Samantha Jezek | Tulsa Artist
On the Tulsa Is Home Podcast, host Chelsea Smith interviews Tulsa artist Samantha Jezek, known for bold, cheerful paintings and the message that viewers are “not alone.” Samantha describes discovering art later, studying interior design at OSU, late-night oil painting studio work and critiques, and a formative landscape-painting study abroad in Tuscany, plus a professor who pushed her. She recommends Philbrook for inspiration and Tulsa’s art community for connection, and Ziglar’s for quality supplies. Jess explains her shift from moody, dramatic work to brighter, joyful pieces influenced by God, her healing, and her husband’s encouragement. She shares her Not Alone series, created after addiction and 16 months of recovery, portraying ten colorful women to represent private pain and shared struggle. She discusses her studio process, layered work across many pieces, commissions, and keeping collections intact.
Timeline:
00:00 Healing Through Joyful Art
00:31 Feeling Alone in Recovery
01:24 Tulsa Is Home Intro
02:01 Meet Samantha Jess
02:53 Finding Art Later
04:09 OSU Studio Nights
06:28 Critiques and Confidence
08:03 Italy Study Abroad
10:35 Tulsa Inspiration Spots
11:40 From Moody to Bright
12:45 Faith as the Muse
13:26 Not Alone Series Origin
17:10 Painting Shared Stories
18:05 Painting Setup Rituals
18:53 Music or Silence
19:28 Focus Mode and Studio Space
20:36 Planning the First Marks
20:58 Working in Layers and Batches
22:49 Commissions and Letting Go
24:16 Advice for Struggling Artists
24:57 Saving Kids Artwork
27:08 Tulsa Rapid Fire Picks
29:44 Wrap Up and Where to Follow
Transcript:
Samantha Jesek Art
[00:00:00] Samantha: I was very protective of my recovery when I came out ’cause I devoted so long to it. So I, little by little, my, I, I wanna credit my husband too to my joyful paintings ’cause he pushed me too.
[00:00:12] Chelsea: Oh,
[00:00:13] Samantha: it was sweet.
[00:00:14] Chelsea: I love that.
[00:00:15] Samantha: So I would paint and I, and I started doing more colorful pieces that brought me joy.
[00:00:20] Samantha: I was like, I’m just gonna paint what brings me joy and what makes me feel good. Yeah, that’s kind of what evolved from the moodier paintings to the light and the happy.
[00:00:30] Chelsea: That’s awesome.
[00:00:31] Samantha: And I didn’t realize it was like almost giving me like art therapy in my recovery, in my healing ’cause, and this is where I’m gonna start talking about my series, not Alone, is I was painting portraits and abstracts.
[00:00:48] Samantha: Mm-hmm. And. During my recovery, I kept feeling this loneliness because you’re out in the world and you’re meeting people on a lighter level, not realizing like what [00:01:00] I was actually going through.
[00:01:01] Chelsea: Wow.
[00:01:02] Samantha: And you kind of feel alone. And that, ’cause you’re not gonna go up to somebody at a grocery store and be like, Hey, I’m actually really struggling.
[00:01:10] Samantha: I’m dealing with struggling
[00:01:11] Chelsea: right now. Which is, if we would, everyone would be like, me too.
[00:01:16] Samantha: Yeah, me too, actually.
[00:01:17] Speaker 4: Known as the biggest town you’ll ever experience with. Its unique historical background. Tulsa is home to a diverse range of people and businesses with a thriving economy. Delicious eats nightlife and entertainment for all ages. Tulsa is also home to business titans, entrepreneurs. Artists and foodies.
[00:01:44] Speaker 4: Whether you’re considering a move to Tulsa or just wanting to learn more about the place you call home, the Tulsa Is Home Podcast is for [00:02:00] you.
[00:02:01] Speaker 5: Hi, Chelsea Smith. I’m so glad you’re here listening to Tulsa is Home today, my next guest. Is easily recognizable by her bright beauty and her message to everyone everywhere that you are not alone. She paints joy on every canvas by using bold, cheerful colors. She remains grounded and relatable through vulnerably sharing how she became the artist she is today through trial and fire.
[00:02:33] Speaker 5: Samantha. Jess, welcome.
[00:02:36] Speaker 6: Hi.
[00:02:36] Speaker 5: We are so thankful that you made time for us today.
[00:02:39] Speaker 6: I’m glad to be here. Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. Yay.
[00:02:41] Speaker 5: Okay. Please share with me. When did you first discover. The love. Here it is. I’m having an epiphany. I love art. What is that?
[00:02:53] Speaker 6: Um, it actually happened later on in my journey. I, in school I was like [00:03:00] very sporty, just, I was from a small town.
[00:03:02] Speaker 6: So you played sports and it was fun. And I went to college and I’ve always loved creating and just doing anything creatively. So, um. I always picked out paint colors for my mom’s friends and stuff in my little town, and I just loved the interior design aspect of it. And so that was my major when I went to college was interior design.
[00:03:26] Speaker 5: So just from the get you people knew you loved color and
[00:03:29] Speaker 6: you loved it, but I was your color. My room was, yes. I mean, I would go through pages and pages of magazines picking out my bedspread and then change it. And like when my, this big catalog would come in the mail, I would, it was mine. My mom didn’t have any control.
