Meet Alyssa Muse | Artist + Animal Rescuer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alyssa Muse and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alyssa, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I knew I wasn’t happy with the corporate legal career I’d been doing for years. Daily I’d beat myself up over the fact that I was spending my precious time working for companies that were hurting the earth and taking advantage of people (I was in oil and gas). So one day things came to a head with my monster of a boss, and I decided to quit. My body had long been telling me what my head wouldn’t. I had been having tons of panic attacks and losing weight, so it was beyond time to switch gears. I legitimately had zero plans, but I knew I’d figure it out. A few months before that I had made a few holiday ornaments with simple designs that sold immediately, so I knew there was something there.

I’ve always been super artsy, so I started thrifting small things like antique piggy banks and mugs then painting onto them and reselling. That quickly turned into full-fledged paintings of birds, plants and other nature-y things that I previously had NO IDEA I was capable of creating, and I’ve just ridden the wave since.

Then there’s the rescue side of the business, which also happened super organically. I decided to foster a pathetic little pittie pup that was in terrible condition over Christmas shortly after starting my art era, and one thing led to another. Dogs, cats and wildlife have a way of finding me, and now I find myself with a full team of incredible volunteers helping me run an entire non-profit animal rescue. The really bizarre part of all of this is how much overlap there is between my art studio and the rescue. They play off of each other by way of clients becoming donors/adopters/volunteers and vice versa.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
With respect to arriving at my current place in life, it’s honestly happened really organically. I’m not a planner, so I typically take a winging it approach to life, art, rescue, relationships, and I let my intuition guide. Of course this doesn’t mean it’s been easy AT ALL. I am constantly learning, evolving and growing, but that’s all part of the beauty of this life. One of my favorite quotes is “You’ll never find the same person twice. Not even in the same person. If you find the same tree in a forest, you’re lost.”

My art is highly intuitive. Very little planning goes into my pieces. A typical studio day starts with identifying how I’m feeling, what I’m trying to move through emotionally, then I usually express that in the form of plants and animals. If I’m feeling a little stuck, I’ll do some tarot pulls to help guide me, then I google a few reference photos or pull from my camera roll and wing it until the piece feels right.

While I’m a super empathic human, connecting to others almost too easily and feeling all of their feelings, I find it hard to connect with humans in art. My channeling comes through nature. I’m a taurus after all.

One of the most special experiences that has come from this art journey is creating memorial pieces. Since running an animal rescue is a huge part of my life, I take extra special pride in the pet portraits I offer, specifically the memorial portraits. I’ve even started including ashes of the little angels in some of the pieces. I’m so humbled by and grateful for the clients that trust me to create such incredibly special pieces like those. I find it really beautiful to bring love and light into something so painful.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I currently live in a really small area right on the Atchafalaya basin in deep south rural Louisiana. There’s not a ton to do around me except eat incredible cajun food and delight in the bayou scenery.

I’m about halfway between New Orleans and Lafayette, so if I ever convince my Florida friends to visit, I’ll be taking them on a food, nature and culture tour of those cities.

I’d also take them on a little mural tour of the murals I’ve done around my parish, super stoked on and proud of those.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’m originally from South Louisiana, but my last oil and gas job before switching careers took me to a little town in south Florida called Bonita Springs. That’s where I met this incredible human named Lisa. I knew non one down there, so I found her on Instagram doing aerial acrobatics in a nearby park. I shot her a message asking if it was a class or something I could attend. She replied almost immediately that it was just a group of women that get together to play circus a few times a month and that I should totally come try it out, meet the gang. Lisa is a soul sister from other lives. I’ve never known love, support, laughs and magick like what she’s shown me. She has opened me up to so many new ways of thinking and loving, and I’ll forever be grateful for her friendship, in this life and the next.

Instagram: instagram.com/the_aviary

Facebook: Facebook.com/the.aviary.collective

Other: Rescue socials: instagram.com/aviarycreaturerescue Facebook.com/aviarycreaturerescue

Image Credits
First two photos (me holding paintbrushes) are shot by my best friend and insanely talented photographer Lisa Hamilton.