Lessons from Molly Reeder, Food and Botanical Artist, on mutual support, the beauty in detail, and new models for promoting your art

Today's guest is Molly Reeder. Molly is a food and botanical painter and stylist based out of Richmond, Virginia, her work, which is done with pencils and watercolor captures the gorgeous details of foods, plants, and the inner life of one's kitchen.

Her work has included collaborations with Rancho Gordo Beans and the baker Erin McDowell, and she was featured by Samin Nosrat, author of Salt Fat Acid Heat as an excellent place to buy unique prints for the holidays. In our episode Molly talks about the importance of building a creative community and leveraging these collaborations as a way to promote your art.

She talks about her experiences in baking, which informed her approach to creating and how she built a sustainable business from her own work. You can find her at www.mollyreeder.com and on her Instagram at @Mollyreeder. One exciting new development that I want to push is that she's working on a new monthly newsletter called the Recipe Box, where she's actually working with her mother to create illustrations of her mom's recipes that have roots in the Eastern Shore, Chesapeake bay food traditions.

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Full Interview Transcript:

  Apologies, as always, for any typos / grammar errors in transcription - cons of a one man shop :)

Jack: Welcome to the latest episode of the Creation Stories Podcast, where we demystify the creative process and make each day a day to make. As always be sure to review and subscribe to our podcasts and check us out on Instagram @ creationstoriesmedia, and online at www.creationstoriesmedia.com to help us broaden our reach and bring new creatives on the podcast.

We'll be posting several photos of Molly's works and some fun sneak peaks, including a cookie recipe over on our Instagram this week @creationstoriesmedia. Today's guest is Molly Reeder. Molly is a food and botanical painter and stylist based out of Richmond, Virginia, her work, which is done with pencils and watercolor captures the gorgeous details of foods, plants, and the inner life of one's kitchen.

Her work has included collaborations with Rancho Gordo Beans and the baker Erin McDowell, and she was featured by Samin Nosrat, author of Salt Fat Acid Heat as an excellent place to buy unique prints for the holidays. In our episode Molly talks about the importance of building a creative community and leveraging these collaborations as a way to promote your art.

She talks about her experiences in baking, which informed her approach to creating and how she built a sustainable business from her own work. You can find her at www.mollyreeder.com and on her Instagram at @Mollyreeder. One exciting new development that I want to push is that she's working on a new monthly newsletter called the Recipe Box, where she's actually working with her mother to create illustrations of her mom's recipes that have roots in the Eastern Shore, Chesapeake bay food traditions.

What's especially unique about this collaboration is the influence Molly's mom had on her as a creative her whole life. Her mother is an amazing cook, but what's more is that she's also blind and has been her whole life. This, and you can see it in Molly's work has been so influential on Molly in terms of her visual perception and ability to keenly pick up details since she described things to her mother growing up. This link will be talked about more in the upcoming newsletter. And I really hope you check it out because I, for one, am really inspired by the story and looking forward to trying their first recipe, which is Oyster Stew, which is something I've never tried making and would love if all of us could try together.

Thanks and welcome Molly to the show.

Jack: I wanted to start by asking you actually, I was looking at your Instagram again the other day. And, you posted a really lovely post about taking this month off. So first I just want to say thank you for doing the interview on your month off.

I really liked the caption around obviously how hard 2021 was, but also the importance of rest and being able to make and create new things. And so wondering if you have any special plans for this month , or what that's meant for you when you thought about doing this, since I know you were super busy at Christmas from all the posts.

Molly: Yeah, well, I think it's the first time I'm ever doing this and I'm really grateful for how much business I got last year with all of my print sales. But I'm one person, doing it all and fulfilling orders takes up a lot of time. And I just found myself, if I didn't carve out a whole day to create, I would put it on the back burner, even though I really wanted to do it.

So I just decided I'm going to close my shop for three weeks in January and focus on making stuff I want to make. And also not put too much pressure on myself because that's also a tricky thing when you tell yourself you have to do something, then you don't really want to do it as much anymore.

So I just kind of said, I'm going to give myself three weeks of creative time and to explore whatever that is for me. So I'm excited about it.

Jack: That's really great. Yeah. It was funny because I actually, I also was going on the website first off to buy the calendar, which was sold out in the first place which is great.

But second that I was like,, oh yeah, but she's closed anyway. So it's good. But I can imagine some of that, logistics stuff that you have so much that you have to deliver to customers, people who really love the prints can take away , from where you started

Molly: yeah. Yeah. It's such a different mindset, I'm not naturally business minded, but I've grown a lot in those skills in the last few years.

And being in that mode for me is so different than the actual, just painting, creating part and so it's good for me for now to separate those two, just give myself a little space. So I have more freedom and more time to be inspired again. Cause that just took such a and then it's , why am I doing this?

