Her signature joyful mark can be found on totes, mugs, journals and t-shirts—in fact, you might be drinking out of one of her mugs right now. But if you haven’t met Courtney Pilgrim of My Friend Court yet, chances are that you will in 2016. She’s been making and teaching art—both in the classroom and on YouTube—and perfecting her hustle for the last few years. However, 2016 is slated to be her best one yet.
Pilgrim has made staying positive an art form. According to her canvas, a visit to the DMV looks like an acid trip in the Garden of Eden, and sitting in rush hour is like sitting at the end of a kaleidoscope. And when life really gets messy, her secret to seeing the beauty of it all comes down to gratitude and a good attitude.
Need a pick-me-up? Sit down; stay awhile, and see what Pilgrim has to say about finding that work-art-life balance, seeing hard work pay off and making her Bob Ross dreams come true.
CommonCreativ: You’re an art teacher by day, but you also have a strong online presence—between your blog, Instagram, online shop and YouTube. What’s it like juggling all of that?
Courtney Pilgrim: Truthfully, it’s been a lot! I’ve been teaching public school in Atlanta since 2011 but recently stepped away from the classroom to take a part-time job doing social media and content marketing for a company here.
This past year, especially, things started getting crazy busy. For the longest time I felt like I was creating and putting stuff out there, but no one was noticing. Then it all changed, and a lot of opportunities and collaborations came about at once, and it hasn’t really slowed down since. I’m thankful for that, but I had to find more of a work-art-life balance.
I think staying positive and faithful that all the hard work would pay off kept me focused. And of course just being really grateful for it all motivated me to keep going, when all I really wanted to do was give up and sleep!
Courtney Pilgrim
CC: You like to give your followers daily doodle challenges. Do you make art everyday? If so, is that important to your process?
CP: For the most part, I do make art every day! For the past five years, my job as an art teacher kind of forced me to do that—but the daily doodle challenge came from me wanting to get back into the habit of making art everyday for myself and not just because it was my job.
I do think that being in the habit of creating daily and/or regularly is really important to the creative process, especially while you’re trying to figure things out and get started.
CC: Your work comes off as bold, bright and conveys a lot of movement. How would you personally describe your aesthetic?
CP: Something like that! I usually describe my work as playful and vibrant. I try to just ‘play’ with my paints and have fun with creating. So, naturally, that is the vibe that my work gives off. I love bright, bold colors and try to keep the eye dancing around the canvas—like it’s at a party!
CC: What does your ideal day as an artist look like?
CP: Slow, quiet mornings spent ‘playing’ in my studio. Getting warmed up, if you will—I’m not a morning person and work better in the afternoons. Drinking lots of coffee. And then in the afternoons, pumping up the music and really getting down to business.
CC: What has been your favorite project to work on so far?
CP: Wow, that’s really hard to say. It’s been so amazing getting to see my art come to life on products, and it’s definitely something I’ll continue to pursue and expand on. But collaborating with Brit + Co to film an online painting course has probably been the most surreal thing I’ve gotten to do yet. Being flown out to San Francisco for a week to film a painting class definitely made my Bob Ross dreams come true! Then I got to go back again and teach the class live at the Re:Make Conference + Festival at Fort Mason. It was such a fun experience.
CC: What other Atlanta artists’ work are you crushing on lately?
CP: Molly Rose Freeman is amazing with color, and paints these huge kaleidoscope-like murals all over town that I just adore. I can always spot her stuff! I’ve also been digging work by illustrator Monica Alexander. I love her use of color and the funky characters that she comes up with.
CC: What’s the best project to come out of Atlanta in the last year, would you say?
CP: Well, I’m a super big fan of street art. It’s one of my favorite things about Atlanta. So I’d say the Outer Space Project this past summer. It’s always fun to see new murals popping up around town. I love how it makes art accessible to everyone and how beautiful and colorful it makes our city.
CC: What’s one of your goals for 2016?
CP: To continue on working on that work-art-life balance and become more business savvy!
CC: Where can we come see your work in person? Any shows coming up?
CP: Yes, actually. I have a solo show entitled Paint Life Grand?! that will be up the months of February and March at Hodgepodge Coffeehouse and Gallery—opening night is Feb. 6th at 7pm!
It’s a show inspired by an abstract view of everyday life. It’s about finding the beautiful and colorful moments in otherwise bleak and seemingly mundane situations. It’s my statement of how life imitates art and art imitates life.
You can see more of Courtney Pilgrim’s work on her portfolio site.
