YOU TWITCHY WITCH By James Bridges

by James Bridges HERBAGE MAGAZINE

Pencils are very cheap. You could probably find a few under your stash box right now. Paper’s not so bad either. So when you put the two together and you tell someone they can draw and they scribble something down, that doesn’t make them the next Keith Haring.

It’s the same with every art form. The cream rises and it’s better damnit. It’s just better...

Catie Hubbert was enrolled at Oklahoma State University with the full intention of becoming something that society had told her she would probably need in order to make it. By happenstance she enrolled into her first “formal” art instruction. That’s when she found love in the form of art.

She walked away from that Aggie school with a bonafide BFA and now it’s time to do Catie the way Catie wants to do Catie.

“It’s a really wonderful and fulfilling place to be. It’s hard to make it in the art world and make a name for yourself to the point where people recognize your work or come to you requesting a piece. It’s a really cool thing to experience.” Catie’s eyes were wide open.

I called Catie a few days before meeting with her. I noticed something inside of her artwork that made me stop. I wanted to know more about the person that created this brilliant combination of color and design. I noticed a touch of magic and design that not many have the talent to match. I asked her what she attributed to her beginning success.

“I think a lot of it is forcing myself to be uncomfortable. I put myself out there consistently now. I’m naturally a very shy person. I’m very awkward. I kind of made a pact with myself a couple years ago to do all of the things that I’m afraid of doing, all of the things that make me uncomfortable. So one of those things is music. Putting that out there for the world to see.. That’s been a huge milestone every time I post a video or something like that. It works the same with my art. I just consistently put my work out there without tearing myself down or telling myself that this isn’t good enough. I try not to worry if others are better. Just getting past that and sitting in that discomfort for a little while..It’s really paid off because people see my work now and it gets recognized.”

Living and working around artists myself, I recognize when they go under the influence of wondering whether people like them as people, or they really enjoy their work. It’s a hard spot. I asked Catie if she had had her turn with that emotion.

“I like creating work for strangers and I am to the point now, like I said, where I will have strangers come to me and ask for art. When it’s people that you know it’s kind of difficult and there is a little voice in my head that always says they’re just doing me a favor or they’re just doing this because they want to support me. Without having people other than friends and family coming to you requesting work, it’s really easy to let that voice win. You just have to continue with your craft without listening to that voice. You must consistently do the best you can. And people either take it or leave it.” Catie reassured me that she is on the correct path, which is her path.

An artist can feel the fire of other people actually liking their work. They of course get a little bit of a boost. A personal boost that says I can do this. I most certainly can and that, my friends, is a wonderful feeling. To accomplish this as an artist without it actually being a popularity contest is rare and it is something that Catie is forever grateful for.

“It’s hard to build a name for yourself in the art world. It is very, very intimidating especially for someone who’s really bashful. Oh gosh I’ve been doing this full time for so long. For about nine years. I’m just now to the point where people are starting to recognize my work. So it takes a lot of bad art to get to the good. But art is about finding out who you are as a person and letting that shine through on the canvas. People are going to recognize you and they see your voice and your personality in each piece. So they can go hand-in-hand. Figuring out who you are or what your style is, what your taste is, what is your signature thing. Self-discovery. I think it’s all a very big important part of success. I really do think they go hand-in-hand.”

“I did hyper-realistic portraits. Paintings that look just like the person. I did that for the longest time. Not really because I ever advertised it or wanted to do it. Someone just asked me once because a loved one had passed away and they wanted a commemorative piece. It turns out I was really good at it. More people started asking so I did that for a long time. Finally I got to a financial place where I felt like I could do what I wanted and paint in my own style rather than, you know, commissions and specialty pieces that people wanted. So I started painting this show called Oklahome-Sweet-Home. It’s kind of a mix of mysticism and Oklahoma landscapes and whimsical things. It’s the world that I live in. I see it in Technicolor and there are so many beautiful things that we miss every day right here in Oklahoma.

The collection has gotten a lot of attention. I’ve had people reach out and put my buffalo paintings on t-shirts. I sold a lot of those. I’ve had people reach out and ask me to recreate some of my pieces. I have a few of those. So it’s been really great and like I said I’m to the point now where business is coming to me. It’s been a whole lot of fun just to do me. It feels really, really good.” “I have a lot of health issues. I have had some neurological issues. You’ll notice I twitch. I’ve had that since I was little. It’s because I have a severe OCD. I get overwhelmed and it comes out in twitches. In college I got very sick and was hospitalized. I was diagnosed with lupus and I was on all the medicines for all the years and just felt miserable. I felt like there was no room to be me because all of my energy was consumed by just being sick.”

“Then I found cannabis and replaced all my medicines. I started microdosing and building my way up and it was just like the whole world opened up to me because I didn’t have to worry about all that other stuff. I could just be Catie. It’s just been so life-changing and my journey into self-discovery owes so much to cannabis. It played a major part in me learning to love myself and having space to finally become my best self. There’s no way I would be where I am without it. I would still be miserable and missing out on life. I would be watching it go by feeling like I can’t do all those things I want to do. So I feel like it would be a mistake if I did not thank cannabis itself.”

“It’s because of cannabis I was able to see all the shit in my life that doesn’t matter and toss it away. I learned that life is about connection and love and seeing the beauty in all the things. All the stuff that I was worried about and all the things that continuously made me miserable..I learned that at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. All of the anxiety, all of the fear. It was just stopping me from showing all the colors that are inside of me.”.

When I say things similar to Catie or I listen to others say them, I imagine angry, foolish, bad people that once had control now crumbling because they are pissed off that it doesn’t matter any longer. A smile rises every time. The green wave is real and will never subside. At least I hope it doesn’t while I’m still around. It’s people with vision and the ability to step away from the norm that will keep it flowing.

“It’s a full out of body thing you need to experience in order to heal. I think you have to look at it as ‘everything is connected’ and you can’t just heal the physical and get better. You need to heal your emotions. You need to heal your soul, your mind, your body, all of it. And cannabis can reach all of those components. It’s like it reaches across barriers and can pull out what you need to see and show you the areas where you need to do some work”

Herbage Magazine July 2021 Cover Artist.

Catie Hubbert and her mixture of music, art, and whimsical imagination can be found online at: Facebook @Catie Hubbert - Instagram @TwitchyWitchCreative - TikTok @TwitchyWitchCreative