You know? If I'm not even getting to do the thing that I love to do. So, so I'm still learning, it's all a balance. So yeah.

Jack: Yeah. I find that to be very true for me in doing the podcast as well. It's the same thing. It's , I love the interviews. I love what I take away from it personally. Don't love to do the audio editing.

I think that it takes a lot more time, so, yeah. And like you kind of learning as you go, I'm sure. But anyways, I'll take us a step back now and want to talk a bit about your background. I know that you were educated originally as an artist and you went to art school. I'm curious what your time in art school, what you learned there, beyond some of the technical, , how to be a good artist, some of the other things that you found inform your creative process.

Molly: Yeah, well I went to Loyola University in New Orleans the small liberal arts school, and I actually started as a psychology major with an art minor, and I thought I wanted to be an art therapist.

But then I discovered that while I liked psychology, I actually just really loved my psychology teacher in high school. In college. Yeah. In college. I was , actually not as interested in this as I thought so. So then I flipped them and just got really into the art making. I think for me, other than the technical skills and actually my program didn't really focus on that as much.

I think it was really helpful to have people critique my work. And that's something I really missed. I often ask other artists, friends constantly, and actually my husband who wouldn't call himself an artist. He has a really great eye. And so he's my number one critic, anything I make I take to him first.

So yeah, I think that that was really valuable. And then also Loyola is really known for their music program and musicians are really fun to hang out with. And so in college I was actually friends more with musician majors than I was artists majors. And I think the freedom of creativity and the socializing around creativity that comes with that kind of scene was really important and a beautiful part of ,my coming to realize my own creativity and where that comes from and what inspires me.

Jack: As you mentioned, I know it's harder now for some of those artists friends, are those typically friends that are around you in the community where you are now in Richmond? Or is it friends that you've met online maybe through your online presence?

How do you kind of source that critiques because it's something I also find is it can be harder to find outside the university.

Molly: Yeah. Yeah, that's a good question. Especially as an adult, it's just harder in general. Richmond has a really great little art scene here and I've found it to be so welcoming and all of the artists that I've met through markets or selling my work different places.

Everyone just wants to know each other and support one another. So it's really nice. And then yeah Instagram, love it or hate it has been amazing for connecting with other creative people. And some of those people I've gotten to meet in real life and some of them, we just have a friendship online.

And then, yeah, I think just the law of attraction, you're creating and you're into those kinds of things that you just kind of attract people who are similar. So I've been lucky and fortunate to be surrounded by pretty creative people. just because I think I seek those kind of friendships and relationships out more.

Jack: It is interesting. I mean, I was surprised by Richmond. I haven't been there in a few years now. , there's a lot of really beautiful spaces there too. Have you been to that Quirk hotel in Richmond?

Molly: Yeah Yeah

Jack: I love the interior designer, actually, my cousin worked on that, on that hotel as a designer.

One of the designers on that team. And I just say there's so many cool little spots like that enriched in that it's like really creative and kind of funky

Molly: Where are you located? Are you in New York?

Jack: I am in New York now. I'm based in New York. I grew up in Michigan and uh, have family everywhere. But yeah, Richmond's is I think really interesting that way and kind of unexpected little spots.

Molly: Very up and coming right now. I think , I don't even want to share that, but there's so many New Yorkers who've moved here in the past few years. Amazing.

Jack: It's happening kind of everywhere. I was in Nashville for a little bit during one of our down spots in the pandemic and it was the same thing, it was running into so many people who are from Brooklyn and then I was like,, great. I'm also trying to get out of here

Okay. So from art school, I know that you went into baking for a long period of time. Can you talk a little bit about what started your interest and how you've incorporated that in, into drawing.

Molly: Yeah. So I grew up in just a really food focused family. My mom's an amazing cook and a lot of my siblings and aunts are as well.

And my sister and her husband opened a gelateria in New Orleans while I was in college. And I started working for them as a barista with a part-time job. And then I just started making. Smaller Italian dessert for them while I was working cookies. And then eventually I learned how to make the gelato and then I eventually, I just became their pastry chef.

So it wasn't really a decision. It just kind of happened. And definitely the skillset is very similar. I actually know quite a few bakers who are also painters or artists. Just I think there's something about methodical steps, both with painting and baking and yeah, those skills kind of overlapped with both.

And then also for me, my favorite part of baking was making things look really beautiful. So the presentation, I mean, obviously the taste really mattered to me too, but I loved decorating cakes and setting up the window display of baked goods to make it look really beautiful. So I think that people who go towards pastry and baking are more in line with that. Making things appear beautiful, just like you would with art.

