LisaSonoraBeam.com

How Does Art & Creativity Heal?

Lisa — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:06:07 +0000

In a few weeks I’ll be releasing a free manifesto (it’s short, so more like a “mini-festo”) on the power of art/creativity to heal, along with a blog article consisting of contributions from other writers, artists, change-makers, coaches and healers.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Just post a comment with your take on this question:

“How does creativity heal and why does art-making matter?”

You can take that question (really 2 questions) and spin it any way you’d like, or ask your own question (as long as it’s on topic). You can share your own story of how art saved your life. If you don’t want to bare all in the comments, that’s OK, I get it. Send me an email instead to lisasonora [at] gmail [dot] com.

Your contribution, along with the links to your website, blog, or etsy shop (whatever ya got!) may be published in the manifesto and blog article.

I know you’re busier than all get out, so:

Send off your top of mind, “first thoughts” on this subject. I find that’s where the juice usually is! Treat it like a 2-5 minute timed writing blurt, and go. Then hit post!

Many thanks to mastermind buddy/hero and Ridiculously Extraordinary guy, Karol Gajda for inspiring this idea to ask for contributors to the manifesto.

After you leave your comment, go grab a free copy of Karol’s very first manifesto: The American Dream Is Dead (Long Live The American Dream!).

The image is from Creative Entrepreneur workshop participant, Jennifer Joanou.

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The Halfway Point:1008 Paintings Project Update #14

Lisa — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:18:08 +0000

504!

Friends, I’m proud to say that this Tuesday evening I finally reached the project halfway point with a total of 504 paintings finished.

I’ve spent the time since then just sort of trying to get my mind around what I’ve done. Hoping to have some kind of profound wisdom to share with you. I guess what I’m experiencing is the “Plenty Zen” thing that is my focus for this year.

How do I feel about getting to 504?

I tend to have a delayed reaction to joy (working on that) so, for the moment I’m feeling rather neutral about the whole thing.

I wish I could say I were terribly excited. But I’m just not. Like I said, this is a sort of weird thing about me, and I may just be trembling with excitement about finishing half the project sometime later.

Satisfied? Yes.

Kind of astonished that I got this far? Yes and no.

Yes, because it’s really a ridiculous sort of goal. 1008 paintings? Come on. Or as my boyfriend said, “That’s crazy.”

Actually, I think he said, “You’re crazy.” Affectionately.

No, not really astonished because I can be really stubborn and competitive (with myself, mostly) and this is a situation where those qualities can sort of help me get over the doubt and fear that go along with doing something creative, or new, or both.

What really excites me (I guess this is key) is diving into the other half of the project and seeing what else I learn. I’m excited about finishing. I’m excited about how much of a teacher this project is for me.

Because I set this up to be a learning experience for myself.

As I was formulating the project, I was wondering:

What would it be like to get into regular painting again?

What would it be like to have a sort of marathon project that felt rather out of reach to do?

What would it be like to chart my progress (including the ups and downs) publicly?

Where would painting take me if I just let myself have time and space for it in my life?

What if I were to start selling my paintings again, after 13 years of not selling my paintings?

So. Here we are:

504 down. 504 to go.

In Zen, the idea is that we do things without attachment. Certainly painting (and all creating) is very much like meditation for me, in the sense that I try to be in a “no-mind” state, not thinking, not judging, just being and doing.

So maybe that’s why I’m not in some sort of high state. Or maybe I’m just aware that in a marathon (the kind you do with running shoes) the real difficulty lies not at the halfway point, but further down the road, a few miles before the finish line…

Or maybe I’m just being present (for a change) and not worrying about the past or future. That feels more accurate. Plenty Zen. That’s what I ordered this year.

What I can say for sure is that the experience of working this way has resulted in a rare gift: pure joy at simply creating.

My most recent previous project updates have talked about this, in case you’re curious about specifics.

That’s all for now. Back to work!

I’ve got a small mountain of discarded cardboard boxes collected from the neighbors to turn in to 500 or so more supports for the rest of the paintings.

I’ve got a fresh pack of Exacto blades and the big tables opened up for trimming cardboard.

I’ve got the time and energy to work.

And an incredible group of people following my progress and cheering me on. Which feels like the biggest blessing of all.

Thank you, thank you, thank you: for tuning in, for cheering me on, for just being there.

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A Day (12 days, actually) in the Life: 1008 Paintings Project Update #13

Lisa — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:42:39 +0000

If you’ve been following these updates on my 1008 Paintings Project, you’ll know that I’m also keeping a detailed project journal all about it.

A project journal is my way of keeping track of not only the technical aspects of the project, reference material, and ideas, but also of just tracking the inner journey that happens when one embarks on such a long project with no real road map.

A project journal is a way of building the road map as you go. When we’re creating, we’re in such an altered state. It’s like dreaming, only on paper. You think you’ll remember your dream that you woke up with. But after a trip to the bathroom or a cup of coffee, poof. It’s gone. Unless you write it down right away.

