14 Jun Painting Everyday is a Gift

Painting every day is a gift.

It makes me a happier human being.

For years in my 20’s I felt creatively restless…anxious…should I write, should I act, should I sing? I was always an artist of some kind growing up…making stuff, painting, doing theatre, taking dance. Once I hit adulthood I resisted the one thing that was my “go to” creative skill in childhood…painting.

All of the resistance and perfectionism piled on to stop me from starting paintings and certainly from ever finishing them. I wonder if I thought that my pursuit of theatre and acting took up enough creative space…That there wasn’t any more room for visual art.

Funny now, when I look back at my pre-kid days and all I see is time. Hours I had where I could have been painting. Why then did a daily art practice elude me for so long? It took having to navigate around naps and mealtimes and busy family schedules to “find the time”. Perhaps I had to be pushed into a proverbial corner.

Make art to survive this.

I do think it has something to do with self care. For honoring yourself and the things that make you “you”.

Painting for 100 days may sound tedious, but to me it’s nourishment.

I’ll be sharing my recent 100 Day project later this week…stay tuned!

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17 May Make the Time

Plant Cell 1, watercolor on paper. Design and photo by Jess Cooney Interiors

Time constraints can work in your favor. This artwork was created in a quick painting session I grabbed while my husband wore our infant in a baby carrier and made dinner. I only had the hour (cause… breastfeeding) and at the time I was painting on my living room floor while my girls swirled around the house. 

I made 2 key decisions that day.

1.) I asked for help. I told my husband that I needed him to be on the kids for the hour so I could focus on what I needed to do.

2.) I used that time to paint. Not do laundry, tidy up, respond to emails and texts or do any of the myriad number of things that could be done. I would give painting my undivided attention.

I ultimately entered this painting in a design competition (hello Minted) that would change the course of my career. The thousands of prints that ended up on the walls of influencers and designers and then posted to social media would give me the incredible exposure as well as the confidence to know that this  “art thing” deserved a real shot at becoming a bonafide business.

So my Monday motivation is this…MAKE THE TIME…even if it’s 15 minutes today…that’s enough.

That’s where you start. 

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10 May Do what you love right now

I’ve had a lot of creative people reach out to me, as of late, asking how to start? Where to find inspiration? How to create a creative business doing what you love? How do I make this creative habit a creative career? Well I just listened to my favorite podcast, Creative Pep Talk, as I started my day in the studio and there was so much goodness there that pertained to these questions. Andy J. Pizza interviews Chris Piascik about his career path and his 10 year drawing a day project.

Here are my fave takeaway bits and pieces…

1.) “Creating all the time…quantity will beget quality.” There’s a freedom in putting work out there on social media and not being so precious about it. You may cringe when you look back at old work but you’ll see how much better you’ve gotten. And the bonus is when people see what you’ve created and say I want that!

I’m currently wrapping up a 100 day project. I created 100 mini abstracts in a span of 100 days. It’s a ton of practice which will only improve my painting. There are a few from this batch that I’ve made into larger pieces. So while I’m improving my craft, the by product is that I have pieces to pull from for painting references or even for licensing (I entered a few into a Minted challenge!)

2.) “You have to be a little delusional to be successful.” Yes, that fierce desire that makes you want to see your stuff in Anthropologie and actually thinks maybe that could be a possibility will serve you to ultimately make better stuff and hopefully put you on said company’s radar.

3.) “To just start!” Right now, today…start painting, drawing, designing…do what you love RIGHT NOW.

4.) “You make the time.” I get this a lot. How do you find the time? I think when I first started regularly drawing and painting 10 years ago I just made the time (like it was my job) because it gave me a creative outlet. It was my respite, my fun, my escape even. I loved it so much, and prioritized it so much that it BECAME my job. It’s like anything you put your time and energy towards…it thrives!
God I love Creative Pep Talk…it’s like fuel for my lil artist tank. Check it out friends!

Regarding the pic, photographing artwork is something I’m still working on;)

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26 Apr Better than Perfect

Perfectionism kept me from creating visual art for 12 years. I would struggle with ideas for paintings. Which naturally made it hard to start. Now, after a decade of painting almost every day, I finally understand why.

I am an intuitive painter. 

I work best when I don’t know what will happen next. 

I thrive in solving the problem of the painting. 

It’s through this struggle that I make the connection. 

Connection is at the heart of creating. And that’s all that really matters. 

