Meet Catt Grimsley | Artist/Owner @ CattGStudio43, and LMSW & Therapist in Behavioral Health

We had the good fortune of connecting with Catt Grimsley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Catt, why did you pursue a creative career?
I’ve loved art since I was probably 5 or 6 years old, and spent a lot of my childhood drawing with colored pencils, gel pens, and markers. As I grew older, I began to take interest in visual and fine arts. I would create a lot of my own home decor or take like a silk tree and paint the leaves to match the room theme colors of the room that I was going to place it in. My love for art, colors, and self-expression grew even as my faith in God grew, as I began to embrace the gifts He blessed me with. The beginning of selling my art actually started with a gift. An ex of mine asked me to make his boss one of the vases I had made for my bedroom in his boss’s wife’s favorite colors. After she received the gift she showed it to a friend who asked if they could pay me to make them one in teal, gold and black. I decided to start at Etsy shop and also sell them locally, and from there my custom vase business expanded into exploring then selling resin art. It’s not just a business or a side hustle to me, art is an intricate part of me and also very therapeutic. My sister, Anna, was another great inspiration in my life. She was also a passionate artist ad created some really beautiful works of art, particularly paintings, and after she passed away in 2020, she became the inspirations for a few of my art pieces that I named after her. One vase in particular called Anna’s Legacy is one I created with colors that remind me of her.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My art comes from the heart and soul, and when a client tells me what colors they’re looking for in an art piece, I make sure to send them samples so that the colors match exactly what they’re looking for. I’m most proud of the different techniques I’ve learned when working with resin, and am experimenting with alcohol inks and different ways to manipulate the resin before it cures to create captivating patterns that bring out the heart of the artwork. It’s not always easy because there are times when the resin colors don’t blend right, or the colors bleed too much into the other ones. So you learn by trial and error, like how much mica powder is too much or too little, at what temperature the resin can get too hot when you use a heat gun on it, etc. Sometimes I’ll start a custom vase and am completely unhappy with the way the patterns came out, and I have to remove the paint and start all over. I overcame some of these challenges by learning ways to pour the acrylic paints in the vases to form patterns and set them with heat before laying more paint down so they don’t make the primary patterns bleed and peel. I learned that some pieces are not always going to come out how I envisioned them, and that’s okay. What matters is that the final product that goes to the client is exactly what they were looking for. I want them to be completely happy with what they purchased, and I’ll remake a piece several times to get it perfected. I stay in constant communication with my clients throughout the process of the creation of their art piece and I feel like that makes them feel at ease, and like their opinion and desires matter. In a world where you can do and be anything, be what makes you happy and brings joy to others as well.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
So for a sunset walk, I would take my best friend to Red Mountain Park in Mesa. I’ve taken some really beautiful sunset photos there, and the way the colors of the sunset reflect off the water from the lake and dance across the canvas of the sky can be so mesmerizing. For food, there are so many places I would recommend … We would go check out Red, White & Brew for their amazing breadsticks and pasta, Fogo De Chao for an awesome Brazilian Steakhouse experience, Sam & Luca’s Rustic Kitchen for some authentic Italian cuisine, Crackers & Co for an amazing breakfast experience, and Nando’s Mexican Cafe. I love the outdoors so I would probably take them on a road trip to spend a night in a cabin in Payson so we could wake up to deer, squirrels and blue jays outside, the check out Sedona’s amazing landscape then take a tour through Bearizona and up north more to see Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon,

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many who have encouraged me along the way! First and foremost, I want to thank God for the gifts He has given me, my mom Gloria for always cheering me on, and my team members at Matthew 25 Prison Ministry for always supporting me and my dreams. And I cant forget my best and closest friends Julie, Brandy, Autumn, Vicky, Bridgett, Terry, Peter, Greg and Leonard, who have always encouraged me to pursue this and provided all the love and support I could dream of. I know if my dad, Clarence, and my sister, Anna, were still here with us, they would be cheering me on, too!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cattgrimsley/

Linkedin: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CattGStudio43

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Catty.Cakes.Woman