's like, oh yeah, nightmare, full moons are terrible.

jenni (16:05.793)
Mm-hmm.

jenni (16:15.278)
Okay.

jenni (16:20.487)
Right.

jenni (16:24.294)
Oh, that's really interesting.

jenni (16:29.717)
Mm-hmm.

Katie (16:32.911)
her. Like she's like, yeah, it brings it all in.

jenni (16:34.165)
Right, yeah, that's really interesting. And so even before you got into astrology, you were kind of keeping track of the full moons. It's a full moon today, actually, when we are recording this. So that's really interesting. So do you still follow kind of the moon cycle?

Katie (16:40.117)
Yeah.

Katie (16:46.254)
I know.

Katie (16:51.542)
Like I do, I do not as closely, but I can always feel it. Like I check in on it, like if I can't sleep, like I'm having a couple nights where I'm a sleeper. I can fall asleep in about five minutes of hitting the pillow. And if I'm having a couple nights where I'm like, why am I not falling asleep? I'll check and be like, oh, either a new moon or a full moon's coming. Okay, all right.

jenni (16:53.937)
Yeah. Okay.

jenni (16:58.772)
Hmm

jenni (17:09.077)
got it. And so what about like retrogrades and stuff like that? Okay.

Katie (17:14.734)
I used to follow that a lot closer. I don't as much now. I mean, I'll notice sometimes there'll be some that I'm like, wow, you could stop now. Ha ha ha.

jenni (17:22.941)
Right, right. Yeah, it's interesting the energy as I've gotten more interested in learning more, it just like keeps like peeling back layers of onion almost when you are exploring everything. So you said your cancer sun and rising and then Virgo moon, which I can see that for you like that does make a lot of sense. And then you also mentioned to me that you have a lot of fire in your chart.

Katie (17:34.294)
Yes.

Katie (17:41.879)
Mm-hmm.

Katie (17:49.36)
I do. Yes.

jenni (17:50.577)
And so can we talk a little bit about what that means?

Katie (17:53.55)
Yeah, fire energy. I've got the fire and it's in the cardinal signs. So I have a lot of cardinal signs, which the cardinal signs are the starters of each new season. So it's like get up and go and they can start a whole lot of things. Finishing, not the strong point. And I have learned that a lot on me. But I always wondered because I've always had high energy. Like I had some health issues dealing with my thyroid and iron and my doctor was like, well, I mean, you should be like lethargic and listed all these like...

jenni (18:03.829)
Mm.

jenni (18:09.138)
Okay.

jenni (18:14.492)
Mm-hmm.

Katie (18:22.534)
low energy things. I don't have, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have any of that. And it was learning my birth chart helped me understand kind of how I function as a human.

jenni (18:24.222)
Right.

jenni (18:27.879)
Interesting.

jenni (18:33.457)
Right, it does, it really does. And so what signs are you that are fire? So you're Aries, Leo, got it.

Katie (18:40.52)
Aries and Leo. I've got a lot of Aries like my Mars and Chiron. Yeah, it's a lot.

jenni (18:46.153)
Okay, and so you can feel that balance in your chart. That's really interesting. Yeah, it's fascinating to me to understand the different aspects of someone's birth chart, so I appreciate you sharing about that. So let's talk a little bit about just, you know, you've started this business and you've kind of gone into this new space of the surface pattern designs and you're

Katie (18:50.474)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

jenni (19:15.905)
for you from just like a business perspective to kind of branch into that new space.

Katie (19:22.854)
I have learned as an adult, I love learning new things. I love trying new things, especially in the art world, and just kind of rolling with it, like what interests me, because I go through phases. Like I'm mainly geometric shapes and lines and that kind of thing, order with that. But then I'll branch out and all of a sudden be drawing florals and a lot of like more girly colors and things that aren't my norm. And I just roll with it.

jenni (19:30.091)
Mm-hmm.

jenni (19:48.157)
Right.

Katie (19:49.546)
I just kind of allow myself to explore and play with things just because I don't know what my brain's doing. I don't know why. And now like learning like learning all the softwares because I'm there's kind of this push right now coming, coming towards us for the art world that is what they're calling digital art, which is like PHY. It's like a mix of physical and digital art because there's this big strong movement at the moment. I see as an artist, the public may not see it.

jenni (19:56.082)
Right.

jenni (20:09.072)
Okay.

jenni (20:13.448)
Ah

Katie (20:18.702)
where a lot of people like draw, hand draw, and then load it up to their computer and start playing with the digital world, like Photoshop, AI, procreate all these apps we have now to play and manipulate work, which is a lot of fun, because then you can take it in all kinds of directions.

jenni (20:25.174)
Hmm.

jenni (20:37.641)
Right. Yeah, no, that's really interesting. So like, it's like the landscape that you have to work with has evolved over the last decade. Yeah.

