When I was a little girl, I was blessed with a creative mom who believed in the magic of art and art supplies. I grew up in an environment of books, puppets, paints, maracas, markers and construction paper. Even so, sometimes my mom’s approach would shut me down, like the time I proudly showed her some drawings and she said, “That was too fast. Real art takes time.”

Real art takes time.

What a terrifying thought.

Now before I go further, let me say that as an adult it occurred to me that what my mom really meant was, “Jamie, I literally just set you up to do some drawing. How can you be finished already? Do more! Take longer! I have my own things to do!” But at the time, I just felt shot down and confronted with the concepts of ‘real art’ and ‘time’.

I think time may be one of the things that confounds us creatives the most. There’s never enough of it and knowing that, we sink into a panic about whether we’ll ever make the work we want to create in this lifetime.The problem is that the worry slows us down – even paralyzes us at times.

Time is so limited we look for guarantees.

We don’t want to start unless we know we can finish – better yet, if we know we can finish and the work will be good. And not only good but good enough that other people will love it. Even better, other people will love it so much they’ll pay for it and then we will finally know that time invested in making art was worth it

Is making your art worth the time if it doesn’t make money?
Is making your art worth the time if other people don’t appreciate it?
Is making your art worth the time if sometimes even you don’t like it?
Is making your art worth it if you run out of time before completing every project?

When is art-making worth it?

My answer is, “Always.”

I have dozens of projects I want to bring to you in the studio and 5 books so real that I can call them by name. It’s hard to make some wait in line while I work on others but I know that’s the way for me to make progress. I have no idea how many of these projects I will be able to bring into being during my lifetime, nor do I know how any of them will be received. All I know is that I will use the time I have to create what I can. I hope you’ll do the same.

I’m back in the Studio! Last week I tiptoed in gently. Did a little tidy up. Caught up on correspondence. Lit the fire, so to speak. And I remembered how much I love my work.

When I left my PhD in drama incomplete, I had no idea what was next. I couldn’t have envisioned the creative coaching work I do or the online courses I teach because those things literally did not exist!

When I went to my perfectly fine day job, I didn’t imagine that one day I would be running my own business, helping people reunite with their creative spirit. I just went to work knowing my soul was struggling and there had to be ‘more’.

I want you to know that just because you can’t name what you want or see where you’re going doesn’t mean that something amazing isn’t ahead.

My journey started by my recognizing three things that had always been with me: the arts, a love of people and a tendency to do my own thing.

Then I found coaching and said yes.
Then I found blogging and dove in.
Then I began working with clients.
Then I braved teaching a class.

Now I run a successful online creative studio with coaching, classes and content that has made a difference in the lives of thousands of people around the world!

I am in the right place doing the right thing even though I had no idea where I was going for most of the journey.

Even if you don’t know where you are going, you can get there from here.

What do you love? What has always been with you? What brave action will you take next?

After almost 20 years of coaching creatives, I can tell you that there is no singular artistic ‘type’. We are not all flakey or flamboyant. We’re not all boho or beautiful or snobby or dramatic.

Artists can…

be left-brained or right-brained
be introverts or extroverts
be messy or meticulous
be dreamy or pragmatic
be shy or outgoing
be slapdash or perfectionists
be any age
be intense or laidback
be moody or even-tempered
be decadent or moderate
be pretentious or down-to-earth
be broke or wealthy
be sensitive or thick-skinned
be eccentric or conventional
be show-offs or recluses
be minimalist or maximalists
love nature or the city
love beauty or the ugly
love harmony or disruption
love to shock or to soothe
wear bright colours or black
thrive on stage or behind the scenes
make a living with art or never sell a thing.

Artists are any and all of these things and everything in between.

What matters is that you embrace the way the creative spirit shows up in you. If you are an outgoing urban 72-year-old who couldn’t give a damn what other’s think – bring that to your art. If you’re a sensitive nature lover with a pragmatic bent, bring that to your art. If your left-brain loves order, pattern and predictability – bring that to your art.

One of the greatest gifts of art is that whoever we are, whatever we love, art can hold it all.

Don’t listen to any limitations the world offers about being an artist. Be who you are. Love what you love. Create what’s in your heart.

Everything I do here in the studio is to support you in doing just that. In Devotion, you’ll embrace your artistic identity and immerse yourself in your artwork. With the Studio Yearbook, you’ll develop creative practices that will help you discover and awaken the creative you truly are. And in our year-end Planning Day, you’ll dance between structure and flexibility to design a 2022 that fits just right for you and your priorities.

I’ve spent a lifetime finding and embracing my own creative ways and have built a career helping others do the same. There is nothing more beautiful to me in this world than each of us showing up and sharing exactly who we are.

I celebrate the artist in you!

