1-Who are you?

I’m Mel Mitchell-Jackson (they/them), an Adventure Artist from the Bay Area. I also teach courses and retreats under the name Persistent Bloom. I help people unleash their creativity, connect to their inner kids, and explore nature through courses and retreats. Persistent Bloom started as a Podcast for creatives inspired by the tarot, and now it’s my teaching platform.

My grandmother was a painter and my mentor in art. I studied Painting at the Kansas City Art Institute, ran some artist-run galleries and an arts publication, and was a resident artist at The Drugstore studios in Kansas City, MO.

I have experimented with different styles and mediums in my art practice. I have done figurative oil paintings, interior portraits, digital spaces, and landscapes. Now I focus on Adventure Art because I love being inspired by the beauty of the Bay Area.

2-What do you do for a living? How does making art fit in your life or what’s your daily art routine like?

I am currently a full time artist! My primary income is through the sales of prints, products, originals, and commissions. I also teach because I love it and it helps make up for months where my art business wanes. I have been teaching at an Organic Lavender Farm called Bees N Blooms in Santa Rosa. It’s a great space to teach painting from nature and has a giant Lavender Labyrinth! I am working on expanding my educational offerings to teach in more spaces and online in 2024.

I left my job working at Apple in October where I was a Creative Pro, which is Apple-jargon for a teacher. I taught classes on how to use their devices and also how to use Procreate to paint. I left because teaching stopped being the focus of my job.

My daily routine is pretty flexible rather than rigid. I check in every morning to my Notion task list which is this big kanban board with big goals and small tasks. I’ll also plan out social media posts, and start with a small drawing or two in my physical sketchbook. My days take me all over, sometimes out on adventures and hikes, others doing the work of running a small business, and others curling up with my cats and spouse on the couch to paint in Procreate. My favorite days are when I take a sketch from Procreate and spend the entire day turning that into a painting in acrylic or gouache.

3-When did you discover digital art? How was your first ever experience with Procreate? What role plays Procreate in your everyday life?

I discovered digital art when I was a kid! I remember when I was about 8 I asked for Photoshop from my parents because MS Paint couldn’t do enough. I had no idea how to draw digitally and back then I dreamed of being able to draw on the screen. In art school I realized that paint was really expensive and being a digital kid meant that I could feel my way around a composition and how I wanted to apply paint in Photoshop. With my Wacom tablet it became my space of infinite supplies and it freed me from the fear of failure.

I would complete entire paintings digitally before I ever put brush-to-canvas. Then I would use the silly “Find Edges” effect and a projector to draw all of my outlined brush strokes onto my painting panel.

In college I developed a bit of a reputation to show up to figure drawing classes with my MacBook and Wacom Tablet as materials, where most everyone else had paints and charcoal. The digital space is where I felt the most free, and it’s why I made so much art previously about the digital. It was always home for me, it’s where I found community and there was the undo button.

I didn’t start using Procreate until I was recruited to work at Apple. When I started as a Creative they asked me to teach painting, and while I had used Photoshop for ages, its a totally different experience to draw directly on the screen of an iPad. I was simultaneously so excited to do the thing my little kid self always wanted but I was also so bad at it!

My coworkers and I would sit together and share different techniques, I still found their feedback and tips to be invaluable. I also really lucked out because Apple wanted me to essentially be painting for entertainment like Bob Ross whenever I wasn’t teaching. I got to work from a library of great references and just paint the day away.

I would sit by our giant 30 foot video wall with a headset on talking about what I was doing, why I was doing it, and invite others to join me. That unstructured creative time is how I learned to be good at Procreate. It is now my favorite place to start and play when making.

4-How would you describe your art style? What do you think helped you develop it?

Through all of my different eras my art style has remained centered around capturing light and sharing moments in time that have made me pause.

I love looking at artists who are loose and playful like Lois Dodd and Fairfield Porter, but then also artists who are truly OBSESSIVE and detailed like Vermeer and Vija Celmens.

The thing that helps me really develop and hone my style was figuring out that Angle Shader brushes are the best brushes for me. Also embracing the way I paint in the digital was the best way to loosen up my anxious painter tendencies in the physical. The taper style of the 'Gooey Gouache' Brush in your Natural Gouache set allows me to use pressure variation to get the same marks in Procreate. I think that’s why I really resonated with them so quickly!

5-Do you incorporate traditional techniques into your digital workflow? Can you give us an idea of your process?

Yeah! I love doing studies of traditional artists work and trying to achieve their technique in Procreate. There’s an artist named Matt Bollinger who I was able to meet and show his work when I was at Plug Projects. He works in acrylic and his paintings have such rich texture variety. I studied some of them in Procreate and learned how to really incorporate texture layers, finding ways to “sand away” old “paint” and give things more depth.

Another thing I loved about your Natural Gouache brush set was the template with the various wash values. In watching my painting time lapses, I’m reminded, that’s totally how paintings start, with these blocks of color that poke through ever so slightly as the paint layers on top become more opaque.

6-What’s your favorite non-art-related thing to do that inadvertently helps your creativity?

Hike and adventure outdoors! I love how on a hike the most seemingly mundane things — like lichen on a rock, or the sunlight streaming through a riverbed can create amazing color relationships. I take tons of photographs on my phone when I’m out and occasionally, I’ll also stop to sketch. My partner is a photographer so he appreciates slowing down and spending time intensely looking.

Typically when I am out I try to take clear note of color because my phone tends to distort and flatten it. When I get home I’ll cozy up with tea and make sketches in Procreate of what I saw to remember the beauty of that hike.

7-If you could give a piece of advice to your younger artist self, what would it be?

Follow your curiosity and don’t take advice from people who don’t seem happy with their lives and studio practices. I had quite a bit of unlearning to do when I left art school. I think too often the viewpoints and expectations that are put on young and impressionable artists can prohibit them from growing in the right ways or they end up just emulating the work of someone (usually an authority figure) they admire.
I spent a really long time doing a ton of volunteer work in my community (running galleries and a publication, as I mentioned earlier) and honestly, that really took so much time away from my practice, but I was told that work, not my studio work, was the right thing to do. It was good work, I built a lot of beautiful relationships, but it burned me out.

8-What is your favorite Procreate Manero brush set and why?

I have to admit I am partial to the Natural Gouache set but I really want to try out the Thick Paint oil painting set next. If my students are reading this (hi!!) I would recommend the Sketchbook Experience and Watercolor Experience combo set for them. That combo is a really inspiring way to test out your creativity in Procreate in two spaces that often intimidate newbies. I would love to teach that set to my students in the future!

9-Where can people check out your art?

Yes! My website is https://melmitchelljackson.com where folks can see my portfolio, buy some art, sign up for my courses, book one on one learning time together, and join for my newsletter. I just started my YouTube Channel and I have been working away at building an audience for my art on Instagram and TikTok where I'm @MelMitchJackArt.

Artist Spotlight is a place where I'm interviewing artists that I personally admire, who's art I find very inspiring, and that also happen to use Procreate and my brushes as part of their artistic routine. Watch this space for more interviews in the future, and make sure to check each artist's links to show your support!

Check out Mel's recommended Manero brushes for Procreate, and many more!

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