The Mama Judy and Jill Podcast

Episode 12: How to Create Rituals, Routines, and an Environment to Confidently Make More Art

• Jill Gottenstrater and Judy George • Episode 12

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In this episode, Mama Judy and I talk about the importance of carving out a personal space AND time for your art practice. By doing this, you lay the groundwork for creativity and help yourself build a consistent routine for engaging with your art.

We share our own tried-and-true rituals and routines and hope that something you learn will inspire a more enjoyable and consistent time in your creative process. 

We hope you’ll tune in!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Video on needle felting on fabric (I love Tracey’s videos!)
My (Jill’s) felting tool mentioned in the episode. 


If you'd prefer to watch this podcast, you can find us over on our YouTube page (The Mama Judy & Jill Podcast).

We'd LOVE to hear from you! Click here to send us your thoughts and ideas for a future episode.

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Jill:

Welcome back to the Mama, Judy Jill Podcast. Hi, I'm Jill and I'm so glad that you're here with us. Hi Mama. Judy.

Mama Judy:

Hi, Jill. Good to see you again.

Jill:

You too. Well, today we wanted to talk about establishing your artistic environment. before we get there, mama Judy, what are you working on this week?

Mama Judy:

You know, this week I actually was doing some, uh, I bought a sketchbook'cause I forgot to bring one and I've been doing some wonky animals.

Jill:

Ooh. Yes. I saw you posted on Instagram the other day. Yeah. It's so fun.

Mama Judy:

They've been so fun. It, I think I explained one time, Jill, I need to, I would like to, I don't need to do any of this, but I want to strengthen my sketching and get beyond perfection. So what I'm trying to do is be real loosey goosey, fun little animals, brass of color, lots of mark. It's been great. I've really enjoyed it.

Jill:

Oh, I love that. One of our listeners wrote out and, and sent a message to us, and her name's Alyssa, and she said that by listening to, I think it was the first or second episode of ours, she said she was inspired to get back into doodling, which she hadn't done for a long time. And she doodled in octopus and she actually sent me a picture, which I wanna share with you. and, and she told me I could share it with anybody. But anyway, I just thought that was so cool, the idea of the doodling and that sort of thing.

Mama Judy:

I love doodling. Yeah. And have always been a doodler. Like most people, there are a lot of listeners out there that probably doodled on the edges of paper all their life, but they never thought that was connected to art.

Jill:

Right. And it is so artistic. Well, okay, so, and I'll just tell you real quick what I'm working on. This is a fun thing. This week, what I'm working on, I went down to the little local craft place and got a felting. Tool. Oh, it it, it has these sharp little needles. There's actually three or four in this little tool that I bought. It looks like you're holding a pen, but it has these sharp things and it's a felting tool and some people create like felted wool, animals and different things. But what I'm using it for is I was inspired by a woman that I follow on YouTube. I think her name is Tracy. But anyway, she does some really cool art videos and stuff, and I saw her taking fabric and and using this tool to kind of get the fabric poked in there and then doing some stitching over it. So what I did is I took some silk pieces. I had a, a piece of linen, a five by five piece of linen, had put some silk pieces over. It just started stabbing it. Across and it kind of puckers the fabric down in, and then I could slow stitch, but it made these really cool textures and designs and it was so fun beyond the fact that I got so excited about poking and I made myself bleed. I like snagged right into my hand.

Mama Judy:

I know, actually, I was thinking, gosh, what a great tool if you're ever angry. You could just take that and take that anger to your art and just kind of pound things.

Jill:

Yes, exactly. Okay. That. Okay. Well let's get started. we are talking today about establishing, an artistic environment. And first of all, let's start off, what do you think, why is it important for us? art, anybody doing art? Why is it important to establish some sort of, environment for us?

