A Day In the Life of Katie Drum

It's Friday! That means it's time to see what a day in the life of a working artist looks like.  I'm excited to share the day of Katie Drum with you today.  When I met Katie and she told me she was a painter I was excited to see what kind of work she made. I was immediately blown away by her paintings. Her imagery and mark making really spoke to me. It was exciting to realize that I live in the same town as this artist!  In April I did a post about a show Katie had, you can read about it here.  I also did a post on her work back in 2011 so needless to say, I'm a huge fan.  Here's a look inside Katie's day...

Hello, my name is Katie Drum. A big thanks to Ann for featuring me on her A Day in the Life…  Like most artists, I struggle with managing my day job, spending time with friends & family, running errands, keeping my house in order, and of course finding time to be creative. 

During the week, I usually squeeze some small moments of creativity somewhere between dinner and sleep. But when I get a full day to myself that is when I truly feel happiest. Today is one of those days:

I usually sleep in, but thankfully that is still before 9 a.m. I wake up pretty early during the week for my day job running the store at Heritage Prairie Farm.  So sleeping in on my days off is essential. Sleep is the great healer, and I love sleeping so hard that I barely remember my name when I wake up. 

Upon waking, a huge pot of coffee is a must. I often immediately go sit on my porch and greet the morning.  We have a great wrap around porch at our home that I am very thankful for, porch swing and all.  It takes me a long time to wake up, so often times I will sit for a whole hour, watching the wonderful morning shadows creeping through the leaves and waving at the neighborhood dogs.  

I then do the usual tasks of answering emails, checking up on blogs, etc. the weather (today will be sunny & warm, yay!) read my horoscope, and go over my daily affirmation.  I am a big nerd for the power of positive thinking. Today’s affirmation, “In the Infinity of Life where I am, all is perfect, whole, and complete.” Thank you Louisa Hay.  

I make a late breakfast.  Today was just crispy bacon with an omelet: fresh farm eggs, purple garlic, green peppers, and red tropea onions with a little parmesan. And then Jason (my husband) and I watered the yard/garden and decided to take a walk to a nearby yard sale. There wasn’t much going on there, however I did step in some gum along the way. So we decided to play a game on our walk to distract me from my sticky foot, picking out our favorite houses that we’d buy if we actually had any money. 

Jason’s birthday happens to be Wednesday, so his mom popped by to say hello. We ended up going out to the shoe store to get Jason some new digs, and then out to a sort of late lunch/early dinner at a place downtown.  Finally getting home… it’s time to make stuff!

My studio is in our extra room in our house, which I rather like. It’s fairly large, hardwood floors, and has the best light in the house. I fiddled around with some watercolors for a bit. But I recently purchased a digital drawing tablet, which I hadn’t gotten the chance to mess around with yet. A Bamboo Pen & Touch to be exact. I was pretty apprehensive about getting one… But I must say, I love it! Weird at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty amazing.  Believe me, I am all for making the real deal paint on paper art etc, but I am very inspired by this new way of image making. New to me at least. My goal is to do more freelance illustration on the side, and this device will help me create more quickly. I’m also excited to use it to sketch out future painting ideas.  

Here are three portraits I made over the course of the evening, using my new tablet: 

Mohair Sweater

Old Man in Triangle Sweater

Girl in Lace Collar Sweater

Not sure why I chose a sweater theme…I must have Fall on the brain.  I take breaks, but often I will stay up late working on whatever until I’m silly tired, usually around 1 or 2 a.m. I love it though, I wish every day was like this.  My ultimate goal is to be a self-employed artist fulltime. 

Thank you for sharing, Katie! I love the new work. I am someone who is terrified of going digital so I always admire when someone can figure it out and make beautiful things.  See more of Katie's work at her website here.  Now I'm going to go make an omelet! Happy weekend!