Ever wondered what it's like to navigate the unpredictable seas of creativity? We're peeling back the curtain on the artist's journey, from thrilling art gallery shows to the nitty-gritty of returning to the studio after a break. I won't lie - it can be a struggle to keep the momentum going when inspiration decides to take a vacation. But our guest artist spills the beans on how to maintain a balance between your creative career and personal wellbeing. In fact, we'll explore the importance of self-care, rest, and aligning with our energy levels to keep that creative fire burning.
Get ready for a mind reset! We cast a spotlight on meditation as a major player in fostering a productive and positive outlook. If you've ever considered establishing a personal practice or wondered about the benefits it can bring to your work and life, this is your cue to tune in. We delve into ways to handle career transitions, personal growth, and the art of bouncing back when experiments go awry. On top of that, we delve deep into the world of creativity, exploring how curiosity and resilience can be your best companions on this journey.
In the grand finale, we untangle the complex dance of business and passion. How does one maintain artistic integrity while ensuring stability in a creative career? Listen on to find out! We chat about setting and evolving goals, taking risks, and celebrating your victories - big or small. But remember, it's not all work and no play. We're also big believers in the necessity of recharging your batteries and how planning online launches for artwork can be a game-changer. So, whether you're a seasoned artist or a novice in the creative world, this episode promises a wealth of insights and practical tips to help you thrive in your passion.
Learn more about Allison Here
Ever wondered what it's like to navigate the unpredictable seas of creativity? We're peeling back the curtain on the artist's journey, from thrilling art gallery shows to the nitty-gritty of returning to the studio after a break. I won't lie - it can be a struggle to keep the momentum going when inspiration decides to take a vacation. But our guest artist spills the beans on how to maintain a balance between your creative career and personal wellbeing. In fact, we'll explore the importance of self-care, rest, and aligning with our energy levels to keep that creative fire burning.
Get ready for a mind reset! We cast a spotlight on meditation as a major player in fostering a productive and positive outlook. If you've ever considered establishing a personal practice or wondered about the benefits it can bring to your work and life, this is your cue to tune in. We delve into ways to handle career transitions, personal growth, and the art of bouncing back when experiments go awry. On top of that, we delve deep into the world of creativity, exploring how curiosity and resilience can be your best companions on this journey.
In the grand finale, we untangle the complex dance of business and passion. How does one maintain artistic integrity while ensuring stability in a creative career? Listen on to find out! We chat about setting and evolving goals, taking risks, and celebrating your victories - big or small. But remember, it's not all work and no play. We're also big believers in the necessity of recharging your batteries and how planning online launches for artwork can be a game-changer. So, whether you're a seasoned artist or a novice in the creative world, this episode promises a wealth of insights and practical tips to help you thrive in your passion.
Learn more about Allison Here
Welcome to Mind Over Medium, a podcast for artists who want to make money doing what they love. When you tune in a twink you will learn how to attract your ideal commissions, approach galleries for representation, have a great online launch of your work, and how to do it all with less overwhelm and confusion. You will have the opportunity to hear from amazing artists who will share how they have built their successful creative businesses. My hope is to create a space where artists and the creative curious can gather to learn about one of the most important tools creative entrepreneurs need in their toolbox their mindset. Thanks so much for tuning in to Mind Over Medium podcast. Let's get started. Thank you for being here. I'm very excited to talk to you about all the things. Have you been?
Speaker 2:I've been busy, but everyone's busy all the time, so normal.
Speaker 1:Just been armed.
Speaker 2:Just living life.
Speaker 1:I guess, yeah, tell us about what's been going on recently, because you have seen, I've seen your busy, I've seen your beautiful busy on Instagram and your work New Work Looks Amazing.
Speaker 2:Thank you. So I just had a show with one of the galleries I'm represented by, Ann Nielsen Fine Art. They're located in Charlotte. Really great people that work at the gallery Love being there with them for almost four years this summer and I was just a part of a trio show in tandem to help celebrate their nine year anniversary being open and operating as gallery Also did the show last year, but I didn't realize it when I was like, yeah, I'll do the show again.
Speaker 2:So I just it was a coincidence. So I was prepping for that show basically January through April and you know, driving the work back and forth it's like a five hour drive from where I live. It's basically a 12 hour full day in the car there and back and it's just it was a lot but it was such a fun night. And now I have another body of work for a small collection release with the other gallery that I work with that will be dropping June 9th and everything in between there. And then I'm just trying to kind of get back in the rhythm because I've taken time off from the studio since completing the body of work for the etc.
Speaker 2:A show that I did with Ann Nielsen, and I've found that kind of jumping back into painting after exerting so much energy creating a body of work is it's really like wavy, and I tried to go back for one day, I think late last week, and I tried to go back yesterday and I just it wasn't vibing yet. So I'm like waiting for it all to click back into place. I still have so much work to do, but I know it will happen. It always happens that way. So I'm just trying to rest on the back end now so that way, when I am ready to go back in the studio this week it will, it'll all feel like how it felt when I went back in January after taking a break for the holidays.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you go in and you're, you know you have work to do but it's not vibing, do you try to push through it, like, what is your process there?
