Life and Work with Megan Walker

Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Walker.

Megan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised near Golden, Colorado. We moved a lot as kids and my mom was a single mother for the majority of our time growing up so I spent a lot of time with my grandparents who met in art school. I was kind of a troubled child and learned pretty early on how to channel some of those feelings into creating, I’m also just a very patient person so it was easy for me to dedicate hours of my time to simple projects. Fortunately for me, my grandma’s house is packed full of art and craft supplies. She taught me how to sew, shared her drawing books and encouraged me to create whenever I wanted so it really allowed me to explore my own flow of interests which I think is very important for children. I’m super grateful I was given so much freedom with her collection of tools. She also hired and trained me on my first job ever at eight years old. I was her assistant airbrush face painter and I’ve been doing body art ever since.

When I was 16, I decided I really liked tattoos and the idea of being a tattoo artist, I drew on my friends all the time anyways and it seemed like the best way to make a living as an artist. At 19, I got my first apprenticeship. It didn’t necessarily work out and I actually ended up learning how to tattoo on my own time with the gracious help of my friends that were willing to let me practice on them. Tattooing really opened up a lot of artistic doors for me. Shortly after, I started that apprenticeship in 2011, I started playing around with acrylic paint. I always had a strong desire to draw or paint emotions that we as humans couldn’t see. That’s why I’ve been so into surrealism my whole life, it expresses meaning without being obvious and I think as a troubled child that was the best route for me creatively. I’ve also always been a little preoccupied with a sort of existential reverie which is how I came up with my name (then I added Ink for the tattoos and it just stuck). Anyways, the truth is I am in love with painting. It is challenging but forgiving and I always learn about myself in the process. I barely even sell my paintings because to a degree they are like journal entries and it feels weird to sell them for money. That being said I am finding more and more that my heart is yearning for a lengthy period of time to dedicate myself to painting and I’m going to start letting go of a lot of personal work.

The past three years have been the absolute most challenging years of my life. I went through a seriously difficult and drawn out separation of a 6 1/2 yr relationship, during which I broke my femur doing something innocent but stupid and In summer of 2018, on Friday the 13th, I found out my ex-lover had passed away. I still think about it all the time, but I’m finally feeling like myself again after immensely struggling to keep my head above water. I’m not going to go any further into that but I will confirm that a broken femur is the absolute most painful experience ever and it took two surgeries, eight months and a torturous amount of physical therapy for me to walk normal again. The only reason I’m telling you this is because it is the inspiration for my next chapter in life. Just a couple of months ago I bought a van. Her name is Brenda and I am absolutely in love. My newfound excitement for life is very much revolving around the idea of taking Brenda wherever if I want to go and painting my little heart out. I truly feel like my purpose on the planet is to paint trippy surreal subconscious flows in hopes that maybe they mean something to other people. My goal has often been to portray interconnectedness and instill a sense of magic or law of attraction. I’m really hoping to tap into some sort of unlocked potential within myself and right now it seems like vanlife is the way for me to do that.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I kind of explained that in my last answer, but in terms of my career, it definitely has not been smooth. Learning how to tattoo as a female is still a little iffy today, eight years ago, it was worse. There’s a certain amount of hazing that’s involved with being an apprentice and there not always a clear line for people as to what is hazing and what is abuse or sexual harassment. Looking back, there were tons of happenings that I didn’t even realize were sexual harassment. My advice would be to have confidence in yourself and trust your gut. It’s not going to be easy. In the tattoo world, it is often the opposite of easy because your mentors are trying to break you down but once you get the hang of it things get better. Know your worth and don’t stick with something that doesn’t give you a sense of purpose. I also would have to say, and often do, that reality is very very deeply affected by your mindset. Shit happens, but what matters is how you choose to react to the mishap. My femur was crushed at the knee, I literally couldn’t even hold a conversation for the first month due to pain alone. When they took the brace off, my knee was cemented into place.

For the first few months, I honestly thought I may have ruined my life. I had to do hours on hours of physical therapy every day and it was a hellish experience all around but I had to force myself to believe I could heal and I had to keep fighting. I dance every day now and I take videos sometimes too to show myself appreciation. Believe in yourself, you’re stronger than you think. It sounds cliche but it’s true and when you need it most of the strength will be there within you. I was going through a really painful breakup during the most painful injury of my life. I wasn’t sure I would survive that kind of pain but somehow I made it through the storm and am feeling happy again. These things kept me alive: my best friend(who is also my sister), my family, art, music and honestly marijuana for anxiety. After those traumas, I could give a lot of advice but I think what’s been most important for me is realizing that we are here living, breathing and experiencing in a world that holds infinite opportunity. It’s silly to stress, we all do it, but it’s bad for your health and there’s no need for that. Life is full of surprises, let it be and keep up the attitude of gratitude.