I can still feel in my bones the moment I committed to creativity.

After becoming a coach, I attended a leadership program. In partners, we worked on identifying our personal core mission, that certain something that we were ready to be a stand for in this world. As a part of the exercise, I drew a simple figure and at the centre I put their creative fire.

My partner asked me why creativity was so important to me. Words tumbled out of my mouth as I tried to find the answer. In those ramblings, I discovered that it wasn’t just about the arts, though I love them dearly. For the first time I found my deep belief that when we create one thing, we foster in ourselves the belief that we can create other things – many things, maybe anything.

We begin to believe in our own creative magic.

I don’t use the term ‘magic’ lightly here. I use it to mean the process of transforming ideas, dreams and imaginings into something tangible and real in this world. When you wield this magic with your poems and your paints, your sewing machine and your songs, you nurture a growing belief in yourself and what you are capable of.

Before you know it, the magic spills over into your life. You start asking yourself, “What if?’ and making choices you never would have before. You start saving for grad school. You quit your obligatory committee and use that time to learn Italian. You take a road trip and move across country. You cut your hair and start dressing more like yourself. You say no to overtime. You say yes to dancing. You send that manuscript in.

And it doesn’t end there.

As you recognize the impact of creative magic in your life, you move differently in the world. Your “what if” questions expand beyond yourself. You believe in the possibility of positive change. You’ve not only experienced it, you’ve created it. You wonder, what else could get better? How might creative magic be of service to your community, to your loved ones, to the world? What is possible if we all bring our creative capacity to bear?

It’s no little thing when you show up for your art. It’s the spark that starts the magic, a magic fully capable of turning visions into reality – in creative work, in life and in the world.

Keep creating and encourage others to do the same.

Let’s defy the naysayers, the critics and the gatekeepers.

Let’s create and take our magic back.

If you look back over your creative life, when were you the most creative? When did you feel artistically alive, inspired and committed?

If your first thought is “never”, I invite you to look again. Was it planning a party or a trip? Singing in choir? Decorating your first apartment? Sewing a Halloween costume? Pouring heartbreak into poetry? Making gifts? Refinishing furniture? Spending time in the garden?

Take It to Your Journal (1): Pull out your journal and write about a time when you felt creatively alive, when you were so ‘in it’ that time flew by. It doesn’t matter if you were 9 or 90, if it was last week or decades ago. Whatever creative memory feels rich and right is perfect.

We can look at these experiences to find clues about what brings us creatively alive. What was present? Who was present? What were we doing? What was happening in our mind, body and heart, as well as in the art?

Here’s an example from my creative life. This summer I decided to take a roll of paper and some paint out back for an afternoon of working big and messy. I put on my overalls and my headphones. I listened to music and danced in the sun. I fought with the wind, who constantly freed the paper from the weights I’d put down, and I (mostly) laughed when I lost that battle. I sprayed, spritzed, dabbled and glopped. I painted with a brush, my fingers, sticks and leaves. I created all sorts of fresh and ugly work, found moments of beauty and certainly a lot that held energy and interest. The afternoon passed in a heartbeat and when I was done, I couldn’t wait to do it again! I have been using bits and pieces of that wild and messy artwork ever since!

Reflecting on my experience, what can I discover about the keys to my creativity?

• Overall: The whole experience was steeped in a sense of freedom.
• The Space: There was room for me to move and it was okay for me to make a mess.
• Clothing: I could move easily in my clothes and had no worries about getting messy in them.
• Solitude: Being alone meant I only had to worry about my own judgments and expectations. If I could let those go, I was totally free.
• Music: Music bypassed my brain and spoke to my heart and body, inspiring me to dance and to open up to fuller expression
• Nature: The wind kept me from taking myself too seriously!

Take it to Your Journal (2): Now reflect on your own experience. Going back to your memory of creative aliveness, what keys can you discover? What was present? What was absent? What contributed to your creative energy and flow?

Finding these keys releases us from the belief that what we need is an exact replication. (Yes, that retreat in Bali was amazing but it’s not the only road to creative freedom.) Getting locked into the specifics limits our options and keeps us stuck in the past. If I believed the only way for me to be creatively alive was to work big and messy outside, I’d spend the entire winter in despair! Not helpful. Instead, I can use my keys. How can I create freedom of movement? Where else might it be okay to get messy? What playlists can I cultivate to nourish my expression? How can I create periods of solitude for the good of my creative heart? What else can help me take myself less seriously?

Take It to Your Journal (3): Now that you have found some of the keys to your creativity, how can you use them more and more? What’s one key that you can make use of this week?

This is a powerful exercise in getting to know yourself as an artist. Discover and use these keys to unlock your artistic freedom and bring your creativity to life.