There are three main components in my definition of success, all of them inter-related.
1. Sovereignty
I used to call this freedom but sovereignty captures the essence even more. Success to me means being able to direct my energy, my time, my life towards what is meaningful and worthy to me.
2. Legacy
Every time I am able to contribute to my body of work, I consider that success. When that work is able to then make a difference in the lives of others, doubly so.
3. Enjoyment
If I miss out on the joy of living my own life, of creating and sharing my body of work and making a difference, than I will have missed the point entirely. If I am blessed to be able to do what is meaningful to me, it is an act of gratitude to enjoy it.
Me & Juli Lyons, photographer
What’s your definition of success?
We often work so very hard. Knowing our personal definition of success helps us ensure that all that effort is being put in the right place.
For the past several years, on a day in June, the neighbourhood yard sale takes over a larger area in the east end of Toronto. It’s become something we look forward to, a wonderful way to wander through our ‘hood, say hi to some neighbours and maybe discover a bargain or two, often accompanied by a story!
This year we didn’t buy too much but I was delighted to get this old Mucha calendar. I think the pictures will be great for collaging and many will make wonderful journal covers.
I couldn’t say no to this little guy, especially after our recent talk of the Inspiration Rabbit and the Procrastination Bunny. It was meant to be! (By the way, you can see the Procrastination Bunny LIVE on this BtS)
We also picked up this wonderful mirror. Justin was awesome and put it up immediately! So often we get these additions and they end up gathering dust in the corner instead of finding a new home. Not this time. Yay!
Unfortunately that was all the energy I had for Saturday. I ended up feeling rather under the weather. Good thing I had my summer inspiration infusion and lots of good company!
Sunday morning I woke up and was feeling much better. The weather was my perfect summer day: blue sky, sun shining, wind blowing and hovering around 20. Wonderful! I wanted to get down to the lake and feel the wind on my shoulders so Justin and I headed out and on the way we stumbled across the Beaches Arts & Crafts show!
One of the first booths that we looked was Woodturnings. The gentleman selling these beautiful wooden wares was lovely and had such a nice energy that even though there were several other folks selling this kind of thing, we came back to Kjell Orrling’s work. We’ve been needing a new cutting board and haven’t found anything to suit but these two immediately felt like ours. A walnut one for me. A maple one for Justin.
We also could not resist this amazingly flavourful honeys of Flavours of Nova Scotia. The honey and lemon is beyond irresistible! Justin and I had to set some guidelines about when we would treat ourselves to these delights – or else they’d be gone in no time!
Treasures in hand, we finally made it down to the boardwalk to get our fix of wind and sky!
With all that I still managed to make it home in time for Art Day with Shannon! We decided to connect via Zoom and work on whatever project was calling us. Shannon tested her new gel pens and I pulled out my magazine journal and had fun simply filling it up with collage images. It’s so fun to sit and create together over tea!
Scout wanted to be included. He’s such good company how could I say no?
One of the key ingredients of my studio life is being a lifelong learner. I am constantly enrolled in a class or classes and learning more about myself and my arts. As an instructor myself, I also love the opportunity to learn from other teachers and to become an ever better guide!
Rather spontaneously I signed up for Ali Edwards‘ photography class Lens of Joy. I’ve so enjoyed the beginning process of exploring my relationship to photography, thinking about my own art history with this medium and also about my voice as a photographer.
photo by Inta Ridler
In a whole new way I understand the creative and personal legacy of my mom, who captured our entire lives through her lens and who bought me my first camera.
I’m also taking Summer Pierre’s Writing and Drawing Comics. I’ve had a lot of fun experiencing drawing drills and starting to work within the frame of a comic. It immediately brought me back to when I first started blogging. After being at it for a while, my ideas, stories and imaginings started to fit themselves into the blog format. Blogging became a framework for my imagination. I wonder if the same will happen with comics.
‘Many highly creative people can vividly remember a “moment, an encounter, a book that they read, a performance that they attended, that spoke to them and led them to say, “This is the real me, this is what I would like to do, to devote my life to, going forward,” says psychologist Howard Gardner.’
I have a moment like that, a moment when the light went on and I knew that I was a dancer. More to come on that later.
Winter is having a hard time letting go of Toronto! I am thankful for more sunshine but I am ready for the snow to go.
Especially since last week my poor tulips and daffodils had started their journey in the garden. Every time I think of these spring flowers, I think of May Sarton and her book Plant Dreaming Deep. In it she talked about the battle of the bulbs that is waged every year with the surrounding wildlife. Whereas my solution has been to try to protect my few bulbs with this chicken wire, May chose to plant hundreds of bulbs, knowing that some of them would be her contribution to the winter diet of squirrels. I am inspired by that abundance and generosity. Perhaps next year I will plant dozens more.
