Amelia Mabry Art

I am a mixed media artist that works primarily with alcohol inks. My formal education is in nursing, where I practiced for 18 years before taking a step away for health reasons. I have always been creative and found drawing and painting a great way to practice self-care and self-discovery.

I found alcohol inks a few years ago and instantly fell in love with the medium’s fluidity and how it is a practice of release of control where I see the magic come together on paper. In December of 2019, my Dad passed away quite unexpectedly, and I found myself practicing daily as a way to release an overload of emotion. I used art as a way to heal myself and process my grief.

The following year I planned to start selling my paintings and functional art pieces at art markets in my local area of Northwest Arkansas, but in March of 2020, Covid hit the US full force, and everything went on lockdown. As so many other people did, I quickly realized that I wanted the creative business that I was dreaming about that I needed to take it online.

I found myself at 45 years old, not only changing career paths but learning a lot of new skills. Building a website was something I never saw myself doing, much less understanding the ends and outs of e-commerce or product photography. But here I am, taking a marketing class and learning about SEO. I have gained confidence in my new business skills that will continue to be an asset throughout my life.

In the middle of all of this, I felt a call to renew my nursing license to work at a pharmacy giving the Covid vaccine to the small community where I live. During the day, I have been administering Covid shots, and in the evening and on weekends, I paint and build my business.

My favorite part about painting is commission work. I love hearing people’s stories. I love mixing colors and imagining where my clients will hang my artwork in their homes. I love hearing that they are giving my artwork to their niece or their Mom for their birthday. It brings me so much joy that I can’t imagine a life without art.

I find a great deal of inspiration from nature. I am lucky enough to live on the King’s River in the Ozark Mountains of Northwest Arkansas. Everything in nature speaks to me. When I am stressed or anxious, I walk around my neighborhood and down to the river. Just watching the water move over the rocks makes me realize that everything is fluid and in constant motion. It is soothing to my soul and inspires me to create art in the same fluid way.
Just as the simplicity of water falling over rocks inspires me, when I visit my sister in Colorado and hike the Rocky Mountains, I am overcome with the sheer size of the mountaintops. It’s like I can hear the hum of all living things, and I feel at one with the universe. It is easy for my priorities to shift into perspective when I am reminded of the wonders of the Earth standing in the shadows of a mountain.

I feel the same way when I travel to Hawaii and look out at the waves crashing to shore and see the expanse of the ocean; it puts into perspective how small I am. The world doesn’t need me to hold it up. It allows me to let go of my tight grip of control that I sometimes feel, and it opens me up to create.

The changing of the seasons in all their glory is a relief and delight to me. Just when I feel like I can’t take one more day of the heat of summer, I wake up to cooler temperatures and red and orange leaves on the trees. Just when I feel like I will freeze to death in the bleak, desolate winter, I get a reprieve of warm sunshine on my face.

Taking the care to look at and enjoy the details of nature is so inspiring. Looking at the veins of a single leaf or all the different colors in the river rock. Watching the wind push the long hay in a field back and forth and smelling fresh-cut grass or the fragrances of a single rose from my rose bushes or lilac trees.

As I let myself fall into tune with nature, it reminds me that I am not alone. Not when I have the chirping of birds and the hum of wind to keep me company. I keep this close to my heart as I create a whole new world on my canvas.

My journey as a full-time artist has just begun. Although I don’t have an art degree, that doesn’t mean that I am a self-taught artist. I have invested thousands of dollars and 100+ hours in art, business, marketing, and photography classes, just to name a few.

I’m excited to see what the future will bring for Amelia Mabry Art. I am looking into venues for this summer to teach people the beautiful, intuitive journey of alcohol ink art.