My project journals help me know how I do something. There are not instruction manuals for the creative process. So I create them as I go. This is how I work.

When I was looking over just the last few entries of this month, I was struck by how I was able to keep working through some real difficulty. Nothing really major, just the sort of ordinary ups and downs that go along with being human, (a menstruating human), working alone, trying something radically new, struggling with food issues, dealing with random bouts of self-doubt. That sort of thing.

I haven’t done this before, but for this update, I thought I’d give you a look at some of those daily entries.

August 1, 2010

Finished 27 new paintings today.

Plus a bunch of backgrounds and gluing.

Total: 343.

August 2, 2010

My head in a fog all day. Low energy. I’ve been on a wheat binge. Need to stop.

Did a bunch of gluing of text blocks. No new paintings.

Total: 343.

August 3, 2010

Gluten-free again.

Not so excited about the uphill client workload ahead. But knowing how happy painting makes me feel, I decided to just paint for a little while. I had 45 minutes. Just to see what might happen.

It was amazing. I got into a completely happy creative zone that spilled over into my entire day. This made me feel not only good, but filled with productive energy to take action on a bunch of old items lingering on the to-do list.

Painted again in the afternoon for another hour. Love the momentum of the short painting sessions.

Today: 11 paintings finished. Started another few dozen backgrounds.

Total: 354.

August 4, 2010

Painted again in morning and afternoon. Procrastinating on client stuff.

Kind of tired, lethargic most of the day. Even though gluten-fee again.

Total: 366.

August 5, 2010

Cupcake delivery from Chris G. Cake at Rick’s birthday dinner. Crap!

Painted another 12 this morning, but a busy client day so that’s it. Except, I did do my Thursday blog update, always a monumental achievement for me.

Total: 378

August 6, 2010

11 new paintings finished. Painted all backgrounds that were glued. Hung up a grid of 33 finished paintings on my studio wall.

A crappy emotional day. I ate wheat. Again.

Total: 389

August 7, 2010

Painted 11, didn’t feel in the flow. But I did some of my best work. Strange how my mood hasn’t been great (probably the detox/re-tox pattern of eating crap) the past few days.

I long for a return of my happy energy.

Now would be good.

Total: 400. Exactly. Wow.

August 8, 2010

Painted nine. Did a l ot of puttering and sorting of paper ephemera. Which is soothing and centering for me. Worked on more backgrounds. Rested and played with Juan.

Low energy. When I bought a giant ream of 100 sheets of paper today, and saw the little sticker that said 1000 Sheets, it really hit me how gigantic this project is. 1000. What the fuck was I thinking? No, 1008 and eight. That’s a lot of paintings.

These types of understatements of the obvious tend to strike me when I’m already headlong and deeply into something. Noted.

Total: 409.

August 9, 2010

Did a lot of client work and my mastermind accountability first thing. Felt cranky and out-of-sorts, like I don’t belong/my work is meaningless/I’ll always be struggling with this/my family doesn’t care about me/blah blah blah.

Premenstrual? Detoxing from sugar/wheat? I don’t know. Just a low day.

I finally got to painting in the afternoon. Wasn’t feeling inspired, but worked anyway. Painted 13. Finished a bunch of gluing painted papers to text blocks.

Total: 422.

August 10, 2010

I love seeing the numbers adding up slowly day by day. It’s such a different way of working for me.

This is how the project is my teacher. I feel compelled to work every day. It’s not an effort. It’s a desire.

Even when I feel funky and out-of-sorts, I want to be paintings, and dreaming up new projects.

My studio is a lovely mess right now. I haven’t quite figured out how to sort and organize my collage papers, so they’re everywhere, even on the floor.

My favorite thing is just hanging out in m y studio and thinking and writings and just absorbing all of the good creative energy here.

I still dream of living/working in a community of artists. Like what I had in my Chicago studio on North Avenue in Old Town. Would love to turn a funky apartment building, like the one across the street, into an artist’s community.

Interesting: Did not paint at all today.

Total: 422.

August 11, 2010.

Nada. Aunt Flow arrives for monthly visit.

Total: 422.

August 12, 2010

Don’t know why I stopped working for 2 days. I felt creative on Tues. Got out all of my paper and sorted out some colors for a new project. My studio is a mess. It’s slowly gotten messier all week. I’ve also felt crappy. Much better today. Especially after good sleep. Need more of that.

Painted 8 so far today.

Total: 430.

So that brings us up to date for today, my friends.

Wherever you are, and whatever you are working on (or dream of working on) I encourage you to try doing your own project journal. Make your own road map. And remember, what goes up, must come down. And vice versa. And: everything is cyclic. Sometimes I need to write that down and even say it out loud.

More Goodness

Erica of Erica.biz wrote this most excellent post today on the downside of working on your own business. She bravely calls it her Failure Manifesto. I so needed to read this today.

How about you? How do you work with ups/downs and ebbs/flows of your creative work?

p.s. I love the number 13. This is update #13. Tomorrow is Friday the 13th. I’m going to see Eat, Pray, Love when it opens tomorrow. Yay, 13.

