06 Dec Inside the studio this winter…

This beautiful picture (and all of the studio pics you see) was taken this past summer by my dear and talented friend Lyndsey Yeomans).

We’re rolling right along through December…everything feels so fast to me right now. Do you feel this?

I just want things to slooow down.

Lots to do for the holiday season…probably feels like so much because in 2020 we had a lot less going on.

I’m practicing trying to enjoy the present moment as much as possible. Letting go of things that don’t matter.  Paying attention more. Breathing. Relaxing my jaw. I do love the holidays and all the traditions we do as a family. And…I am ready to slow down. I’m ready to curl into the fertile void…that space of rest and presence and slow living and creative slumber.

My studio practice is a sacred part of my life. And that small 8 x 9 ft sunshine studio is my sanctuary. I’m going to do a deep clean, purge and rearrange to make way for a new way to be inside it this winter. Every season and project brings new life into the studio. Rearranging and tidying are integral to the beginning of a new process. And as I enter the season of the fertile void…I’m excited for my next project.

My next project is for you.

I’ve created a digital course…a walk through the process of creating your own art practice, learning how to incorporate a daily ritual of making art into your life. It’s called Return to Art because when I returned to my art practice it felt like an epic return home to myself. And it began a journey that changed my life. Art returned to me at 30 years old after a 13 year hiatus. And now, a decade later, it is my career.

Whether or not you are returning to a lapsed art practice yourself, or are an artist struggling with making creating a daily ritual, the course shows you how to make the time, create the space and gather the inspiration to create whatever it is you want. My hope is that by the end of 4 weeks taking this course, you will feel confident and nourished by your art practice. The course will include making art with me and on your own. I am beyond excited to embark on the teaching adventure, to share what I’ve learned and how it’s transformed my life. This digital course will run this winter…if you’re interested in getting more information click on this link.

I hope you have a beautiful week, leaning into the holiday cheer and staying present with what matters most.

22 Nov Your Body Knows

Do you feel anxious/angry/unsettled/restless/uncertain/emotional?

Have you tried creating lately?

Much like exercising…when you haven’t created in a while, your body knows. You feel it in your bones.

This was my final metric, the barometer, of which I could unquestionably tell if I needed painting in my life. My body knew.

Early on in my return to art, my husband used to say, if I seemed low, how’s your art making going? He knew too. He knew that if I was able to get to my sketchbook for a few minutes every day, I was a happier person.

I think this is why when I returned to a regular art practice after 13 years,  I was prolific…paintings pouring out of me, relentlessly, as if my life depended on it. And I’ve come to realize that it did. This was in the cards for me…this life of creativity…it never couldn’t be. It just took a different form for a while, in pursuing theatre.

Now that my creating has become my job, there is a fair amount of time spent in front of the computer, running my website and filling orders. I know that I must schedule my studio/painting time and get in there daily, even if just for 15 minutes, to commune with the work…touch my supplies, take in the colors, free form draw. Anything to shake out the energy and keep that creative muscle working.

Painting is my outlet to shake out this excess energy. We all know the term “creative outlet”. Well, when we create, we are plugging into this metaphorical outlet and allowing the energy to flow through us.

And if we’re lucky, we become a channel to the divine.

p.s. If you need some help returning to your art, I’m creating a digital course for you. I will help you find the space, time, and energy to create and build an art practice that is life giving! If you’re interested, click here for more info.

15 Nov Create and Share

“Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness. It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind. As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.”

-John Lubbock

It’s been a bustling week in the studio as I am in the midst of holiday selling. This is something that I seem to be perplexed by every year…that as you approach the holidays people buy your stuff when you ask them to! Ha! It’s taken years for me to find a strategy that feels right and to be completely honest, the many sales emails that I am sending to my collectors always makes me squirm a little. But I try and remember that what I am selling is so much more than a thing you hang on your wall.