[00:03:45] Speaker 6: It was all mine. And I would rip out pages and pages and I had a huge like. Just throw up floral, uh, deve on my bed, and then I would do this netting over my bed
[00:03:57] Speaker 5: and it was just like all [00:04:00] pink and floral. And So
[00:04:00] Speaker 6: you’re
[00:04:00] Speaker 5: not
[00:04:01] Speaker 6: doing
[00:04:01] Speaker 5: the
[00:04:01] Speaker 6: modern, like white on white, on white, on white at your house
[00:04:05] Speaker 5: now? Oh,
[00:04:05] Speaker 6: no.
[00:04:07] Speaker 5: It’s fun. It’s fun, it’s fun. Okay.
[00:04:09] Speaker 6: Yes, yes.
[00:04:09] Speaker 5: I read that you attended OSU.
[00:04:12] Speaker 6: Yes.
[00:04:12] Speaker 5: Can you tell me about your time at Oklahoma State?
[00:04:16] Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, it was really. Just really fun. We loved, like, like I said, I have a background in like enjoying sports. So went to all the sport, like the games, the football games. I’ve, I bonded with a crew that also loved going to ’em, so we’d tailgate before go to the game.
[00:04:34] Speaker 6: Um, I was like their little quirky art friends, so. They’d always catch me, like popping into the art studio, staying up late at night. And then I’d meet them out like later and just hang out. And
[00:04:44] Speaker 5: Could you go into the art studio and you could work for a little while? Yeah.
[00:04:47] Speaker 6: Actually you could stay. I was really, I love to do all-nighters all the time, really.
[00:04:53] Speaker 6: And I would stay, you had a code we all had like this code that we had, and we could go in with our little barcodes and we could just [00:05:00] stay in the studio and Peyton until late hours of the night. And I’m actually grateful of that Now. I didn’t realize how. Fortunate they were that they let us do that. Is that studio at
[00:05:10] Speaker 5: OSU filled with windows and natural light?
[00:05:13] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm. It’s beautiful.
[00:05:15] Speaker 5: Is there a lot of space to work
[00:05:17] Speaker 6: around? Yeah. Yeah. We all had like easels and like a huge sink for all of our brushes and our pallets way to like have this like cabinetry built in to the siding and we could just take our pallets out. ’cause I actually. Did oil painting in
[00:05:30] Speaker 5: college.
[00:05:30] Speaker 6: Okay. So our oils would last forever and we could just grab ’em and get right back to work.
[00:05:34] Speaker 5: You mean like they wouldn’t dry out?
[00:05:37] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:05:37] Speaker 5: And you, and so would you check out brushes or would you have your own brushes? We had
[00:05:42] Speaker 6: our own, yeah.
[00:05:44] Speaker 5: Okay. Mm-hmm. That’s kind of, would you ever come in there and someone else’s, like lots of people are in there working late at night or you kinda like to be alone?
[00:05:51] Speaker 6: It was probably like two to three of us that kind of like got into it late, late hours of the night.
[00:05:56] Speaker 5: Are some people saying. Uh, put your music in your headphones [00:06:00] or someone saying, turn, turn the radio up. We all want to hear it.
[00:06:02] Speaker 6: Yeah. I mean, if one of us had like a playlist that we all enjoyed, we’d blare the music
[00:06:07] Speaker 5: and you’re just all painting
[00:06:08] Speaker 6: together.
[00:06:08] Speaker 6: Yeah. Covered in paint because oils are not like a clean way to paint at all. So we are just like turpen time smell. I mean, just like we’d be going to the, uh, to like the student union in the morning Uhhuh completely just wreaked of Turin time, I’m sure. And just covered in paint, like,
[00:06:23] Speaker 5: oh my
[00:06:24] Speaker 6: gosh. Getting our coffee before our critique at like 9:00 AM.
[00:06:27] Speaker 6: So it was, oh,
[00:06:28] Speaker 5: when the professor comes in and says, try this.
[00:06:30] Speaker 6: Yeah. Well, they’d all come in and we’d all put our paintings out in front and we’d all go around and just take a critique. Like everybody tell us basically what they want. Was that changed with our painting or what they like about it? Or anything like that.
[00:06:42] Speaker 5: Did that ever, did that ever make you feel insecure or did it make you feel confident? I like, this is what I’m in school for?
[00:06:50] Speaker 6: I think both. Okay. Because like, I think we were nervous too. Handed in and or just like feeling like, oh gosh, like what are people gonna say? But it also [00:07:00] instilled confidence in us in the end.
[00:07:02] Speaker 5: So the whole room is watching your piece get evaluated?
[00:07:06] Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:07:08] Speaker 5: I would crush, I would be crushed under that pressure.
[00:07:11] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:07:12] Speaker 5: Wow, you’re really brave. Um,
[00:07:14] Speaker 6: thanks. What kind of opportunities? Besides that, did Oklahoma State offer you, besides just coming from a small town where it was kind of limited in like what they had available to us?
