Creative friends

The Joyful Creative

I've found myself some creative friends and it's been surprisingly lovely for this lone-ranger! I highly recommend connecting with a person or a group who can be your support, your cheerleader and keep you accountable to your creative practice.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Well, hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the joyful creative. And I hope that you're all feeling like you're enjoying some joyful creativity at this late stage of the year where it's starting to get a little busy, a bit frantic. Creativity is so important for our mental health and just to keep us centred and grounded. And I know that when we're busy, sometimes the creative pursuit is the thing that gets dropped off the to-do list first. But I'm here to advocate for creativity becoming or remaining at the top of the list so it's a regular thing that you do for your wellbeing and your mental health and your self care every day, or at least many times a week, just to keep you on that equilibrium, because it just might be the thing that gets you through this silly season.

Today I wanted to talk about creative friends, but before we get into that, I wanted to remind you that I have a studio sale coming up, it's going live on the 24th of November 2024. At 7:00 PM Brisbane time Australia, which is 8:00 PM Daylight savings for the rest of Australia. And, God knows what time it will be around the world. I'm sure you could figure that out if you're not in Australia. And you might be wondering what a studio sale even is. Well, a studio sale is a where an artist or creative will sell the experiments samples, exploratory works that they'd been working on within a medium. They're not fine art, finished works that they would normally put on their website or sell in a gallery So what I'm doing is selling... I've got about 26, small works on paper. And this has been the exploration that I've been doing with watercolor ink, Pen glitter pen, a bit of stitching and they're all works on paper. Most of them are around about A5 size, but some of them are A4. But I'm selling them all for $35 Australian each. And that includes free shipping.

And the reason I'm doing this really is because I do need to clear out my studio because I'm about to move house again. Moving from Brisbane to Canberra. And I look around and you know, I've got this pile of, of works and I just love them all actually, I would love to have them all up in my studio. I might keep a couple. But there they're just so pretty. I just can't bear for them to just be in a pile or in a drawer somewhere just as a memento of what I did this year. I've certainly gained a lot of insight, a lot of wisdom, a lot of skills about how to use watercolor and pen glitter pens in the way that I like to express myself creativity, which is more abstract I guess. A lot of people go to watercolor classes because they want to recreate something that's a bit more realistic, but that's certainly not my experience. I am really an organic artist. Organic artist, is that really even a thing? My way of working is really, I love to let the materials dictate the direction of the work. And then I can apply my creativity to solve the design problems, to make it cohesive. And I find that a really lovely challenge And I'm going to say that usually the solution to any problem is to add sparkles. It's always been the case when I was doing textile artwork, if ever I was in doubt, add sequins was always the answer. And here, when I'm working on paper, It seems that the answer well, for me anyway, is to add sparkles. And that's usually in the form of glitter or metallic pens, or even some metallic stitching. So these are the artworks that I'm selling in my studio sale.

So you will have to be on my mailing list to receive the link to the sale when it goes live on the 24th of November. So sign up to the mailing list through my website, I will add that link to the show notes. So hop onto my website, scroll down to the bottom and there's a form. I promise you that my newsletters that I send out weekly, I will be taking a break over Christmas. And yeah, I think that they're informative and definitely not spammy in any way. I believe. So yeah, I would love for all of my listeners to be able to receive a little piece of my workings for 2024. So, yeah, look out for that on my socials. I'm putting up lots of videos and pictures of what's coming up in my stories and on the grid. So check that all out.

All right. So getting into this episode about creative friends, I wasn't planning this episode, but it often happens, something pops up for me during the week. And I just, feel like it's something to share. And that is that it's important to have somebody around you, at least one person, if not a group, that is supporting you, advocating for you, cheerleading for you in your creative pursuit. And I've really discovered this through my own experience because, recently when I went to Italy and honestly, I feel like such a wanker when I say I went to Italy, because everybody that I say that to rolls their eyes, Because it is a little bit, bougie saying, uh, when I was in Italy. But honestly, I had so many great experiences when I was in Italy that I really can't help sharing them. One of the most amazing things that came out of that trip... I mean, not only was it absolutely divine and so full of memorable experiences and visions. But the reason I went to Italy was to join a group tour type thing it was. Can you call it an artist retreat? It's very hard to describe what this thing was, but we all met in Naples. It was 12 of us. 12 women. And we went over to the island of Ischia. Which is absolutely divine. And we were working with an artist, Camilla Perkins with oil pastels and acrylic paints. So that was the setting for it.

And of course, you put 12 women together with creativity in a gorgeous place with food, wine, beautiful experiences. And of course, you know, we bonded pretty quickly. And I bonded particularly quickly with a couple of sisters that were on the trip. And they're both amazing women. I mean, everybody on this trip was very interesting and it was wonderful to meet them all. But these two sisters in particular, They are absolutely dynamite in their own right. They are women in their fifties. They've got a teenage or adult children. So they're busy with that. They have amazing careers, very knowledgeable and so open to the creative process and I just really clicked with these gals and that was such a fun part of the trip. But since then we've kept in contact and with one of them in particular. I didn't realize this while we were away, but she has resumed writing poetry and she's actually sent me some poetry. And some of the pieces are actually about our trip to Ischia and it was just so beautiful to read her poetic take on our trip.

