Chatting with Isabella Breedlove, a local artist and self-described Topo Chico obsessive, brings to mind a famous quote often attributed to Mark Twain: \u201cNever let your schooling interfere with your education.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In other words, intense structure and processes not only don\u2019t work for everybody, but they can be downright detrimental for those with a certain creative drive. Education comes in many forms, and not everyone needs to toil in the rigid system. Isabella certainly didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Born and raised in Fort Worth, Isabella attended Trinity Valley until high school, when she decided she\u2019d experienced enough of the academic life and begged her mom to homeschool her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the social aspect, but it was also just not liking schoolwork itself,\u201d Isabella says. \u201cI\u2019m so creative brained. Like, why do I need to know what the third line in the Declaration of Independence is?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
While there were some hardships and rough patches along the way, the permanent ditching of school seems to have paid off. Isabella, now 24, is one of Fort Worth\u2019s most prolific and imaginative artists. And her freeform paintings \u2014 unstructured, unpredictable, and flowing \u2014 make it even clearer how incompatible she is with the stiffness of school.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
When she paints, it\u2019s pure intuition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Isabella says, \u201cMy actual process when I\u2019m in [my studio] is to turn my music up as loud as possible, dance around, and sing at the top of my lungs while I paint. And I drink so many Topo Chicos. That\u2019s it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I draw a lot from my journals.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a tool to cope with life\u2019s cruel curve balls (parents\u2019 divorce, battling addiction, illnesses, loneliness) and draw inspiration, Isabella has journaled for most of her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only way I could get through [my early hardships] was journaling,\u201d she says. \u201cI have journals from 2010 just pouring my heart out onto paper and drawing and creating and painting.\u201d It was her release valve \u2013 her whistling spout to let a little steam out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While she\u2019ll occasionally look at older journals, Isabella says she prefers to ignite creative sparks with more recent entries and chooses to focus on journals she\u2019s kept since becoming sober five years ago. This sobriety is something she calls \u201cthe best gift\u201d of her life, and it wasn\u2019t too long after her sobriety that she decided to go all-in on pursuing a career in art.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, the career choice would lead to a 300-square-foot apartment and eating popcorn for dinner most days \u2014 a small price to pay. \u201cI was so broke,\u201d Isabella says. \u201cBut every single dime I had was going to my career. To painting, to supplies, everything. And I was, like, \u2018No, I\u2019m going to do this. This is what I want to do with my life, and I can\u2019t imagine doing anything else.\u2019\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Impressed with her resolve, Isabella\u2019s mother and grandparents cleared out some space in an unair-conditioned warehouse behind the world-famous Joe T. Garcia\u2019s restaurant to create an art studio for Isabella. If you\u2019re wondering why the space is next to Joe T\u2019s, it\u2019s because Isabella\u2019s grandfather, Lanny Lancarte, co-owns Joe T\u2019s. Yeah, I should mention Isabella\u2019s family is what one might call Fort Worth royalty.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lack of AC aside, in this warehouse, Isabella has found both an ideal creative space and an inspiring creative partner in her grandfather. In case you didn\u2019t know, Lanny Lancarte also dabbles in painting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone supports me more in my career than my mom and my grandparents,\u201d Isabella says. \u201cAnd what a beautiful thing that I get to do what I love every day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sounds like she\u2019s had one hell of an education. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
BY THE WAY…<\/p>\n
Who Are Some\u00a0Local Artists Who Inspire\u00a0You?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n John Holt and Ginger Walker: \u201cSome artists can be gatekeepers, which I can respect, but neither of [John nor Ginger] are that way at all. They\u2019re the first ones to lend a helping hand. They don\u2019t see me as competition but, instead, as our being part of the same artist community.\u201d<\/p>\n FROM THE FEED<\/p>\n 1. Isabella with her grandparents, Jody and Lanny Lancarte. \u201cMy biggest supporters have always been by my side.\u201d<\/p>\n 2. \u201cMy favorite people in this world celebrating my five years of sobriety.\u201d<\/p>\n 3. With mother, Kelly Lancarte. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be the woman I am without her.\u201d<\/p>\n 4. \u201cMy brothers, my best friends, my whole heart.\u201d<\/p>\n 5. With Aron Marquez, Mark Wahlberg, and Abraham Ancer. \u201cCoolest part of this photo, Marky Mark has my painting hanging in his home office.\u201d<\/p>\n 6. \u201cHard launching me and the love of my life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n 7. Isabella in a homemade dress during her second collection release, \u201cThe Other Half.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chatting with Isabella Breedlove, a local artist and self-described Topo Chico obsessive, brings to mind a famous quote…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":47839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,8067,29751,7371,36789,7372,13813,5921,358,7453,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-47838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-artist","10":"tag-brian-kendall","11":"tag-fort-worth","12":"tag-fort-worthian","13":"tag-fortworth","14":"tag-people-of-influence","15":"tag-style","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-top-story","18":"tag-tx","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114815879677007885","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}