Katie Windham /Love Katie Darling / New Orleans
Love Katie Darling was born in 2020 (after 40+ years of residing in Katie's heart). Love Katie Darling includes the original art of Katie Windham, reproductions of original works, and products created from original works. Love Katie Darling offers everything from art for personal enjoyment, to wholesale, to licensing.
Part time or full:
It would be a dream to make art full-time. Right now, my business is pretty much run in whatever time I can manage amidst full-time work, parenting, and maintenance chores. I do pretty much everything from inspiration to creation to marketing and website design. However, I would be remiss if I did not mention my incredible friend, Richelle, who is always available for business advice and my lovely printer, Katrina at BSL Prints who tenderly prints, packs, and ships all my orders. My mother-in-law is an absolute champion of my work and her orders keep me going and believing that there is love in sharing art with people.
One thing people probably don't realize about what I do:
I think people would be surprised to see the space I work in. It is a very tiny corner in a high traffic area of my tiny home. I work in layers and love to work on lots of different pieces at the time. I have to get very creative about finding places to dry my work in between layers!
Favorite color:
I feel unsettled at the heart of things if I run out of Cadmium Red Deep Hue or light portrait pink.
Favorite way to spend free time:
I love to go on adventures with my sweet family. We love to go to the Botanical Garden in New Orleans City Park. It has become our home away from home.
Values I bring to my work:
I call myself an artist - mama - dreamer. My work is full of love, kindness, and (I hope) child-like whimsy and wonder. I tend to have my head in the clouds. I tend to love too much. Life is full of joys and sorrows and I let my art come from those places...the
happiness and light of wonder, but also the times where we have fallen off the map or have to mend our own tender hearts.
Dream gig:
Hannah Gumbo’s annual Galentine’s Day Box. I said it. This is it! This is my dream gig. Would you believe that two years ago, I sighed and said, “I’d love to somehow get into Hannah Gumbo’s Galentine’s Day box one day....” I could not believe it when I got a message from Hannah with the invitation to be a part of this lovely incredible thing.
My go-to inspiration:
I would laugh and say I have way too much inspiration. I have notebooks filled with creative ideas to last a lifetime. I am a naturally
curious and enthusiastic dreamer of a person and I love too many things. I am inspired by my husband and children as they are the most talented, brilliant, and humble people I’ve ever known. I feel lucky to live with them. Our little happy home is an endless well of inspiration. I could be inspired for years from one of our nightly dinner conversations. I simply cannot walk into a library and not be inspired. I am blown away by nature daily, and can get inspired in about 2 seconds when I am near it (inside or outside). I am always inspired by other creatives.
Favorite part of being the BOSS lately:
I am absolutely loving new opportunities to collaborate with other people. This opportunity with Hannah Gumbo has been a dream come true and so much fun for me. I also unexpectedly got to do my very first licensing project with my printer, Katrina. We collaborated on a Valentine’s Day card. It was something we both wanted to do and just saying it out loud when we were in the same room led to this really lovely collaboration, and a wonderful learning experience for me. I’d love to do more licensing projects in the future.
One way I fight creative burnout is:
I do not struggle with creative burnout. I really struggle with burnout in other areas of my life. Creating (whether it be painting, writing, or photography) always brings me back home to myself. I was a librarian for a long time and might always be one at heart. Books always remind me of who I have always been and I can depend on them for restoration and to lead me away from burnout every-time.