[00:07:26] Speaker 6: I feel like they offered us just great professors, obviously professors and then, yeah. Yeah, and knowledge. Just knowledge and just openness and like I could go, I remember just being so eager to learn. ’cause I just loved, I loved all of it. It was so new and different and. They were just so open to, I would just go and talk to my counselor, my professors.
[00:07:47] Speaker 6: I’m like, when? When am I gonna find my thing? Like I just really wanted my thing.
[00:07:51] Speaker 5: Wow.
[00:07:51] Speaker 6: And they just, you know, they’re just open and talk to me and it was great. That’s awesome. Yeah.
[00:07:57] Speaker 5: You need that after they publicly [00:08:00] critique you.
[00:08:00] Speaker 6: I know. It’s like, gimme some love now, please.
[00:08:03] Speaker 5: Um, I read that you studied in Italy.
[00:08:06] Speaker 5: Was that part of OSU program? No. Okay.
[00:08:09] Speaker 6: It was amazing.
[00:08:10] Speaker 5: Do you have memories of moments there that changed your life in terms of who you are as an artist?
[00:08:19] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:08:20] Speaker 5: Can you recall anything you wanna share?
[00:08:22] Speaker 6: Well, honestly. I, uh, never experienced anything like that before. Um, when they announced it in class, I signed up immediately ’cause it just sounded so fun and I wanted to experience it all.
[00:08:35] Speaker 5: So this was art study abroad, not like it was Okay.
[00:08:39] Speaker 6: Yeah, it was intentionally actually landscape painting in Tuscany.
[00:08:42] Speaker 5: Wow.
[00:08:42] Speaker 6: Yeah, it was, I mean, every second formed me. I felt like.
[00:08:49] Speaker 5: Wow.
[00:08:49] Speaker 6: Because it was not, it was just like. Something new and something different obviously affects the framework of your mind. So whenever I [00:09:00] was being challenged and going deeper in the history and the architecture and just even the cobblestones, like just the brickwork, all of it was just opening my mind to what more in the beauty around me.
[00:09:13] Speaker 6: So I was like very influenced the whole time. It was, I’m very thankful I got to be there.
[00:09:18] Speaker 5: I went to study abroad. Just so I could pass French, because that was, I was signing up immediately because I knew
[00:09:27] Speaker 6: you needed it.
[00:09:28] Speaker 5: I knew I needed it. Mm-hmm. And, um, it was kind of murmuring like, well, if you study abroad, it’s kind of a guaranteed a if you study abroad.
[00:09:36] Speaker 5: I’m like, alright,
[00:09:37] Speaker 6: yeah,
[00:09:37] Speaker 5: take my several thousand dollars. I just need to get these credits. And I, I remember the food and I remember just. They just don’t make food like that. The pasta. No, it was all amazing.
[00:09:52] Speaker 6: Yes. So good.
[00:09:53] Speaker 5: Um, so outside of traveling abroad, do you have some, some memories of [00:10:00] this kind of pointed me in this direction, whether it was a professor or a friend?
[00:10:06] Speaker 5: Um,
[00:10:08] Speaker 6: yeah.
[00:10:09] Speaker 5: Anything that kinda
[00:10:11] Speaker 6: Yeah. I had a really, um, amazing professor. She was my oil painting. Uh, professor, her name was Angie. Um, and she challenged me. It was like a love hate. She pushed you a little bit. She pushed me, but she knew I needed it. And, uh,
[00:10:30] Speaker 5: do you think she’s still teaching there?
[00:10:32] Speaker 6: Yeah, I
[00:10:32] Speaker 5: think she is.
[00:10:33] Speaker 5: That’s awesome.
[00:10:34] Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:10:35] Speaker 5: So let’s say traveling to Europe is not in the cards for a poor starving artist. Yeah. Where would you invite someone to go in Tulsa,
[00:10:47] Speaker 6: right?
[00:10:47] Speaker 5: For you have to go here, you’re gonna feel so inspired, you gotta check this place out. Where would you, where would you send someone?
[00:10:57] Speaker 6: I honestly love, I really love the fill [00:11:00] brick.
[00:11:00] Speaker 6: I do think its a great space for people to go and, because they also offer, there’s like some peaceful walks you can do, but then the art is very beautiful as well. They also, they have exhibits that kind of come in and come out a lot. Downtown. They have a great art, um, community.
[00:11:17] Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.
[00:11:18] Speaker 6: And I think just batting like ideas off and getting in that community and talking about what they’re creating and to just feeling that energy is like, so
[00:11:26] Speaker 5: plugging in with artists,
[00:11:27] Speaker 6: plugging like
[00:11:28] Speaker 5: Tulsa artists
[00:11:28] Speaker 6: would help
[00:11:29] Speaker 5: you
[00:11:29] Speaker 6: Yes.
[00:11:30] Speaker 6: Totally.
[00:11:30] Speaker 5: Be inspired. Where maybe you don’t have to.
[00:11:32] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:11:33] Speaker 5: Maybe you can’t get that flight right now. Yes. But you will.
[00:11:36] Speaker 6: Yes. You
[00:11:36] Speaker 5: will get there one day.
[00:11:38] Speaker 6: Yes.