In our neighbourhood it is not only the squirrels but also the raccoons that are out looking for food. I was surprised to see this one out in the middle of the day. Though they are super cute, they can really be a problem so we’d prefer not to feed them. Though we discovered a couple of years ago we were…
That was the end of the bird feeder!
It’s nice there is so much to experience right through my window because I’m tucked inside for a bit. Unfortunately, I’m under the weather so I am taking a couple of days to rest and hopefully kick this congestion to the curb. I’m curled up under the blankets, with kittens at my feet and a big pile of journals and books at the ready. Perhaps you’ll see some of these in an upcoming Creative Living Bookshelf! That is if I can stay up long enough to read them!
Creative Prompts for Your Studio (Remember, your life is your studio)
What are you having a hard time letting go of? What would help you release?
Where are you being protective when abundance and generosity might serve you better?
It’s been an amazingly productive time in the studio. Last week we started Journal Club and it is a joy already! What a blessing to spend an hour a week dedicated to your journal practice in a community of sensitive and supportive creative souls! As soon as we started, I heard one of my favourite mantras rolling around in my heart, “More of that, please!”
I have learned the power of “more” through my ongoing Art Day practice. Every other Sunday my sister Shannon and I meet up for an afternoon of creating. As we’ve developed this creative habit, one of the most important insights I’ve gained is that the more you create, the freer you are. When you know there are more coming, each piece does not have to contain the sum total of your gifts. It is not the one and only precious piece of proof that you have talent or the devastating message you have none (Impossible!). It is simply a piece of creative work, one among many, each one adding to your skill, your knowledge and your body of work. If you want to grow confidence in your creative work, create, create, create!
Currently Shannon and I are enrolled in Carla Sonheim’s yearlong Y is for Yellow course and we are beginning to work on a series. It’s amazing how your mindset shifts when you add that word. Shannon and I have both noticed our inner critic have been activated! Suddenly we are no longer having fun doing exercises around the kitten table. Now we are creating “pieces” for a “series”. It’s like things suddenly got “serie-ous”! During this exploration one of the things we’ve talked about a lot is what makes something a ‘piece’? Any thoughts?
For my series, I’ve decided to work on 9×9 found drawings in watercolour backgrounds, mostly because I just love creating them. They have shown me that my creative imagination is full of landscapes, flowers and creatures. My subject matter leans to “wonder.”
I’ve been thinking about this in terms of my photography too. What do I love to photograph? What are the themes that run through my photos?
No doubt the studio kittens have been my favourite subject matter since they arrived. (In fact, I’ve endured a bit of teasing about that!) I love the way the kittens allow me to get truly candid shots and my goal is always to capture their personalities. I try to do that on video too!
Scout, Shibumi and Escher all get excited when I open the cupboard and pull out something from their toybox. They each have their particular favourites. Shibumi never gets tired of playing fetch with her little soccer balls. Escher loves plastic springs and small rolling balls. Scout remains true to their very first toy: paper balls. And they all love, love, love these little mice toys. In this video, Scout shows his enthusiasm while the others look on.
There’s always time to play in the studio!
Creative Prompts for Your Studio (Remember, your life is your studio)
Invite a friend out for a journaling coffee date. It’s beautiful to sit quietly together and write.
Put an “Art Day” on your schedule. Take an afternoon to dive into watercolours or art journaling or photography. Whatever creative medium calls to you, give it some of your time.
Give yourself permission to create loads! The more you create, the more adept you become and the less pressure you put on each piece.
What activates your inner critic? How do you respond?
Explore the question, “When does something become a piece”? How do you know when it is there?
Explore the idea of a series. If you were to create a series of your work, what would you focus on?
Looking at your own creations, what themes do you notice recur? What do you draw, paint, photograph, write about, again and again and again?
Why not just go for it? Create a series!
Take some time to play. What would you like to play with?
The other day I looked out the studio window and saw the telltale sign of spring: the little extensions on the end of the tree branches. No matter what the thermometer says, no matter what the weather reports, the only one I believe is the tree. She tells me when spring is really here.
And this is why I trust her! On Art Day, I looked out the kitchen window and saw green! I grabbed my camera and ran outside to have a look. I was shocked and delighted to discover just how far the tulips had already come! I asked Shannon for her patience as I freed these sprouts from their protective chicken wire. Clearly it had done its job, saving some of these beauties from the squirrels, but now it seemed to be strangling them! A gentle cut here and there and they were free.