Speaker 2:So usually for the first day back, like so I finished all this work. The show opened May 4th. I wish I had a calendar in front of me, but I gave myself basically like so that was not even a week ago, okay, and that work was due two weeks before the show. So I really personally have not painted in two or three weeks. So I thought, and again I thought, that I could maybe do a little something. In between, when I dropped the work off to the opening of the show, which normally I would, but I was in the studio the night before, I had to drive it the next morning until like 10pm and I don't recommend that was not by design. That was like rain, delays catching up with me, like all kinds of stuff, and I think all of that coming to a head and the way that it did down to the wire and preparing for this show in particular, it was different than it usually is. Usually I count, account for enough time and it's like I'm just making work, which is how it should feel, right, and then it's like I'm just take the work or get it curried to the gallery and then I just keep moving and I think that the trip shouldn't really stop the way that it has this go around. But you know, I've learned from this experience, so normally what I would do is I'm I'm big on feeling and how I feel. I've worked really hard to be really in tune with my body and my energy levels and it's taken a really long time because I was kind of raised to just go, go, go, do it yourself. If you want to done right, do it yourself. Blah, blah, blah, push through, push through. I think it's a huge proponent of the idea of, like you know, you find inspiration in the studio. You're going to be able to. You can't find the solutions just dilly dallying around, waiting for it to drop into your brain. So it's kind of these two sides, you know go, go, go, energy and then leaning into it energy. And I wanted to start today, for instance, because it's Monday, right. So when today I tried yesterday, sundays are really quiet at the studio, which is really nice. I'm right next door to a business that's closed on the weekend, so I get to park in front of the studio and it's just really quiet.
Speaker 2:So yesterday, to answer your question, long story long, I went in and just thinking okay, so first session back after about two and a half weeks off. We're going to just experiment and have fun, and I've had this idea my head, I guess, since March or so, and usually about this time every year. I just want to paint florals, like I want to paint some type of flower. I do it once. Sometimes I sell them, sometimes I don't. I just want to go in and, like, play and have fun. So yesterday I went in and just got out a bunch of sheets of Bristol paper and just started playing around with these monochromatic, really big florals and I did about three of them and I really liked how they looked and then I started trying to photograph them, just to see. You know, what are next steps, like what do I want to do with this one and draw on top of these? Do I want to sell them, as is, as a study, do you know? And just keeping those photos in my camera roll to see also how they look through the camera. That's the step within itself.
Speaker 2:And sure it wasn't driving. My eyes were hurting, I got a terrible headache and I felt like every God was like you need, you need to go home, you need to go home. This isn't working. And I tried to push through, because I'd only been there at that point for maybe three hours and I was hoping to have the whole afternoon. I walk the dogs down and part of it, when that happens, feels like a failure, because in my head I'm like I've taken all of this time off, like I don't understand why I'm not ready to jump back in and paint.
Speaker 2:And you know, it does kind of get to the point where you have the flexibility to kind of do what I was saying and lean more into like how your body feels and what your energy levels are and do you have the capacity right now and the bandwidth to go create a new body of work. But there's going to come a point where there's this intersection. It's like you have to just suck it up and go in and start and just do the best that you can. So I think this week will be a do the best that you can kind of week, yeah, which is okay and it's nice because the way that we work, with our work being so layered in my mind I know, with the medium mediums that I've chosen and the process that I have, that works for me.
Speaker 2:It that is by design, where I can go in and just lay down a bunch of layers and it's not that serious, yeah. And in two weeks time I'll be getting to the really juicy stuff and I know that, like this kind of boring, mundane part has to happen and eventually the layers will become this finished painting, and that also took me a really long time to figure out a process that works with someone like me who is very prone to anxious spells and you know the whole mental health crisis. So I think we might all be a little bit a part of that. But I was really being conscious of letting your job work with you but not against you, because you're trying to prove something and make something a certain way and again, that's taken a lot of time. But all that to say, hopefully this week will prove something.
Speaker 1:Well, I have no doubt that it will, and I know exactly what you're talking about because, yeah, I use a lot of layers in my work too, and I will literally when I'm in that stage, I know exactly what you're talking about, when you're like okay, I know I need to be working, I've got deadlines, so let's just, let's just move my hands, it's only a later. I say that to myself it's only a layer, lee, and it's no big deal. Take the pressure off.
Speaker 2:And it's that's something to that. I have shared that with people I've worked with in the past like it's almost this state of delusion you have to kind of put yourself in which I'm very pro, living in a delusional state and you have to pretend like there are no deadlines sometimes to make the network that you have to make, and you have to pretend like it's almost like you have to revert back to the beginning when you were able to just paint for the sake of painting, when you had a free moment. And also like you almost have to tell yourself like none of this matters or pain is if no one's going to see it and you know all of those things that when you're so far into your career you forget how to be a child within your practice and it's really important to just chill the f out sometimes.
Speaker 1:Totally, and you have my full permission to cast as much as you like.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to come back on it because I'm like is that really? Is that like my character? Right now I don't know if it is or not the f word might be a little much for this afternoon, but maybe also a minute or so, oh an accident.
Speaker 1:Well, going back to something you said, how do you support your creativity? I mean, I've known you for a while and I know some of your practices. I believe journaling used to be in there. Do you meditate? Do you just? I mean, do you do anything and it's okay?
Speaker 2:Like, how do I tick? Yeah, okay. So this is something that's actually been on my mind probably the last year, because I don't think a lot of artists understand, especially when you're looking at social media and you're just getting glimpses of the people that you follow and what they're putting out there, you know that's a whole another conversation within itself and that's fine. You know that's the point of that platform is to share what you want to share. But I think artists don't understand there's this whole other and creative people in general.