Jack: It's funny you say that because I think if I think about the croissant painting that you did, for example, obviously I think croissants are very beautiful, but I think you capture the unique details of the croissant that it's not beautiful in a way, to decorate a cake with the, I think that experience kind of show something or like the. I have no idea that proper bakers term so excuse me but in that bread loaf where you have the little holes, the striations there. And I think that is so pretty and something I would never really think about. So I think it definitely comes through the ironic thing from that time.

Molly: Ah thank you

Jack: Is there any advice obviously the methodical process is something that you've still taken with you, but is there anything from that time that you still incorporate into your work today? Maybe it's just certain elements of the process or how you set aside time to learn new things?

Molly: Hmm. That's a good question. Well, I will say with baking and with art making I mean, the end result is always really important to me. So find choose subjects, like you said, I signed certain details beautiful about them.

And so with the idea and mindset , oh, this is going to make a beautiful painting or this is going to make a beautiful dessert. So I think that I go from the end result backwards when I start to make something. Same with when I decided to make a new pie or a new cake or cookie recipe. And then the similar thing with flavors, more interesting combinations of flavors, I'm always more attracted to and same with maybe a little more interested in more unique subject matter, taking heirloom beans and making them really, really big on a scale because we never get to see beans that big. So yeah, I think those two things is that if that makes sense.

Jack: Totally, totally. I love that one. I'd love the bean one. Then I was also thinking of the is it the Radicchio I think it was?

You know, is a vegetable that I see at the grocery store, never think to pick up and actually looked at. So I thought that one was really cool. And then what was the transition from when you were baking to deciding to actually go and do art full time? Was there any, if I miss any steps in between feel free to fill in that too, but curious if you could talk about when you decided to make that jump.

Molly: Yeah. So so I lived in New Orleans until I was 27 and then and then moved to New Zealand and ended up spending three years there. Baking is on the skill skills shortage lists in New Zealand. Yeah. So I was able to get a work visa to stay for an extra amount of time and loved living there.

But I love travel. And so when I was done with my time there I wasn't quite ready to come back to the states and in this dreamy stage. And I thought, you know, I'm just going to. Go to Europe and bake my way around And in that time I met my husband kind of in this small window, I was back in the States and he ended up joining me in Bulgaria, where I was volunteering for a bakery there for a couple of months.

I was learning about this thing they did called bread therapy and thought I wanted to keep baking and open my own bakery one day, maybe. And it just turned into five months of traveling around Europe, but I couldn't get jobs because, you need to be legal. And I didn't really think about it too much before I went.

And so. Fortunately my husband and I had a place to stay in Italy for five weeks a friend's home. And we didn't want to pass up that opportunity. So we stayed there, but it was the first time in my life. I had this five week chunk of time where I really couldn't work. I mean, we had made it work so that , okay, we're going to be here and take advantage of this opportunity and then later down the road work again. But I thought to myself, if I could be anything right now, because I don't have to work what would I actually want to do with my job? And that's when I started drawing again. And I just started drawing people in their kitchen as a project for myself, I love kitchen spaces.

They think they're really magical, good conversations happen in them, the party always happens there. It's just the meeting place in the home. I love the idea of capturing people doing what they love to do in their kitchen. So I just started that for myself and then I realized also with the support from my husband that , oh, I'm okay at this thing.

Like I could do this. And I think I just turned off from the The art world in general, and making a living as an artist after school, because at that time, we were only given one example of what that life would look like and, the internet wasn't. I mean, Facebook started when I was in college, so it wasn't what it is now there weren't as many avenues for artists. And so at that time, when I graduated, I thought, oh, if I'm going to be an artist, I have to be in the gallery world and I have to go show my paintings, but these pretentious feeling places, and be judged all the time. And that really didn't appeal to me.

And so then fast forward to this time where I was traveling in Europe six years later and things had really changed. And the world was more connected through the internet and social media was bigger and people were selling their work online more and doing it in different ways.

And so I realized , oh, I could do a different model. In fact, I could make this, whatever I want kind of, you know? So I started with portrait. Just that's a really great way to get into art making if you just want to get some experience and also make some money from it. And people are always looking for that kind of thing, you know, it's such a timeless, beautiful thing to offer.

And so I started doing portraits of people and then it kind of just spun off from there.

Jack: What's funny when you talk about this, this model that you're taught in school is I think even now my impression, at least, obviously I'm not in school either, but is they haven't really changed from that model.

You don't learn a lot from these teachers the professors who didn't grow up in the era of now where people are. How to market yourself on things social media and it can be really challenging. And that also can seem intimidating right? In terms of taking that risk, you know, to go and say, okay, this is something I'm going to do, starting with portraits.