Mama Judy:

I think what it does, Jill, is it lets our imagination and our brain know, okay, we're going to be doing art now. It's almost like a clue or a cue to our imagination. Okay, this is where we do our work. Mm-hmm. I wanna make just a real quick differentiation between the ritual of that we're talking about, of setting up an art environment and a routine. Mm-hmm. so at some point I'd like to make a differentiation, but the ritual, it just helps you get ready. For your art. Mm-hmm. And if you have, I've heard different artists use the word sacred space. Mm-hmm. It's a sacred space. It's an environment you can go into that you feel safe, that you have wonderful objects that mean a lot to you, and it sets the tone to begin your art practice.

Jill:

Hmm. That is a beautiful thing too. And when you said the safety. that sacred space. Because for some people that might be the thing that they really need, whereas other people could probably just jump in anywhere. But to have a sacred, safe place like that just makes it feel so much more special.

Mama Judy:

It is. Special is another word. This is your space. Yes. This is your special space. Doesn't belong to anybody else. It may be in the middle of the living room, but it belongs to you and you can let people into it

Jill:

or not. Yeah. Okay. So we are gonna get into some ideas that we, that you and I both have in a little bit about what that might look like, some ideas, because you listening may have a little space that you set up. You may love it, you may not like it. You may feel like, ah, I've been thinking I wanna change it up or something. So hopefully some ideas that we will give you will inspire. You for your own space, but tell us about that distinction that you wanted to make First Mama Judy, about routine and, what was the other word? Ritual?

Mama Judy:

Ritual. Ritual. Um, they kind of go back and forth, but the routine is often what people will set up where, I, I only do my art. From 10 to 11. Okay. That is a routine that they get into. We all have routines. Mm-hmm. I get up and have two cups of coffee. That's my morning routine. Mm-hmm. Remember that routines, there's two things about routines. They're safe and they're easy, and whether we like it or not, the brain is a lazy. Muscle. Mm-hmm. If you're going learning something new, it takes a lot of energy. A routine is when you've done something so much, you don't even have to expend a lot of energy. When I go in and I sit down to do my mixed media and I do my routine with the papers and stuff, It's a no-brainer. There's reason for that expression. A no-brainer means I don't have to think about it. Yes. So part of what we want to make our art practice easier is enough routine that. We'll go back to it every day. Mm-hmm. The other part, the ritual can be something.

Jill:

Can I say, can I say one thing about that? Yes, mama Judy. Just to tie in before you get a ritual. That makes sense.'cause I hear even like, let's just say you're a runner, you go jogging outside. Mm-hmm. People say, For your routine. Just the fact that you lay out your shoes and you're running shorts or whatever beforehand, so that you're not going, oh, where's my shoes? Or where's my clean socks? You don't have to think about it. So it's the same no matter what. If it's an art thing or an exercise thing, setting up your toothbrush in the same place and making sure your toothpaste is right there if you had to go hunt it every time you're breaking that routine.

Mama Judy:

That's right, and you're causing yourself more work. So the routine in the art helps you with establishing an art practice consistency, because once you get a routine down, you're more APTT to go do it. It's easy. You don't have to think about it. Right? The only thing I caution is, Don't let a routine limit you, but that's for another podcast. Okay. And a ritual kind of goes into what we wanna talk about, which is setting up your environment. Mm-hmm. A ritual can be any little thing that you do to start your art practice. Okay. And I'll give you an example from a class that I took, by a woman who is, also a shamanic therapist. She does what she calls sacred circles. Her ritual before she begins a painting is to just draw what she calls and feels as a sacred circle with, a word or two of intention for her practice that day. Hmm. That is a ritual that she goes through. Before she starts her paintings. Mm-hmm. So those are the two that I wanted to just make sure we're a little, little clarification on.

Jill:

Yes. And when we talk about maybe how setting up your space some stuff is gonna potentially be more ritualistic feeling and some of it's gonna be, this stuff is gonna help you stick to that routine. Yes. The things that we're talking about, it might not feel like a ritual, but it's definitely something to, so we're gonna kind of touch on both, so I'm so glad you made that distinction.

