Red Dirt Shop: Goods for Good
I was thrilled to partner with Kansas City's Red Dirt Shop to stock their shop with new products. Red Dirt has a "Goods for Good" initiative– with every product they sell, Red Dirt in turn partners with Water.org to fund one year of clean water access for someone in need.
Life: Just Add Water water bottle: $19
Watercolor Waves iPhone case: $32
Glass is Half Full men's tee: $34
Glass is Half Full women's tee: $34
Can you tell us a little about your selected designs for Red Dirt Shop?
My two favorite mediums are watercolor and ink. I find watercolor to yield somewhat unexpected results; the way the pigments interact with one another as it dries can be a great surprise. On the other end of the spectrum, I like the predictability of India ink; what you draw is what you get. I chose to include both illustration styles for Red Dirt products.
Who or what inspires your work?
I’m inspired daily by the things I see around me, and tend to hunker down at night to paint. While in Belize, I came across a severed butterfly wing on a jungle path. It was stunning. I snapped a picture and mentally added it to my cache of things to paint later. I recently went through a phase of buying succulents for my home, but they just kept dying on me. My solution was to just immortalize them with paint on paper instead. It’s funny, I ended up doing the same thing with a very short-lived Venus Flytrap of mine. (I guess I’m a better painter than plant-owner.) I enjoy exploring how things can be interpreted through watercolor or ink. It’s interesting to see how one motif can evolve through different mediums and moods. I may spend time painting on Monday, carefully working out each detail in ink. By Tuesday, I’ll try out the same subject on a fresh sheet of paper, but with wide, gestural brushstrokes & overall impatience. I also enjoy winging it & working out the subject and style as I draw.
Why did you want to become a Red Dirt Shop Artist?
As soon as I heard about Red Dirt, I jumped on the opportunity to contribute. I believe that access to clean drinking water is integral to improving communities as a whole. Women and girls bear an especially large burden in rural communities where clean drinking water is scarce; they often walk miles at a time to gather water for their families. This water is frequently contaminated with diseases and impurities. Providing accessible water nearby can give women freedom to pursue education, alternative methods of income, and ultimately a brighter future. I believe that access to clean water is a basic human right. I support Red Dirt’s goals to make safe water more accessible to those in need.
