01 Nov What are you proud of?

Anxiety manifests in my art practice in two words…imposter syndrome. ⠀

Thoughts like “who do you think you’re kidding, creating this garbage?”

“Your work is shit”… “You can’t create good work and be a good mom”…

generally horrible thoughts like that.

My inner critic can be nasty.

So how do I continue to create through days like this?

I focus on what I’ve accomplished and what I’m proud of.

I look back at my year through my planner and journal and take stock of the projects, art, people and businesses

I’ve had the opportunity to work with.

I feel immense gratitude when I do this.

I try and see from an outsider’s perspective…what immaterial things does this woman possess?

What are things she can be proud of?

Well…one thing is my grit.

I started this art business from nothing. I taught myself how to build and run an art business from home. No art degree. No business degree. Perseverance runs strong in my blood. It’s been a slow growth, as I’ve been raising my kids, but I haven’t wavered. I’m in this for the long haul.

Another thing I’m proud of…my choice to give up alcohol.

I often think of the quote, “Drinking alcohol is like pouring gasoline on your anxiety”. Eliminating this one thing from my life, vastly improved my health and my art business, among many other things. I’ve found that a great by product of kicking the booze is that I trust myself more and don’t care as much what people think. This has been liberating and has directly helped my art business grow. I am more intentional and direct with people and waffle on my decisions a lot less.

Now tell me, what are YOU proud of?

When you look back on your year what is the theme that emerges for you?

Have you overcome an obstacle? Have you been through a major life change or a personal transformation?

Take stock of how far you’ve come…and be proud of yourself.

You are not the same person you were a year ago!

25 Oct The Muse Will Come

I hugged a woman who cried to me that she had lost her muse.

She said she felt paralyzed and couldn’t create.

She even said she felt like God was punishing her for years of being too purist in her discernment of what makes a “real” artist.

She must have given me every excuse as to why she “couldn’t” create…

“I don’t have good light, not enough space, not enough time.”

But she cried…because she felt like this was who she was.

So I hugged her and told her to go easy on herself.

And to simply make marks for 5 minutes today. On a piece of paper in your kitchen, in not so perfect light.

Set a timer and have no agenda, no tie to the outcome.

Just let your body remember what it feels like to move with a brush.

And forgive yourself for any time seen as wasted…by who?!

We need to stop judging ourselves and just do the dang thing.

The muse will come by doing.

18 Oct Podcasts I’m Listening to…

I am a podcast junkie.

I LOVE listening to interviews, motivational life stories and business how to’s.

I listen while I paint, prep canvases, edit photos, clean my studio and fold the household laundry.

I thought I’d share a list of my faves for anyone looking for a good one.

These are my tried and trues…

I have listened to all of these for at least a year and I can not tell you how much they have directly helped my business, my creative pursuits and my art practice. 

So here’s the list.

When I’m wanting…

Motivational entrepreneur advice: 

 The Gary Lee Audio Experience

 Don’t Keep Your Day Job with Cathy Heller

The Simply Be Podcast with Jessica Zweig

The Marie Forleo Podcast

The Brendon Show

Business Strategy:

 The Goal Digger Podcast with Jenna Kutcher

Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield

Business Made Simple with Donald Miller

Success with Soul with Kate Kordsmeier

Art Inspiration and specificly Creative Business Advice:

Creative Pep Talk with Andy J. Pizza

 The Lisa Congdon Sessions

 Art Juice

Artist/Mother Podcast

The Laura Horn Podcast

The Savvy Painter podcast with Antrese Wood

Great interviews and deep insight:

Design Matters with Debbie Millman

 The Tim Ferriss Show

 Under the Skin with Russell Brand

On Being with Krista Tippett

Almost 30

There are other great ones I love for meditation, astrology and politics  so if you want more suggestions let me know!

This was the short list of faves.

Go listen…and learn while you work!

For a downloadable and printable list of more resources, including books and podcasts, check out my free resource guide here.

What are you guys listening to? I wanna know!

11 Oct Perspective

“Lately I’ve been sludging through the days, heavy from the weight of well…everything.”

