ART AND ATTENTION

Hello everyone, and welcome to new subscribers!

As the summer unfolds here in the West Coast of Canada, I find myself reflecting on the pacing of these wonderful, warm summer days. Some days are ripe for adventure and play, while others are restful and regenerative. Both are necessary and welcome, but the days that offer space and time to deeply reflect offer much to nurture my artist’s mindset.

“Drift time” is always needed as an artist, and I hope that you’re also finding space in your life for day dreaming and refilling your creative wells.

On my busier days I am preparing to launch Vision + Voice 2025, with my co-coach Kerry Schroeder. We offered this 8-week online program last fall, and could not have been happier with the results that the participating artists achieved as they worked through the weekly content.

You can find out more about this year’s offering a little further down in this newsletter. We hope you’ll consider joining us this year!

In this month’s blog post I shared a personal observation I had around my life-long aversion to receiving attention, which arrived for me as I contemplated my relationship to birthdays.

It never ceases to amaze me how art-making shines a light on the areas within ourselves that could benefit from our compassionate inquiry. The challenges I face in life often show up in my creative work in ways that are not always obvious at first. But after spending some time reflecting on and writing about that particular challenge, it becomes clearer to me. Inevitably I discover another working edge for myself.

Perhaps you may recognize yourself in what I have shared this month. We’re often navigating the same obstacles as artists. I take such comfort in that.

And just a reminder that my monthly blog post is also offered as an audio recording, allowing you to listen rather than read. To listen to the recording just click on the READ MORE OR LISTEN button in the ‘FROM THE BLOG’ section of this newsletter and you’ll find the MP3 file on my website at the bottom of my written post.

If you have any feedback for me, I always love hearing from you. Thank you for reading and sharing this newsletter…it truly is appreciated.

PS: For those of you that are new subscribers I have included a link to find previous issues of my newsletter–full of additional resources for you!

CELEBRATING OURSELVES AND WHY THAT MATTERS

This month’s blog is a bit more personal than most I write, but it feels necessary—for me, and for us, as artists and people. Thank you for bearing with me as I attempt to tie all of this together and connect it to art-making.

July is my birthday month, and I’m writing this post as a way of capturing a deep truth that arrived a day or so before my birthday. You see, I’m a quiet birthday person. I don’t share my birthday on social media or make a big deal about it. Often, it passes with little fanfare, and I’ve always said that’s because it’s what I want.

But the other day, it hit me: I don’t avoid birthday attention because I think it’s wrong, or because I judge anyone who shouts it from the rooftops. Not at all–I love celebrating others on their birthdays. It’s just that, for me, there’s another story at play.

I asked myself, How is the story I hold around my birthday serving me, and what else might it be connected to? That question opened a place of curiosity within me, and it led to a beautiful awareness and reframing that I want to share with you.

When I was a young girl, I was very shy—an introverted, sensitive, creative child in a loud, boisterous world. I avoided attention, and birthdays were all about attention. That made them really uncomfortable for me, so I went quiet about them.

But I was also conflicted because, like most children, I wanted to feel loved and accepted. I just didn’t want the unwanted attention. What a double bind that is. As a result, birthdays became a bit of a pain point—filled with anticipation and expectations, fear and discomfort, sadness and relief all rolled into one messy ball.

As I grew older, the fear of attention became less of an issue. It no longer feels the same way it once did—and that’s one of the gifts of aging. Thankfully, I’ve moved forward in ways that support my sensitivity while also allowing me to take up space and be seen.

It hasn’t always been easy—and it can still feel hard on any given day—but I now better understand the nature of my introversion and need for privacy. I respect that I need quiet and space, and I no longer feel shame for being who I am.

Still, this issue with my birthday comes up every year. So, what is that about?

INSPIRATION FOR YOUR ARTIST’S MINDSET

THEORY OF PAINTING: BRICE MARDEN

I love listening to artists speak about their art and their process. It reminds me that all artists are working with similar concerns as they push towards authenticity and integrity in their art-making. 

