The Create! Podcast

A slower season is not a sign to quit. In this solo episode, Kat gets radically honest about the past two years of her creative business: the highest highs, the hardest moments, and how she's recommitting to her goals after ten years of self-employment.

She also shares the principles and mindset shifts that helped her reach a six-figure business early on, and that she's using again to reach her next level.

In this episode:

• Why "trust recession" thinking can quietly take you out of the game
• Why life and business move in a spiral, not a straight line
• Following your joy and choosing the non-negotiables you'd do even if no one paid you
• Finding your "enough" number to cover the basics
• Setting clear goals that work like a ladder, and tracking them where you can see them
• Surrounding yourself with people and voices you want to model
• Why being a little delusional on purpose beats being "realistic"
• Investing in yourself, including hiring a coach when you feel stuck
• Believing in yourself when the numbers feel discouraging

Grab the Art Career Bundle: 13 courses plus the bonus workshop, The Path to 10K Months, where Kat walks you through this in a nervous-system-friendly way. https://courses.createmagazine.co/art-career-bundle

Join the Create! Magazine Substack for articles, art world experiences and tips for growing your creative business one day at a time: https://createmagazine.substack.com

Danielle Krysa, the Jealous Curator, joins Ekaterina Popova live to talk about her new book, Real Artists Wear Black. It's a funny, honest look at the lies artists hear from galleries, family, social media, and their own inner critic, and how to step over them and keep making.

Danielle shares the gallery experience that made her say "I have to write a book about this." She also explains why she wears black (it's not what you think), and gives a simple ladder method for celebrating your goals instead of feeling jealous of other people's.

In this conversation:

• Why Danielle wrote the book, and the red flags she ignored because she was so excited
• Why "we'll talk details later" is your cue to ask for a contract
• Do your research, talk to someone you trust, and listen to your gut
• Working for free: when it helps and when it doesn't (Ola Volo's first mural)
• The myths we absorbed about what artists look like, eat, and wear
• How to feel your feelings, reach out to a friend, and keep going after a crushing moment
• Turning jealousy into admiration with a success ladder, one rung at a time
• Chapter 12, "Don't Rock the Boat," and channeling your inner Peta and Ashley Longshore
• Why Danielle's 11-year-old self gets the final say in her studio

Links

• Get the book, Real Artists Wear Black by Danielle Krysa: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/danielle-krysa/real-artists-wear-black/9798894142036//?lens=running-press
• Danielle's Substack, a daily "one minute art retreat" Monday to Friday: https://thejealouscurator.substack.com/
• Create! Magazine on Substack: https://createmagazine.substack.com/

Season Finale and a Gentle Pause

Winter doesn't have to be a complete pause button. It can be the season where your next chapter takes root in a warm, cozy cocoon filled with hope, trust, and a slower pace.

We're honoring 10 years of Create! Magazine, and I'm stepping back from the podcast for the rest of 2026 to rest, paint, write, and spend time with my family. The magazine and the podcast are not going anywhere. In this episode, I share how I audit my creative business to decide what to keep, what to simplify, and what to let go of, so there's room for what's next.

If you're a few years (or a decade) into your creative career and craving space, consider this your permission slip.

In this episode

• Celebrating 10 years of Create! Magazine and meeting our writers in person in Philadelphia
• Why slowing down is how I plan to keep showing up for the next 20, 30, 40 years
• Letting go like the leaves: making room for fresh growth
• Choosing what your garden is for, because there's only so much energy in a day
• Why I'm moving more of my thinking to Substack
• Why handmade work is becoming more valuable in the age of AI
• The audit questions I use:
  • What do I want to be known for?
  • If I had $10 million today, would I still want to do this?
  • How much time am I really spending on each activity?
• Why breaks aren't forever, even when stepping away feels scary
• Making time for thinking: walks, notebooks and unplugging

Try this week: Pick one project to pause, simplify or let go of. Ask yourself the three audit questions above and notice which answer comes fastest.

Read more from us on Substack

• Create! Magazine: https://createmagazine.substack.com
• Ekaterina Popova (my art and my writing): https://ekaterinapopova.substack.com

I'll be writing there over the holidays!

Keep in touch

• Create! Magazine: https://createmagazine.com
• Instagram: @katerinaspopova

Thank you for being in my world. I'll see you in the new year!

Toy or tool? How artists can use Instagram to build real community, meet collectors and find opportunities, without the hacks.