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Being Creative Every Day: 1008 Paintings Update #12 (Gluten & Sugar FULL Edition)

Lisa — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:29:57 +0000

Warning: This post may make you ravenous for cupcakes. I’m sorry. It’s Chris Guillebeau’s fault. If you can handle it, proceed.

First, the paintings. (I’m putting this picture first, so you don’t get the cupcake porn shots in your face. There’s still time to turn back.)

Geez. The pictures of the paintings look so crappy compared to how they look in person. Sorry about that.

Anyway, these are how the pieces look framed, and then grouped together with edges touching. This shot shows just twelve. Imagine how 1008 will look all together. Or two long sections of 504 each, the way I have designed the installation.

I am only showing 12 here, as they are just balanced on top of each other, long enough for me to take a quick shot. (One painting was injured in this photo shoot. It is now in the Buddha hospital.)

The Stats:

Paintings Finished: 378.

Paintings Almost Finished: 36.

In July, I announced that I would try to complete 500 of the 1008 by July 30. I knew that was wildly ambitious, especially since client work got crazy busier. But having the goal made me build some momentum.

Stuff I’m Learning:

Being Creative Everyday Is Possible. How?

I can paint in tiny little time segments at a time. Like 20 minutes, or 45 minutes. I typically like having unbounded hours in front of me to paint. But since the reality of unbounded hours is fiction in my life right now, I decided to experiment with short sessions.

If I paint first thing in the morning, I am pretty much high on a creative buzz all day long. In update #11, I shared more about how big the happiness is working on this project.

A little something from Zen: (adapted for painters) When you paint, paint. When you do something else, do something else. In other words: I’ve stopped thinking about doing one while working on the other. Result? Gigantic clear mind. Less anxiety. More calm.

A creative buzz is really best kind of high. (Yes, I did the research. I inhaled.) Since my drug “experimentation” phase happened so young, I had this figured out while still a teenager. But every time I create, I am reminded.

The creative buzz will arrive, but first there will be blocks. The reason I think that so many creatives are plagued with addictions, is because it’s so hard to handle the structural tension between where they are now and where they imagine being. We lower the bar by reaching for temporary comforts, a temporary buzz, to kill the discomfort. For the moment anyway. A vicious cycle.

I wrote a lot about creative blocks, and structural tension in particular, in The Creative Entrepreneur. This really isn’t a plug for the book, but I mention it in case you want to learn more about how to get more into a healthy creative buzz zone. It’s possible!

I also probably wrote about structural tension here on the blog, if you search that term you may find an article. I would do that for you, but I’m rushing to get this posted before I run out to a birthday party.

Speaking of drugs, we have now reached the cupcake part of this post.

The following confession will either make you sympathize with me or else think I live an incredibly boring life.

My drug of choice is dough. Preferably with a big dose of sugar. That looks like: bread, pastries, cakes, cupcakes, cookies and such.

Back in March, I gave up gluten and saw my health and life drastically improve. A couple of chronic health conditions cleared up almost immediately (discussed in TMI-style detail in other updates).

But a week ago Friday, after one of my Festive Friday night workshops in my studio, I found myself home alone with almost a dozen cupcakes not consumed by guests. And some very yummy crackers. Actually, I was home with Juan, but he doesn’t eat cupcakes. So those were all mine.

Friends, I was already on a day-long bender off my gluten-free diet. After a few days, I was sick and very cranky. The fatigue hit me full on. My head was stuffy, like I had a cold. My gut ached. Did I mention I was cranky bitchy? Interesting that these symptoms also are not unlike drug withdrawal.

I finally succumbed to the voice of my better angel, and took the remaining cupcakes next door to my neighbor’s art studio during the kid’s pottery class.

And I promptly went back to my gluten-free (and now sugar-free) way of eating.

Until today.

When the post office delivered this lovely plain-brown-wrapper package from Portland from a place called Saint Cupcake.

Saint Cupcake. Seriously? Now, as a designer, I am thinking: Wow, what freaking great branding!

As a dough-a-holic, I’m a little worried.

There is a lovely note from Chris, sender of this clever package. How sweet! No pun intended.

Design-wise, it gets even better. Clever instructions for building your own cupcakes. I’m secretly hoping two things simultaneously:

1. Maybe they’re paper cupcakes, for decoration, and this box is filled with gorgeous papers.

2. Can you send real cupcakes in the mail?!

It turns out I had reason to be worried. Packed inside, a half-dozen cupcakes with little packages of decorations….check out these flavors…

Wait, what’s underneath the sprinkle packets…more cupcakes?

No. Six containers of frosting!

The cupcakes are a thank you from Chris for sharing the Empire Builder Course with my readers. How cool is that? Just another reason why Chris rocks.

I don’t think he’ll mind that I’ve decided to send these cupcakes off to my sister Lori and her three munchkins…they’ll have a great time playing with these. But first, I had to do a quality check (my sister is foodie and I am a responsible Auntie) and immediately ate the chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting. For breakfast, people! Terrible, I know.