[00:11:39] Speaker 5: Yes. Um. So I think it’s safe to say that your art is so happy and so full of cheer. Has it always been so uplifting?
[00:11:48] Speaker 6: Not, no,
[00:11:49] Speaker 5: not,
[00:11:50] Speaker 6: no. Okay. Oh no. I’m like, oh no.
[00:11:52] Speaker 6: It really, it, in college it was just more of like, get like building my skill level. [00:12:00] But when I started doing my own stuff, it, there was like a mood to everything. It felt like,
[00:12:04] Speaker 5: okay.
[00:12:05] Speaker 6: Um, kind of more graphite work. A little bit more black and white drawing a little bit more dramatic.
[00:12:12] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:12:12] Speaker 6: And then as I evolved into painting, I did a little bit, it was colorful, but it still had like a, a dark,
[00:12:19] Speaker 5: moody,
[00:12:19] Speaker 6: moody vibe to it.
[00:12:20] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:12:21] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:12:21] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:12:22] Speaker 5: Wow.
[00:12:23] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:12:24] Speaker 5: So you have kind of like different, um, chapters.
[00:12:28] Speaker 6: Yeah,
[00:12:28] Speaker 5: different chapters of art. Totally.
[00:12:30] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:12:30] Speaker 5: Who or what do you credit for your art that we see today? Right now? Where, what’s the muse right now?
[00:12:40] Speaker 6: Mm. That’s hard.
[00:12:43] Speaker 5: That’s a hard one.
[00:12:43] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:12:44] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:12:45] Speaker 6: I really, I would like to say like God for sure.
[00:12:48] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:12:48] Speaker 6: Um. I’ve had experiences and moments in my life where I’ve had to lean and grow.
[00:12:55] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:12:56] Speaker 6: And I feel like that light that he gives so freely lifted me up [00:13:00] and it’s
[00:13:00] Speaker 5: coming through the
[00:13:01] Speaker 6: Yeah. Came through.
[00:13:02] Speaker 5: I, I need some of that when I’m doing my paintings. Yeah. I need some of the inspiration flowing through my hands.
[00:13:10] Speaker 5: Okay. So just feeling like you’re in a happy, healthy, positive place. Yeah. And that God is kind of using your gift.
[00:13:16] Speaker 6: Yeah. ’cause I hadn’t always been there.
[00:13:18] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:13:19] Speaker 6: So
[00:13:19] Speaker 5: I think that a lot of women, maybe men too, could probably relate to that.
[00:13:24] Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely.
[00:13:26] Speaker 5: Would you share your story behind your, your Not Alone series?
[00:13:31] Speaker 6: Yes.
[00:13:31] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:13:32] Speaker 6: It’s, it’s a, it’s a good, it’s a lot, but, um. So the Not Alone series came whenever I, I actually had to go through a pretty hard journey.
[00:13:46] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:13:46] Speaker 6: So I went through addiction whenever I was, uh, just about to graduate in college.
[00:13:52] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:13:53] Speaker 6: And I started, you know, going through after addiction for a couple years.
[00:13:59] Speaker 6: I [00:14:00] went through recovery.
[00:14:01] Speaker 5: Wow.
[00:14:01] Speaker 6: And I dedicated like 16 months of my life to healing.
[00:14:06] Speaker 5: Wow.
[00:14:06] Speaker 6: And just kind of fully disengaging from the world and giving myself that space and time to get better.
[00:14:15] Speaker 5: That’s amazing.
[00:14:16] Speaker 6: So like most addictions, you go through a lot, right? You, you lose yourself a little bit and you lose friends or friends.
[00:14:24] Speaker 6: Friends and family, and all the things that make you come to the point where like you have to wake up and you’re like, okay, whoa. Like. I need to get it together.
[00:14:32] Speaker 5: And you were still a child.
[00:14:34] Speaker 6: I know you were still in my twenties.
[00:14:35] Speaker 5: 20 something,
[00:14:36] Speaker 6: 25. It was wild. So it took a lot for me to get back in the studio.
[00:14:42] Speaker 6: ’cause that’s kind of where my, when I went into my addiction, I was painting a lot
[00:14:47] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:14:47] Speaker 6: With like bands and live painting and, uh, kind of fell into that party after party scene. Okay. And that’s kind of what happened. But during my recovery, I was nervous to get back into it [00:15:00] ’cause I didn’t want it.
[00:15:01] Speaker 6: Anything to affect my recovery.
[00:15:03] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:15:03] Speaker 6: I was very protective of my recovery when I came out ’cause I devoted so long to it. So I, little by little, my, I, I wanna credit my husband too to my joyful paintings ’cause he pushed me too.
[00:15:16] Speaker 5: Oh,
[00:15:17] Speaker 6: it was sweet.
[00:15:17] Speaker 5: I love that.
[00:15:19] Speaker 6: So I would paint and I, and I started doing more colorful pieces that brought me joy.
[00:15:24] Speaker 6: I was like, I’m just gonna paint what brings me joy and what makes me feel good. Yeah, that’s kind of what evolved from the moodier paintings to the light and the happy.
[00:15:34] Speaker 5: That’s awesome.