Alex Mitow, founder of Superfair, is back on The Create! Podcast, and this time we're talking about the app we all claim to be tired of and still open every day: Instagram. Alex has been on it since 2012 (his handle still carries the ghost of a Lower East Side hot dog restaurant), and I've been on it since 2014, back when it was photos with filters. Between us, it has brought collectors, galleries, jury opportunities and most of the friendships that built our careers.

So is it a toy or a tool? Alex says both, and that you get out of it what you put in. We share how to use Instagram as a front porch to your world, why your 2,000 real followers can matter more than someone else's 70,000, and the simple things that build trust faster than any trend.

In this episode

• Toy or tool: reframing the frustration and remembering what Instagram has actually given us
• Why the platform is favoring authenticity again, and why that's good news if you've never "gotten" the tricks
• "For what purpose?" The one question to ask before you chase views
• Followers versus prestige: the artist with 2,000 followers and a museum show
• Alex's in-person funnel: trade Instagrams at fairs, openings and coffee shops, and let your community snowball
• What to share beyond your art: what genuinely fascinates you, what you're proud of, advice you've lived, and opportunities for your peers
• Mixing personal and professional on one account, and why nobody has ever cancelled an art sale over a mindset post
• Instagram as the front door, or front porch, to your newsletter, studio, book, course and booth
• Best practices: fill the frame, use the back camera, pick one orientation and stick with it, keep text simple, and never post a flyer
• What's next for Superfair: Houston in February, Boston in September 2027, and Philadelphia, where I'll be showing with Alicia

Alex's list of what to share

1. Your art, your process, your inspiration
2. The things that genuinely fascinate you, even if they don't fit the grid (stories are perfect for this)
3. Achievements, big and small, including the study you're proud of
4. Real advice from your own experience: how you set up your booth, how you found your gallery, how you got published
5. Opportunities for your community, shared as you come across them

Links

• Superfair: https://www.thesuperfair.com
• Interested in a Superfair booth? Book a 15-minute discovery call with the Superfair team and mention Create! Magazine to save on your booth: https://calendly.com/d/cqt2-fkf-54v/15-minute-discovery-meeting
• Call for art, Create! Magazine: https://www.createmagazine.co/call-for-art
• The Create! Magazine Substack: https://createmagazine.substack.com
• Alex on Instagram: @alexmitow4real

If you've put your artist dream on the back burner and it's time to come back, this episode is for you.

Painter Jacqueline Bermudez joins Kat to share how she returned to oil painting after 17 years in the corporate world, how she protects her vision from outside opinions, and the weekly art sessions she leads with children at a Miami hospital.

In this episode:

• How a childhood love of coloring and one high school painting class led Jacqueline back to oil painting in 2016
• Why portraits are her way of exploring the human mind and the inner world
• Her ongoing series, her own interpretation of the chakras, with animals and plants as symbols
• How to protect your inner voice while a new creative direction is still fragile
• What changed when she began treating her painting practice like a job
• How she painted her solo show in about 35 days, and why planning made it possible
• Her weekly art sessions with children going through bone marrow transplants

About Jacqueline Bermudez: Jacqueline is a self-taught portrait painter and photographer based in Miami. Born in Orlando and raised in Caracas, she returned to oil painting in 2016. Her work has been accepted into exhibitions including Woman Made Gallery in Chicago and the Crocker-Kingsley Exhibition at Blue Line Arts, and she is a resident artist at Miami International Fine Arts. Her paintings use vibrant color, bold patterns, and animals and plants to symbolize personal growth.

See Jacqueline's work: https://www.jacquelinebermudez.com

Join me for the free Coffee House, every Wednesday at 12 pm Eastern. Bring your questions about your creative goals and get a look inside the Create! Collective membership. Sign up: https://espopova.com/free-coffeehouse

More from Create!

Free resources for artists: https://www.createu.co/free-resources Submit your work to our open call for art: https://www.createmagazine.co/call-for-art Create! Magazine Substack: https://createmagazine.substack.com

Running a creative business can feel like the whole world is on your shoulders. The studio time, the bills, the marketing, the social media. In this episode, Kat shares why she is softening her own "do it all yourself" message and what she is doing to receive more support.

You will hear about the people who lifted her along the way, from her high school art teacher to friends who gave her a place to stay in college. She also opens up about a big loss in her business a few years ago and what she sees differently now.