-a journal entry from any day in the last 19 months

Sound familiar?

In such chaotic times, rife with uncertainty, posting on instagram about my paintings can feel fruitless.

For these times I’ve learned to keep some very positive and motivating people in my ear. Brendan Burchard is one of these people. He’s a coach and the author of High Performance Habits, a book that really helped me focus my life and business 3 years ago.  His podcast, The Brendon Show, delivers these pep talks that always give me fuel for thought and motivate me to press on.

One such episode he talks about writing down your 3 G’s first thing in the morning: 

Gratitude, Goals and Goodness. 

Goodness being…what happened yesterday that was good? He talks about the neuroscience at play here…triggering your hippocampus to action.

Sparking memory is good for creativity and creativity is good for coping.

This is why art, music, cooking etc. all can feel quite therapeutic.

The goal is to look back at your 3 G’s every night for a dose of perspective…to have a visual of what’s working and to literally see your progress.

Another great tip…

“Stop multitasking and do a meaningful activity.”

There’s something about slowing down, cutting out all the extraneous noise and being mindfully singular in your endeavors, that can bring everything into sharp focus.

“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.”

-May Sarton

I think the paintbrush is an instrument of grace as well.

Here are things that always help me feel less anxious, more motivated, at ease and grounded:

Writing, running, helping a friend, spending focused, quality time with my kids and good ole painting.

Also yoga, meditation, playing my singing bowl, dance and hot showers with a good lavender salt scrub.

And of course wise and timely words in my ear from motivating people like Brendon.

What are you doing on the days that feel like sludging through mud?

How do you keep going?

04 Oct A Personal Inventory

Last month I was interviewed by Jennifer Magazine, sharing my story of why and how I quit drinking alcohol.

You can read the story here.

And for the purposes of expanding on my journey with art, I thought I’d include a list of all the ways quitting drinking 4 yrs ago directly helped my art practice and business grow.

Things I gained from quitting drinking:

trusting myself, confidence, self love, mental clarity, physical energy,

the ability to confidently say no, growth mindset, unquenchable curiosity, time

Things I lost:

anxiety, indecision, saying yes to everything, deep fatigue, social commitments that caused stress and resentment,

blaming other people

Ditching the sauce, and doing all the internal growth work through books, podcasts, and meditation taught me to TRUST myself. I began to trust my intuition, and believe that I could do anything I set my mind to.

In the year prior to giving it up I was struggling with decision fatigue. Should I or shouldn’t I? A LOT of mental energy was spent on having internal conversations about how many glasses I should stick to in a given night…much like dieting. Too many rules. Giving it up all together gave me mental space. Plus, my anxiety, which had grown to mega proportions, all but disappeared.

Once my view on alcohol changed it was like a switch went on…it was like that idea of you “can’t unsee what you see”.

It was strange and shocking to have such a sudden perspective shift, especially since I had identified so strongly to drinking culture. Shifting my perspective on alcohol made me question all the things in my life I WASN’T questioning.

Questions like…Why am I not asking for what I want? Why can’t I ask for help? Why am I doing all the things as a mom/friend/wife and not giving myself the gift of rest, self care, & fully realized potential? Instead of constantly asking myself who am I to want such things, I started asking myself who am I NOT to? Why can’t my art business grow? Why can’t I ask for X amount of money? Why can’t I ask my husband to take some stuff off my plate so I can carve out time for my business?

Once I started asking these questions I got clarity, I got help, I got time and space to create.

I began to carve out regular, daily time for my art practice. I began to take it seriously and value myself and my time. I took care and patience with creating systems in my life that supported my art practice. I began to study business seriously so that I wasn’t selling myself short and undervaluing my work.

Once I made these shifts, things changed really fast. My business began to really take off.

I don’t have all the answers & quitting drinking is not in everyone’s life story, but I know this…

If you have the capacity to get really clear about what you want, then you CAN make it happen.

Do a personal inventory of all the things in your life that are stopping your dream from coming to fruition.

For me, removing alcohol was like knocking down the domino that made all the other ones fall.