Artist Brice Marden shares his theory of painting – how it is a humanist endeavour, one that guides you and tosses you about. He, like many of us, asks if he should follow the rules he has set out for himself around painting, or throw them out in service to the bigger search. 

Art-making asks us to find our own truth and authority in our work. We benefit from being able to follow our own path, with conviction of its rightness, even when there is an absence of support for our work.

HOW TO OVERCOME THE 3 FEARS EVERY CREATIVE FACES: CHRISTOPH NIEMANN

Art-making is hard work, and requires commitment and a dedicated practice. I remember the conundrum of managing my mindset issues and feeling the conflict between my passion for making art and the intense pain I was feeling around the self-imposed criticism.

In his humorous presentation from 2015 on being creative, illustrator and author Christoph Niemann discusses this interesting, paradoxical aspect of being a creative. He focuses on how to move beyond an artist's three greatest fears: not feeling good enough, not feeling original enough, and running out of ideas.

Woven throughout the humour are some deeply insightful observations that remind us to be more aware of the ways we can meet our own practice as artists with curiosity and faith. Regardless of our medium as artists the creative process remains the same.

THE GENTLE POWER OF HIGHLY SENSITIVE PEOPLE: ELENA HERDIECKERHOFF

Have you ever been told you’re too sensitive or you need to just “get over it?” Do you feel things deeply and can be overstimulated in noisy, chaotic environments? Are you thorough, aware, and have a rich and detailed inner life? 

Many artists are highly sensitive people, and it is in large part what makes them gifted artists. An artist’s ability to feel, connect, and reside inside their imagination helps them make their art. So as artists we want to nurture this gift, while understanding some of the complexities that come along with it and how to support our own needs.

Many years ago I was introduced to the book ‘The Highly Sensitive Person’ and in reading it I finally felt that there wasn’t something deeply wrong with me. My life-long relationship to being a sensitive person isn’t a flaw, it is actually my gift.

Elena Herdieckerhoff is a mentor for highly sensitive and empathic entrepreneurs. In this TEDx talk, she shares what it means to be a HSP and advocates for changing the prevalent, and often dismissive, cultural narrative around highly sensitive people. Elena also makes a distinction between HSPs and introversion, helping us understand that HSPs are like everyone else, they just experience the world differently.

OFFERINGS FOR ARTISTS

Vision + Voice will be offered again in September 2025.

This 8-week online program addresses many of the core concerns artists face around making their art. The program guides artists through a unique and inspiring process that helps clarify their vision for their art-making, and how to articulate that through their unique voice.

Together we’ll explore and unpack areas of the creative process that are not typically a part of art learning curriculum: working with intuition and intention, accessing your visual language, understanding the self in relationship to art-making, the nature of the creative process and how to meet that with awareness and mindfulness, and much more.

The Vision + Voice Program is a personal and transformative deep dive into who you are as an artist, helping you identify what supports you in expressing yourself fully and authentically. You’ll discover YOU in your art, allowing you to bring your vision forward, and to clearly connect with your unique voice. 

Along with my co-coach Kerry Schroeder, we are thrilled to be opening early registration for this unique program on September 2nd. If you’re interested in joining us for Vision + Voice 2025, you can register your interest HERE. And, as an Insight Creative subscriber you’ll be the first to hear all the details and take advantage of early registration savings.

The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course is an affordable, content rich, self-guided course that can be started at any time, and is always available for purchase on my website.

Once purchased, you’ll have lifetime access to the course and can repeat the Challenge at any time in the future, giving your art-making the boost it might need.

This course also touches on many of the essential aspects of the Artist’s mindset – the ways we can think about and approach our creative work to move past fear and limitations, opening to what is possible for us.

You can find out more about The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course HERE.

You can also email me at info@insightcreative.ca with your questions or for more info.

THE GIFT OF SHARING

For new subscribers – please enjoy these previous issues of my monthly newsletter.
Links to additional back issues can be found on the right sidebar of my blog HERE.

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