[00:15:35] Speaker 6: And I didn’t realize it was like almost giving me like art therapy in my recovery, in my healing ’cause, and this is where I’m gonna start talking about my series, not Alone, is I was painting portraits and abstracts.
[00:15:51] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm. And. During my recovery, I kept feeling this loneliness because you’re out in the world [00:16:00] and you’re meeting people on a lighter level, not realizing like what I was actually going through.
[00:16:05] Speaker 5: Wow.
[00:16:06] Speaker 6: And you kind of feel alone. And that, ’cause you’re not gonna go up to somebody at a grocery store and be like, Hey, I’m actually really struggling.
[00:16:14] Speaker 6: I’m dealing with struggling
[00:16:15] Speaker 5: right now. Which is, if we would, everyone would be like, me too.
[00:16:19] Speaker 6: Yeah, me too, actually. Like,
[00:16:21] Speaker 5: you’re not alone.
[00:16:22] Speaker 6: So it felt so lonely and I was like, but really I had this like moment, I was like, we’re not like everybody, like you said, we’re all going through something.
[00:16:30] Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.
[00:16:31] Speaker 6: Internally. And I was like, I’m gonna paint these women and they’re gonna look beautiful and and confident and I’m gonna represent them like with different colors and the colors being their own story. So I did different colors per single figure, all being women, signifying a strong, but they’re also representing pain.
[00:16:57] Speaker 6: And that they’re all going through something ’cause they’re [00:17:00] outstanding alone and, but I’ve created them in a series as a whole to represent. We are actually not alone. No,
[00:17:08] Speaker 5: that’s so beautiful.
[00:17:08] Speaker 6: Long story short,
[00:17:10] Speaker 5: are there several of them? Thank you. In that series,
[00:17:13] Speaker 6: the series I did, I did 10, that was my first one.
[00:17:16] Speaker 5: And are they hanging on your wall or are they hanging on other people’s walls?
[00:17:19] Speaker 6: That was my first launch gallery launch since in my recovery.
[00:17:23] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:17:23] Speaker 6: So,
[00:17:24] Speaker 5: okay, that’s. Really, really beautiful. They’re,
[00:17:27] Speaker 6: they’re filled with people that have these stories that are beautiful.
[00:17:29] Speaker 5: Yes.
[00:17:30] Speaker 6: I was like, they all told me all their stories and I’m like, crying.
[00:17:33] Speaker 6: So
[00:17:34] Speaker 5: each woman is, is someone in your mind that you’re, or just adds you? It
[00:17:37] Speaker 6: just, these just people that bought them. Okay. I, I started like putting my stuff out there on social media. Okay. And they, they bought them on my like. They started following me and then they would DM me and message me their stories as they bought them.
[00:17:50] Speaker 6: Or it was for someone going through something. It was just you were like, just really cool.
[00:17:55] Speaker 5: Look at, we can all
[00:17:56] Speaker 6: I know,
[00:17:57] Speaker 5: we can all hold hands and get through this. [00:18:00] Yes. That is so unbelievable. Yeah. I’m so glad that you were willing to share that.
[00:18:04] Speaker 6: Thank you.
[00:18:05] Speaker 5: So talk to me about your process. Yeah. If I’m gonna paint anything, if I have to paint my kitchen walls.
[00:18:13] Speaker 5: If I have to do a craft with my children, I’m stressing out. Okay. Um, do you start with. These are my painting clothes as my husband calls them. Yeah, these are my bum and around clothes. Yeah, these are my bum and around clothes. Yeah. So are you painting in a cute outfit or are you painting in your bum and around clothes
[00:18:32] Speaker 6: most of the time?
[00:18:32] Speaker 6: Bumming around clothes like I look like. Like
[00:18:34] Speaker 5: a bum. Okay.
[00:18:35] Speaker 6: A bum.
[00:18:36] Speaker 5: Yeah. Are you wearing one of those smocks that’s like a crisscross
[00:18:39] Speaker 6: Yes.
[00:18:40] Speaker 5: Overall thing.
[00:18:41] Speaker 6: I just started wearing that so I can just like. Have my nicer clothes on sometimes. Okay. And I’ll just throw it on, which is kind of nice.
[00:18:47] Speaker 5: Are there big pockets in there?
[00:18:49] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:18:49] Speaker 5: For cell phones and brushes.
[00:18:51] Speaker 6: Brushes, yeah.
[00:18:52] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:18:52] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:18:53] Speaker 5: Um, do you have music on?
[00:18:55] Speaker 6: Yes. Always.
[00:18:56] Speaker 5: And is it blaring, AirPods? [00:19:00] Both.
[00:19:00] Speaker 6: It just depends on like what I’m feeling. Mo my husband will come home from lunch and I’ll sometimes have like this loud nineties or like hip hop or just something. Just depends.
[00:19:11] Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah. He’s laughing. He’ll come in there and just be like, Hey, hey
[00:19:15] Speaker 5: honey.
[00:19:15] Speaker 6: Hey.
[00:19:16] Speaker 5: Are you ever painting silently?
[00:19:17] Speaker 6: Sometimes. Sometimes if I’ve had like a really, like, just like I have four boys, so Right. Sometimes I’ll walk in and I’ll just need some silence, and that’s, that’s great too.