Everything got better….especially my art practice and business!

27 Sep Always Keep Learning

“You will enrich your life immeasurably

if you approach it with a sense of

wonder and discovery,

and always challenge yourself

to try new things.”

-Nate Berkus

Quick story…see this runner?

This is my watercolor “Blue Hearts” fabric available through Minted. I had submitted this design for a Pottery Barn Kids x Minted challenge.

I had also submitted 23 other designs that did NOT get picked for Minted. Here’s the thing…they didn’t want to offer it as an art print. They wanted it to be a fabric and created into a repeating pattern. I’m all “Sweeeet!”And then all “Sh*****t, I don’t know how to do that.” Gulp.

After pulling my hair out for a few days trying to teach myself how to learn adobe illustrator on a tight deadline, I asked for help. My awesome artist friend, Kelly, came to the rescue and helped me transform this baby into a pattern. Crisis averted.

This experience led me to take a proper class in Illustrator and surface pattern design through Creative Live with the incredible Bonnie Christine. It was a little like learning a foreign language but it was SO exciting and empowering to learn a new skill that allows me to make the stuff I want.

Look for the clues that are pointing you to try new things in your practice.

Listen to what’s exciting your buyers.

Look for signs of life that will push you in new directions, possibly out of your comfort zone, but ultimately stretch you for the better.

Always keep learning.

20 Sep 7 Art Tips for Establishing a Practice

 Today I’m sharing 7 art tips that helped me establish an art practice. 
Why? Because I love a good list and a powerful formula for momentum. 
Here they are in no particular order...

1. Listen to Art Podcasts
   Like a studio mate chatting beside you as you work it helps to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the art world, gives you motivation to create and makes you feel less alone. Favorites include Creative Pep Talk with @andyjpizza , Art Juice with @alicesheridanstudio & @louisefletcher_art  and The Saavy Painter Podcast with Antrese Wood,@savvypainterpodcast.
2. Read psychology/self help books & memoirs. Learning through others’ stories and about the human condition, self awareness and deepening your relationship with empathy will make your creative practice richer and your art better.
3. Follow your curiosity. If the color combo rust & ochre is lighting you up…go hunting for it, collect pictures. Consume stuff around your interests relentlessly. This is the holy grail of inspiration. Never stop digging and learning more about the things that inspire you!
4. Take care of yourself. Exercise and sunlight give you energy & strength. Breathe. Practice yoga. Drink more water. Move your body. I’ve talked about how giving up alcohol helped me level up my art practice. It was a game changer. It gave me more energy, more clarity and less anxiety which led to….found time!
5. Create a Sunday Planning Ritual. I have learned so much from adopting this practice through Kate Northrup and her book, Do Less. Plan your week on Sunday evening. Set aside 15/20 minutes, light a candle, make some tea and write stuff down! Carve out sketching/painting time throughout your week…if you write it down you are more likely to keep the appointment.
6. Reverse engineer your goals. Want to be an artist who creates in collections? Pick a date 4 months in the future and start painting NOW. Prioritize small steps to reach your long term goal. Want to sell said collection? Start talking about it NOW. Long term goals get achieved by prioritizing the next small thing to push the needle forward.
7. Set aside 15 minutes a day to create something, even if it’s just lines on paper. 😉

Try to do at least one of these this week and I promise you will start to see momentum in your art practice.

Have another tip to add? Let me know and comment below.

Have a beautiful day!

13 Sep On Art Challenges

“Action is the foundational key to all success.”

-Pablo Picasso

I’ve written about how I began painting in my living room when my kids were babies.

So I thought I’d talk about another aspect of how I started…sharing my work and doing art challenges through social media.⠀
⠀I never went to art school, so I’m not sure, but even 15 years ago i’m guessing the idea of sharing your work via computer networking was pretty out there. A LOT has changed. When I started painting again, after a decade long hiatus, it was 2010. I began sharing what I created on Facebook, which was only a few years old at that point.

At the time, talking about your work on social seemed braggy at best, but I knew I had to share in order to be seen.

