In my work as an artist, creative coach and surface pattern designer, I hear this all the time.

When people meet me and learn my story of transformation from corporate drone to thriving artist, they are generally intrigued. However, when I get to the part about how much fun surface pattern design is, they stop me and say: “Oh, that sounds amazing, but I can’t draw.”

Creating art is therapeutic, fun, and empowering for me personally and for my students. Being a part of the creative process is so phenomenal - why not spread it around? Use your creative talents as an act of kindness to make a difference in the lives of others.

Creating beautiful art makes my heart sing. It is my joy. 

I know creating is a joy for you too - which is why I think you’ll love this list of my top 12 all-time favorite art products. These are great holiday gift ideas for an artist friend or a holiday gift from you, to YOU!

One of the most generous things you can do as an artist or creative is get your artwork out into the world. Sharing your creativity with others spreads joy like nothing else, and the holiday season is the perfect time. Many people shop for the holidays at craft fairs. You can be the vendor to help them with unique and beautiful gifts.

I’m an introvert. That means that while I like people, I’d rather stay home than go out and mingle. However, I’ve come to realize that sometimes, getting out of our comfort zone is critical and one way to do that is to attend a live event.

I attended Amy Porterfield’s Entrepreneur Experience in San Diego last week. This is the 2nd year I’ve gone and it did not disappoint. Picking this as my favorite live event is easy for a bunch of reasons.

I’m excited to dive into my watercolor & ink practice with you again this week. Today we’ll work on a monochromatic floral piece together and we’ll add ink details at the end.

First, let me give Shayda Campbell a big shout out. I’ve been exploring her beautiful YouTube channel recently for motivation and inspiration. This video tutorial is my interpretation of one she did last year. I like to work in watercolor and ink which defines my unique signature style.

I’m recharging my creative batteries this month. I don’t know about you but periodically, when I’m really focused on running my online business, I forget to set aside time for my own creative practice. Then, all of a sudden, I realize that I’m really missing it and need to restructure my time to incorporate personal creative time back into my week. 

One of the things that helps me relax and ease back into being creative is sketching. Today’s video tutorial is all about opening yourself to the possibility of relaxation and that feel of “zen-ness” that comes from focusing on a creative project and forgetting about everything else for a little while.

Let’s do something creative together this week. I’ve been really missing my own personal creative time for the past few months and decided that I just have to make time for it. Sometimes you don’t even notice that months have gone by and you haven’t created anything new.

As I’ve been building my online business this year, I’ve been spending a ton of time in the business and on the business. And I haven’t been creating as much as I’d like. Let’s change that and work on a watercolor and ink floral piece together.

I’m super excited to announce that enrollment is open for my free LIVE workshop: How to Get Started in Surface Pattern Design. I only offer this program a few times a year and this is the last time you can participate in 2019.

 Here is what it’s all about. If you are interested in exploring Surface Pattern Design, what better way to get started than by taking this free LIVE workshop. Over 5 days, I teach you each step in the process from sketching by hand, to digitizing your work in the computer using Adobe Illustrator and creating your first successfully repeating pattern. Once you know the basic steps, the sky’s the limit, my friend.

I’m getting ready to offer my free LIVE workshop again. It’s called: How to Get Started in Surface Pattern Design and it’s a lot of fun. I’ve been reflecting on some limiting beliefs that come up again and again when creatives are thinking about embarking on something new. Let me correct that. These don’t come up for everyone but they do come up for a lot of people! My goal in this blog post is to help you recognize these limiting beliefs and bust through them so they don’t hold you back. Let’s jump in.

I think most of you know by now that I teach surface pattern design and how to jumpstart your creative business online. Students are currently in week 5 of my 8-week signature course: The Pattern Design Academy. I talked about the importance of perseverance last week. This week I want to talk about three tactical ways you can increase your ability to get to the finish line whether you are participating in a course or you are setting up your creative business online. Ready?

Today is my Dad’s 90th birthday. We are celebrating. While we are still busy with the aftermath of my Mum’s passing, it’s critically important to celebrate this amazing milestone birthday and everything that it represents for my Dad and our family. As I mentioned last week, one of the things that helps us move forward is creating new memories. Today’s celebration will create a beautiful new memory and I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures.

New beginnings are frequently timed around the first of the year when many of us like to set goals for ourselves. However, finding opportunities for new beginnings throughout the year is a wonderful and refreshing practice. As most of you know, my beautiful and brilliant Mum passed away a week ago. As I continue to honor her, I’ve decided to focus on new beginnings for myself and share five of them with you here.

My beautiful, brilliant Mum passed away on Sunday after a short struggle with cancer. It happened so fast. She was diagnosed on July 4th and died a very short six weeks later. She was a force of nature, always looking for ways to connect people and support their dreams. She brought joy wherever she went. I’m so grateful and so blessed that she was alive to witness my transformation from corporate drone to thriving online artist. She cheered me on, always, no matter what.

One of the very best things about teaching Surface Pattern Design is the students I have the privilege of meeting and mentoring. I’m thrilled to introduce you to Heather Lowery, an accomplished woodblock printer who started to explore Surface Design earlier this year as a way to expand her business.

I’m back to talk about the benefits of exploring surface pattern design. Let’s start from the beginning to make sure everyone understands what surface design actually is. I had never heard of it until about three years ago and didn’t realize it was such a huge creative industry.

Do you get that nagging feeling that you could be doing something creative with your life but you don’t know where to start? I hear this a lot inside my creative community. I’m here to tell you, implore you in fact, to keep reading. I’m sharing my top 3 super practical tips for how to get started.

This year’s 100 Day Project ends tomorrow: Wednesday, July 10, 2019. It’s been an amazing experience leading 50+ women in the challenge this year. I created a private Facebook group for us to ensure we’d have a safe place to post our work, provide encouragement and cheer each other on each day. The breadth and variety of artwork produced has been inspirational.