Mama Judy:

Yes. And. Let's talk about the space that people set up to do their art. In last time we talked about the fact that we go off for the summer, so I don't have my normal space. Mm-hmm. But I bring certain things with me that I like to have in my space. Mm-hmm. And these are not things that I use in my art. These are objects. I have a large. crystal that I carry with me. Amethyst crystal. I like to have that. I like the energy of an amethyst crystal. I carry, a, a scent, a, what do you call it when you sage a room with sage normally. That clears out all bad energy. Well, I have one that I buy from a wonderful company up in the Bay Area called Sage Organics, and I spray, my ritual is to spray my art space. It creates an old factory smell that I just love, and I now associate that smell with beginning the daily practice.

Jill:

Oh, so you do that? Not just when mom and Judy was just saying when they're traveling. So she and my dad are traveling during the summer for months on end. So you don't just do it when you first come into a house and set up your space. You do it each day that you come into your art space and sort of do that ritual.

Mama Judy:

Yes.

Jill:

Yes. Okay. I love that. I didn't know you didn't.

Mama Judy:

And then the other ritual that I have is kind of a silent one. I'll pick a word or two maybe, or a just a phrase. What do I want to do today? In fact, I have often asked myself, what do you want to do with your art today? And I might hear the word play, so I know that day all we're gonna do is play. I might hear the word. intention. Mm-hmm. That focuses me more on what I'm putting on the paper. There's an intention behind what I put on the page, just so scraps of paper. So those are the things that I have found that I can do, that I can take with me. Yes. And. At home. I have other objects that are important to me, but again, trying to limit myself with what I carry. Right. But I always have some little, here we go, routine ritual. Mm-hmm. That I do in my head for myself, when I began to do my practice each day.

Jill:

Right. One thing I have sitting in my area or wherever I run the house is I like to light a candle a lot of times, especially. Yep, absolutely.'cause my routine is to do stitching specifically in the morning as a meditative process. And then I stitch for fun other times too. But it is, my routine is to get up and I do a number of things and stitching is part of that lighting a candle. So it's like my ritual is that, and I've got the routine all intertwined.

Mama Judy:

Yes. I can't be trusted with live candles, so I had to quick, I would walk off and leave them and, you know, come back three hours later and they're burnt down so I don't get to bring a candle with me. That's why I do the spray. I can't burn anything down. But candles are

Jill:

wonderful. Yes. Um,

Mama Judy:

rocks that you find. Mm-hmm. Um, mm-hmm. Maybe you find a rock somewhere that is in the shape of a heart. Mm-hmm. That can be one of your ritual items that you have there on your creative space.

Jill:

Yes. And I think too, a ritual, one thing that I'll do too is I remind myself to breathe. Yeah. Take a deep breath in and out. And I say a little prayer, but that is just to kind of center myself and ground myself. But just remind yourself to breathe because sometimes, you know, you're like, you don't, I feel like I haven't really been breathing deep, deep lately, you know?

Mama Judy:

That's right. And music is another part of what I love, especially when I'm home, where I can go into the little creative office space and I can put my eye. Phone on what music I feel that day mm-hmm. Is inspiring. Mm-hmm. So I think music is a very important part. Candles, scents, I talked about my Paleo Santos sent spray, but somebody might love the smell of gardenias. Mm-hmm. Well if you find a spray that has that, these are all things that. Either visually tactilely or olfactory start your senses working. And we wanna bring all our senses to our art. Yes. And then I really do love, the idea of writing, especially I don't do it on every. Single page where I'm collaging, but if I'm gonna sketch or I'm gonna paint, I love to write a word or two on the background. And then you work right over the top of those words.

Jill:

Yeah. I, that's, I think I'm gonna start doing, even just sitting down and kind of having a word, I'm gonna try that over the next week and see how that feels. But I really like that to just set the intention for that time or for the day, or whatever it might be, and, and just to even say it in your head to yourself. I, I love that idea.

