 Our great trip through South America comes to an end and I want to share some impressions with you. Especially one thing amazed me every single day: the fabrics and colourful, joyful way the (mostly traditional) women dress up. I got fascinated and happy every times I spotted one. The vibrant colours resonated so much with what I love and what I paint. It inspired me a lot and I cannot wait to have a white canvas in front of me to fill up with colours and patterns. And to dress myself up in joy too. Enjoy the colourful mix.  Handwoven fabric made from sheep wool by highlanders with (pre-) Incan symbols.  A very colourful hat from the Titicacan women at the Capachica Peninsula  Proudly dressing up in joy. The embroidered jackets and hats are a one-in-a-lifetime purchase, tailor made and cost more that 100€.  How cute is that!! I love the tradition of cheering up the ends of the braids.  Details of a skirt. I am in love with the beautiful details and the pink inner layer- it pops!!!  I couldn't help but draw some impressions in my sketchbook. You can find more on my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/redhead.art  Big hug, one last time from Peru
Lisa
1 Comment
 Ola amigos, todays blog is all about starting something big and how others can help us with that. Have fun reading. I just finished the interesting book "The talent code" by Daniel Coyle: Greatness isn't born. It's grown. One part of the book talks about ignition: the moment when a person falls helplessly in love with their future passion. I was wondering:
Part of the answer is: Rolmodels. For me the internet played a huge part in this one. Online you can connect to people who have done what you are dreaming of. It is one reason why I love the world wide web so much. May I introduce my personal heros:
Flora Bowley and Kelly Rae Roberts are two of my favorites. I heard and read about my them via the internet. I checked out their (both beautifully designed) websites, dove into their blogs and started to follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Yeah I kind of stalked on them, but in a cute innocent way. They are real heros for me. I adore them , I idolize them and sometimes they feel unreachable, far far away. It's easy to think "Wow, I would like to be like this, but I guess I could never achieve this." But hey-oh, that's not true. I can do it, too. They are normal humans, right? I can learn what they have learned. Maybe it takes me longer or it takes more efforts. But it is important not to be intimidated by their success. You can also enjoy the tingle in your gut, feeling this is something big. It shows your desire. It can be your orientation and guidance to what you like to be true for yourself. So I am careful not to compare myself with Flora and Kelly Rae in the state they are now. They are amazingly successfully artists and business women. They are earning very good money with living their creative lives. And I? I am just starting. But... "We Measure Against Our Own Standards, Not Others.-Live Your Legend Yeah, I am starting something big. Instead of 'stalking' them, you could also see it as 'study their success to make it my own.' It's worth it to analyse what you specifically love about that others person's life. Then you can create your own unique image how your happy life could look like.
Back to my beloved heroes. In addition to their beautiful artwork, I love that these two ladies share parts of their journey with their followers. They have been young, inexperienced not-professional artists, too. That feels so good. I remind myself that my dream is possible. They made it! They tell the story of success I want to hear. Now about you.
If you like this topic I also recommend this blogpost about what you can learn from your role models (and to practice your German). Sending you lots of love, Lisa Do you know these tiny voices in your head, full of criticism and doubt? I do. Inspired by last weeks post I introduce myself as an artist when I meet new people in the Backpacker hostels. I want to share with you how that feels. The first time I blushed after saying the magical words "I am an artist". The voices in my head shouted in protest: Who do you think you are? You are not an artist. Artists are these few special people on earth. Artists are outgoing creatures with an extravagant flaire. They talk full of confidence about their new art project, leaving just mortals behind flabbergasted. Artists make critical, meaningful, expensive art to hang in a museum. I am not like this. The voice in my head goes on: Real artists are strong personalities, they've survived art school! In art school they managed to pass the multiple application exams to get accepted. They struggled through devastating feedback and endless criticism. They learned to present themselfes and competed with their fellow artists (instead of learning to collaborate) in this hard world of art, fighting for money and appreciacion. Again, that's not me. Art school is nothing for my soft soul. Even if I'd love to have more knowledge about composition, techniques and constructive feedback from an expert. But not in art school, this ambience would have broken my heart. I have to confess: I am not a typical artist as described above. I make feelgood art, not shocking or with a political statement. I paint and draw because the process of doing it makes me happy. When I paint, I relax. I meditate. I dance. I sing. I cry. I heal myself. I get motivated to be the best version of myself. I feel good. During the process of making art I change from within, getting more passionate, peaceful and compassionate. So you could say, through my own positive change, I change the world with my art. If people see this hidden process in the result, they want to connect with its positive vibe. Dream and give yourself permission to envision a you that you choose to be.– Joy Page I try to remind myself (and my inner critic) to let go of social expections. And even more of the expectations I created for myself. To accept and let go these over-critical voices.
What does your inner critic tell you? And what is your answer to it? Big hug, Lisa Talking about 'following your passion' often divides people into two groups:
1) The proud ones who 'did it'- they found their path to happiness and now follow their dreams. 2)The ones who haven't found their passion yet. They are left behind asking themselves "do I actually have a passion?" and "How-the-hell do I find it?" If you look at these words closely -follow your passion- the way we say it, it's a passive thing to do. It sounds like there is a path for me, clearly defined and I just have to walk it. Not so difficult, right? If you finally find the path, everything is easy and clear. Often people refer to these Eureka-moments when someone found its purpose out of the blue. You can see things differently. Most of us humans have to develop passion. That's the #1 rule. It is a long way, it's hard work and it normally takes years before our passion starts to fully bloom. Being on that journey can be divided into several parts: getting introduced to a field of interest, a lot of practicing, getting distracted, again taking an even closer look to it, trying and failing. It's all about baby steps. For me the journey began long ago as I started playing around with colour before I could even speak properly. As a kid I painted and draw constantly and won my first painting contest at age 5 (thanks to my parents-I have no clue how I did it). Then I kind of forgot about my favorite hobby, focusing more on horse riding (oh yeah) and hanging around with my new-made friends and our bikes around the forests of my new hometown. But still, in school art was always my favorite subject. As often as I could I choose art and creative subjects. Later, in high school I focused more on art. My interest for art highlighted in a once-in-a-lifetime surprise party for my 18th birthday: my parents collected all the artwork they could find I'd ever made ( including from family, friends and school teachers ) and invited everyone to my first exhibition. It was amazing. For the first time in my life I got a glimpse of being an artist. And then? Well, it took me 10 years to figure out that I want to focus more on art and to figure out a business model to make this dream come true. It took me quite a while to commit to rule #1: to put efforts in developing my biggest passion. What about YOU? Be honest. Did you also hide behind the idea that it just didn't happen yet, instead of taking baby steps -proactively- to develop your passion? Tell me in the comments! If you like this blog, it would be great if you share it with your friends so that even more can enjoy :) Lots of love, Lisa First, I want to thank you for your supportive feedback and for subscribing to my newsletter. I am still setting everything up, so it feels great to have the support. Love it.  I'M AN ARTIST.
What about you? Do you dare to tell what fulfills you with joy? What is your passion? Xxx, Lisa |