[00:19:27] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:19:28] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:19:28] Speaker 5: Do you clear your whole day?
[00:19:31] Speaker 5: Is your phone on silent or are you maybe a friend can come over and drink coffee while you’re painting? Or
[00:19:41] Speaker 6: Yeah,
[00:19:41] Speaker 5: like,
[00:19:42] Speaker 6: no, I’m painting today. I would love to have a friend over while I’m painting, but I zone in so much. Okay. I might ignore them for, and I don’t mean
[00:19:50] Speaker 5: to. Okay.
[00:19:50] Speaker 6: Um, but I’m pretty zoned in. I like to put my phone on do not disturb.
[00:19:54] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:19:55] Speaker 6: Just so I can, like, really,
[00:19:57] Speaker 5: okay.
[00:19:58] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:19:58] Speaker 5: Is this, um, [00:20:00] an area of the house or do you go to a studio where, like if your husband’s coming home, is this an area of a house that no one. No one needs to come in here and touch anything. No one needs to move anything.
[00:20:11] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:11] Speaker 5: Like this is my office. This is my studio.
[00:20:13] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:20:14] Speaker 5: Do you tell the kids, don’t breathe in here. Just get out of my space.
[00:20:19] Speaker 6: This
[00:20:19] Speaker 5: is my creative space. Um,
[00:20:20] Speaker 6: they kind of know now that it’s like mommy’s space and mommy’s artwork. So
[00:20:27] Speaker 5: are they artistic? Are you having them come in and
[00:20:30] Speaker 6: My, my first son is very creative. He kind of was raised in my studio.
[00:20:34] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:20:34] Speaker 6: Creative beside me.
[00:20:35] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:20:36] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:20:36] Speaker 5: I wanna know if you can imagine your final creation ish before you start.
[00:20:44] Speaker 6: Yeah. So I do, I do have like a kind of like thought, like if it’s gonna be figures or an abstract and kind of the colors I’m going to incorporate. Okay. And that’s about it. Everything else is like kind of spontaneous.
[00:20:54] Speaker 6: So
[00:20:55] Speaker 5: you already have the colors ready?
[00:20:56] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:57] Speaker 5: All right. Do you, and I was asking you [00:21:00] this earlier before we got started, do you stop and come back later?
[00:21:04] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm. I do.
[00:21:06] Speaker 5: And stop piece A go to piece start, piece B.
[00:21:10] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:21:11] Speaker 5: Start piece C. Go back to A, or is it It’s all gonna be, we’re all gonna finish this piece, whether it takes me time or not.
[00:21:19] Speaker 5: Mm-hmm. Or do you have multiple pieces going at once?
[00:21:21] Speaker 6: If they’re smaller pieces? I have a large table. Um, and I’ll create like probably 30 pieces at once. So I’ll just lay them all down, do a layer, do get my first layer done, and I’ll start a big piece and then come back after that layer is dry and add another layer and then I’ll come back to the bigger piece.
[00:21:40] Speaker 6: And I like to do that because I like to have a fresh eye with each piece. And it see, it helps me see where. A color needs to go, or if a color needs to be not even incorporated or something like that,
[00:21:51] Speaker 5: as I’m sure you have natural light coming in your studio, are you thinking, well, gosh, I gotta paint this again at 10:00 AM tomorrow because now everything looks [00:22:00] different at three o’clock in the afternoon.
[00:22:02] Speaker 5: Like,
[00:22:02] Speaker 6: oh, like the lighting
[00:22:03] Speaker 5: where you thinking, oh, that looks so different in the morning.
[00:22:07] Speaker 6: No, I never have had to do that. You
[00:22:08] Speaker 5: haven’t had to do that Uhuh. Okay.
[00:22:10] Speaker 6: No,
[00:22:11] Speaker 5: because I’ll look at things in different times of day. All day
[00:22:14] Speaker 6: long. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:22:15] Speaker 5: Whether it’s like outfits for family pictures and they’re all laid across my bed.
[00:22:20] Speaker 5: I’m like, well now this looks kind of dark and dingy. It looked better yesterday morning. Okay. Yeah. So maybe you have more, um, do you have. I had a self-control question.
[00:22:30] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:22:31] Speaker 5: Oh, you had to wait for your layer to dry.
[00:22:33] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:22:33] Speaker 5: I can’t wait for anything to dry. Yeah. Is that hard for you to have self-control where you’re, you’re thinking it’s dry ish?
[00:22:39] Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:22:40] Speaker 5: I could, I could do this and then,
[00:22:41] Speaker 6: but if I do rush it, then I end up regretting it because then like something happens and I’m like, why didn’t I just like, should have
[00:22:47] Speaker 5: just let that try. Yeah. Uh, when you deliver a commissioned piece to a client. How do you feel when you see them receive it?
[00:22:57] Speaker 6: It’s like we’re like already best friends a [00:23:00] little bit. ’cause we went through the whole process together.
[00:23:03] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:23:03] Speaker 6: And I sell outta state a lot, so I’m always that person like, Hey, how’s it going? Did you get it? Did you get it? I, where did you
[00:23:12] Speaker 5: hang it? Yeah.