OK, gotta run — but a few quick things:

Click here if you want to see what I wrote about Empire Builder and why I recommend it for very small business owners and creative entrepreneurs.

Speaking of Portland (land of Chris and now Saint Cupcake), I’ll be teaching a mini visual journal workshop there in September with the all-around amazing Emily Trinkaus: here’s the scoop on that…

And, because bad habits are more easily ended by replacing them with good habits…

I just got my hands on a copy of BabyCakes: Vegan, (Mostly) Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York’s Most Talked-About Bakery

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44 Things I’m Too Shy To Tell You…(A re-introduction of sorts)

Lisa — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:25:20 +0000

That’s a picture of me when I wasn’t yet 2 years old. Nose in a book, about to set out on some journey. I’m sitting on a suitcase and using another small suitcase as a foot rest.

In a way, who I really am is shown there in that picture. I’m content hanging out by myself. Lost in my imagination.

But I also want to connect. I’ve never quite known how. It’s been one of my greatest challenges in life.

As an introvert, shy person, and all around happy-behind-the-scenes person, I find it really difficult to know how and what to share here on my blog.

I want to give my readers great ideas they can use to rock their creativity and business and lives.

I want to share what helps me do that, and how I help others go from idea/dream to reality.

But I also want to be myself, and make a connection. In “real life” I have a small circle of people who know me really well. Online, there is a much larger circle of people who don’t really know me at all, except for what they glean through my work or whatever I choose to share that is personal.

I don’t know what the right balance is. There are lots of creatives I follow who seem to do both so effortlessly. People like Havi, and Communicatrix, artists like Kelly Rae Roberts, Susannah Conway, and Leah.

Being quiet and reserved in social situations, I was often pegged as aloof or conceited, when that’s the opposite of how I feel inside: wanting to connect and feeling very humble (especially compared to everyone else!).

I think one of the best things about blogging is being able to connect with so many like-minded people, while not having to go out and “mingle” or at some kind of networking function. In this sense, blogging is great equalizer for introverts and extroverts.

Blogging can be something even introverts can excel at. I loved it when Chris Guillebeau shared that he is an introvert, this was a great comfort to me. It got me more interested in learning how I too, could use my blog to connect and share, inspire and inform.

One of my mastermind buddies, Corbett Barr, really got me thinking about this, in his excellent post: 33 Things I’ve Never Told You… He explains this whole balance of self-expression and professional voice so clearly, it’s best if you read what he has to say about it, rather than rely on my paraphrasing.

I already told him I was going to steal his idea (with his blessing) and do a similar post, for a similar purpose: to share more of who I am and try to be more courageous in my published writing.

Why 44 things? You’ll see. Here we go…even though I’m so scared to do this:

I’m 44 years old. Or is that 44 years young? Revealing my age surely counts as one, right? My anti-aging secret: Do what you love…and wear plenty of sunscreen. Not smoking helps, too.
When in Paris, I was astounded by all the emphasis of good skin care (lots of great lotions and potions) and yet everyone smokes! Smoking will ruin your skin, much like the sun. That might be a better Surgeon General’s Warning than lung cancer. (Sorry, advertising hat went on there!)
I moved to the San Francisco Bay area from Chicago on January 2, 1998—durning El Nino. It rained almost everyday for four months, but I didn’t mind. I was (and still) am so happy to be far away from Chicago winters.
I’ve always been equally in love with both painting and writing. As a child, I felt very conflicted by this—feeling that I had to choose one to be really good at it. The conflict between painting and writing was present in my earliest journals, which were kept in blank artist sketchbooks. I drew in my journals and wrote in my sketchbooks.
I have no relationship with my father. I never have. Father’s Day is always sad for me and I still wish to be adopted by some nice Dad. I think I would make a great daughter.
I’ve thought of pitching the Dr. Phil show with this idea: instead of matching women with men (as in dating) how about matching the fatherless ones with Dads?
My premise is that my lack of great success in the romance department has to do more with not having a good fatherly role model, than finding the “right” guy.
Speaking of right guys, I do have an amazing boyfriend who I’ve mentioned here on the blog before. His name is Juan, he happens to be from Madrid (see item #24, below) but we met in California, where he’s lived on and off for 20 years.
As a child I moved constantly, sometimes going to as many as three different schools in one school year. I was always disoriented by this and felt like an alien.
By the time I was 7 years old I figured out the secret to my survival: libraries. No matter what town we were in, there was always a library, and the library was always a refuge. This was where I sort of hid out and read and worked in my visual journals.
The Dewey Decimal System was the most consistent thing in my life. It was always there, the same, reliable. This gave me great comfort. If I ever feel really off balance, going to a library or bookstore will help me feel right again.
Even though I have an MBA, I’m a high school drop-out. I only attended some of my Freshman year. Then I took a year off to have a very early midlife crisis/breakdown (my Girl, Interrupted experience, only uglier than the movie) and then started college when I was 16 instead of going back to high school. This was at the advice of my guidance counselor who swore me to secrecy when he said: You don’t need high school. Just go to college. I also started living on my own at this time, too.
I couldn’t decide between studying art or writing in college. So I picked music. Why? Because I loved music, too, and felt the least good at it. I thought that I should use college to learn and practice my weakest link. This was a big mistake in my judgement/reasoning/decision-making skills and eventually formed the basis of The Creative Entrepreneur Mandala.
I worked full time all the way through college as a nanny (great incentive to practice birth control), waitress, (great incentive to stay in college), bartender (great reason to chose sobriety), and artist’s model (a good way to learn about the art biz). It took me six years to get my Bachelor of Music / Music Therapy degree.
Why I quit being a therapist in hospitals: One of the things liked least about working in psychiatric hospitals was that people often weren’t there because they wanted to get better. They were there to detox or because someone in their family thought they were a danger to themselves or others. It’s impossible to work with someone who doesn’t want help. It’s exhausting to try. I decided I wanted to work with people who wanted to grow and expand, not continue self-destructing.
I played keyboards in a rock band in Chicago in the early 90’s. It really was not as glamorous as I hoped it would be from watching all those Partridge Family and Josie and the Pussycats episodes as a child. Our only claim to fame was that The Smashing Pumpkins opened for our band (before they got famous).
That chick bass player in the Pumpkins was a bitch to me, which surprised me. I thought she’d be nice, since I was the only girl in my band, too.
My first trip abroad was to London when I was 20 years old. I’ve since travelled to sixteen or so countries and five continents alone.
I’ve practiced various forms of meditation, zen and vipassana since I was 20 years old. When I was 27, I went to live at a meditation retreat center for almost a year. There I practiced meditation and taught a whole bunch of classes and retreats.
Looking back, I realize that I’ve built my life so that work can fit in around my creative and spiritual pursuits, not the other way around. It was always my goal to integrate them all, which I have now…but this was hard to articulate way back then.
When people wonder if my travels alone are “dangerous” I used to give detailed answers about how safe the world is, and how dangerous a lot of places in the US are. But now I just reply: “I lived in Chicago”.
I don’t know why American’s are denial about how much violence there is here. People in Europe say about the US: You guys can carry guns! In my experience, the worst things that happened to me, sadly, happened in my own family.
I am happily divorced. I used to jokingly refer to my ex as my first and last husband.
I envy happily married people. It is something I would like to experience sometime. I am very curious what makes a good marriage really work for both people.
In a typical week, I read at least two or three books. In a non-typical week, when I am either procrastinating or allowing myself the luxury of doing “nothing”, I read at least a half dozen books.
I don’t work in my visual journal every day. I find it difficult to do anything every single day. Except brushing my teeth and that sort of thing.
I’m very shy and introverted. Because I teach a lot (and don’t seem shy in that situation) no one really guesses that I struggle with putting myself “out there”. I would just rather work behind the scenes, where I’m comfortable. But since I love to teach, I have to really work at developing the fortitude and skills that make it possible to move out of the comfort zone.
The introversion thing, paradoxically, is why it’s easier for me to go naked in public than to show my visual journals.
Madrid is my favorite city. I love the art scene, food, culture, streets, everything. I love Madrid the way some people love Paris. I don’t love Paris. When I went to Paris, I thought I “should” love it. But I walked around wondering, “Am I the only one who doesn’t love Paris?”
From 1998-2001 I taught The Painting Experience workshop with Stewart Cubley, (also a former boyfriend) author of Life, Paint and Passion. I was his main teacher and developed his facilitator training program. There are dozens of people who teach “expressive painting” workshops all over the world based on that book and workshops.
People call me adventurous and brave, but I am pretty much scared shitless all the time. I just don’t let that stop me from doing anything I really want to do.
My stress primarily shows up in my body. I’ve had chronic IBS and migraine headaches since I was a teenager. These are both being remedied through diet. I also manage (somedays better than others) a lot of anxiety which I’ve had since childhood.
My favorite literary genre is the memoir. Second: personal essays. I just love reading true stories from other people’s lives. Especially if they’ve lived through some kind of traumatic experience and had the courage to write about it.
I’m terrified of heights and don’t like cold weather, but I have a strange longing to go ice climbing in Patagonia. It’s been on my list for about 5 years now.
I enjoy doing adventure/minimalist living experiments. One year I lived and traveled alone in a Volkswagen Bus, and of course documented the whole thing in visual journals. I’m thinking of publishing those: if anyone is interested in reading them.
I was in Indonesia when the tsunami hit. In Ubud, Bali, where I was staying, we were some of the first responders to the disaster. Townspeople and tourists all got together to collect and purchase survival supplies and get them over to the disaster area.
I remember how in shock everyone was and how I wanted to take photos of what I saw, but it seemed disrespectful.