And well,  it was working. I started selling pieces.

I could easily communicate to many people in one post that I had opened an Etsy shop. I remember thinking how lucky I am to be a visual artist at this time in history (I still say this daily by the way). How amazing was it that a housebound mother with young children in the dead-of-winter-Chicago could sell her artwork to a customer in New Zealand with a click of a button?

Crazy, right?⠀
⠀I didn’t join Instagram until 2013….but when I did I think a shift happened.

Introduce… the Art Challenge.

I started following artists I admired and fell in with a group of creative people who ran regular instagram challenges…Foliophoto, Creative Unblock, Wes Anderson inspired.

I saw Instagram as a tool for creativity and connection.⠀
⠀
The drawing above of my daughter, Maeve, is from my own personal #365project where I sketched for every day of 2014. I still go back to these drawings for inspiration…the seeds of my abstracts are born here. Doing challenges gives the structure (hello wonderful prompts from @joannehawker) and community to create movement in your art practice.

I’ve met so many wonderful artists and makers that I count as my friends to this day. ⠀

I recently participated in the 2021 #100daychallenge this past April and created 100 mini abstract paintings in acrylic and watercolor on paper.

I’ve incorporated doing challenges into my art practice for life. It’s incredibly rewarding. You become prolific.

You get better…you get closer to, if not exceed, your 10,000 hours, as Malcolm Gladwell would say.

And it’s fun!

Do you participate in art challenges? The course I am currently working on is like one big one…a month of daily showing up for your art practice. Find out more about that course here.

And have an inspired week!

06 Sep It Comes and Goes

An excerpt from my journal to keep it real here and not pretend that everything is perfectly perfect. Sometimes when I’m in it, I can’t post anything. It feels fake…so I’m sharing it now.

If you struggle with anxiety, I’m with you.

……………………….

Anxiety is a liar. It really is. And when it comes at me, it comes hard. It’s like a switch goes on and it’s full negative voices filling my brain. It’s relentless. I know that’s why escapism is part of my dna.

How do we change this about ourselves? When we know that self care is essential to our well being, but we nonetheless push it to the bottom of our priorities. And why? To put others first. To achieve goals that we’re not sure why we’re pursuing anyways. (See that, right there was the anxiety talking).

I’m not sure when the bubble will pop but it feels like it’s simultaneously starting to ease up and bubble up til it overflows.

I’m creating a lot right now. It’s a priority and I’ve made promises but it’s not always easy to work through negative thoughts. And sometimes it’s the only way. There’s the old duality again. Maybe life is just a constant seesaw of anticipation and relief? But do I ever feel relieved? Do you?

Recipe for Anxiety Relief:
-Exercise
-Sleep
-Eat clean, no dairy, no bread no alcohol
-Be in nature
-Make something…bake, cook a meal, garden, take photographs, write, paint
-Talk to someone about how you’re feeling
-Looking at data I’ve tracked marking my cycle, knowing this is cyclical and shall too pass. .

This last part about tracking my cycle has been sooo helpful…Just remembering that it comes, but then it goes.

It will pass and there will be moments of great joy just ahead.

……………..

I recently just celebrated 4 years alcohol free and was interviewed by Jennifer Magazine.

If you’d like you can read about my story here.

30 Aug look for signs of life

“Look for signs of life.”

I’ve heard Mariam Naficy, the founder of Minted, say this a few times. It’s a lesson I am learning over and over.

When something you’re creating is resonating with your audience, go deeper.

Those signs of life can come in external confirmation…people literally telling you they are connecting with what you’re creating.

Sometimes the signs of life are that what you’re creating currently syncs with your lifestyle.

My lifestyle is being a busy mom of three kids so part of why I work with watercolor is that it’s practical. Clean up is minimal, the list of supplies to create is short and I can leave it to dry (and get a kid a snack) and come back to a different (and better) painting…cause watercolor is magic like that.

When I found watercolor I knew instinctively that this would be my medium.

And when my abstract sales were growing, I put my attention there.
.
Practice looking for the signs of life, and nourishing those things and they will grow.