What got my journey to custom shoes started?

Ive always had a creative inclination, but it wasnt until my brother passed away of an overdoes in July of 2020 that it really went into overdrive.

I did a little drawing in high school, but nothing to write home about.  After he had passed, drawing was my outlet for the grief I was experiencing from the loss.

Id sit for hours sometimes, on my porch and just draw.  The sun would go down, and Id be drawing in the faith light from the porch, because it was all I had to process the pain.

I wanted to DO something with the art, tie it to my brother and give it all meaning.

I decided in January 2022 that I would start a small business, selling prints, stickers and eventually clothing, with my art on it.

I didnt really know what I was doing, the direction I was headed or what my message would be, but I wanted to plow through the whole process like a freight train.

Shortly after I started the company, I created my first NFT.  I set up a website, and was full blown clothing line in just a few months.

In June of 2022 I vended at my first show. I was nervous, and about threw up when the first person approached me and asked me "whats this all about."

I had diarrhea of the mouth, and words just started spilling out.  That person spent a few hundred dollars right there, because they supported my mission so strongly.

7 more shows, and that wrapped up vending for 2022.

In September of 2022, I was at a show and had some commerically printed clothing: Shirts, hoodies, purses, shoes.  Someone asked me, "Who paints your shoes?" 

I didnt know what this meant, and told them that the shoes were commercially printed, not painted.  I didnt even know shoe painting was a thing.

This birthed a whole new direction for me. 

Now, I paint shoes in my off time from my full time job, spreading "No Judgment," as my business statement. 

We all have a story. We all have a path, and its not our place to judge each other on that path, or the demons that we developed along the way.

This was the only way I know how to honor my brother.  #emotionaldemonz.  #iloveyoubradbatts

My early art was just "pencil to paper." There was no direction, except to process pain.  So many of my pieces are symbolic of the emotion and confusion that I experience from his loss. 

There are many pieces that are just "art," but so many have so much pain in them. 

I still struggle with the confidence of it all. I look at some of my work and cant believe that I was the one that created it. 

The whole journey has been a roller coaster. Ups, downs, successes, failures, let downs.  I just kept pressing on, often reminding myself that it wasn't about ME.  It was about Brad. It was about honoring the life of a loved one whos heart was bigger than anyone else I knew. Under all that hard exterior, was a broken child trying to seek out love and acceptance.

My whole premise is about non judgment, and bringing people together to love one another.

I've had people that I thought cared about me try to break me along the way, and use my brother against me to do it. 

 Because of this, I've had to harden my heart, while reminding myself:  They have their own demons. That's why they are trying to break me, and I cant judge them for that, i just need to let them go.