This is similar to what happens in our own creative lives. As we begin the delicate task of growing, we need protection, a gentle shield against those who might tear asunder our tender showings. When we have grown enough to stand on our own, the defense that had once been so key to our survival blocks our way. Then it is time to let go of that precious protection and brave what is next.
Art Day this week asked me for some bravery. Our assignment for Carla Sonheim’s Y is for Yellow class was to do gesture drawings, quick drawings that capture the movement, the essence of a figure. I know this is one of Shannon’s all-time favourite art forms. In fact, I remember a theatre poster that brought together her drawings of essential moments of the actors. Striking! For me though, ack! I’d never done anything like this before and it seemed wildly intimidating. The good thing was that it only required seconds of courage! At the speed of this exercise, 5 figures could be done in about a minute. I could be brave for a minute! What I found was that when I was in the experience, there wasn’t time to be afraid or to judge. There was just the work. I was reminded, once again, how often the answer to our creative conundrums is found in the work itself.
The other challenge coming in the time ahead is to develop a series. Shannon and I spent some of our time talking about what our series might be, what it might look like. I looked to what I have enjoyed most over the past several years of Art Day. What left me always wanting to do another piece and another and another? I know that there must be an element of discovery and surprise for me. I lean towards watercolours, mostly for their ease of use and the way they look and feel with pen. This reflection was a great way for me to gather my knowing about myself as an artist. For this series I have set myself some specs: watercolour and found drawings on a paper square. I can’t wait to get started!
Something else I can’t wait to get started is this new and exciting adventure I am on with Fresh Collective here in Toronto! A friend of mine suggested that I apply to their role model campaign so I had a look.
We love entrepreneurship, creativity, self-expression and community. Inspired by our customers, the Role Models Program is designed to celebrate those values, showing you fabulous ways to look great while you’re living your fabulous life out loud!
Clearly we are on the same page! So I filled out my application, had a conversation with Laura-Jean, the founder of Fresh Collective, and now I am officially a Role Model! How cool is that?! I am so excited by all of the possibilities not to mention my very first photo shoot, which is coming next week. Wish me luck! And expect to see a new haircut soon.
I have always been very inspired by style while being incredibly against repressive attitudes we see in the fashion industry. For me, the whole point of style is to express the uniqueness of who you are, to help you shine your individual light and grace into this world. It is for each of us to be a unique wildflower, not one in a series of homogeneous cultivated roses. (I have nothing against roses, mind you!) That’s why I so enjoy this short video of the exquisite Iris Apfel, especially this quote:
The greatest fashion faux-pas is looking in the mirror and seeing somebody else.
Iris Apfel
Here’s to looking in the mirror and seeing ourselves!
Creative Prompts for Your Studio (Remember, your life is your studio)
Take some time to notice the changing season around you. What are the telltale signs where you are?
Like the tulips, is there something you’ve relied on for protection that it’s time to let go of? Will you let go?
What have you been wanting to try that feels intimidating? Muster a moment of courage and dive in, if only for a minute or two. See what changes after you step across the bridge of fear and truly encounter the work.
What do you know about yourself as an artist? Take some time to look at the creative work that you most enjoy doing and look for clues. What mediums, themes, motifs, approaches are you drawn to again and again and again?
Is there an opportunity that you’ve been eyeing? What would it take for you to throw your hat in the ring? Do it this week!
Put together one outfit (even if you have to buy a piece or pieces) that when you wear it, you look in the mirror and who you see is you. Wear it.
This is what my mornings look like these days as I get up at 5:30 AM to get to the gym by 6:30. It’s so weird locking the door behind me, feeling like I’m heading out to choir or to meet a friend for drinks when really I’m about to sweat up a storm and get my morning started! Today as I left my house, I saw the stars! Here’s what I saw on the way home.
Can you tell what it is? Frost on a car windshield and the reflection of trees. Beauty is everywhere.
Writing…
One of the best things about these early mornings is that I’m home by 7:30, ready to sit down with Scout on my lap and write for at least an hour. This week I’ve been writing about my own art history, revisiting my journey with different arts, from dance to theatre to music to the visual arts, noticing the places I flourished and the ones that shut me down and thinking about how great a class on this topic would be.
stART: Creating as We Go…
This talk of our personal art history continued during the recording of stART: Creating as We Go with my sisters, Suzie and Shannon, with each of us sharing a bit of our own story. It’s amazing that three sisters from the same family can have entirely different art journeys. As our mom always said, “Every child has different parents!”