Speaker 2:There's this whole other side, and I don't know if I'm just being too meta about this, but I know, for me personally, every single thing that I do consume, absorb, eat, movement, sleep everything within my life affects my work. Do I wish it was not that way? I don't know, because I have pretty obsessive tendencies and I don't know if it would work for me personally any other way and that's something else that took me a really long time to figure out is like if I'm not good, then nothing else is good, my relationships are not good, if I feel like crap, then and I don't want to work out and I don't want to move my body and I don't want to eat the green stuff and I don't want to do all these things that I know make me feel my best and then my career suffers directly.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like this idea. I started meditating in 2021 and there was a point where I was doing it every day. It was incredible, couldn't, cannot recommend meditating enough. There's so many different types of meditations, meditation apps out there now. I'm a really big fan of the superhuman app there's, but you know there's a million out there. It's just like it's like a therapist, like try one, figure out what works for you. A lot of them do free trials, seven day trials, 14 day trials but it's kind of this idea that you don't need to start meditating when you feel like you need to start meditating. Is these things that make you tick and that make you feel good. They're daily practice. They're called a practice for a reason. It's not like and the people who are meditating they might not necessarily even like meditating, but they do it because it makes them feel they're absolutely best and it takes you to a different place. It puts you in a mindset. To answer your question yes, I do meditate.
Speaker 2:I'm not a fan but I'm just talking about meditating without actually saying. I'm being like really evasive with my response, but it puts you into a place like an out of body. It's an out of body experience, in a way, because it removes you from everything that your subconscious mind is telling you. Your conscious mind is telling you the things that you think are true or not true based off experience, this, that and the other, and it removes all of it and for me, it's like I'm in this black room and anything is possible and it helps me reprogram my mind to where, when I come out of that meditation, I feel calm, I feel centered, I feel grounded and I feel absolutely ready to just be and I don't have anxiety and I'm not thinking. Well, that didn't work last time, so it's not going to work this time, and I, you know I'm not freaking out about anything and that, for me, is something that is huge. And again, I was doing it every day and I would do it first thing in the morning and it makes such a huge difference to me. It's a non negotiable. But again, recently, with how busy I've been, it's one of those things that easily get swapped out for well, I need to go to the studio an hour earlier instead and I'm doing a meditation here from five minutes in the morning to maybe 20 minutes nothing crazy. They're also nice for, like, an afternoon reset or on the superhuman app not to keep you know, promoting them, whatever. But there it's a great app and they have walking meditations, running meditations, cooking meditations, things that you can listen to while you're going grocery shopping, future self meditations and meditations for anxiety. If you just had a family engagement, like literally anything you can think of, absolutely wonderful and anyway. So, yes, I'm huge proponent of meditating. I haven't been journaling as much, but I'm feeling like that is a sign that things are better because I don't have as much to journal about.
Speaker 2:But I find myself, if I do wake up in the morning After meditation, I want to write some things down or I just still can't get this thought that's been looping in my mind, just I can't quiet it. Then that is a sign that I need to write and get it out and not typing on my computer. The physical act of writing is so much more powerful than typing things out. The other thing that I do is I don't get on my phone unless it's to open the meditation app, usually at least an hour before or after I've woken up. I'm not grabbing my phone seeing what I've missed. I'm not opening social media a lot of times. I don't even get on Instagram until after lunch. Yeah, and I've already been at the studio for a few hours.
Speaker 2:I know that's different to. I'm not a parent, so I don't have children to like worry about and tinker with and check in on. But I recommend doing that because it doesn't send that signal to your brain, to me, if this like fight or flight and this obsession that we need all this information and listen. I'm a forever student, like. I love learning. I'm a very curious person, but you're not missing out on anything. If anything, you're missing out on yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm seeing in the morning and the reason why I'm harping so much to and first thing in the morning is that's my special time to kind of what you're saying, these practices that I'm using, because if you can make yourself feel rocks all at the beginning of the day, then nothing else affects you the way that it does.
Speaker 2:It's like stuff doesn't bother you.
Speaker 2:It's like you've already found yourself to be the best version that you can be that day before you've even looked at your phone or open an email or whatever, and that's what I do for working out like I used to be an afternoon person that love working out.
Speaker 2:Then it's different for women, to their hormone levels and where you are and everything I found doing like a strength training workout first thing in the morning after I've had some breakfast, and getting all of all of these things taken care of before I go to the studio, and that sometimes that means I wake up at 5am. Sometimes that means I wake up with no time to rest, or even with the sun it depends on the day but I have to do these things now. These things are required of me in order to make the art that you see, because I can't be fully present in that practice. If I'm thinking about all this other shit that I know that I should be doing, that I haven't done yet that day, that's part of it and it could be for a lot of people. It might not be all of these different well being things that I'm saying. It could be like dropping your phone and going to the grocery store. It's like get this stuff done that you know that you need to get done and then go paint.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because if that's just like ticking in the back of your mind, like, oh, I've got to do this, this and this, it's very hard to concentrate on your work.
Speaker 2:Yes, and even like this call today, this interview that we're having together, like. Luckily, I had a. I had a slow day today, which was somewhat unintentional, but if I had been in the studio I would have set an alarm on my phone. I would have called or we started chatting at 430, I would have set an alarm on my phone is 415, that said clean up and head home call with Leanne. That's another hack. So I'm not constantly checking my phone saying, oh my gosh, I'm going to run over like I'm going to miss our call. I'm freaking out because I don't want to be looking at my phone. I don't want to be constantly checking anything.
Speaker 2:I stopped wearing my watch because I felt like I was checking the time. I'm constantly again obsessive tendencies, but it's just important to check in with yourself and ask yourself why you feel like crap and what are you doing to help yourself. Because I think, until you stop feeling low and your baseline is low until you stop feeling that way and you can understand what it feels like to actually feel good, whatever that means for you, whether it's your diet, your movement, meditation, relationships, boundaries that you need to set, until you know what it feels like to not have it anymore. You're just comfortable, mm. Hmm, I'm comfortable living with a low baseline and it's so much easier to not do all these things that I just spit off because I've also not done do most of those things for decades. Yeah, it's so much easier not to do them because they require effort and time and energy and for the reason why a lot of people don't take care of themselves, because it's not easy. It's not easy yourself first, it's not, it's it's a privilege and it's it's something that makes all the difference. And it's just now it's become such a non negotiable for me because I am happier than I've ever been and I've been in some really low places, and that also affects the work. So, mm.
