D.C. Area Artist Virginia Strobach on Art + Making Messes

Virginia Strobach’s art brings self-care reminders right to your Instagram feed. The local artist talked to us about her work, making messes and loving yourself more than your mistakes. Note: This interview is a part of our 20 Masters of Mindfulness, Movement + Connection roundup, which ran in our Winter 2021 issue.

Tell me about your journey and how it brought you to your current role.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a doodler. But I didn’t actually start selling or sharing my art publicly until 2015. I made an illustration of a local coffee shop where all my friends and I would hang out and gave everyone a print as a present. Other regulars started asking me if I was the artist selling the prints, so I decided I would be. I’ve been selling my art ever since.

How are you practicing and prioritizing self-care, especially mid-pandemic?

One look into my sketchbook and mixed-media travel illustrations expose my slightly chaotic brand of self-care. I’m definitely not “chill” by nature, so any activity that involves me making a huge mess, doing a million things at once and then cleaning it all up (sometimes) is my happy place. I’ve been able to make a ton of messes during the pandemic, and not had to worry about cleaning them up because no one is coming over.

What does self-compassion mean to you, and how do you incorporate it into your practice?

One of the services I provide as an illustrator is “live doodling.” Essentially, while an event or lecture is happening, I freehand whatever I hear or see onto a poster and create a one-of-a-kind visual representation of what happened. People always ask me how I’m able to do it without mistakes, but all I see are my mistakes! Self-compassion to me is knowing the truth and deciding to love it anyway. Everyone is a perfectionist and overly self-critical about the things they love. You just have to choose to love yourself a little more than your mistakes.

Learn more at www.virginiastrobach.com and follow @amigahormiga on Instagram.

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