Fusing together the wires of 

idea, 

color

and shape 

to charge someone’s soul

(even if it’s just your own.) 

So when I let perfectionism creep in and start to allow a painting to become “too hard” because it isn’t “just so”, I remember that done is better than perfect. And I walk away. I return to the studio the next day and I see with new eyes. And sometimes, even without adding a mark, things connect.

19 Apr What inspires you?

Ideas for art come to me…

• When I run
• When seeing live theatre (I miss it soooo much!)
• While reading poetry
• When traveling…even a small road trip
• Leafing through design magazines
• Walking through outdoor markets
• While listening to music
• When listening to my girls playing their music or painting beside me
• When I am in nature…whether it’s my backyard garden, walking my dog, or hiking some mountain trail. Doesn’t matter where…nature inspires.

Then sometimes it’s just discovering what moves me aesthetically around my studio. I’ll start organizing and decluttering, and placing vignettes together…candles, brushes, pieces of fabric, pieces of art.

And then…

“oh I like this color combo…hmmm graphic shapes with fresh flowers…or a Domino Magazine cover with a messy abstract next to it. Now I want to paint an indigo and peach abstract…something imperfect but perfectly electric in color. Yes, let’s do that.”

There are times where I’m more strategic in my planning a painting. But these days I’m going with the flow…and saying yes to what comes through intuitively.

What inspires you? Where do you get inspired?

When do you feel inspiration?

Read more on the Blog

12 Apr Essentials

I was listening to a podcast…Tim Ferriss (of The Tim Ferriss Show) interviewing Seth Godin.

Something Seth said really resonated with me. He said…

“You can’t let the world erect boundaries for yourself.”

YOU must be the one to do this, so that you don’t feel the overwhelm of falling behind in your life.

There is most DEFINITELY a correlation between the time in my life where I was drowning in overwhelm and not prioritizing what was integral for me to be the best version of myself.

What is integral for me is having personal discipline for stuff that’s ESSENTIAL to my mental and physical health.

Over the past 4 years I took serious inventory of my life. I looked at how I was spending my time, and thought about how I would like to be spending my time. There was a disconnect and I knew that I had to make changes to have the things I really love in my life.

Since then I’ve given up drinking alcohol and crappy tv. I deleted Facebook on my phone. I prioritize working out and eating healthy because it makes me feel happy. I’m a pleasure seeker with an addictive personality, which makes it THAT much more important that I adhere to my own “rules”. I can attest that living this way has opened up more possibility and room in my life for everything that I truly desire.  I found peace and clarity in shutting out the distractions and self-sabotage. My business grew, my art practice flourished and my relationships with my husband and kids deepened.

Make more time for the things that matter.

Light up your brain, move your body and nourish yourself with doing something that you KNOW you’ve been putting off. Stop waiting for permission from someone else to achieve your goals. YOU decide what matters.

And ask yourself this…

How can you clear time in your day to prioritize what’s important to you?

What can you give up to live your best life?

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05 Apr Just Start

When I first started painting regularly in my adult life

I was 30 years old.

My toddler was potty training and my infant had yet to try solids. There was little time in the day to do anything other than watch my kids.

So,  I started at night. ⠀

Every night I’d put them to bed and tip toe down to the living room and look at the list of things I wrote in my journal…

“ideas of things to paint”.

First thing I painted was a picture of my babies. Next, my dog, Molly. Then some pretty tea cups from my mom. And on and on.

It was my creative outlet, my refuge from changing diapers, and a full body and soul grab at the former artistic pre-mom life of my youth. I had no intention to start a business or be a professional artist. I think my only intention then, was to try and feel a little more like me again. Motherhood is a whole bag of wonder and worry and this was my zen time.
⠀
I didn’t know it then but picking up that paintbrush 10 years ago changed my life.

Painting IS me.

It was me as a kid and it’s me now.

If there’s something you want to do in your life, whether it’s getting in great shape, finally learning Spanish, playing guitar, writing a book, becoming a watercolor painter…Just START.

Like right now…Today.

Start practicing and learning and do it every day. Do it for the process of learning and getting better. As Marie Forleo says,

“Clarity comes from action, not thought.”

So get going…

Someday you will look back at this time and think why didn’t I do this sooner?

It brings you joy and quite possibly the life of your dreams. I know art did this for me.

I’d love to know…what is one thing you would like to make a regular practice in your life?

Is it writing, painting, learning a new language? Let me know in the comments and write it in your calendar today.

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