In this episode:

• Why every career and business is built with a team behind it
• How hyper-independence speeds up burnout, and how to invite help in
• Kat's honest take on social media after two months of learning, a call with Meta, and plenty of viral challenges
• Why Substack feels so calm, and how it led to a painting sale to a collector who is also an author
• Simple ways to build your own community, like sharing an art fair booth, recommending another artist to your gallery, meeting for coffee, or painting together on Zoom
• Why writing down your dreams and then letting them go keeps your vision clear
• Trusting that an artwork will find its home at the right time

Join the Create! Coffee House Starting October 7, Kat hosts a free weekly Zoom room every Wednesday at noon Eastern. Bring your coffee and your questions about your art career, business, practice, or mindset, and come be seen and heard. Kat will also share a quick tour of the ways she can support you. Join here: https://espopova.com/free-coffeehouse

Create! Magazine Turns 10 Join us in Philadelphia on October 16 for our 10 year anniversary party and pop-up show. Get your tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/create-magazine-turns-10-pop-up-show-meet-up-tickets-2001784728008

Read Our Substack https://createmagazine.com/substack

Share your ideas Which topics and guests would you like to hear this fall? Email [email protected].

If you enjoyed this episode, tag Kat in your Instagram stories. She loves seeing who is listening! @katerinaspopova or @createmagazine

Thinking about showing your work at an art fair but not sure where to start? In Part 1 of this two-part series, Kat sits down with Alex Mitow of Superfair to go back to the basics of selling your art in person.

Alex has helped more than 5,000 artists show their work across 40+ fairs. He shares how to choose your first art fair, why your hometown is often the best place to begin, and how to price your artwork so new collectors can say yes. You will also learn how Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) give artists clear, doable goals that lead to sales, like meaningful conversations and new email subscribers.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How to choose your first art fair with confidence
• Why a local, low-stress first show sets you up for success
• What KPIs are and how artists can use them to grow sales
• How to price your booth with a mix of small, medium, and large original works
• Why accessible entry points help you build a loyal collector base over time

Get $250 off your Superfair booth Superfair is expanding to Philadelphia and Boston and now offers multi-fair bundles to help you plan your year. Book a call with the Superfair team to find the right fair for your practice, and mention Create! Magazine on your survey and discovery call to receive $250 off your booth. Book your call: https://calendly.com/d/cqt2-fkf-54v/15-minute-discovery-meeting

Keep learning on Substack Pricing inspired one of our most popular Substack posts, and we continue the conversation there. Subscribe to join our creative community and get more resources for your art career: https://createmagazine.substack.com

Coming up in Part 2: Alex returns to talk about curating your booth, starting meaningful conversations with buyers, and more insider tips for art fair success.

If you have been feeling hopeless or down about your art career, you are not alone. This episode comes straight from the heart, and it is an invitation to rekindle even the tiniest spark of hope that incredible things are ahead, no matter where you are right now.

As I reflect on 10 years of Create! Magazine and 10 years of working for myself, I keep coming back to basics. Expecting support before I know how it will arrive. Noticing the opportunities I do have, even when things are not perfect. And paying attention to the whole picture, because just like in nature, something is always growing even when other things look like they are dying.

I share my own recent season of negativity, the moment a friend lovingly told me I give up too quickly, and the small, unglamorous example of a HYROX race that reminded me how cause and effect really works. When you show up, even imperfectly, even for 10 minutes, results follow.

This one includes a little tough love. If you are ready to come out of a fearful cycle and start showing up for yourself again, I hope it helps.

In this episode

• Why our brains have a negative bias, and how the news and art market reports feed it
• Delete, generalize, distort: why "no one is buying art" is never the whole truth
• The law of cause and effect and taking responsibility for your success
• What a HYROX race taught me about showing up when it is not your top priority
• The friend who told me to stop giving up so quickly
• What follow-through looks like in a real art practice: the sketchbook, the newsletter, the pitch, the reel
• How catastrophizing keeps you from ever giving your work a fair chance
• Why micro habits beat marathons
• Allowing opportunities to find you, even in a slower economy
• Stopping three feet from gold, and honoring the months left in 2026
• Why art is abundance: wellness, connection, self-trust, and income
• Daisy Fancourt's research on art and health (check out her book, Art Cure, and her episode on the show)
• Emotional regulation as the foundation of any selling strategy
• An introduction to my new program, Art Is Abundance

Join Art Is Abundance

Art Is Abundance is my new six-week live program for visual artists who want more abundance in their lives, both financially and in confidence. We cover the mindset and emotional regulation that make showing up possible, plus practical strategy for monetizing your work and getting seen by the right people, whether you want to work with galleries, run an independent practice, or build a hybrid career like mine.