I was really chuffed to see that she's actually put a few of my Australian phrases into her poetry, which. I should give you the background there. Both of these sisters are from LA. very American, but with a Mexican heritage. So Yeah. Some of my Australian-isms were quite foreign and bemusing to them. And this. This gal that's written poetry has actually put some of my expressions in there. So that was really lovely to read.

But we've had a little bit of back and forth messaging about what we're doing creatively and how we're fitting it into our days now that we're back from Italy and back into our normal lives. And I just really can't describe how surprisingly lovely it is to have that connection and have somebody caring about whether I'm being creative or not. I have to admit that I tend to be a bit of a lone range where it comes to my creativity and even in a business sense. I don't know what it is. I'm quite a sociable person. I really do love people, but maybe there's a part of me that's a bit shy to reach out, to be part of groups. I really don't know why that's the case, because actually when I am in a group I'm quite confident, but maybe just sort of breaking into it or reaching out to people. Maybe there's a part of me that feels a bit like I would be imposing or that they don't have the time, or I just don't know.

But these gals, I'm calling them gals. I feel like I don't really want to mention their proper names in case they're not happy with that. These American ladies, they have a Mexican background and they are very much more family focused maybe than I am. I mean, I love my family. There's no problems with my family, but. Maybe it's an American thing. Maybe it's a Mexican thing as opposed to the Australian thing, but they are just very much involved in each other's lives, much more than I am with my sisters. And there's a real sense of community there with them. And I was really chuffed to be kind of adopted as an honorary sister into their family while we were away. And to have that ongoing connection with them has really just given me a little boost of confidence with my own creativity. And it's a boost of confidence that I never thought I needed.

But maybe we all need somebody in our life that is that cheerleader. Somebody that understands that acknowledges that being creative on a regular basis is important to us. And that it's not just a fun hobby or a nice thing to have when we have time. Somebody who is keeping you accountable to your creative project. And that could be one person or it could be a group.

I'm also studying to be a holistic integrated creative arts practitioner. It's quite a mouthful. But yes, I'm in a group of about 12 like-minded women who are all creative in very different ways have come to this cause for different reasons and have different outcomes in mind. But I've even connected, particularly with some of those women who are very encouraging and interested in what I'm doing. And It's lovely to have that reciprocal friendship in a creative way.

There's a difference between having a friend that you go out and have coffee with and you might catch up with, and you're talking about family and work and what's going on in your life. But somebody who's particularly your friend in a creative sense. Is a whole new thing for me. And I'm finding it to be quite different from any of my other friendships.

So I guess what I'm saying here is that if you're somebody who particularly tends to put off your creativity or put it on the back burner or feel that it's a less than the most important thing in your life, maybe you need somebody who reminds you that it's important. Somebody with whom your relationship is purely based on your mutual love for creativity. And somebody who, when you interact with them, the first question is what are you doing? How's your project going? Did you finish that project? What are you up to now? Because that's a relationship that will help you to elevate your creative practice to the importance that you want to give it. Just having somebody else in your life, who is that person... because I understand maybe it's not your partner. Maybe it's not your family. And. It's certainly, probably not your children.

Although I have to say my daughter is, my daughter's an adult and she's got into knitting in the last year or so. And it's been a really lovely interaction that I can now have with her. She's knitting, and also then she's moved into sewing and she's sewing dresses and all sorts of things she's actually wearing. And having creativity as a conversation I can have with my daughter is sort of a new and fun and refreshing subject that we now have in common.

Then maybe if you've got teenagers or little kids, perhaps they're not going to be your biggest support in creativity, even though they might be curious about what you're doing and if you can share creativity with your kids then that is a beautiful thing as well. But in terms of having somebody who is your support person, your advocate, your cheerleader, I highly recommend finding somebody and. Yep. That person might come from an art class or a creative group, or do what I did and go on an art retreat and meet somebody.

Or maybe even in the online space. Obviously you want to be careful that that person's a real person and not a bot. But I would suggest that there are people out there who are probably also looking for somebody like you, who can be the support for them. And wouldn't it be lovely if as creatives, we could start some sort of community, even if it's just a community of two people Even if it's just one-on-one.

So, yes, as I mentioned at the start of the episode, I realize it's coming up to a very busy time for people with Christmas looming, if you're listening to this as it's being recorded. But maybe it's something you want to think about pursuing in the new year. Maybe have a look at what sort of classes or groups are starting in your area. Or have a bit of a look online to see what might be something that you could join.

And even if you're like me and you're all a little bit shy and a bit introverted when it comes to big groups, like I said, the one-on-one thing is, or even one on three thing would be a fun thing to do. And certainly within the realms of keeping your central nervous system from going into overload with a big group.

But yeah, maybe now's the time to think ahead to the future to 2025. And what you might be able to do in the creative friendship space to help you going forward in the new year, to pursue your creative practice on a regular basis, which is so important for you.

So I hope that you found this helpful in some way. If you did, maybe you want to send this episode to your creative friend or somebody that you know.

Also, if you are enjoying these episodes, I would really love it if you could leave a nice review so that more people can find the podcast and benefit from the information. So. My friends. Go forth, be creative and I'll see you in the next episode.

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