Mama Judy:

Well, it kind of gives you direction. yeah. On one hand, you're listening to yourself. You're listening. For example, what I mean by that is, let's say that I sit down and oh my gosh, I am going to make the world's best painting today. Well, that may not be. The state I'm in. So if I start out with asking my inner child, what is it we wanna do today? I can get a clue if I listen, what I should focus on for that day. You might get the word color. Well then maybe that day, if I'm painting, I use colors that I normally would not use. Mm-hmm. Or I might get something else I. That. I don't know what that means, but if I listen to it, it's coming from that part of us that we cannot see. So I love talking to myself before I start on anything adventuresome.

Jill:

Yeah. And I've noticed a lot of the folks that, and we follow a lot of the same people on Instagram that. Stitch in or include in words in the work that they're doing. Resilience, bravery, peace. Yes. Words like that. It's the same thing. Like I wonder if they're sitting down thinking that and then that they incorporate that into the actual art that comes out that you can actually read because they've stitched it out or painted it or whatever. And I've seen a lot of that lately and I think that's really powerful.

Mama Judy:

I do too. And for those people that are in, let's say, something like a stitching or a knitting or even a quilting mm-hmm. Where you can't put those words into your particular art, that doesn't mean you can't use those words.'cause you can have a notepad right there and you just write out that word. Right. So you can have it invisibly mm-hmm. In your art.

Jill:

Yes, and it would be fun to write it down on a little pad if you did that, to kind of look back over the time and flip back and think, oh wow, you know, six months ago, look at the words and look how they progressed and that sort of thing. It would be a fun timeline to follow if you wanted to. I.

Mama Judy:

It would. In fact, I just thought what would be fun for someone is you have your pad, you do the word, you do your art practice that day, take a picture of it. So then not only do you have the word, but then you have the art that you created, that went with that word that day. And see over time, if anything shows up.

Jill:

To see that little bit of a history that is so, yes. Fun to think about. Well, let's talk about some other, let's talk about even just like physical spaces, ideas mm-hmm. For setting up your physical space. so people live in different. People live in houses, apartments, RVs, you know, who knows? There's just so many different living environments, big, small. And so you said something earlier you said, no matter what it is, just to find your own little space, that's your space. That's the important thing, whether it is all I have is this little chair in the middle of the living room. But if that is your space, you designate that as your space. Or if you have a big, beautiful. Sunny, studio then that is your space. But let's talk about kind of setting up the space. What are some helpful things, at least for us, that are helpful? I know one of my first things is to have natural light. Yes. And so like, versus I have a basement in our house. I have room down there that I could set up, but the thought of putting a table down in that basement, I don't care what the light is to me, does, and it's, we have an old house, so it's an old. Not a very great looking basement. I would be so depressed down there. But the fact that even if I have a little table set up in front of a window, which I do makes all the difference when that light comes streaming in, from the window when I'm sitting there stitching

Mama Judy:

And you, you touched on something else that I see quite often in artists posts on Instagram, the view out their window from their art space. That in itself can be inspiring. Mm-hmm. so I agree. I, it's important for me. I'm thinking about your basement going, Ooh, wouldn't work for me. No. Some people may not, they might love the, the. Cocoon feeling that the basement gives. So the first thing is what do you like? What's important to you? Yes. But for you and I. A view to look to natural light is important.

Jill:

Yes, and, and if you don't have, because I also get up four 30 in the morning, so it's dark to begin with. I love the fact that I can stitch in the dark well with a candle and with some light. So it's not always the natural light that comes in. But it also depends on, you know, you talked about your routine. Are you an early morning person? Do you like to work into the night, do you like to do your writing or your artwork or whatever, all through the middle of the night. So that's gonna also depend on where you do your art. And you're not gonna have natural light coming in if you love working until 2:00 AM in the morning.