The images in my mind of disaster relief teams from all over the world coming and going through the Bangkok, Thailand airport will live in my mind forever. I could tell which people had been there, and which were just arriving, just by looking at their faces.
Here’s what to say when you feel utterly dejected, or perplexed by someone or something: “It’s all going in the book”. It’s a humorous way I find to deal with the ups and downs of life, and of other people acting in ways you’d rather they not.
My latest breakthrough in learning Spanish was being able to understand the swear words being mouthed in Spanish while watching the World Cup. I’m trying to learn to speak Spanish. It’s slow going, unless I’m spending time in a Spanish-speaking country.
I rarely ever work with music on. I love silence. Love to hear the ideas taking shape in my mind as I work. Since I’m sort of a weirdo, I write them down in the project journals.
I used to have vivid dreams about shacking up with Albert Einstein. In one dream, he said, “I can’t meet you this Tuesday, it’s my birthday and I have to be with my family.” I woke up and looked up Albert Einstein’s birthday. It was that same next Tuesday. Freaky!
My morning beverage of choice is yerba mate, which is what is drunk in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay instead of coffee. I drink my yerba mate traditionally, out of a gourd and sipped through a metal straw called a bombilla. Somehow the yerba mate just tastes better this way.
I am most fascinated by the creative process and how we can develop a healthy relationship with our creativity. This is something I have studied and experimented with as long as I can remember.
I’ve been self-employed doing creative work my whole life, with few exceptions. Before starting my own businesses, I freelanced, and before that, I worked as a contract employee. I did everything to avoid being pinned down to a never-ending job with only two weeks vacation.
I’m not good at playing office politics. One of my teachers in business school once described me as having “a low tolerance for the ridiculous”.
I take a long walk everyday. Sometimes through town, sometimes a ramble through the forested mountain paths that surround town.
My best friends have been made by attending and/or teaching creative workshops or classes. The thing I always look forward to when teaching a new class is: who’s going to attend? I’m always impressed by the people who show up in my classes, they’re just people I want to know and hang out with.
After so many years of meditating, I’ve mellowed out a lot. But one thing that really causes a repulsive visceral reaction in me is seeing the font Papyrus. Since this font is ubiquitous, this happens practically several times per day.
The Papyrus font is everywhere that it does not belong. It is a mark of unoriginal and amateur design. Please, whoever you are: stop using the Papyrus font at once. If you have a designer that wants to use it, fire them. I could go on about what is wrong with this font, but that would be another (long) essay. Oye!
I keep my mornings free to do creative work. That’s my best creative time. I feel much better if I don’t do administrative tasks before noon.
One of my favorite books is The Paintings of Henry Miller (Chronicle). Most people don’t know he also painted, and this book shows lots of his watercolors along a collection of his essays. I especially love the photos of him painting in his bathrobe.
Hmn…I’m just making the connection between me and Henry: both writers, both painters. How did I not see that before?

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Creativity as Teacher: 1008 Paintings Project Update #11

Lisa — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:37:36 +0000

Sketches for 1008 Paintings Project

Oh…there is so much to say, and I’m afraid this update may get cut short due to a head-splitting migraine that I’ve had for a week.

The good news is, I’ve been working (so it’s not as bad as a migraine as I used to get).

I started volume 2 of the project journal for this 1008 Paintings Project, and have decided, just for the hell of it, to add an entry every day and see what happens. What I noticed is that I wanted to work, even if just a little, so that I could make some notation in the project journal other than “nada”.

The latest 50, unframed

In a week, I managed to complete another 50 pieces (unframed) bringing the grand total to 316. I have set a goal to finish 500 total by the end of July. It seems like a crazy goal, but compelling in some way. In addition to painting the 50 paintings, I also did the following:

finished trimming all of the boards that were cut wrong. yay!
cut out more the text blocks that make up the theme for each piece
cut a bunch (an hundred plus) new boards. with a ruler this time.
inventoried all of the painted paper I have and made a plan to paint more

This is kind of hard to write about, because the words don’t feel quite as formed as my feelings, but I am learning so much from this project. It’s as if the project is my teacher. I started out with some simple ideas and hopes for myself, and it’s been all that and more.

As a teacher of the creative process my whole adult life, I am still struck by how creativity itself, if we let it, if we trust it, will lead us directly to what we need to know next, what we need to learn next.

I started this project to get back into painting again after an absence of painting (for money) for 13 years. In 1997, I stopped showing and selling my work and just wanted to paint for myself. I wanted to paint to discover my own particular voice and style and I wanted to paint for self-expression and healing.

To do that, I had to paint a lot of ugly stuff. A lot of private stuff. A lot of stuff that’s not for anyone to see or comment on. But I have loved every minute of it. I surrendered to what painting seemed to be asking of me. I vowed not to show or attempt to sell my work again until I felt that my inner voice and my outer expression were a match.

I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone else at all. It’s hard to tell in my foggy-headed state how coherent this post is (or is not) turning out.

more sketches from 1008 Paintings Project

Someone in one of my Friday night classes mentioned to me that she looked forward to Thursday, because that’s when I usually post here. That melted my heart, it made me feel connected. And also responsible. If someone is waiting for a post on Thursday, I want to deliver it.