Please tell us about Reverie Ink.
So, I do all sorts of things. I grew up drawing, sewing and making jewelry. My first step into the Denver scene was through tattooing then live painting and eventually mural art. I think tattooing has really helped to expand my network, but I’d like to move in a bit of a different direction for a bit. My heart is most happy when painting strange and colorful surreal scenes that involve elements of nature often mixed with human faces and anatomy. I’ve always been pretty obsessed with this idea of infinity and the frequencies that we as people are unable to receive physically. I think surrealism is a good way to express some of those ideas. I love hiding figures or faces in natural elements. Geometry, sacred geometry, tribal marks and dreamscapes are usually present. I’m currently in a Japanese finger wave phase and will for the rest of my life be deeply in love with clouds so expect more trippy cloud paintings. That being said, I try not to box myself into one style too much because I really really appreciate fully following my creative excitement. Some things don’t come from planning, there’s definitely this flow that we as humans can tap into that extracts ideas and artistic inspiration from an outer source. What it is, I’m not sure, I like to think of it as intelligent air, I want to live in that flow. That’s the dream. Right now, I’d say I’m most proud of my effort to stay true to myself. I know there are some aspects of my style that people prefer over others but I Still choose to follow my flow when starting a new painting because it keeps me centered as a person. Creating isn’t as much career to me as it is a spiritual practice and a deep desire to understand more about why we are here in the first place.

Something new that I’m really excited about is going to be clothing design, not so much designing the garment itself, which I would love to make time for, but more so wearable art. I’ve got a lot of experience placing art on the body so it’s a lot of fun for me to design clothes with my art on them.

Who have you been inspired by?
I’m a family-first type of gal and my family is full of inspiring women. My mom was a single mother with 3 daughters and a life outside of raising her children but she managed to do it all with a smile. I know it wasn’t easy. Luckily she had her lovely mother, my grandmother, to help out along the way. Tbh, my grandma was always like a hero to me. She’s always, always there for us. She’s a go-getter and a get it done kind of woman and she totally inspires me to be better in every aspect of my life. She’s helped to foster my creativity my entire life and continues to do so today. She stands up for herself and keeps it real. Mad respect for them both.

I have to talk about my best friend now. She’s my younger sister by eight years and the counterpart to my soul. As a kid, she inspired me before she was even born. All I wanted to do was take her under my wing and be a good guide. I watched with straight fascination as she came into the world and that in itself is one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever experienced. The age gap kind of elected me as her nanny and I recognized that as a responsibility and a blessing. It inspired me to be a better person all around but it also taught me how to take care of myself because I was needed by a most adorable and dynamic little human. She’s insanely creative, that bone runs in the family, but Madi is like the next level. She’s always been a wildly creative writer and is a huge fan of spoken word poetry. In the last three years, she’s channeled her poetry into music and rap that literally heals the listener. Her lyrics bring people to tears all the time. It’s so cool watching people just fall in love with her words.

At 17, she did something really really mature that changed both of our lives. I know it wasn’t easy for her but she stayed with me and kept me company every day during my injury. She’s held me crying too many times to count but that year was one of the worst years of my life and many people that I thought would show up we’re just too busy. I had to let go of a lot of people because of that injury and the breakup, at that moment she was elected as my person. Suddenly, the weight of my world was being forced onto her and she carried it and she told me silly jokes and helped me literally move my body for months. Her strength and ability to show up for people and for me is deeply inspiring and so fucking special. She inspires me to live. She also inspires me to stay healthy because I’d never want to miss out on witnessing her journey and if the music she makes now is as cool as it is being a novice, I can’t imagine what’s in store for her future. I want to be there for everything.

I’m also very grateful for all my amazing lady friends. I don’t have a ton of close female friends but the ones I’m blessed with teach me new ways of being all the time. They’re hard-working, passionate, silly and badass.

Contact Info:

• Website: Reverieink.store
• Email: studio.reverieink@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/reverieink
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/reverieink

Image Credit:
The photo of me painting was taken by Emanuel Giwu

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