Mama Judy:

No, it just, it, there's so many wonderful things that. Each one of us can do with our art environment. We just, again, have to focus on what do we like, what's, what makes us feel good? Yes. the other thing in an, in a work environment, and I hear this, see this all the time, and I go through it, organized versus messy uhhuh. Okay? So I try to be organized. But I work in a very messy environment, and I've thought about that quite a bit. Mm-hmm. And again, this is what you have to know, what, what makes you feel good. I'm gonna deviate and I will get back to this, but I'm gonna give another example with my youngest son, David. We were decorating in his backyard. He wanted to take out the grass, and he's asking me for things to do. And so I'm talking to, oh, you can get these wonderful rocks that are different shapes and you could, and it's all wonky and eclectic. And he was quiet for a minute and he said, We don't do wonky because he is organized, he's linear, uhhuh. He has to have things a certain way.

Jill:

Yes,

Mama Judy:

I am not that way to me, if everything is absolutely organized and has to stay in its place. It inhibits my creativity because my creativity comes from looking at a pile, pulling it out, letting my imagination play, and it goes, oh, I like this. Woo. Look at that. If I had to have it in little bins all the time, I just would not work as well. But that's, What works for me? Yes. Someone like David might need to have. The paints are all over here. The brushes are here. It just, again, there's so much, you are not limited to a one size fits all. What fits you

Jill:

So I've yourself talked

Mama Judy:

about my wonky, messy approach that works for me. What works for you?

Jill:

I think I'm a, a bit in the middle. I like to have things organized because when I go somewhere, I, I want, don't wanna be looking for 10 minutes for a piece of fabric that I've remembered. So I, I like to have some order, but I don't, I'm not that orderly. So it kind of just gets a little messy and I'm okay with that to some degree, but then it'll hit me like, after a month, I've got to get this place cleaned up or I'm not gonna enjoy this space. Now, on the other hand, Somewhat like David. I was talking to William's sister, Mary Kay and William husband. They both said that when they come to do any sort of artistic endeavor, if their place is not organized, they see it as well. I now have a chore to do. To organize it. And I can't get to work in my art until it is organized, because that is gonna block them. They're gonna see it as a task that they need to do first. So they need to have the place organized and clean so that they can sit down and begin.

Mama Judy:

Absolutely. And if, if I were sitting with David, in fact I have with David or William and you, and we were sitting at the same table. It would like be looking at two different species practically. Yeah. I would, you know, I'd have things strung out all over the place, piling through things, and they would be over there very neatly doing what works for them. Yes. And I, I wanna, even if you do work with, Accountability or an artist partner.

Jill:

Mm-hmm.

Mama Judy:

Those you might bring different ways of working together and that's okay. Yeah. It's just what frees your creativity. Yeah. Just don't obsess either way. Don't be so messy like I get like you where after a while I have to go, oh my God, I have to clean this up. I can't find anything including the table, but don't get so organized that being organized becomes the excuse for not doing the art because it can. So we have to just, again, be self-aware what works for us, right? And call yourself on it. If you find yourself being too much one way or the other, it's okay to call yourself on it. Say, okay, I need to be in the middle, like Jill. Mm-hmm.

Jill:

do you know that French term I, it's pronounced mis plus. MIS plus. No, I think that, excuse me, if you're French listening and you're like, you just butchered that, you just butchered my, it called something like mis plus and basically what it means, I think it's used more in the professional chef and the, you know, restaurant business, Uhhuh, but it means. Everything has its place. So that means when you're cooking something, you're gonna have all your garlic chopped up in this dish, you're gonna have everything over here. Everything has its place so that when you go to start executing on your art, your food, whatever that might be, you're not digging around. And especially it is important with food because if, if you're then have to go cut, Seven onions and you already have the hot oil over here. You know it's not gonna work. But I like the idea of that too, because I think a really important part of setting up a good artistic, Environment is to have stuff at hand that you want to use, that you are literally not going into the basement, digging through your bins to find that thing that you remember from seven years ago. If you have things that you generally like to use, have them at hand and available and not too buried that you can't find them.