During the show I was really inspired by Shannon letting go of one of the TV shows that she always watches in favour of specifically using that time for creating. It’s amazing to see the impact that’s had on her creative life. I’m imagining what I could swap out of the schedule and replace with art time but I keep come back to the same answer: the dishes. I think maybe I should look to my TV watching too!
By the way, this episode of stART is coming soon. I’m just trying to sort out a little something with the video. When it’s ready, I’ll share the link in the Studio Newsletter.
Journal Club…
A big part of my work in the studio this week has been preparing for our first ever Journal Club! We’ll be meeting in my Zoom Room cafe online for 6 weeks, getting to know one another and taking time for our practice. We’ll do some free writing and answer some prompts too. We may even do some doodling! I am so looking forward to this weekly creative time in creative community. It’s going to be such a lovely way to spend an hour each week. I hope you’ll join in too!
Thinking about…
Something that has been catching my ear lately is how people feel about standing out. In fact, I asked people about it on the studio’s Facebook page and it’s clear that for many people there’s a real discomfort in being noticed, in standing apart, in receiving attention. Where does that come from? What messages did you get about getting noticed? What is your experience with standing out? How about with fitting in? I think this is something really interesting to explore. I’m particularly interested in how it’s related to our Art History. Fascinating!
Wanting to See…
Something else that looks fascinating is the Outsiders exhibit of American Photography and Film at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Here’s how they describe it.
“Harnessing the descriptive and expressive capacities of photography and film, the artists in this remarkable exhibition, Outsiders: American Photography and Film, 1950s–1980s, all participated in changing the image of American life. Motivated by a sense that the status quo was untenable, and that current visual expressions of American life did not reflect what they knew and saw of the world, they deployed their chosen media to reflect a more complex, more authentic and more diverse view of the world in which they had grown up.”
I wonder if we created an exhibit of our photos of what we know and how we saw the world, what we would come up with. What would we see of each others lives and how would that compare to our Pinterest boards?
I know in my collection of photos over the past 8 months you would see a growing relationship with and love for our Studio Kittens.
A Kitten Progress Report…
Scout has grown into such a sexy cat. He’s lithe and agile and his fur is silky soft. He’s incredibly sensitive. If he was a tarot card, he’d be the Prince of Cups. I’d say he has the soul of a poet. When he is in the mood for love, he is all purrs and relaxation, stretching and turning and giving you his belly. He sits on my lap for hours while I’m writing, occasionally looking up with love and a desire for attention. Then when something unnerves him or he has the kitty crazies, he is off like a shot! He’ll jump at his tail, bounce of the wall and run so you can’t catch even a wisp of his tail!
Ah, Shibumi, that face says it all! See why I simply have to take a comics class? Nothing else will capture the sheer range of her big personality! She remains the smallest of the cats but you wouldn’t know it by her linebacker stance. She’s bold, loving and relentless. She’s constantly pawing at the window ready to take on whatever creature she sees outside. At least three times a day she brings me her favourite rubber soccer ball so that we can play fetch (and I’m sure she asks Justin at least as many times!) She’s also the only one who likes to be held (yet – I’m currently working on Scout) and Justin walks around with her perched on his arm like he is a branch and she is a black panther. I rather think she’d like that image of herself!
And Mr. Escher Pants, wow, this week we have made such progress! Only very recently did he start seeking out attention and even when he did, it mostly involved him walking away as you tried to pet him. It’s like he gets too excited by the attention. He craves it and when he receives it his whole body fills with energy like he’s just going to jump right out of his skin and so he walks away. Sometimes he even stops, drops and rolls over but if I take a step near him, he turns over quickly and dashes!
This week though, for three nights in a row, at about the same time in the evening, he has come to see me. Little by little he has let himself stay for some love and attention. And yesterday, when he walked, stopped, dropped and rolled, I reached out and he let me touch him! There were even purrs! What a breakthrough. Yes, everyone, he’s training me well ;)
And that’s today in the studio.
Prompts for Your Studio…
If you were going to redesign how you start each day, what would you do?
Take It to Your Journal: Write about your own Art History.
Take a moment right now as you read or hear this and look for beauty. What do you notice?
What could you swap out (e.g. a TV show) in exchange for some creative time?
Take It to Your Journal: How do you feel about standing out?
Take some photos of what you know and how you see the world.
Where are you an outsider? Where do you belong?
Go to a gallery exhibit that calls to you.
In any medium, create a portrait of someone you love.