Picasso said “Painting is just another way of keeping a diary”. As artists we are putting our emotion into the work we create with our bare hands. An original painting is one of the rarest things in the world. It’s a one of a kind portal into a life, a mind, an idea. And while sometimes (ok much of the time) our older work makes us cringe because, well, it’s a reflection of where we were, a collector may see something in that piece that feels familiar and true and resonates with where they are now. I sometimes have no idea what will resonate with my audience. A piece that I don’t particularly love immediately sells and my favorite piece in a collection will stay in the studio with me for years. And while it’s frustrating at times that the selling formula feels flawed or shifty…it makes sense. It should be that way. Art is personal. Art is so inherently human.

Create and share.  Perhaps today you will share something you created that someone else really needs. It will make you happy to have made it and it will color another life.

08 Nov 5 Ways to Add Creativity to your Life

“But unless we are creators we are not fully alive. What do I mean by creators? Not only artists, whose acts of creation are the obvious ones of working with paint or clay or words. Creativity is a way of living life, no matter our vocation or how we earn our living. Creativity is not limited to the arts, or having some kind of important career.”

― Madeleine L’Engle

 

I believe this wholeheartedly…that creativity is found in all facets of life. One doesn’t have to be an artist to be creative. I like to think of creativity as problem solving. Beyond exercising it in the art studio, I bring creativity to cooking meals, planning outings for the kids, decorating our home and planning vacations. But sometimes we want to have the ability to just create something…a piece of art, a poem, a blog, a hat…and want to be able to access and harness our creative self easily. There are ways to make the conditions ripe for a creative day. Here are 5 quick ways to infuse creativity into your everyday and who knows…maybe help you create that project you’ve been dreaming up!

“Social media not only snatches your time, but it also teaches you attention deficiency.”

-Neeraj Agnihotri

1.) Put down your phone. 

Switch on your Do Not Disturb button. Charge it in another room. Set a timer so that you don’t pick it up for a set amount of time. Lose it in the laundry pile. Just put it down for a minute, K? Its the BIGGEST distraction we face on the daily. Mini computers lighting up all day with texts and notifications will keep you in a loop of reactivity and consumption and not in one of productivity and creation.

“Rituals are the formulas by which harmony is restored.”

-Terry Tempest Williams

2.) Schedule time and Create a ritual.

Set a time or schedule when you will sit down to write, throw paint at a canvas, record a video, snap some photos. Pencil it in. Just like workouts and appointments. If it’s not in the calendar, it won’t happen. The ritual aspect of this is to create anything repetitive to indicate to yourself that this is the time you create. For me, it’s lighting a candle and putting on music. The striking of the match signals to my mind and body that this is what we’re doing now. Rituals can take the mundane to the elevated.

“Create the space and a bigger life happens.”

– Alysia Reiner

3.) Designate a space to create.

This can be literally anything. A table, a corner of a room, a spare room, outside in your yard or garden, in the garage, on your lap on the couch even. But make that your spot. The place where you can return to and your body remembers that when I come here, I come here to write, paint, sketch, think, brainstorm etc. Returning to your space to create becomes a part of the ritual.

“Curiosity creates an artist. So, chase your curiosity until you find an artist inside you.”

-Akash Rathod

4.) Read.

Read everything that ignites you…books, articles, poetry. Go to the library and immerse yourself in a section that’s been on your mind. Sometimes I go to the art section and come home with coffee table art books, books on color theory or an artist memoir…sometimes even a book on technique. While I paint or fold laundry I sometimes listen to audiobooks as well.

“Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.”

-Leonardo da Vinci

5.) Consume culture.

Get inspired! Go to the modern art museum in your city. Don’t have one? Visit the website! Follow accounts on social media that ignite your creativity. Go see plays and concerts, go to art openings and handmade markets. Let other’s creativity and innovation be a catalyst for yours!

Sometimes my goal is just to find the beauty in the everyday…this simple act gets my brain thinking in a creative way. Watching the light play on the changing autumn leaves in my backyard…how is that color achieved? How can I recreate that color with paint? Everything is game for creativity.

What will you do today to infuse your day with a bit of creativity?

p.s. Have you seen the Free Resource Guide for the Painting Artist? It includes tools for the studio, book and podcast lists and more! If not, get it here.

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.