Speaker 2:Hmm, you know, if my purpose here is to be a painter and to be an artist, to be a creative, I have to take care of the vessel or otherwise there is nothing like what am I? And that's that's another thing that I think about all the time is, as artists, we are allowed to be something else, but an artist like I am allowed to be a person and be Allison first and then second. I'm an artist and I think it's. I think it's really incredible to be so intertwined with what you do that you know you are art, you live, you are living, breathing, are everything you touches art, and I think that's incredible and I hope to be that as well. But I also think it's important to understand that everything is connected but it's also very separate and you have to take care of all the pieces for this one thing to work. Yeah, I know that's a really abstract way of saying it, but no, I get what you're saying. I don't, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Going back to the social media, social media, social media thing, I can't say it because I hate it, but I have people all the time You're, you look like you're crushing it, you're killing. I have people at the opening last week saying that, like you look, you're so busy, I'm not that busy. I'm not that busy right now. I appreciate you saying that the work is beautiful, but all of this stuff that you're saying is is possible. Whatever you think that that is like I know what I'm putting out there, but whatever you think is happening behind the scenes, like that is equally, if not more, than what is ends up being the final product, and I just don't think people understand how much hard work goes in on the back end In order to create all the stuff that they see.
Speaker 2:It's not effortless.
Speaker 2:It's not like I'm just, oh, I got my BFA and then I go in the studio and then I make these paintings and then that's it.
Speaker 2:It's like I am more obsessed with creating a rock solid foundation so I can sustain this career, because I've been on the other side where I was running it at such a rapid rate, to where it was absolutely not sustainable, very unstable. I was burning the candle at both ends and that is why I'm so passionate about taking care of myself. First, because I learned very quickly, because I grew very quickly in the beginning of my career, partially thank you to social media, that I've been on both sides and I. If you are in a place in your career, no matter what it is that you do, as an entrepreneur and artist, whatever and you feel like what you're doing right now is not sustainable, then you need to take a hard look in the mirror and you need to reevaluate, because is it worth having the money now, and a lot of money now, but then no money in the future because you created a monster that you can't control?
Speaker 2:and that's basically where I was at, yeah, and you keep feeding the monster, and so I had to create a hard break and had to reevaluate. And now the most important thing to me is not income, money, alkylates, whatever. The most important thing to me is peace and take everything away that I have, but I know that at the end of the day, I'm still good and that's all I care about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean, and I mean, I remember talking to you during some of those times when you were hustling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you've been around. You've been around for the thick of it.
Speaker 1:You've been around for the highs, the lows, like everything and I'm very happy to know and to see and you can feel it. You can feel the peace, you can feel the subtleness, so, and that's from hard work, so I hope that you're proud of yourself for taking the time to do that.
Speaker 2:It's like reverse work thank you yes it's like reverse engineering this thing that I created. That at the time felt very exciting and fun and then I realized I actually don't want to be doing this anymore. But then I also was like, how, how do I get out of this? You know, it was a very it wasn't even like a be careful, what you wish for thing, because where I ended up was not necessarily what I wished for. Maybe from a monetary standpoint, yes, but everything else fell not quite right, because I was growing as a person internally, beginning, you know, the meditations and working on myself and working on my mental health, and my career was no longer matching up with who I was as a person, and it was very jarring.
Speaker 2:I actually worked with an intuitive business coach fall of 2021 and we had an hour session together and she, in the most kind way the way I'm going to say this and it's gonna sound like she sucks, but it's not but essentially she wrapped up her call and she said she was feeling like a lot of frantic energy from me, because I think what was happening is I had permission, for the first time in what felt like three years, to actually be honest about what was happening in my career and how it made me feel and the disconnect, because I was at that point once I had the call with her and I didn't know what to do. I that's not true. I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn't know how to do it and I hadn't given myself permission to do it yet and it was very scary.
Speaker 2:So basically, I feel like I'm being elusive as well, but I used to do coaches or coaching and courses and teaching and I'll doubt in the you know, working one-on-one here and there with people, because I still love helping people and talking to people and working with people, but that was kind of overshadowing my career as an artist and I was not able to do both. I was.
Speaker 2:I felt like no matter what, I was missing out on something yeah and so I had to make the hard choice to completely pull back from the education sector of my business, which really was, especially during 2020 and 2021.
Speaker 2:That was like paying the bills that afforded my husband to be able to leave his job so he could have his whatever is in between a quarter and a midlife crisis try some other things out for the first time ever when he floated the household.
Speaker 2:So that was really empowering to be able to, you know, be the breadwinner for an entire year, not have to worry about it. But at the end of the day, it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth whatever all of this had become, because I was like, you know, 10, 15 years from now, I'm gonna look back and I'm gonna like that's not me in the way that I was doing it. So I'm kind of at a place right now where I'm trying to understand, because I started a podcast and, like I did all these things that I'd like been wanting to do, thinking well, maybe this is it, maybe this is it, maybe this is it. And I still am in that place of trying to figure out what does it look like? Because I I know I won't be fulfilled if I'm not helping people, that is, but I know that I also.
Speaker 2:The number one priority will always be to paint and it will always be, because that is my therapy and so I don't know it's. I'm in this weird crossroads, but it's all my brain. That's actually the first time I've ever said it. So who knows? Like by the time this podcast comes out, who knows what we'll be?