What convinced you, obviously your husband as being a supporter, but if you had any safeguards or guardrails in place I'm thinking, you said, okay, I'm going to try this for six months if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Or something like that that made you feel comfortable taking that job.

Molly: So I didn't just jump into art full-time I kept jobs on the side, so when we got back to the states I nannied for a year and a half and it was a great gig. Beautiful, cute little baby where I watched her from 12 to five in the afternoon. And she napped for more than half of it.

And so it was great because when she was napping, I could work on my artwork. And yeah, and then I had part-time baking jobs. I always kinda had something going that financially supported me. So I wasn't stressed about money so much. I mean, it was still hard because I was trying to make space for my artwork, but that was definitely a safety for me.

And then. Yeah, I think I just tried to embrace it more as , this is play and this is fun and this is a way for me to develop my skills. And I think I've been pretty driven. There's so many artists I admire and there's one botanical artists in particular who was a huge inspiration to me when I first started her name is Fiona Strickland and she's out of the UK and she does these incredible watercolors of tulips mostly, but she also illustrated a cookbook and in that botanical style, and I just thought it was like the most beautiful food illustration I had ever seen.

So she was like, I was like, I want to paint like her. I want to do work that is at least close to the level that she's at. So at the beginning, I just really wanted to develop my skill and get better for myself. So that one day I'm still not there one day. Hopefully I can be as talented as she is.

Jack: Have you ever thought about illustrating a cookbook? Because when I look at your work, that's exactly something I've thought of before, you know, , it could be really cool in that cookbook and I've seen Salt Fat Acid Heat I don't know if you've seen that, that has that like fun whimsical drawings also, but I was like, oh, this would be a perfect fit for something like that.

Molly: Yeah. Yeah. It's still a dream of mine for sure. Yeah. I mean, my mom and I have talked about doing a cookbook for many, many years. So that's still something that I hope that we can dream into reality the next few years. But yeah, I would be very excited to be approached by anybody to do a cookbook.

Jack: So super interesting in terms of still keeping a side job and certainly makes sense, and that you were able to do that. When did you you start then to see it as maybe something, okay. This could be a bit more commercially viable. When did you start building up the store? And were there any models that you looked at?

Because like I mentioned, I think it's something that people are a little bit intimidated by. like I wouldn't really know how to go and start that

Molly: Well, one piece of advice I have, and that really helped me when I first started and even before I went full time just reach out to people, like if there are artists that you admire or think they're doing a good job with whatever they're doing with what they create email them and ask them.

And often times they'll write back and give you some really good advice. I think I did that a lot. I just, I reached out to people who I thought were doing a great job. No one comes to mind right now, but yeah, I just reached out to different artists and asked them how they did what they did.

I asked friends. I got my first printer recommendations for prints from a friend from New Orleans and I still use that printer. It's out of New York actually. And yeah. What else was the question? Sorry.

Jack: No, no, this is super spot on, but just on how you thought about actually making this something that was commercially viable if to use that harrowed term.

Molly: Yeah. Well, like I said, I did commissions for a long time. And so luckily at the time I was living in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the community, there is also very supportive. And so it was like very word of mouth.

And I just kept getting more and more and more, and that was amazing. And so that really supported me. And then eventually I think I just really wanted to transition to food and botanical cause that's what I was really hoping to create. And so I carved out some time to explore that.

Started really small, just, you know, even like gauged if people would be interested in prints of my artwork. And then just did that for years, a very small collection, but then when 2020 happened the pandemic, I couldn't really do commissions as easily anymore. And people weren't looking for them.

I mean, everybody was just stressed. And so I thought, well, I have this time right now where we can't really leave our house. We're in a pandemic I'm just gonna treat this like an art residency. And I created so much original work that year. I think for some creative people I've talked to it's almost like the stress of the time was stunted their creativity completely and they had blockers up. For me, it had the opposite effect. It was like, Making work and painting was my life float, and I really relied on that to give me a sense of safety and rhythm every day. And I was just lucky. I mean, at the end of that year, I had all of this original work that I could then turn into prints and didn't know if people would like it or not.

And they did. And so I think I just took this concentrated test. Really developed all of this new work and put it out there. And it's been pretty continuous since then. So I feel really lucky for that. I also will say that collaborating or even just reaching out to people who you think have similar interests to you where you can be mutually supportive to one another that also was huge for getting an audience to see my work.

Jack: How did you identify those folks who you thought might be a good match for what you were looking to do? I think that can be even challenging for me in thinking about who do I want to interview on the podcast?

Who do I think will be interesting to have a conversation with, I'm so curious to hear.

Molly: I think, , it's might sound wooey or something, but it's almost like an energetic thing. Like you just, there's certain people, you look at their social media or see them, or listen to them on a podcast.