It’s now Thursday night and all I want to do is be horizontal and let go of thinking. But I am inspired by you, the readers who stop by, check out what’s happening here and kindly cheer me on. That’s why I’m not waiting for the fog to clear. Thanks for hanging in with me.

I really hoped to add something to the conversation going on over on Chris Guillebeau’s blog about the Four Burner’s Theory (quote is right from Chris’ post because I’m so damn tired):

“Here’s the idea –

I like this quote from a David Sedaris article. Sort of an adapted ‘carpenter’s triangle’:

“One burner represents your family, one is your friends, the third is your health, and the fourth is your work.”

The gist is that in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful you have to cut off two.”

My first reaction is that our health isn’t just a burner. Health is the whole damn stove. Without health, everything else on the other burners is going to go cold. Of course this is abundantly clear when you’re feeling crappy healthwise.

One of the first things we look at in the Creative Entrepreneur workshops I teach, is how to define success for ourselves. Not someone else’s version of success. So that phrase “to be really successful” makes me wonder: successful according to who? According to what standard?

Redefining success is something I believe we all need to do early and often. Things change. We adapt, we change, we grow. Our goals shift. Life brings new possibilities and seeming endless opportunities. Priorities need to get reshuffled.

For a long while painting was “off the stove” for me. I’m so glad it’s back now. Taking its place on a front burner, even. Chris’ post gave me a lot of good food for thought, and I thought you might find it helpful, too. Go check out if you have a minute.

Many thanks to everyone who is cheering me on in the 1008 Paintings Project in the comments. I appreciate that generosity immensely! Thank you from my heart.

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50 New Works + A peek inside my project journal: 1008 Paintings Update #10

Lisa — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:51:52 +0000

The image above of my work table shows a scene I cherish:

50 new paintings completed,

a stack of under paintings at the ready,

a brand new project journal to document the process,

(in background) huge stack of frames ready for sanding, priming, painting,

a full up project journal from the first seven months of the project, jammed with notes, photos and observations, and a few recipes,

a cup of strong Earl Grey tea with a bit of lavender (my blend) mellowed with soy creamer,

a messy paint-splattered table, evidence of happy productivity.

Last week, thanks to support from my mastermind group and our weekly accountability, I completed 50 new paintings (the last 15 of them the morning before our noon phone call).

I also had a come-to-Jesus meeting with my strategic planner and had to revise (again) my timeline for completing the paintings. Due to working in fits and starts, and some setbacks written about in March, I’m not as far along in the project as I’d like to be quantity-wise.

The good news is: Whenever I work on the project, even if it’s not painting but trimming mis-cut boards or doing the other dozen or so production tasks that go into each piece—I am in love with every moment I’m working.

Now, that’s a rare experience, even though I’ve made careers on doing exactly what I love. It’s even kind of a weird experience. A good weird. I’ve never had this kind of sustained delight and happiness about a long creative project. I find the mood this work engenders somewhat difficult to put into words…so that’s what I can say so far.

I’m in love with painting again. Which is the whole reason I gave myself a marathon painting project in the first place. The final product and result of the project is really the icing on the cake. (In need of a better metaphor, as I’m trying to kick my sugar habit.)

Here’s what the new project journal looks like: a simple kraft paper unlined composition-style blank book I found at Border’s Books.

You know how much I love kraft paper! I use sheets of it to cover my work tables, paint on big swaths of it, and have even made journals out of the stuff. To find these journals ready-made was a thrill. I bought the last two they had at my local store.

On the pages above, I’ve just done an accounting of the paintings framed, finished and in various states of completion to date on the left side. On the right, I made notes on my plan for July.

So far, I’ve completed 266 paintings, and have another 197 in process (very early stages half of those). My goal for July is to complete 234 more paintings, for a total of 500 finished by July 31.

Here’s close up of the prepped boards waiting for their next layers of paint. 68 in this stack.

This is my marathon, without the running and knee pain. Maybe it’s even an ultra-marathon?! So cheer me on in the comments. I love knowing that people are following this project, and also about the big creative projects its inspiring others to do.

On tap for this week: 50 more completed paintings, plus a whole lot of board cutting and text block gluing and paper painting. There’s a good chance that anyone who shows up at my studio this weekend will be put to work…fair warning!

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Class giveaway winners and a surprise!

Lisa — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:28:30 +0000

Visual Journal page by workshop participant Julia Nyman.

Wow! I am so inspired by the comments left on the post for the July class giveaway. Today, I promised to announce the winners. Each one of these lucky people is the winner of a July class here at my SF Bay Area studio.

Drum roll please… And the winners are:

Manon, Lisa Griffin, Nicole Austin, and Annie

It was so difficult to pick out the winners,

that I decided to add an extra giveaway. The people listed below are have won a seat in my upcoming online class on visual journaling (still crafting a wonderful title for it!) which will take place this Fall.

Jenny, Joyce Yuen, Joyce Snodgrass, Jessica Eves, Julie Meuhlberg, and Kris Johnson.

Congratulations!