Speaker 1:well, I think one of the things that you touched on that I think is so important and I think is critical to what we do we have to try a lot of things to see what works, yeah, and I think that if you try things and maybe it doesn't work, or you try it, you're like that wasn't for me, and then you put some shame or judgment on top of that, that's that's no bueno, like we don't, but there's no room for that, just like that's just part of the gig. We try things, we see if it works, tweak it, and it's giving ourselves that permission to be very curious and see where that takes us. I think that's part of being someone who's a creative who is?
Speaker 2:creative and I think the reason that it feels so daunting to give and that's so true, like we are supposed to be experimenters, we are supposed to be able, we're artists, we're weird, we try whatever, we do whatever. But the social media part is such a blessing, but it's also such a curse, because all of these experiments, depending on what you share and what you choose to put out there, it's on public display.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's very vulnerable. It's already vulnerable. Artist, making something with your emotions and your training, or your lack thereof, and like putting it out there, seeing what happens, and sometimes it's crickets, or sometimes it's amazing, and you know so as a creative person, I'm over here thinking like, well, I want to try and do all these things, but the effort that goes behind it and then to put it out there, it's like you have to for me at this point, because I don't want to put any rules on anyone, but like I feel like personally, with my energy, I have to be very calculated about what I choose to invest in for my bandwidth, and know that the painting is always the base of it all, because it always has been the base of it all for my entire life, and sometimes the scales will shift, and sometimes it will. Maybe it'll be more of this other thing, and then you know the paintings down here, and then this new thing but, it's always your pillar it is.
Speaker 2:It's the thing that I always will come back to, and I think my fear around all of this is I don't want to lose myself again, and but that goes back to meditation. Yeah, well, turning this podcast off because I keep talking about meditation turning it off to meditate.
Speaker 1:I oh, I had a question. What was it? Oh, here's what I was going to say about that. I think that you will be. You're so much more well equipped now because you've been through that. I mean, would you count burnout? Is that how you would label what it was?
Speaker 2:definitely burnout adjacent.
Speaker 1:If not, that yeah, yeah you know what that feels like now in your body, right like you know when whatever happens in you that triggers that feeling like you you've experienced so you're so much more aware of it now.
Speaker 2:So I think you'll catch it and that's something I've heard one of my old coaches she says that a lot and I think it's great for anyone listening that wants to try something again. That was a failure before, or I mean, I'm talking to you as much as I'm talking to myself, but it doesn't have to be the way that it was before and I think I might have even said that earlier in this episode. But doing something again doesn't mean that it's going to prove the same results. It actually shouldn't, because you have so much information. You have more information now. You have more tools now.
Speaker 2:You, like you said, you live that experience before, so you know what not to do the next time, which actually the blessing and such that's, such a gift to be able to have this experience, because there's so many things that people can teach you. But there's there's such a different effect when you've lived through something and you have that toolkit yourself. Yeah, this is perfectly tailored to you and to your point. It's like as you grow and change the way that you go about doing things in your business, in your career, even the way that you approach a canvas, it's going to be different. It's going to continue to change and it should continue to change you're doing the same thing, the same way, forever, then I don't know.
Speaker 2:I mean, maybe that's for some people but that's not for me yeah, it doesn't seem to fit the nature of our work.
Speaker 1:No, being an artist, yeah, and it's something else you said earlier that made me think. I would say, if I had to put it like in percentages, I think maybe 20% of what we do, and tell me if you think this is wrong 20% of what we do is actually like painting, putting a brushed canvas or whatever your medium is, and 80% is all the other stuff yeah, I would say.
Speaker 2:I mean, for me it might be these days I've kind of slacked on my emails, but yeah, I think 20% sounds pretty right and that's the thing though. That's, that's great, like, yeah, that is again going back to. You know, I'm talking about this binder full of stuff I try to do every day, or, you know, play it by ear and see what feels right that day, what I feel like I need that day. That is all of the stuff that again creates a foundation for when I go and paint for 20 minutes, two hours, whatever it ends up being that day, sometimes six hours. If you build that foundation, then you can get a week worth of painting done in those two hours.
Speaker 2:It's not always the volume, it's what are you setting yourself up for when you are going into the studio. And that kind of goes back to what we were saying at the beginning of the episode is, you know, my husband was like you should just do nothing tomorrow and I was like I can't do nothing tomorrow. That sounds terrible, but in actuality, when you keep trying to bullshit your way through being productive, when really all you need to do is rest and again, I'm saying this to you guys, as I am saying this to myself, you're really just prolonging the inevitable.
Speaker 2:That is, you just need a hard reset for there is no glory in taking longer to do a job that can be done in a shorter amount of time, just because you're making it more complicated than it actually has to be. Yeah yeah, and that's something that has to learn. The hard way, too, is productivity is a lie.
Speaker 1:It's not real. Yeah, it's definitely not linear.
Speaker 2:No, it's not linear and a lot of people you know they call it like you're going into the vortex, like you can be in this vortex and you it just depends on your concentration and how successful you've set yourself up for that day. I really do believe that because you can get four hours of you can work for four hours and get four weeks of work. Work how do I say this? Four?
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh. So basically, what you're saying is the time doesn't matter, like it can matter, but it doesn't necessarily matter because if you have taken the time and supported yourself and your craft in a way that you could go in and work for two hours and get two weeks of work completed, Exactly like going into the studio every single day to work doesn't have to be your way if it's better for you to have two long days a week and then you spend the rest of the week going shopping, taking your kids to school, having food, working out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, taking a walk, Taking a walk like you can.
Speaker 2:You don't have you get to make your schedule look the way that you want it to look for your productivity, yeah, and something that really go ahead, sorry.