And you're just attracted to them and their voice and their aesthetic. And so for me, I really love just my gut feeling about someone or something like, Hey, what they're doing I think is really inspiring and really cool. And I'm just going to reach out to them and tell them Hey, this is what I do. Do you have an interest in it? Obviously for me, you know, my work is focused more around food and plants, so people in that realm and I'm really interested in sustainability and using artwork as form of storytelling and preservation of certain things. So like Rancho Gordo Heirloom Beans , I think what they do is really inspiring.

And so reaching out to them and saying Hey, I want to do this big painting of your beans. Yeah. So I think that's what guided me mostly, but I will say that has probably been the most beautiful part about being a solo artist is getting to connect with these people around the work that you're making, but it's so much bigger than that, you know?

And then it's so powerful to have those kinds of support networks and collaborative efforts out there to keep you going.

Jack: I love this because I've tried to articulate that in the past and people, my friends have made fun of that. How can you sense that oh, now I could tell there was going to be a good vibe in the interview just based off the Instagram presence so I reached out because there's plenty of people I've reached out to, and I know there's no way this person's ever going to respond to me and even if they did may not be the best fit and I can't explain why, but I think just finding the energy matches, as you mentioned, is important, but can't really articulate it.

Molly: I know I think we're attracted to what we're attracted to, you know, for whatever reason. And yeah, it's nice when it lines up.

Jack: Yeah. I love the reference, the beans as well, because I am curious, and I talked about the radicchio because again, just something I've never even seen that kind of species, not species, I don't a variety of radicchio and curious how you've sourced some of these really interesting unique botanicals as well as foods the oysters come to mind avery specific kinds of oysters, too. Wondering how you've been really intentional about that, because it's not just, I am going to draw or radicchio or an oyster or a bean, you know, it's a very specific type.

Molly: Yeah. Well, I think that the subjects themselves, I, I might not even know that I want to paint that.

And then I see that beautiful plants and I'm like, oh, I need to paint that. So I think that actually that has mostly been how it's happened. The pink oyster mushroom I did, I was at a farmer's market here in Richmond and Shire folk farm. They were growing them and selling them and they had this massive one just sitting out on their table and I thought it was so beautiful and weird.

And so I bought it from them and used it as a subject. And the radicchio I got from another local farm here that they grow lots of different varieties Tompkins farm, and that one in particular called variegata di lucia I think.. But it had all those beautiful little, like striations of color going through the whole thing.

I think I've seen photographs of food before where I'm like, oh, I've got to find that and paint it. The oysters the Northern neck area of the Chesapeake bay here in Virginia we've got a friend here in Richmond who has a seafood shop. And so I went to him and said, Hey, what's the most beautiful oyster you have and he gave me that one, it's a white stone there. So yeah, I think that the subjects themselves kind have been beautiful enough to catch my attention. And then from there, I've decided I want to paint that. And then sometimes it's something I've thought about for a really long time in the back of my mind.

There's a local farm here. Brittany La Botanica. She grows indigo which then she dries out and uses as dye. And it grows really well here. Surprisingly. But it's such a beautiful plant both fresh and then you cut it and let it dry. And then like the color it gets after it dead, pretty much like what you turn the dye into.

And she is really cool and talks about it as this poetic thing of like, you get this beautiful die from an after the plant has already died. And So, yeah, that's a project I want to do still. And it's been in my mind for ages and I have a reference photo still for it,

Jack: that's so cool. I've never actually seen indigo. I should, I'm going to look that up after I just made a note to myself because I've never thought to look at it

Molly: I'll send you a picture. I have references of both of it fresh with blooming and then dried as well that's really pretty.

Jack: Yeah. Again, something to not spread too far, probably it's one of those hidden gems else

You're going to see the dried flowers all start to be indigo now, which is why I'm going to ask for the photo to cause I'll plan to do the same.

Were you someone who growing up, went to a lot of farmer's market? I wonder if that was part of something you did, because I thought, when I was looking at some of these, it really does remind me of that experience of finding something really cool a vegetable you'd never heard of at the farmer's market.

Molly: I did not grow up, going to farmer's market, but my grandparents were farmers. My mom grew up on a farm on the Eastern shore of Maryland. And we spent a lot of time growing up going there. And so I was always helping to shuck lima beans and corn and helped my grandparents a lot and just was around a lot of vegetables and plants there.

So, and then, yeah, my mom is an amazing cook and she valued real food a lot and still does. And so I think we just had a lot of that in our house all the time, too ,

Jack: interesting and definitely one step closer because it's for me, that I think is what attracted me to your work in the first place is because it reminded me of going to a farmer's market.

