Daily Inspiration: Meet Emily Compton-Bwire

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Compton-Bwire.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve loved drawing for as long as I can remember. My mom loves telling the story of one of the first times I picked up a pencil, and she watched me draw a duck in a single line. I can guarantee it was a terrible duck— but she saw a window into my future that day, and she’s supported my love of art ever since. Being very detail-oriented and perfectionistic, my relationship to art wasn’t always empowering. For a long time, it was a love-hate relationship as I worked to bridge the gap between what I dreamed of creating, and what I was capable of creating, as I worked to improve my skills. And for a while, it was a dream that I had a hard time believing in. But the people around me saw it, many of my friends and co-workers would ask me to create drawings and tattoo designs for them.
When I met my husband, known as Zero, in 2016, I finally found a warm community of artists and creative refuge at Vatican Studios, in which I could finally see the potential of my dreams of being an artist. Through a love of one another and the love of art, I completely submersed myself in honing my skills. With my husband’s honest but tough instruction, I could finally see myself becoming the artist I dreamed of being. And still, the journey to mastery never stops.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’ve been blessed with incredible support and artistic community, but still, no worthwhile journey is ever easy! I became a mother at the same time I dedicated myself to learning the craft of tattooing, which has forced me to stretch and grow in ways I never thought possible. Throughout the years of launching my career, I’ve juggled raising multiple children, homeschooling, and managing both my husband’s and my own art business. But ultimately, any source of strength or expertise comes from a healthy dose of challenge.
Looking back upon my path to becoming a full time artist, I’ve often my own worst enemy. Fighting through self doubt has been my biggest battle, a quality that has been a double edged sword— tearing me down at times, but also never allowing me to settle within my skills, keeping me on the path to pursuing ever higher potential.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Being deeply perfectionistic at heart, settling into tattooing was a natural fit! When I began taking art very seriously, my husband handed me a ballpoint pen and told me this would be my trusted tool from that point forward. I would do gradients, anatomical and lighting studies, portraits, letters— everything— with the ballpoint pen. I would make full drawings with the ballpoint on napkins, learning how to use the tool without tearing or damaging the napkin. Later, we would go on to create our first collaborative series together, called The Bee and the Butterfly, in which my husband would draw iconic figures in black ballpoint, and I would draw bubbles in an anatomical cross section style in red ballpoint. This is what most people began to know me for. Even after I’ve moved onto different mediums, my love for the level of accuracy and attention to detail—on a pixel level—that working with the ballpoint pen instills will always shape my work. Once I switched over to tattooing, all of the hard and careful work that the ballpoint pen requires translated into a diligent care of creating images on skin. These days, we are constantly expanding our portfolios and stylistic scope. I am pursuing more color tattoo work, and together my husband and I work as a team to create large scale murals—exploring the combination of storytelling and art to enhance community engagement and immersion.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
For me, flow state in art feels like my heart is singing. It doesn’t always feel that way, some moments it’s scary, some days the ugly stage lasts longer than you thought it would, but the beautiful challenge of creating a world with your hands is an incredible blessing to be able to return to. If I’m not creating in some form or another, I’m spending time with my family, talking about art with my husband, teaching my kids, all while enjoying the beauty of living in California. They are, and this place, is my sanctuary.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://DivineHiveMind.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscomptoncat?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Image Credits
Brooklyn Hargrove @b.h._photo