Speaker 1:Oh, I was gonna say that took me a long time to figure out because, coming from corporate oh yeah. I was like, oh no, I've got to work nine to five.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm like wait, I'm not a banker, what am I doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's I mean give yourself permission to figure out what your work schedule looks like for you, because you're your own boss now as an artist and there is no right or wrong way to make the work. It just whatever is going. Your work needs to support you as much as you support your work, so whatever makes you feel the most energized and makes you feel the best throughout the rest of your life. Because, again, if we're thinking about what Leigh Ann's saying, like you're painting, let's say, two hours a day, what about the other 22 hours of the day, less than eight hour, six to eight hours that you're sleeping? That's what I'm saying when I'm like, yeah, we're artists, but we're also people. So you put so much emphasis on this artist thing, but how much of time are you actually spending on that every single day? And then how are you supporting you as a human? The rest of your life and the rest of your day? That's really important. People just aren't taking care of themselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's pissing me off. That's your new platform. I'm gonna change that in my bio. You're pissing me off. Start taking care of yourself, people. Yes, well, this kind of goes to that. Oh, my chair just rolled really far back. What do you believe about your ability to create what you want?
Speaker 2:I think in the beginning, I think, oh, it's very layered. I think being able to create what you want is a privilege based off of many different things. I think it has to do with how your career starts. So, are you being discovered? That doesn't really happen that much anymore, but maybe with TikTok it hopefully is becoming more of a thing again. If you're being discovered and you're paying what you like which I think is always the go-to Like we need to be painting what feels true to us, even if we're scared it's too weird or it's not gonna work or whatever. But we spend too much time paying attention to what other people are doing and thinking well, that's what I need to be doing, because X, y and Z, but we also have to understand that doing what someone else is doing is not going to yield the same results, because they're not you and you're not them.
Speaker 2:There's so many things that go into that, but I feel like I am just recently being able to paint what I really want, and I'm still not even doing it fully. It's a very what's the word I'm looking for? It's a dance. I listened to a podcast the other day that really talked about balancing between the things that will sustain your business and then also doing the things that feel exciting to you.
Speaker 2:So don't be a dummy.
Speaker 2:You need to be doing things that are gonna bring in income, but you don't need to let that overshadow the things that feel exciting to you.
Speaker 2:So, whether that's something that has payment plans or something that is more automated like a print of a piece that was really successful or doing a class or a workshop and you don't have to advertise these things necessarily you don't have to make them a part of your business. If you're taking commissions under the table that are dog portraits and you are trying to be an esteemed abstract artist, you don't have to tell anyone on social media or anyone on Instagram or whatever that you're taking these commissions. But if that's what's gonna float your household until you are able to only take commissions for the things that you're passionate about painting, there's no shame in that. And I had to do that at the beginning of my career not dog portraits, but still abstract, still in my style, but maybe a color palette that was really lame and I was just like I can't make a painting. You want me to make an abstract painting with white, gray and tan, but boring.
Speaker 1:those are all the same, almost you know.
Speaker 2:If you see my work now, you'll understand. It's like I work with a rainbow and people are trying to restrict my palette, but they love my style, which you know. That information was helpful. It's like, okay, I got something good going on. But I think I had a lot of resentment for a really long time around people that were able to paint and work and make what they want and never stress about where the money is coming from.
Speaker 2:Whatever that looks like, whether it's a marital status or you know, it's none of my business where people get their money from, whatever, but I always wanted that, and I think that's such a big thing for artists is you just want to feel safe and stable and you know, on top of it all, you really want to feel like you're making something that matters, and so then you just kind of have to go inward and ask yourself like, okay, well, what, what do I have to sacrifice here? Because it's going to be one of those things, maybe for a few years.
Speaker 2:Whether that's making something you're not super stoked about, but then you slowly can transition into something that you are really excited about. Maybe you know you could do it like I did, and you had a part-time job for a really long time. There's no shame in that. There's so many artists who had part-time jobs up until they're passing as janitors, as you know line cooks like nothing glamorous, but they cared about the art more than their. They had no shame around where they were getting their income. They didn't care. They were living their life. They were, you know, I guess it could be a form of hustling kind of, but they they had to do it. They did what they had to do in order to make their careers happen for them.
Speaker 2:And I think what we've seen over the last three years and kind of what the economy is going through right now, things are wavy and they're going to always be wavy and you can't control these outside factors, but you also don't need to let them control what it is that you're creating. Necessarily, I don't want people making shit art because they think it will sell. I would rather you make one big piece that you're really passionate about and you just wait for the right collector. Then make all these tiny little things that are trendy and stupid, and it's just. You know you don't want your name attached to that. Rather, you create something always that you're proud to have your name attached to and to also know that as you grow as an artist and your career changes, like your art is going to grow, you're going to change and not feel shame about what you've created in the past, because it got you to where you are today.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, it's a constant evolution and it should be. Yeah, I agree. Here's a question I like to ask everybody how do you celebrate your wins?
Speaker 2:I need to get better about this.
Speaker 1:And that's generally the answer that I'm getting, because I feel very passionately that you celebrate your wins.
Speaker 2:And I'm pretty sure I put that on my like vision. It wasn't a vision board, but I made like a big list at the beginning of the year of things that I just wanted to accomplish. Yeah, and one of them was to have a trip planned like a weekend getaway within driving distance once a month and maybe like a bigger trip that might require a flight once a quarter, specifically timed around where I was with my work and this, that and the other, just to have some kind of reprieve from all of the hustle and bustle.
Speaker 1:Is it a?
Speaker 2:solo trip, or with Brandon, I think so every other month would be a solo trip, like almost like a mini artist retreat, just like in the woods somewhere on a mountain. That's like my favorite place to be with people. And then you know, but we also, we just celebrate our anniversary and you know, I feel like we're good on our time for a little bit. But when you take the time to celebrate your wins, it does read this really cool thing where it reprograms your mind to feel proud of yourself and to understand that when you do accomplish something, you can feel like the up level happening inside of your body.