And that was something I always did growing up. So I was curious when you be like stumble upon, like you did like you talked about with the mushrooms and you're just like, oh, this is really cool. And I've never seen something that's said before I'm going to go Google a recipe and also just Google what it is in the first place but

Molly: Yeah, yeah. I think it's also just like loving food. Right? I mean, it's like just being interested in trying new things and I really do love vegetables. They're like my favorite thing to eat too. So, yeah.

Jack: That's awesome. I love that. , I want to go back also to the collaboration piece is something I'm always curious about and have less experience with this is within that collaboration. Have you had any challenges in terms of trying to maintain your style while maybe adapting it a bit with who you're partnering with? Is that something you've run into, or have you been pretty fortunate in that it was just such a good energy match that you kind of both knew what you were getting into from the start

Molly: right. I would say that it's been very rare. I've definitely done publication work before illustrations for different magazines where maybe it was, yeah, it was hard to match the style that they were looking for. But in general, I will say I've been lucky that I feel the collaborations that either I have seeked out or someone who's got in touch with me it's because they enjoy my style and aesthetic. And usually I can honor that pretty well. And of course make little changes here and there, but nothing too drastic. So yeah, I've been lucky in that way. I think coming back to what we were talking about, like just being aligned with the other person or company you're working with is huge to start with.

Like, if a project has come my way and it just doesn't feel good. I usually just say I decline or recommend another artist that is more in line with what they're looking for. I know at the beginning it's hard because you're desperate. You're like, yeah, I'll do this portrait, but you know, like, whatever it is that you don't normally do and you're going to do it, but. Yeah,

Jack: That makes sense. And it's nice that you're at least paying it forward to the other folks too. And recommending, who might not have had the same success or it's just more in their wheelhouse. I think that's nice in terms of leveraging the community.

Molly: Yeah. Yeah we all have to support eachother

Jack: yeah, definitely. And I want to go back a little bit again to Instagram because I know you talked about the pandemic here being such a big year of creating

Do you remember what the tipping point was for your Instagram? Because I was trying to think about and I wish there was some way I could find this, but when I first started following you, because I'm not normally someone who just follows a bunch of artists, it was definitely something that I just stumbled upon. wow, this is really cool. But I feel like I was part of a wave somewhere or something. So yeah.

Molly: Was it? I got quite a few followers very generously because Samin Nosrat who wrote Salt Fat Acid Heat gave me a shout out.

Jack: Yeah, something like that.

Molly: She had a podcast called home cooking and recommended me at the holidays as like a gift option for people my work.

And yeah, I'm trying to think of , what else? That was pretty big for me. I mean, she is so incredible and has such a huge following. And so for some small time artists like myself that had such huge rippling effects in my business.

Jack: Yeah, yeah. Again, in terms of helping other folks out. But I bet it was something like that because I think it was around Christmas time, not this past, maybe the year before or, I also recommend, not on the same scale, but when friends ask oh, , do you know of anycool prints for the house or something?

Because I think it's fits within also a lot of people's style because so many people really can appreciate food. And the beauty of what we eat that, it's easy to say, here's something that pretty much everyone is going to really enjoy.

Molly: Yeah. I think also I was a bit strategic when I first started collaborating, especially around food art with subjects that I thought were beautiful, but also people who I thought would help me and my career.

So like when I did this big cherry pie painting, I knew I wanted to paint a slice of pie. And then Erin McDowell she's uh, yeah, so I reached out to her and I said, Hey, I really want to paint one of your, a piece of pie. So that too then she was, of course, I don't know very many people who would say no to free a creator reaching out to you and saying, Hey, I want to do this thing for you. Will you let me do that? So she was really generous. And Mark Weinberg also who took the photograph of the pie I painted was such a pleasure to work from his reference photo, because it was so detailed. Yeah. So I think just being kind of strategic, like if you wanted to grow your following, right.

Well, who has already this big network and audience of people and I can help them and they can help me and draw from that as well.

Jack: Yeah. It's such a gorgeous painting. And now that I know the source behind it, it also is, you know, I love her Thanksgiving pies every year on New York Times were just insane. I definitely did a couple of those, not this year cause I was, I was actually in Rome for Thanksgiving, but the year before, yeah, it was a good Thanksgiving destination. But her pies are just so aesthetically show-stopping,

Molly: They're incredible. I don't really know how she makes them, so I still haven't perfected like that perfect beautiful crust.

Jack: No, it's really amazing. And also super creative when you talk about mixing flavors, I think she's good at that too. And the traditional with a very untraditional thing, which I always really like.

Are there any other habits or rituals, if you want to call them that you do maybe on a daily basis or when you need a little inspiration or a kick in the pants to get to work that put you in the right mindset.