[00:23:12] Speaker 6: Can you
[00:23:13] Speaker 5: show me a
[00:23:13] Speaker 6: picture of where you hug in? Yeah, can I just, can we just FaceTime like
[00:23:16] Speaker 5: I would’ve put it there.
[00:23:16] Speaker 5: I wanted a little to the left.
[00:23:18] Speaker 6: Yeah. Yes.
[00:23:19] Speaker 5: Okay. And mm-hmm. Are
[00:23:21] Speaker 6: you
[00:23:21] Speaker 5: helping them with frame choices or, mm-hmm. Okay.
[00:23:24] Speaker 6: Most of the time, yes.
[00:23:25] Speaker 5: Okay. Um, do you ever say, you know, I don’t, I don’t wanna let this one go, I want this piece to stay at my house.
[00:23:35] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:23:36] Speaker 5: Okay. So some of these are not for sale?
[00:23:38] Speaker 6: Uh, yes. I created a whole collection for a gallery and I ended up keeping the entire collection ’cause it looked so good together and it, and I didn’t want ’em to be broken up.
[00:23:49] Speaker 6: So I just put it in my bedroom, like, I’m gonna keep this, I’ll make another one for you. You
[00:23:53] Speaker 5: can’t have it. Sorry.
[00:23:54] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:23:55] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:23:55] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:23:56] Speaker 5: Or I don’t like the way that looks above your fireplace. Yeah. [00:24:00] Doesn’t really work in your house.
[00:24:01] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:24:02] Speaker 5: Like that scene from the Notebook where he’s puts his house for sale.
[00:24:06] Speaker 5: Mm-hmm. The guy’s like offers him over asking price and he is mad. Yes. And offers him under asking price and he is mad and you’re like, you don’t deserve my art.
[00:24:13] Speaker 6: I love that movie.
[00:24:14] Speaker 5: Do you have I do too. Mm-hmm. Do you have advice? For the, the artists living outta their van.
[00:24:21] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:24:21] Speaker 5: Starving.
[00:24:22] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:24:23] Speaker 5: What, what would you say to that?
[00:24:24] Speaker 6: I’ve been there.
[00:24:25] Speaker 5: You’ve been there.
[00:24:26] Speaker 6: Not starving outta my van, starving outta my little studio apartment. Okay. Yes.
[00:24:31] Speaker 5: Just keep going.
[00:24:32] Speaker 6: Keep going. I, I encourage you to go deeper too. I encourage them to go deeper, find a reason. Ask yourself questions. Why am I painting this?
[00:24:44] Speaker 5: Why am I painting this?
[00:24:45] Speaker 6: Why am I painting this?
[00:24:46] Speaker 6: Like, what does it mean to me?
[00:24:47] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:24:49] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:24:49] Speaker 5: I like that. That’s a great answer. Why am I painting this? Mm-hmm. And then I would say, why am I painting this with my, yeah. Um, okay. My last question is about your children’s [00:25:00] art. Yeah. How do you determine. This is the one we’re gonna hold onto forever. Mm-hmm. This one I can tell they really put effort in and then this one is going to be enjoyed for now.
[00:25:12] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:25:13] Speaker 5: And then we’ll make space on the fridge for the next one that you make. So how, what, what do you see in your kids’ art that. Yeah, like this one, we gotta keep with my first. It’s changed over the years
[00:25:22] Speaker 6: with my first child, I was like, I, I think I kept everything.
[00:25:26] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[00:25:26] Speaker 6: I was like, oh, he made a circle.
[00:25:27] Speaker 6: I’m keeping this like what? I just have like boxes of, boxes of like everything. That’s the first one. That’s the first foreign thing. Um. But no, I, I don’t know. I just keep whatever I like makes me happy or makes them happy. If they’re super proud of it, that thing is going on the fridge till forever, I feel like.
[00:25:46] Speaker 6: Okay. Or keeping it.
[00:25:47] Speaker 5: Do you like those art boxes?
[00:25:48] Speaker 6: You know what, I have yet to do one. I actually have the box at home. I need to just send it. I think that would be great, but I honestly like, I wanna keep the ones that. Original. Something about [00:26:00]
[00:26:00] Speaker 5: original. It’s not the original.
[00:26:01] Speaker 6: I know I’ve looked at them
[00:26:02] Speaker 5: too, and it does make a lot of sense, but
[00:26:05] Speaker 6: maybe just to have like as a overview, but then keep the ones that really like,
[00:26:09] Speaker 5: yeah.
[00:26:09] Speaker 5: So you’re a little bit sentimental.
[00:26:11] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:26:12] Speaker 5: I’m a little sentimental too.
[00:26:13] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:26:14] Speaker 5: There’s certain,
[00:26:14] Speaker 6: it’s like something about seeing the, like the actual reel,
[00:26:18] Speaker 5: A little crinkled paper. Yes. And
[00:26:20] Speaker 6: just takes you back.
[00:26:22] Speaker 5: Um, in kindergarten, my daughter. They give, you know, your Christmas present that they, that they give you.
[00:26:31] Speaker 5: And they had tea towels. That was the mommy’s Christmas present and she was supposed to draw Mary and Jesus.