Speaker 2:When you celebrate that, because you're sending signals to your brain that saying, oh, this was good, it's like when you're a child and you know you do something that your parent likes and they're going yeah, yeah, yeah. And so you're potentially doing that to yourself. And that's why it is so important to celebrate your wins. Whether that's getting your first show or selling your first piece, or your thousandth piece, whatever it is hitting your goal for the month, or making a new friend doing a podcast interview, whatever it happens to be, it's important to celebrate because it's going to condition you to keep doing those things and not become complacent or to feel like kind of a woe is me, no one cares about me, yeah, what are these all?
Speaker 1:Never enough.
Speaker 2:Yes, because then you just feel like your life is a constant forward motion and there's no milestones to look back on and it just becomes this big stressful blur. And I've been there. I feel like I'm kind of coming out of it a little bit, but I try to do little things, like this week I'm getting a massage because my body is wrecked from all the driving, thinking about things that I like, that you know, and depending on the milestone two or the win, rather there could be like different tiers. So if I wanted to make an extra $5,000 this month and I hit that goal, then I'm definitely taking myself on that trip.
Speaker 2:You know things like that, because really, the planned trips were just to force myself to pause yeah, because otherwise I just keep going and I don't stop until I stop for, like you know, a month, and I can't always do that. So celebrating your wins is really important, but I need to get better about actively doing them, because what will happen is these things that used to seem really big and exciting to you will start to become your normal, which is what should be happening, right? Yeah, and you just get used to them. You know, oh, I was on a show, great, I have to get ready for the next show, and it's almost like you start complaining about this shit that you used to dream about and you used to want it, because it just becomes normal.
Speaker 2:But we need to think about, you know, what would five year old us think about? What's going on right now? What would I say? Think about what's going on right now and really giving yourself time to step back and be proud of yourself. Also, I think I don't do well with that at all. I was kind of like raised to be really, really humble, very modest in, you know, deflect everything thrown at me that was positive.
Speaker 1:Yes, my mom's saying was you don't want to get too big for your britches.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think that's. I think a lot of us too Not all women, but being raised is like a polite young lady, and I'm sure there's some kind of religious element in there as well.
Speaker 1:But yeah, celebrating I like to encourage you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this conversation is definitely encouraging me to be better about it. Okay, it's just one of those things. I'll just add it to my morning list.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there you go, one more thing Between right, Between your workout and meditation.
Speaker 2:Right, there you go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you set goals for yourself and your?
Speaker 2:business Okay. So I used to be very hardcore about this. It helped a lot, especially in the beginning, because, yeah, how much money do I want to make a month and what does that look like and how do I even do that? And creating structure for yourself as an artist is so important. Yes, I agree, I don't care if you're one of those artists. It's like, oh, I just kind of go with the flow and whatever, and it's like, well, a little structure can help anyone. I don't need you to become super obsessive with it, but it will help you.
Speaker 2:Again, like you were saying, I don't want to feel, in a sense, that you have this nine to five Not every day needs to feel like you have a nine to five, but you're the only person here holding yourself accountable, so I don't want to hear it. If things aren't happening for you, that you want to be happening because you're in charge. So, like, what are you doing about it? And I got to a point where I was setting goals. I was hitting them every month. It was wonderful and they were. Usually it was like I want to make this every month. It wasn't like every month I wanted to make more and more and more and more.
Speaker 2:I was just setting a baseline for myself, to hold myself accountable, to make sure all the bills were getting paid, that I was able to put some things in savings and like do all the adult things. And when I had this kind of recluse moment after having my call with that intuitive business coach and the frantic energy and all that, it just kind of like figuring out, okay what happens. Now I realized like what I had been doing wasn't going to happen anymore, which is a limiting belief, but I was taking out half of my business and so I had to say what are your priorities? What is your new baseline? What do you want to make happen? And so now goals kind of look like I need to make sure again enough to pay the bills, but they're now. They're not so based around money, they're more based around like career accomplishments and like things that I want.
Speaker 2:That will change you. Right now I'm more like. I want to be on more podcasts. I would like to do some public speaking events. I would like to be picked up by two more galleries, like things like that, because I'm at a point in my career where Things are established but I wouldn't have gotten to this point of Kind of like automation If I hadn't done all that work before now.
Speaker 2:With all that being said, gallery sales are. They can be really wavy too. I mean you, I don't. I love working with galleries, but I do not believe the issue would rely solely on another entity to Create your income. If you don't have to. If you're working with like six galleries, you're probably good, or five or four. But when you get down to just a few and if you're not, you know, in their top five Artists for sales and whatnot you need to have a bit backup plan and maybe sell some things through yourself. So goals again. Going back to that, you know, do a release once a quarter so I just again can have some accountability for myself and make sure that I'm doing what I need to do, so I'm not stressed, so I can show up in the studio and make the work and live in that state of delusion and just pretend Like everything's fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you should be yes, yeah, and I think you like your goals changed, like you said, as your career moves forward or you have life. Things happen Like you have to change it.
