What is your creative mission?
My mission is to remind you how endlessly creative you are. I believe beauty makes your heart beat faster, connects you to god, and the universe, and heals all things. Everyone is an artists and can pursue their creative dreams. It’s never too late.
What do you love about what you do?
I am tapped in, I pull down star and god energy and let the cards fall where they may. Words don’t ever seem enough to explain this. I’m alive, in a non-soul crushing way. Ha!
Eventually I did.
What have you learned from your successes and failures?
Failure is a loaded word. Why is it even a word?
My failures have made me. Everything adds up. Practice helps, no one is great at anything right away- ever. It takes life experience, repetition and a willingness to keep working to refine all that you are. Stay curious. You’ll surprise yourself how much you’re capable of learning in just a year.
How do you keep pushing ahead after a difficult challenge?
Life hasn’t always been easy. I’m a combat veteran, and came home from Iraq with PTSD. I live a really conscious life now and plan how I want to feel everyday.
When I paint, or do any kind of art, I am tapped in— god is talking to me and reminding me that there is so much hope and kindness in the world.
I’m also stubborn as hell and there is no way PTSD or the world is beating me.
Did you ever experience resistance from friends, family, the world in general? How did you overcome those blocks?
As a kid I was told that I wouldn’t make money as an artist so I went to school for sociology and got a master’s degree in counseling, and got a “good job” in Human Resources. When I eventually started painting and selling my work, I’d tell people I was an artist, and they’d get a disappointed look.
I spent so many years of my life trying to please someone else’s dream for me, which sucked my soul dry.
Eventually my happiness mattered more than what other people wanted for me, and that opened up a whole new world. People are allowed to have opinions about what you do.
[bctt tweet=”Choose happiness every time.”]How has your art and creativity healed you?
Me and god hang out when I paint. Sometimes words are exchanged and sometimes there’s just lovely silence.
For me, painting is like prayer, and god and the universe will send some lovely vibes, that fill me up, and help me release the old.
What steps would you recommend for someone who wants to kick some ass and get their creative dreams off the ground?
Get in the conversation, follow your favorite artist on Instagram for inspiration. Take classes and meet fellow creatives, read creative blogs like this one, every day. Devour books on creativity like NFA, Big Magic, The War of Art, and Steal Like an Artist. Every morning, visualize yourself doing what you love. You’ll be amazed how your life unfolds.
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