Q. Do you consider yourself an artist or a painter?

Emily Spikes in her studio after painting.

A. I am both. I can paint mindlessly but most of the time painting is a means to an end…to reach an artistic goal is what I try to do.

Q. How do you come up with ideas?

A. I can give a regular artist answer like I am intrigued by the world around me but I am really looking for something around me that all of these pop culture icons that all of them share? All of these characters I paint I try to feel how they inspire me. How they inspire others also.

Q. Are you from Lafayette, LA?

A. Yes I am from this area.

Q. When did you start painting?

A. I started in high school because I thought art would be easy. But after my freshmen year I really fell in love with it. I started to think about ways to make money, and I kinda started to see what I could do with art. But it has been 9 years and it mainly started when  I was 14 years old.

Q. What did you want to be when you were 14 years old?

A. A therapist because I love to hear other people’s problems and tell them my own.

Q. What is your favorite color pattern? (three colors)

A. 1. Teal, 2. Burnt Orange and 3. Sunny Yellow. Bright vibrant colors.

Q. Do you do a before art meditation?

A. I used to…I used to sit in a room and listen to music with tie dyed patterns, and now I would say it is music. It is my biggest thing. For a year I would listen to White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane and it got me going. I feel that is when I do my best work.

Q. Do you play music in the room that you are painting in?

A. It either has to be blasting or in my headphones yes. I can’t do anything without music. I always say that visual art and music go hand and hand. I love Led Zeppelin, Disco and wide variety.

Q. Do you own a fan brush?

A. I do own a fan brush….and because you said that I will have to use it sooner.

Q. Is there anything you want people to know about you?

Art by Emily Spikes in Lafayette, LA from Instagram

A. I have a message and it’s particularly geared towards people my age…and it’s that I really don’t have my life together and I really just go day by day and people say to me that it seems like I have it all together and I think I really just want people to know that I am just like everybody else taking it day by day.

Q. Where do you get your paint in Acadiana?

A. I wish there was the local mom and pop shop but honestly I usually shop at Michael’s by TJ Max. If anyone knows of another place I don’t know about please feel free to let me know. I want to know.

Q. How long does it take you to come up with an idea to finished product on a painting?

A. On commissions about two weeks I try to be timely depending on what it is. I like to give myself a week. I just finished 30 painting in 30 days and that was crazy but it was very hard to do them in three hours.

Q. Tell us about the last thing you painted?

A. I am glad you asked this question and I feel so special about it I painted a pop art painting of Princess Diana. I also used rhinestones and pearl beads for the crown and her jacket and she is smiling and it is just my favorite thing.

Q. Why Diana? Why did you choose to paint Diana?

A. I watched recently “Diana in her own words,” a Netflix documentary and I recently had been seeing a therapist for anxiety and depression and she had listed so many famed people and Diana was listed in the list in so many things she had to go through and to me I was very interested in learning more about her. I was extremely happy to learn more about how she dealt with her struggles. She is amazing!

Q. What canvas do you prefer?

A. Gallery wrap heavy duty canvas the really thick ones and I usually buy them when they are 70% off at Michael’s.

Q. Is there anything else that you want people to know?

A. I just want to remind people that when people go out of the way to comment or like something we post it is important to me. It is more than social media it is a business and it helps us with direction and it is greatly appreciated.

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