Katie (20:44.586)
It's huge. Yes, it's huge. And I find it's funny, like I love to hand draw. I love like, I like taking notes and that physical thing. However, when I go into digital and like if I screw something up or I don't like a color, I just immediately backtrack and it's gone. Like, you know, you're not like, oh, I gotta start all over. It's just like undo, okay.

jenni (21:01.921)
Right. Start over. Right. Okay. Yeah, that's really interesting. And so it's like the ability to kind of the amount of time it takes to create something is shorter. And so, oh, that's really interesting. And so you mentioned AI also, like that aspect kind of coming into the art world.

Katie (21:13.194)
shorter. Yeah.

Katie (21:23.314)
Oh yeah, like right now there's, the software I play with is Mid Journey and like creating from that. At first I was very anti, I was like, oh, we need to draw, hand draw, but it's somewhere to play. Like I've played where I'll take, I'll give it a prompt. You have to write out the text like of what you want it to create. And I wanted like the swirly lollipop. Like I don't know if you ever got one of those at the fair, like this huge ridiculous swirl pops. And I wanted to put it in a national park.

jenni (21:41.525)
Mm-hmm.

jenni (21:48.64)
Right.

Katie (21:53.674)
like as a sculpture, like something that you'll never, like this will never happen in life. So I like to use AI for those type things to build sculpt, like I'm never gonna do sculpture art. That's physically, that takes up a lot of space that I don't have or want to commit to. And so I like to use AI for things like that just to push my own boundaries and see what I can create.

jenni (21:58.237)
Right.

jenni (22:07.387)
Right.

jenni (22:14.721)
Got it. It's almost like a playground in a way. Oh, that's really...

Katie (22:16.638)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then it just, it plays with your brain to like, especially if like you're stuck, like sometimes you're like a writer, you just hit a block where you're like, not creating anything to go and play an AI and just sort of break things up.

jenni (22:32.765)
Right, yeah, no, that sounds really fun actually. So then starting the business, or I should say not starting, but like kind of shifting and expanding your business is something that feels comfortable and natural to you then like you seem like you're always kind of up for the adventure of what's next.

Katie (22:37.347)
Yeah.

Katie (22:55.07)
Yeah, I mean, you know, I figured try everything and see if you like it or not, you know, rather than judge a new thing kind of go, no, never. It's like, well, just play with it. I mean, you may not like it and that's totally fine, but at least you know.

jenni (22:58.4)
Right.

jenni (23:08.093)
Right, yeah, that's a really good approach to take. It's almost like, you know, you're gonna take the shot and see how it goes and then adjust as you need to. So any, you know, when you're thinking about maybe new people that might be starting out in art or wanting to shift and actually go from art as a hobby to art as a business, do you have any like tips or suggestions that you would give for that type of situation?

Katie (23:14.998)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Katie (23:38.318)
Share your work. Make sure you're sharing your work everywhere. Even if it's not good, well share whatever you want. But be on your social medias, sharing with your friends, getting feedback, see what people think. Not, like don't take it to heart, but just if it's resonating with people. Yeah. Just, and get used to showing it and like getting the comment like, I'd say building a thicker skin, but.

jenni (23:41.811)
Yeah.

jenni (23:55.169)
Got it. Just get out there and start.

Katie (24:06.826)
Yeah, just sharing your work, which I think was the beauty of interior design school. Like we had to present projects all the time and usually got, you know, just slaughtered every time, but I'd been up all night working on projects. Like I took it. I just didn't care. I was like, fine, whatever. I want to go home and go to bed. So I think it prepared me for being an artist and showing work and just not being concerned if anyone likes it or not. You know, if I post things and it just, it's crickets. Okay.

jenni (24:13.281)
Mm. No!

jenni (24:19.955)
Right.

jenni (24:29.397)
Mm-hmm. Right. I mean, because it's coming from your heart and, you know, what you feel really connected to and you can't control what other people feel connected to.

Katie (24:40.583)
Bingo. In fact, and there's a book I'll recommend. Rick Rubin wrote a book, I think it's called On Creative, or On Creating, something like that. It is phenomenal. Like if you're looking at art and want to go that realm, read his book. It's amazing.

jenni (24:47.485)
Okay.

jenni (24:55.213)
Okay, okay, awesome. We'll put that in the notes too so people can reference that. Well, it's just, it's so interesting to talk to you. You know, I'm in no way an artist, but I have found art to be so relaxing. I love to go to museums. I love to kind of do my own little paint by numbers like I mentioned. And so...

the types of art that you have available right now that people could purchase. Let's talk a little bit about where they could find that and how they can get in contact with you best.

Katie (25:30.422)
Absolutely. Feel free to DM me on Instagram. I'm always on there. Also, I think my website will be listed in the show notes. It'll have every place that I have art for sale, whether that's a physical piece, a digital piece, or like on Society6 that has my stuff licensed on any type of item you want to get.

jenni (25:33.606)
Okay.

jenni (25:50.145)
Got it. So is Society6, is that like a big, like a conglomerate selling site?

Katie (25:57.802)
In fact, it's a, like as we roll it, get ready to roll into the holidays, as scary as that sounds, it's a great site for little gift items. A lot of independent artists, that's where we'll put our work for, you know, if you want stickers, a t-shirt, a travel mug, water bottle, pillows, like they have everything on there, which is kind of cool to see your art on all those places, on those types of items. Yeah.

jenni (26:07.365)
Hmm.

jenni (26:18.277)
Mm-hmm. Oh, that's really cool. And so from your website, so the hug.xyz artist slash Katie underscore Johnson, and we'll put that in the show notes. But so on that website, people can find direct links to your different shops. Okay. And then your

Katie (26:25.17)
Yeah.

