Meet Kristine Overacre

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kristine Overacre. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kristine, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

I’ve learned that my creativity stays alive when I stay connected to joy. My work is rooted in color, playfulness, and emotional storytelling, so I treat creativity less like a lightning strike and more like a daily practice. I start most mornings in my studio with gouache, even if it’s just making a few marks on paper. Those small, consistent moments keep my artistic muscles warm and my ideas flowing.

Travel between California and Puerto Rico also fuels my work — the light, the humidity, the ocean, the desert landscapes — they all show up in my abstract gouache paintings and pointillism-inspired pieces. I’m constantly taking photos, sketching color combinations, or noting textures that I want to reinterpret in my work later.

And honestly, the biggest thing is giving myself permission to stay curious. The minute I approach the canvas with a sense of wonder instead of pressure, the work opens up. Creativity thrives in spaciousness, and I try to build a life that makes room for that.

You can usually tell when an artist loves what they’re making — and my goal is to keep that sense of joy at the center of everything I create.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m an abstract artist and luxury interior designer based between California and Puerto Rico. My work — whether on canvas or in a client’s home — is centered around joy, color, and creating spaces and moments that make people feel something. As an artist, I create pointillism-inspired gouache paintings on paper, each composed of thousands of tiny, intentional marks. The process is meditative and deeply personal, and my goal is always the same: to bring warmth, harmony, and a sense of uplift into the environments we live in.

My background in high-end interior design informs everything I create. I think in terms of scale, palette, texture, and the way light interacts with color. Many of my original pieces end up in contemporary, coastal, or organic-modern homes, and bridging the worlds of fine art and interior design continues to be one of the most rewarding parts of my career. I still take on select design clients, and I love helping them create homes that feel luxurious, meaningful, and truly lived in.

One of the new projects I’m most excited about is a program I’m developing for interior designers, decorators, and aspiring creatives who want to turn their design skills into a sustainable, profitable business. After years of running my own boutique studio, I’ve learned firsthand what it takes to build a practice that is creatively fulfilling and financially stable. I want to teach others how to do the same — how to position themselves, attract the right clients, price their work confidently, and build a business that supports their life, not the other way around.

On the art side, I’m continuing to expand my body of work at kristineoveracre.com with new original paintings and a soon-to-launch collection of high-quality prints. I love the idea of offering both collectible originals and more accessible pieces for anyone wanting to bring a burst of color and happiness into their home.

This season of my creative career feels incredibly energizing. I’m building a brand rooted in joy, beauty, and meaning — and I’m passionate about helping others do the same in their own work and studios.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Looking back, the three qualities that shaped my path as an abstract artist and interior designer were curiosity, resilience, and taking initiative long before I felt ready.

Curiosity was the spark. My entire gouache-and-pointillism style came from following what fascinated me — color, repetition, and the way tiny marks can build a larger emotional story. That same curiosity shaped my interior design work, pushing me toward richer palettes, better lighting, and more intentional materials.

Advice: Follow what pulls at you, even if you don’t know where it leads. Your curiosity will build your signature.

Resilience kept me going. Creative careers — whether in fine art or design — are full of quiet seasons and reinventions. There were moments when things felt slow or uncertain, but continuing to show up in the studio, or for my clients, built momentum I couldn’t see at the time.

Advice: Don’t mistake slow progress for failure. Your consistency becomes your portfolio.

And finally, creating my own opportunities changed everything. Nothing in my career happened because someone “discovered” me. I built my interior design studio from the ground up, I launched my art practice publicly, and now I’m developing a program to help other designers grow sustainable, profitable practices. Every chapter started because I decided to begin.

Advice: Don’t wait for permission. Put your work out there. Tell people what you offer. Start before you feel ready — that’s how you build a creative career that lasts.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

I’ve learned that my career grows the fastest when I lean fully into my strengths. As an abstract artist and interior designer, my natural gifts have always been color, emotion, beauty, and storytelling. For a long time, I thought I needed to “fix” the areas where I wasn’t as strong — but every major breakthrough happened when I doubled down on what already felt instinctive.

A good example is writing. I never planned for it to be part of my art practice, but the more I wrote about the joy, inspiration, and process behind my work, the more deeply people connected with it. Writing became a true complement to my visual art, which is why I launched my Substack, The Art of Joy, where I share studio notes and creative essays.

Focusing on your strengths creates momentum. Trying to be well-rounded can dilute your energy. My advice: follow what comes naturally — that’s where your most powerful work lives.

You can read more of my writing and creative process at theartofjoyjournal.substack.com.

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