Six live Zoom calls, Fridays at 12pm ET, October 2 to November 6, 2026, with lifetime access to the recordings. Join this month and save $300.

Join here: https://espopova.com/art-is-abundance-course

Questions? Email me at [email protected]

How do you find the courage to step off the "practical" path and fully commit to your creative calling?

In this episode of the Create! Podcast, Kat talks with painter and coach Lacie Martinez about coming back to her creative voice. Lacie shares how her background in apparel design and kinesiology shapes her vibrant, richly textured figurative paintings.

We talk about the vulnerability behind her debut exhibition, which celebrated the unfiltered, deeply connective realities of motherhood, and how she turned personal loss into a calling to hold space for other women. Lacie opens up about taking the leap into full-time art and how she now helps others move past limiting beliefs and live in full alignment.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Reclaiming her identity as a painter after years on a "practical" career path
• Finding her way back to the canvas and working through the fear of not being "good enough"
• The story behind her debut exhibition and the connective threads of motherhood
• Turning grief into purpose by hosting retreats and creating safe, uplifting spaces for women
• Navigating the transition into full-time art and helping others build their dream lives through coaching

Programs & Community

Art Is Abundance Live Coaching Program

If you love what you make and you're ready for your work to support your life, this six-week live program is for you. Together we'll work through money mindset, preparing your work for sale, selling your originals, getting seen by the right people, and building multiple income streams, then turn it all into a clear action plan. Founding pricing is open through September 30.

Join us this October: https://espopova.com/art-is-abundance-course

Create! Substack Subscribe for more interviews, artist stories, and reflections: https://createmagazine.substack.com/

Connect with Lacie Martinez

• Website: https://www.laciemartinez.com/
• Camp Conqueror Summer 2027 Retreat: https://www.laciemartinez.com/campconquerorawomensretreat
• Conquer & Crush 3 Month Challenge: https://www.laciemartinez.com/conquer-crush-3-month-challenge
• Substack: https://substack.com/@laciemartinez
• She Who Conquers Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/she-who-conquers/id1805457551
• Art Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laciemartinez.art
• Main Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_laciemartinez_
• Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lacie_shewhoconquers/

A lot of us went to art school and never actually learned how to paint. We were told to go make something and figure it out, which is great, but it often leaves us limited by our ability to bring our ideas to life. If that's you, you're not alone, and this episode is a permission slip to learn something new if you feel stuck.

My guest today is Alonsa Guevara, a Chilean American artist whose work has been exhibited internationally and featured in Forbes, Time Out New York, and VICE. I had the privilege of working with Alonsa and learning more organized ways to mix paint, organize color temperature, and more.

On this episode, we talk about her evolution from conceptual work to more realism in her paintings, and she also announces her new course, Alive Nature, here for the first time. Focusing on florals, botanicals, and fruit, it spans seven modules and is built so a complete beginner can follow along.

The waitlist gets first access and a discount. Doors open September 16 and close September 20. Links to join are below, and yes, I'm on that waitlist myself!

Come find us on the Create! Magazine Substack too. That's where I share essays on galleries, pricing, and building a creative career you love. createmagazine.substack.com

🔗 Links & Mentions

• Join the Alive Nature Course Waitlist: waitlistcourse.com/alonsaguevara
• Follow Alonsa Guevara: @alonsaguevara on Instagram
• Visit Alonsa's Website: https://www.alonsaguevara.com

💡 Episode Highlights

• The Reality of Art School: Why many traditional and contemporary programs focus heavily on conceptual thinking rather than the technical craft of painting.
• The Power of Observation: How practicing through careful study and copying helps build an internal visual library for future original work.
• Decoding Color Temperature: Understanding how subtle shifts in temperature can make a painting feel alive rather than flat.
• Intuition as Knowledge: Redefining intuition not as random luck, but as accumulated technical knowledge and experience.
• Inside Alive Nature: A breakdown of Alonsa's brand new online course designed for all skill levels, with step by step guidance on botanical and fruit painting.