Speaker 2:So it's good to be mindful, but I think, I think they're important to have they are important to have because, if you can look, what I like to do too is, at the Beginning of every month, I look back on the previous month and kind of like what was going on, what were my numbers? Where did I end? Where'd I need to make up for that in this next month? And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to be less stringent with myself and Be more in this state of peace instead of this place of like really heavy masculine energy where it's go, go, go, go go, because it doesn't always work. For me, too much go, go go is not a good thing, but it's also Really imperative to push yourself as an artist and keep yourself uncomfortable and doing this. That you know. Yeah, you might be tired at the end of the day, but if this was your nine to five and you had to make that email because your boss said you had to get it done before you could go home, than you would yeah, you can't be lazy Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I remember at the beginning, I would Say to myself like how can I be my best employee? Like what would my best employee do? They wouldn't not do it, right. I mean so like you almost have to Play some tricks with your brain, when at least I did, when I Transitioned from working for someone to working for myself.
Speaker 2:And yeah, and if you don't thrive, working for yourself and that structure that I mentioned earlier is really important and it's important to be your best employee, but it's also important to be a nice boss to yourself. And what you were saying absolutely about Rewarding yourself, like, if I'm looking at it straight up, like I had a corporate job, I didn't take a vacation until April, which is not good, like no time I had time off, I guess, but I was. I was really cranking out. Well, I wasn't cranking out, I was working at a very slow pace my pace but I wasn't giving myself time away Because this other thing took precedent over me going away for a weekend. But in hindsight, going away for a weekend in the middle of that time where I thought I'm too busy, I don't have time to sneak away, would have served me so much more than pushing through. You know now I know that for next time?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so next time. How do you remember that? Do you like make notes? I mean, how do, how will you remember to do that?
Speaker 2:But the by the way that I felt by the way that I felt.
Speaker 2:Waking up. I remember waking up. Of course I remember wasn't that long ago, but I think my brain is trying to like black it out, being so Absolutely tired and drained and knowing that I had to load all this car by myself, load all this art in my car by myself, drive five hours to Charlotte, drop it off, visit for like 30 minutes just to turn back around. And I got home at 11 30 at night and, and even having to go in that morning before I was able to load the art, I had to Touch up some of the sides with varnish, let that dry and I had to wire them because I had lost Light and just I was so burned out the night before I was like I have to come do this in the morning. Yeah, and I was just in there and I was thinking like what is, what is this about?
Speaker 2:And I've had studio assistance before. I've had a few come in and out. I've, you know, I've had help before. I've had Inbox management, I've had people help me and whatnot. But in those moments it's things like that where you just push through and you have to. You don't have to do it yourself, but I'm not gonna have someone coming at 7 am To wire my pieces and that I think sometimes you have those moments where I don't care where you are in your career, but something will happen like that and you're just thinking this is not it and I will not do so myself again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no matter what that means, whether that means calling someone in to come and help or Again setting yourself up for success like this go around. It was April, april showers man, they were here. I can't paint, ordered some studio lights, like so that won't be an issue again.
Speaker 2:Some new studio lights that I can move around. So now I don't have an excuse if it's raining I can't go in that day. Because that really sent me back a lot and Kind of like doing those monthly reflections and looking back and saying, okay, what worked, what didn't work and what will I not do again. And also, you know, maybe asking for more time from the gallery or less less pieces, just more communication, like there's it's it's not always a U-thing, like there's. I think it's important to to hold the establishments that you work with accountable and to have an open line of communication with them, because I Tell people this all the time, but galleries wouldn't exist without artists. So you need to have some of that power In your arsenal, because you get a say to. You give it. You know, 50% for a reason.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good advice for sure. What things do you have coming up?
Speaker 2:I have a release with another gallery that I work with Liz legit out of Des Moines June 9th, which will be smaller pieces, almost like an online collection that I would do Myself on my website, which I'm really excited about, and then the rest of the year is kind of wide open by design.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, I'm sure it will fill up to some level. Fall always fills up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, spring and fall are the busy seasons. They really are. And I have, you know I have a few family trips over the summer and I'm just trying to take it one day at a time and to stay at peace and full of gratitude and just Just lucky to be here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you've been very, very open and helpful and I appreciate just how, how Willing you are to share.
Speaker 2:Thank you for saying that, because sometimes I don't feel like I'm really being that open and vulnerable. But people always tell me they like my, my no nonsense, no bullshit approach. But I'm like, wow, I didn't know, I did that.
Speaker 1:That's good.
Speaker 2:That's not, it's working.
Speaker 1:Well, where can?
Speaker 2:people find you. I'm on Instagram at the dot Allison James. I'm also on tiktok. That's another thing I got kind of burnt down on, but I love being over there to Just peruse. But it's the same handle at the house. And, james, who knows, by the time again this episode comes out, I might be up and running again and my website is wwwAllisonJamesCocom and I think, oh and I well, I have a podcast that's been on hi hiatus but it's here with Alice James and, again, who knows, by the time this Comes out, I I might be. I just Try to take the pressure off. I have the, the resources there and the platforms are there and I'm just waiting on me to kind of catch up, to be ready for him again.
Speaker 1:And that's okay. That is all okay because it's all going to still be there.
Speaker 2:Right, and it's just been such a blip in my timeline. As it is, you know, it's been not even a year. So in the grand scheme it's, it's really not so huge. That's what I.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well. I want you to go and celebrate your wins, because you just delivered a great show, so I hope you do Well, enjoy your massage for sure.
Speaker 2:But well, now that we've had this conversation, I feel More validated to to do that and take a little time, continue to take a little time off and then get back in the studio and just Move it and groove it and happy, happy about it all.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's awesome. Thank you so much for listening to Mind Over Media and Podcast today. If you found the episode inspiring, please share it with a friend or post it on social media and tag me on Instagram at Leigh Ann Slotkin, or head to my website, wwwleighannslotkincom. To book a discovery call to find out more about working with me one online. You can also head to my website to get a great tool I've created for you to use when planning your own online launch of your artwork. It's an exercise I've taken many of my coaching clients through and it's been very helpful. It's my way of saying thank you and keep creating. I