Molly: One thing I have been doing for many, many years I don't know if you've ever heard of the book, The Artist's Way. by Julia Cameron, it's a great, great book for anybody. Because we're all creative, but she has you as a practice to morning pages, which is when you first wake up, you write a few pages in a journal, free form, whatever you want.

And I've been doing that for many, many years. So I think having a pretty solid morning routine, whatever my day is after that help me feel grounded and then maybe opens up my creativity a little bit more. Otherwise I don't really practice techniques. It's more just like the more I paint, the more I observe and I'm aware and can grow.

I will say, I started teaching in the past year and being a teacher is really good for learning as well. Cause you have to break things down out of your process to explain it to people. So that's been a really valuable new tool for me is learning how to break down my own methods and systems to explain them to other people.

Jack: Yeah, I saw you posted something on your Instagram story about that, maybe a month ago or so. And I was so jealous of the girl who was taking getting lessons from you. That's

Molly: yeah, it was really, really special thing to get to do. She was a teenager and I don't have very many teenagers in my life.

And so that was really great to hang out with a 15 year old.

Jack: Really awesome. It's like, wish I could have had something like that. Right? Like a major gift of you. And I'm sure, like you said something that you really valued. And then. Want to jump a little bit now to a few rapid fire questions. Some of these I may have may have asked, or we may have answered already.

First on the bakingsides. I know it's something you still enjoy it so I wonder if there's a recipe that you either keep going back to, or maybe your family asks you to make all the time?

Molly: Probably what I make the most, so because it's easy and delicious are cookies and I'm always trying out different chocolate chip cookie recipes to perfect them.

My husband's favorite thing that I make In general are pies, but he particularly like this blood orange custard pie. I usually make it for him for his birthday. I take the grapefruit custard pie from four and twenty blackbirds and I just use blood oranges instead of grapefruits.

 Yeah. It's so beautiful. I think those are the main things.

And then like, for me, I generally love chocolate. So. Definitely a lot of brownies,

Jack: Any favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes?

Molly: I don't have the recipe, but there's a great place here in Richmond called pizza bone at the sourdough pizza place. And Ashthe owner makes the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had.

She told me that they have some oat flour in them. So I know that's one of the secret ingredients giving away.

I know I haven't actually started perfect trying her recipe out yet, but that would be the number one, if I, if I could master that. And then I also really like Rye chocolate chip cookies.

Jack: Oh yeah. Yeah. I love those. Also I tried to track down one actually I had this vegan rye chocolate chip cookies in Marseilles in France once I Facebook messaged and I was like, do you have the recipe? And they were like, we actually don't make them we buy them from somewhere now, since I was like going down the chain of command, no, no luck.

Molly: You got to find out,

Jack: But the mystery is pretty good. And it's a good story.

What is one creative tool that you can't live without?

Molly: Definitely a pencil.

Jack: Good answer.

Molly: Yeah.

Jack: We talked about this maybe a little bit in the beginning, but is there any part of the creative process that you really don't enjoy, but you see as a necessary.

Well, in terms of making it like a business, there is a lot that I don't necessarily enjoy.

Molly: I think the hardest thing for me, and it still is hard, but it's gotten easier is just putting myself out there and asking people for help or if you're wanting to do collaborations, reaching out to people and that feeling of sort of having to sell yourself, even though it's not yourself, , it was very hard for me to do that at the beginning.

But now I think I've realized even more and more it's my work and not myself. And so it feels more comfortable to separate myself from it. And then technically wise I think when I'm starting a big piece. I love and hate kind of the beginning stages. Like before I add the paint when I have to put down the scale of a piece and I have to put down the first pencil mark and shading.

And that usually takes me a long time and sometimes I wish I could just speed up that process and get to the painting, the color par t but yeah.

Jack: Good answers follow up is how do you push yourself when it's either push yourself to put yourself out there or just put pen or pencil to paper?

Molly: I think thinking about what's on the other side and best case scenario. So reaching out, putting yourself out there, you know, of course it's easy to go to the worst thing that can happen, but the best thing that can happen, which is why you're doing it in the first place, what is that?

And reminding yourself, that's why I'm doing this. And then with, , putting down the initial mark, it's like, well, I have to do this part so I can get to the part that's really good the part that I really love about creating, so.

Jack: Awesome. Awesome. And then as a botanical painter, do you have a lot of plants in your house?

Molly: I do. Yeah, but I'm actually much better at house plants than outside plants.

Jack: Interesting. Do you have any, any favorite houseplants?

Molly: Well I love them all.

Yeah. We, I just got a massive Monstera plant from a friend she gave it to me as a birthday present and it had been in her care for like six years and she put it in this massive pot. I can send you a photo. It is huge. It's bigger than me. So I think that one's pretty cool. Otherwise they they're all great. There's nothing like super special, really.