Mama Judy:

Absolutely. No, you cannot be too messy because then you again, just like being too. Organized. Mm-hmm. That keeps you from being creative. Right. So I'm on the messier side. David's on the more organized side, but as long as we don't get out of whack, it'll work for us.

Jill:

Yes. okay, so also I wanted to talk about, so maybe you have a whole room set up. You have space, so do I at our house, but if you don't, one thing, it might, last house I didn't. Really feel like I had a complete place, but, and this was more for my reading time in the morning and, and that sort of thing, but I, I put together a basket that had a candle in it. It had my books, it had my writing. When I was writing poetry and that kind of stuff, it had all my little stuff tucked in a little basket that I could cart around if I wanted to sit in that chair, if I want to go sit on the couch. But I had my supplies in my little basket. Ready to go, so my routine could happen and I had everything in its place and ready to go. So I wasn't running around like, where's my favorite pencil to write poetry or whatever. It was all right there. And when you have a little basket of something, if you don't have a big space or you just don't choose to have, take up a room or a little corner of a room for your place. To have that. You can slide that under a chair, you can slide it in a closet, whatever. But you can, like if you are a painter or a Stitcher, like stitching doesn't take much space in general. So I can cart stuff around in a little container if I need to. But the important thing again is just to set something in place so that you do your art and you, you're

Mama Judy:

not hindered ab. Absolutely. And in fact, when I was doing beading mm-hmm. I had, um, like a tray. Yes. And I had. A box with extra supplies beside me and everything was on the tray. So I could, I was a portable artist at that time, right? I could take that tray outside, I could sit on the couch and watch tv. Mm-hmm. I could go into the back bedroom. So again, whatever it is you can be. Self-contained within that basket, which I love that idea. Mm-hmm. Because your basket also included your ritual items. Yes. And it, again, we're, we keep going back to this, but it's true. What is it that you need? Mm-hmm. Don't let the lack of a studio and trust me. My little green jealousy, envy, horns come out when I see some of the beautiful rustic studios that people on Instagram, um, you know, I'm zigging drooling because I want one, but don't let that lack of one deter you from doing your art. Figure out what. How much space can I have in my small apartment? Well, I can sit on my couch and I can take these things with me. Like you said, organize in a basket. Mm-hmm. And you can do art in any space. if you take your ritual things mm-hmm. Your candle, your spray, your rock, whatever. You're still signifying this is my sacred space. Yes. No matter what it is, physically. Mm-hmm. You've delineated that around you as your sacred creative space.

Jill:

Yes, and we talked about traveling with art supplies but that's another thing like having a space. When I take a road trip, I like to bring, have my little space. So I bring a little stuff that I could sit in the front seat and, and do the work. So it's like you're having a remote, art space as well, just even in a car or if, if you take a train to work or something, if you have to commute every day and you are able to do whatever it is that you like to do for your art. Figure out a way that you can take that with you as well.'cause that's, especially if you're a commuter or you take trips, long trips or whatever, that's a great time to have. Don't let that be, that you don't have an art space that just make your art space wherever you go.

Mama Judy:

That's right. I a hundred percent agree with that.

Jill:

Yeah. Well, good. Anything else we to add to this Mama Judy, before we jump off?

Mama Judy:

Um, not really. Just in uh, summarizing it is nice to make some kind of personal ritual and have some objects around you that you can carry anywhere. They don't have to be complicated. routine is good up to a certain point. When you do it so much that you're not growing as an artist, that's when you need to reevaluate your routines. But routines and rituals are very important, I think, to any type of creative practice on the road or in your normal space. Let's just call it that. Right? And you can have that space. Anywhere.