[00:26:40] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:26:41] Speaker 5: And it’s a stick figure of Mary, and it looks like she’s holding Jesus upside down by his leg and spanking his bottom. And I, God, I put that towel out every Christmas and I hanging on the front of this.
[00:26:54] Speaker 5: Stove handle because
[00:26:56] Speaker 6: I love
[00:26:56] Speaker 5: that. It’s just, it is the silliest drawing ever. [00:27:00] And I love my spanking Jesus.
[00:27:03] Speaker 6: That’s the
[00:27:04] Speaker 5: best tea towel.
[00:27:05] Speaker 6: So unique,
[00:27:06] Speaker 5: you know? Yes. It’s, yes. Okay. So we wrap up our episodes with our ready, set rapid questions. Okay. Kind of Tulsa friendly.
[00:27:15] Speaker 6: Okay.
[00:27:15] Speaker 5: And you just tell me. What you think.
[00:27:17] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:27:18] Speaker 5: Where do you go in Tulsa for a guarantee to be saturated in mother nature’s colors?
[00:27:26] Speaker 6: At Philbrook for sure.
[00:27:27] Speaker 5: Philbrook. Okay.
[00:27:28] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:27:28] Speaker 5: And they’re getting ready to probably have some tulips. Spring
[00:27:31] Speaker 6: time is the best there.
[00:27:33] Speaker 5: And they do a lot of, um, like, like I, I know my kids have painted out there. They’ll have easels and Yeah.
[00:27:42] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:27:42] Speaker 5: Creative things. I asked you earlier if you kept any paintings for yourself.
[00:27:47] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[00:27:47] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:27:47] Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
[00:27:48] Speaker 5: The ones that that go in the vault. Yeah. And one day we’ll get to see them.
[00:27:51] Speaker 6: Yes.
[00:27:52] Speaker 5: Is there a store in Tulsa you’d recommend for beginner art supplies?
[00:27:58] Speaker 6: Honestly, I like [00:28:00] supporting local.
[00:28:01] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:28:01] Speaker 6: You might find some deals at like some bigger
[00:28:04] Speaker 5: places,
[00:28:05] Speaker 6: corporate companies, but the quality I don’t think is even that great.
[00:28:08] Speaker 6: And I think as an artist, having better quality paint will go a long way even with beginners. Okay. You won’t get frustrated as easily.
[00:28:17] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:28:17] Speaker 6: Like the moment I started buying really nice paints, golden paints, I remember it was a little bit more expensive and. I remember telling my husband, I was like, these paints are just so amazing.
[00:28:30] Speaker 6: I can’t believe I waited so long. Yeah. It’s more vibrant. Okay. Better quality. And Ziglar’s here in Tulsa offers deals. They will Ziglar’s. They are amazing. Yeah. Perfect. Mm-hmm.
[00:28:40] Speaker 5: Okay. Is Ziglar’s an arts and craft store?
[00:28:42] Speaker 6: Yes. And framing. So one stop shop.
[00:28:44] Speaker 5: Wow. Head to Ziglar’s. Yes. You heard it here?
[00:28:46] Speaker 6: Yes, exactly.
[00:28:47] Speaker 5: Okay. My last question is, since you know. Great color and you know. Great. Back backdrops. What’s the best location you’ve seen or you’ve taken? Family photos.
[00:28:57] Speaker 6: I feel like I’m saying Philbrick over. [00:29:00] It’s philbrick.
[00:29:01] Speaker 5: Yay. You
[00:29:02] Speaker 6: need
a
[00:29:02] Speaker 6: free
[00:29:02] Speaker 5: membership. Yes. She needs a free membership to Philbrook this year.
[00:29:06] Speaker 6: That’s right.
[00:29:06] Speaker 5: Okay. Gorgeous Philbrook photos. It is beautiful. We haven’t, we did Christmas there, but we have not taken family photos there.
[00:29:14] Speaker 6: Yeah, they, they’re really, they work with you too on coming in with the photographer. They’re really good about it. Um, you can do the nature scene or they have that beautiful, their, their architecture is gorgeous too, right?
[00:29:25] Speaker 5: Like the, not the gazebo, what’d you call it? A gazebo? The thing at the
[00:29:29] Speaker 6: end of the Oh, yeah. We never, we did it on the steps there.
[00:29:32] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:29:32] Speaker 6: But we also went up towards the actual, like the building.
[00:29:35] Speaker 5: Okay.
[00:29:35] Speaker 6: And that stone against, um, like a bright top and. It just looked great. Okay.
[00:29:42] Speaker 5: You’re
[00:29:42] Speaker 6: a
[00:29:42] Speaker 4: pro. You’re a pro.
[00:29:44] Speaker 5: Samantha, I’m so glad that you took time to sit with us today. You too. I love your story. I love that you shared and your art is so beautiful. Will you share your Instagram handle?
[00:29:53] Speaker 6: Yes. It’s at Samantha JK Art,
[00:29:55] Speaker 5: and you can buy all the pieces there and, um, [00:30:00] yeah, fill your home with bright, happy vibes.
[00:30:03] Speaker 6: Yes.
[00:30:03] Speaker 5: Thank you. Thank you.