A special thanks to ALL who entered… and to further thank you, I’ve taken lots of notes from your comments and I’ll be writing about some of the fears and challenges that have been expressed.

My hope is create comraderie and support for the creative journey here on this website, and to provide support and encouragement for you to be bold and…proceed…on whatever creative inklings and callings keep knocking on your door.

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Give Yourself A Break: The Simple DIY Creativity Retreat

Lisa — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:05:29 +0000

Today I thought I’d be bold and just show you a shot of my studio without cleaning up first. My work table as it looks at the moment, with several dozen of the 1008 Paintings in progress.

Confession: I haven’t painted for a week now, and I feeling pretty crabby about it.

Why: I’ve put some other projects on the front burner (i.e. design/writing/marketing projects that pay money) and my email is at a continual buzz, making my dance card fuller than I want it to be, at least for the summer.

Solution: I’m creating my own creativity retreat this long holiday weekend. It starts this Thursday afternoon after my last appointment and goes through Tuesday noon.

My priorities look like this:

Paint.

Ride my bike. Just got a new electric bike and I’m eager to road test it.

Visual Journal. Updates in my 1008 Paintings Project journal and playing around with whatever else wants to emerge. No doubt a local photo safari will happen, I’ve been feeling that urge to get out with my camera for weeks.

Long walks/talks with friends. I live in the foothills of a mountain, and am 30 minutes from the Pacific Ocean, so lots of options for being in the woods or on the beach. Nature is so restorative for me. And so is good company. Both together = bliss.

Cooking. I love to shop at the farmer’s market and cook up whatever veggies look good. The whole experience of slowing down and enjoying food, from the shopping to the eating is not just good for my body, but it feeds my soul, too.

Finally, I may also do some organizing of items for the art supply swap and sale I want to put together with some other local artists later this summer.

I’ve really been on a clutter-clearing and organizing tear after traveling sorta light the past year. I find the sorting and letting go of things of the past highly therapeutic and in alignment with my ideals of living with less, yet having so much more time, space, and freedom as a result.

How about you? Can you give yourself a mental and physical break from whatever seems to be keeping you away from your creative projects? How about trying it over this long holiday weekend, or just any old weekend?

Summer is slower for business. Take advantage of this opportunity to do less so you can spend more time filling your own creative well. That’s where all the ideas flow from, after all.

Happy creating!

Oh! — One last thing — don’t miss out on a chance to win a space in one of my July workshops. Get on over here for the details and to enter.

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Win a spot in one of my July classes!

Lisa — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:48:32 +0000

Visual Journal page by workshop participant Jennifer Joanou.

This summer I am back at my home base in the San Francisco Bay area and welcome you to join me— in person—for Festive Friday Night workshops at my studio. Four lucky readers are going to win a space in these classes, I’ll tell you how to enter the contest below.

If you’re new to my work you might not know that since early 2009 I’ve been traveling for over a year and recently returned from living in Mexico. It’s lovely to be back in my studio and I look forward to sharing it.

For July, there are 2 different classes. 2 dates to choose from.

Click on the class name for details and registration.

The Daily Observer: Mini Journal Magic: Mini Journal Magic
July 16 -or- July 30 6:30-9:30pm

The Creative Sketchbook: How to Make and Use a Visual Journal
July 9 -or- July 23 6:30-9:30pm

There are only 8 spots available for each class. Abundant supplies from my personal stash of goodies are included in your registration.

My studio is located walking distance from downtown Fairfax, CA (north of San Francisco in Marin County). It’s a very fun, sorta funky town and a great place to visit.

Want to win a seat in a class? I thought so. I will select 4 of you who comment on this post between now and Monday, July 5th. The winners will be posted on Tuesday afternoon at 3pm PST and each will get to attend one of the July classes for free.

If you’ve already registered, no worries. The winners will be chosen from the comments, and if you’ve already paid, I’ll give you a refund.

To enter: It’s easy! Simply comment below (only one entry per person) with your thoughts on this subject: What is your greatest challenge right now in your creative work? What has got you stuck right now? Also, please give a response to one (or all) of the following:

1) What topic you’d like to see me write about here along with a specific related question. (Feel free to have more than one of each!)

2) How specifically The Creative Entrepreneur is helping you, or what part is providing the most value—and why (for those who’ve got the book)

3) What is one of your favorite posts here and why?

Discuss at as much length as you’d like but remember, enter only one time please.

Upcoming: Art Supply Sidewalk Sale + Swap

Everyone coming to my studio classes will get a look at how I’m going more minimalist with my art supplies, and how what remains is getting organized.

Bonus: this summer I’m organizing a collective sidewalk sale and supply swap in front of my studio: so if you want more info on attending or participating, leave a comment or send me an email. I’ve got many boxes of supplies awaiting good homes! The more artists who participate, the better!

I could use your help getting the word out about the classes and upcoming swap. I’ve been away for over a year, and many local folks don’t know I’m back.

I’d appreciate very much if you tweeted or posted on Facebook or just passed this link along to folks in the Bay Area who would like to know. Be sure to tell them about the contest! Thanks!

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