Jill:

And one thing I think, we, we didn't really quite address this, but about the space is I think it's important that the space feels comfortable to you, even if it's putting a cushion on your chair or something so that that feels better to you. Or you have a little blanket that you can throw over your legs or something like, I like to feel kind of cozy when I'm doing my stuff and it doesn't take much. Again, it could just be a throw a blanket, whatever, a little space heater, if it's cold in the winter, that sort of thing. Being comfortable. So having a comfortable, chair to sit in, I think is important If you, if you sit down doing your art. And then the other thing, you mentioned music, one thing that I have found is I like to work in silence as well. Mm-hmm. So again, it's what you like, but also white noise if you, yes. And you can get white noise on Spotify or on YouTube or whatever, where sometimes I'll just turn on white noise. and like certain decibels, they, there've been studies that you can have certain decibels of this. Ambient noise, even at a coffee shop sometimes if it's not too loud and clery, it's something that you, it's kind of just going on in the background and it puts you into this creative mode. Um, but I just wanna throw that out as another example of an idea. if anybody hasn't thought about that, the white noise.

Mama Judy:

That's a perfect example of something good, and I'll even bring you an example from history. Mm-hmm. I believe it was Beethoven who always had his wife read aloud to him while he was playing or composing because what? White noise or like when I used to bead in front of a television. Mm-hmm. My conscious mind. Is paying attention to that noise, whether it's the white noise or the television or the wife reading. Therefore, my subconscious creative mind is let go even more.

Jill:

It is like putting you into a meditative state.

Mama Judy:

It is a meditative right, and anything that you know, because otherwise you're gonna sit there and go, oh, I don't like this, or I don't like that. Oh, that doesn't look good. Mm-hmm. That's the voice. You want to figure out what will work in your creative space to silence that voice and allow that deeper, subconscious creative voice to come out through your art, through your

Jill:

hands. And I love that little piece of history too about Beethoven, like the fact that she sat there and wrote Interesting. Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall during with that if, if you're thinking, is the woman feeling really great about just reading reading? Or is she falling asleep? And he is like, come on, keep reading.

Mama Judy:

I know. To me it was just a wonderful piece to show that, you know, everybody figures out what works for them. Yes. To create their best.

Jill:

One other historical example who's from North Carolina, Winston-Salem, Maya Angelou. a wonderful writer, you know, poet, writer. She would, when she had to go do some serious writing, she would rent a hotel room for, I think it was like a week, or I don't know if it was a week or three weeks or whatever for a few days. But she would go there specifically to a hotel room so that she could have her. Space. She created this environment. I wonder if she had like a candle or something, but I've heard that she would get a very simple hotel room so that it was like, there's a bed and there's a desk. This is what you're here for. You've set the tone, for you're stepping into this place and now you're about to do your art and let's get to business here.

Mama Judy:

And that's what the ritual will do too. Mm-hmm. I think that's great.'cause look what she's also done, she's gotten rid of all outside distractions. Mm-hmm.

Jill:

Right? So

Mama Judy:

that's what the white noise, that's what the television in the background, all of those things will get rid, will occupy the conscious mind, which is very distracting. To the creative mind. Yes. And the other thing that you talked about, meditating, if you can learn while you're doing your art to incorporate the breathing, the background, meditative music or what, that can be part of your ritual. And I think we already said that in a different way, right? But it all goes into the goal. Is to always do some form of art every day. I don't care if it's for two minutes. Mm-hmm. And to figure out what works for your creative intuition to do its best work.

Jill:

There you go. There's the wisdom. You've been just dropping these wisdom pearls left and right, mama Judy.

Mama Judy:

All righty then. Just call me

Jill:

Pearl. Well, thank you everyone for listening. We're so grateful for you and we would love to hear from you. So again, share on Instagram with us or email us if you have any ideas that what you'd love to hear us chat about or, please share this with a friend. And we appreciate you listening, but love you Mama Judy.

Mama Judy:

Love you too, and Jill, to all our listeners. They, in turn, the feedback we get is very inspirational to us.

Jill:

Yes, it has been very inspirational.

Mama Judy:

So we'll talk to everyone soon. Okay, sounds good.

Jill:

Love you. Love you. Bye. Bye-Bye.