Jack: Yeah, I haven't seen someone in the back of the zoom which I love. I also have a, quite a few, but also have killed quite a few. I had a beautiful Monstera that I, and my boyfriend is going to listen to this later and think of me crap for it.

But during quarantine, when I left New York, I went back to Michigan for a while. And so I left it at his house in long island. And he put it outside and ants got all in it, so he brought it inside during winterand his parents were like, what the hell? There's ants, sadly for that?

Molly: Have you ever used diatomaceous earth?

Jack: No.

Molly: So you can get that at any plants store hardware store, and it's ground up seashells into a white powder, but you can put that on the top layer of your soil and your house plants.

And if you have ants or fungal mat, which sometimes, unfortunately if you get a plant from a store, they just have them in the soil. They, kill the bugs because they can't actually get through the diatomaceous or so.

Yeah. It's also a natural way of getting rid of them.

Jack: Oh my gosh. I wish I had that because also while I was living in Rome for a while. I was subletting. My roommate was like, so listen, all of our plants are dying

Which he knew he knew to wait a while before delivering that news to me, I was crushed. It happens. It's life as a plant owner I guess. Yeah. And my last question is if you have any advice for, for other folks besides what we've talked about today, obviously, which has been fantastic, but then the other big pieces of advice that you would give, or that you've gotten that youfound super helpful.

Molly: I've been told be a squeaky wheel when it comes to when you want to work with somebody or do something. And even though it's hard and annoying, generally, it's good advice. Just if you really want something, keep going. And I would also say follow what lights you up.

Like what gets you excited because that's going to be the best work anyway, because you're going to be proud of it and put all of yourself into it. So try not to take on projects that don't really speak to you if possible, I know that's hard, but if you can get to a point where you just get to do what you love that's pretty amazing.

Jack: Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. And I hope you don't mind that I was definitely a squeaky wheel to you.

Molly: No you were great I'm so sorry that I was like not responsive.

Jack: It was very much the worst time I could've reached out to you, the Christmas Holidays

Molly: I'm so glad that you continued to, and I really appreciate that.

Jack: Yeah. And where can people find you obviously website and your Instagram?

Molly: Yeah, my website is just my name, Molly Reeder, www.mollyreeder.comand then my Instagram is also my name at @MollyReeder

Jack: awesome. Well, that's all the major questions I had today, but again, thank you so much. This is super fun for me and glad it worked out. And I appreciate you taking the time during the break. Like I said,

Molly: it's a really fun, I wasn't sure if I could like plug a thing I'm working on right now.

So my mom and I coming back to what I was saying, how I've always wanted to do a cookbook with her. We are coming out with a newsletter this month where each month she's going to write a recipe and I'm going to do an illustration of it and we'll send it to people one each month. And then at the end of the year, there'll be this collection of 12 recipes and it's called the recipe box.

Jack: I love it and so if people want to see it they can sign up from your instagram or

Molly: They will be able to there's going to be a landing page on my website where you can sign up it's through substack so it'll just be a way to connect to that. But yeah, I'm really excited about it. My mom is a writer also and an amazing cook. And so it's going to be a lot of family recipes.

I think she's already got like a whole cookbook made herself. um,

 Have you ever worked with her on a project before?

No, no, not like that. Yeah. It's really special. Yeah. So I'm excited about it.

Jack: Oh, I'm excited. And it starts, I imagine, after this, this month, right.

Molly: No this month it

will

Yeah, our first recipe is going to be oyster stew which is a classic Maryland, Virginia Eastern shore recipe. We've already done that one. It's just going to be coming out in a couple of weeks.

Jack: I love it. Awesome. Well, I'm definitely going to sign up and definitely up. We'll put that out on this, but also on the Instagram pages too, because my pleasure. Thank you. And like I said, thanks again.

Jack: Wow I hope you found Molly as charming and as interesting as I did, there's just so many great lessons in this episode. For me, one thing I was really struck by during our conversation is the power of observation and really delving into specifics in how she informs her artwork, because I find it so relevant in my work as well.

It's what I've loved about writers and great filmmakers. On top of that, I think her tact of reaching out to people and creating symbiotic relationship to something to intuitively build both brands is true for any creative discipline that you're a part of in collaboration is so huge. As we talk about a lot on this podcast, I also of course, love starting off and talking about rest.

I think it's so important and so grateful for Molly to share her experience and why she decided to take a break. I think it's something that's becoming more and more talked about as we've all experienced some burnout during the pandemic. Thanks again to Molly and we'll look out for her cookie recipes, some of her paintings on the Instagram this week at creation stories, media on Instagram special.

Thanks again, as always to coma media, whose music is licensed under creative commons for this podcast. Thanks and make today a day to make.