Katie (26:30.175)
Yeah, that's a lot.

Katie (26:35.294)
Yeah. There's a plethora right now.

jenni (26:40.637)
Yeah, no, that's awesome. I when you had showed me at the other day, it was really interesting to see like all the different types of things because everything like you said, water bottles, phone cases, everything, you know, and so it is great gift, you know, ideas. And so that's really, that's really great to share. And so your Instagram is Katie's design studio, right? And so you said that people can message you.

Katie (26:51.726)
everything.

Katie (27:08.014)
Absolutely.

jenni (27:08.669)
directly on there, so that's perfect. And so I do like to just close it out with one last question, you know, and so you've obviously been working in art and kind of in this passion of yours for a while now. And, you know, like I said, you feel very comfortable about shifting gears and kind of taking on new adventures, but I do always like to ask people, you know, how does it really feel to be doing the work that is, you know, soul aligned? And that is something that you feel called to.

Katie (27:38.474)
It's a mix. Like this year's been a rough year. It's been a rough sales year, if I'm being honest. So it's been, it's never dull, ever. It's emotional. Like it's highs, it's lows. It's basically you're a surfer on dry land. I mean, that's what it feels like. But it's always, you know, if you're having a down moment, kind of pay attention to what's going on around you. Like any social media you see or any clues tell like giving you direction.

jenni (27:44.309)
Yeah.

jenni (27:48.853)
Yeah.

jenni (27:54.514)
Oh, that's a good analogy.

jenni (28:02.859)
Mm-hmm.

Katie (28:08.018)
I say that because I get Noah Kagan's email letter every week. He's an app developer. He's a big technology guy, really smart. But he sent an email, right? I was just having a rough day. And it was on the statistics of Beyonce, Drake, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Like how many songs they produced. And each of them had produced like over 200 songs. And only like 13 hits or 20 hits that have made them huge.

jenni (28:31.434)
Hmm.

jenni (28:37.471)
Right.

Katie (28:37.718)
They produce 70% that no one likes. No one is interested in 70% of their work. And the small 30% is what has sent them to stardom. And it was like, ah, okay, keep going, got it, all right.

jenni (28:40.649)
Uh...

jenni (28:44.938)
Right.

jenni (28:49.517)
Right, yeah, keep going. I mean, it must feel very different doing this type of work versus when you were doing like the interior design cube layout type thing. Yeah. Oh, I'm sure. And then when you see people that, you know, have purchased something and, you know, come back to you and maybe give you that, you know, feedback or how it changed, you know, an experience in their life.

Katie (29:01.77)
Yeah, it does. It's more rewarding for sure.

jenni (29:18.438)
I can imagine that that's rewarding.

Katie (29:20.566)
Very, I love it when they send me pictures of my art on their walls. Yeah, it's like, wow, thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

jenni (29:24.909)
Oh, wow. Yeah, that's amazing. So I did want to share with everybody that you so graciously have offered a free mandala to print and color. And so that's kind of like that coloring page, you know, where someone can take it and take the coloring pencil. And so if they sign up for your email letter and they can do that on your Instagram, again, that's Katie's Design Studio.

Katie (29:41.546)
Yeah, absolutely.

jenni (29:54.065)
and then they'll get that PDF and they can print that and kind of do their own meditative coloring experience. And then they can tag you that they colored it in. That would be really fun.

Katie (30:02.314)
Yes. I love it. Yes. That'd be great. I love to see that. Yeah, I like to see what people, like what they create and what they enjoy, what colors they like to put together.

jenni (30:15.165)
Right, because I think what you said earlier about art being that opportunity to let you pause and breathe is something that's so important and so needed in our everyday modern world. A lot of people haven't done any art since maybe middle school or something.

Katie (30:38.346)
Absolutely, they've thought about it. They're busy. Yeah, I mean as our world speeds up we need to slow down that much more

jenni (30:40.286)
Right.

jenni (30:45.673)
Right. And so I think that's beautiful that some of the things that you're creating are giving people the opportunity to do that. You're welcome. Well, it has been a pleasure talking with you and getting to know more about your art and the things that inspire you and everything that you have available to share with the world. I hope that everybody takes a look at Katie's website and all the great offerings that she has. So thank you so much for being here.

Katie (30:52.086)
Thank you.

Katie (31:15.074)
Thank you so much for having me. I've enjoyed our conversation.

jenni (31:18.461)
And I hope that I'll have you on again. And if anything new comes up, we can kind of follow your journey and see how you're doing. So thank you. Yeah, thank you again for being here. And thank you everyone for listening. I hope that you found this episode informative, got some insight and maybe were even inspired. And until next time, I wish you much joy, peace and love as you-

Katie (31:27.304)
That'd be great.

jenni (31:46.177)
pursue being more soul aligned.

All right.