Melissa Dinwiddie | Create the Impossible™ | Innovation Keynote Speaker & Consultant
Empower your team to innovate on demand. Melissa Dinwiddie helps tech leaders Create the Impossible™ through playful, interactive workshops and keynotes. Unlock breakthrough creativity today.
Dream big!
Walnut ink, Ziller ink, watercolor ground, steel pointed pen on paper
2.9″ x 11.4″
Why limit your dreams? Who knows what you might be able to make happen if you lift that ceiling.
Lisa Fisher
Want an original ArtSpark for your own collection? Watch my Facebook page, because I periodically auction off my ArtSparks there. 
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on! [scs_post]
Go for it!
Walnut ink, Ziller ink, watercolor ground, steel pointed pen on paper
3.8″ x 6″
Seriously, what would happen if you really went for it?
The artist (that’s me!)
Want an original ArtSpark for your own collection? Watch my Facebook page, because I periodically auction off my ArtSparks there.
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
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Note: If you’re in a hurry, scroll down for time-sensitive info. Just sayin’.
This weekend marked the half-way point in the crucible that is Action Studio. The 36+ cast members inside are all awhirl, heads spinning with new visions of who we are and what our businesses are all about.
I signed up for the 30-day course with the goal of getting clear on my business message and direction. Turns out that was the easy part: two days in, and mission accomplished!
Now comes the hard part of actually implementing that clarity.
Part of that is the long-overdue website overhaul, the new home page design, the reams of re-writing.
But perhaps the hardest part is letting go of some things to make room for others.
Inside Action Studio, Sinclair has made space for us to look at not just what we’re really good at, but what we really, really want.
Um, hello. This is what this entire Living A Creative Life endeavor is about! I started this damn blog as part of my quest to re-invent my life, follow my evolving Blisses and create the life I really, really want.
And yet, somehow along the way I got off track. Waylaid by stuff I’m good at, but isn’t really in alignment with my deepest desires.
As Action Studio special guest star Dyana Valentine put it on a call last Wednesday, “Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you have any business doing it.”
Amen.
So, a confession: I am not an art marketing expert.
Nor do I want to be.
I created my first “digital offering,” the Thriving Artists Project, because I wanted to learn from other creatives who have built sustainable, thriving businesses from their creative passions.
I wanted to inspire myself, and all creatives, to bust the starving artist mindset once and for all. I knew that providing creatives with role models – people who are already doing what we’ve been told is impossible – would be powerful medicine.
Plus I thought living out my Terry Gross fantasies would be hella fun.
I was right on both counts.
What I didn’t foresee was that creating the Thriving Artists Project would make me feel like I had something to live up to. Like I was supposed to be an expert in art marketing. Like I magically needed to know everything, have all the answers.
Intellectually, I know this is ridiculous. But the feelings were there. I felt… uncomfortable. Like wearing someone else’s clothes that don’t quite fit.
Don’t get me wrong – I love the Thriving Artists Project, and I’m incredibly proud of it. But I’m also clear that what I want to create next is pointed in a slightly different direction.
As Action Studio guided me deeper into my business archetypes and my most passionate dreams, the shining truth revealed itself:
No, I am not an art marketing expert. I am an inspirationalist.
Brilliant, talented Nutty was the first to call me this, and I’m grateful for her perceptive vision. Sometimes it takes a view through someone else’s eyes to see what’s utterly obvious.
What do people email me all the time to say?
Not “wow, you helped me with my marketing,” but “you inspire me!”
What makes me utterly glow with delight to hear?
Not “I’m making more money thanks to you” (though of course that never sucks!), but “you’ve inspired me to create again!”
What’s the big vision that’s always in front of my eyes?
Of course I want to see all artists thriving, handsomely paid for the value we create. But that’s not my big, big dream.
My big, big dream is that everyone on the planet is connected with their creative source, playing in the Creative Sandbox, living in their fullest joy and sharing that with the world.
That’s what makes my heart leap and my soul sing!
I was fortunate to have amazing opportunities growing up. I got to do music and art in the schools. My parents could afford to give me piano lessons. My grandmother bought me a set of oil paints and taught me how to use them. I had my parents’ permission and support to immerse myself in dance as a teenager, and later even to drop out of UC Berkeley to pursue my dream of dancing at Juilliard in New York.
Even so, even with all of those opportunities, I found myself cut off from my creativity.
Even with a supportive family (who, I later learned, dreamed that I might grow up to be an artist!), I got sucked in by the louder cultural voices that told me that creative expression wasn’t important.
Better I should find the cure for cancer. Or feed the hungry. Or fight for the oppressed.
Even making a lot of money, the voices told me, was more important than feeding my creative soul.
I hate to admit it, but I bought the lie. And though I didn’t grow up to find the cure for cancer, or feed the world, or end oppression, or even make a lot of money (more’s the pity!) – even though I built a business directly from my art – I still found myself disconnected from my creative source.
Life felt stunted. Black and white. Lacking.
I know how powerful and important this was – and continues to be – for me. And I know how hard it can be to maintain.
That is my goal: fanning the flames of creativity wherever I see them.
That’s what I’ll be focusing on here, so join me if you like.
To be continued…
Meanwhile, if you’re ready to build a career as an artist, I highly recommend you check out my friend Michele Théberge’s free teleseminar, Five Keys to Success: Creating a Soul-Infused Art Career, happening today.
I met Michele when I interviewed her for the Thriving Artists Project. She inspired the hell out of me (in fact, it was that interview with Michele that got me back to my own daily practice, starting with my 15 minutes a day commitment).
Since then we’ve become friends. I’ve gotten to know Michele and have huge respect for her. She has been a professional artist for over 22 years, with work exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. She is also a beloved teacher who is passionate about the creative process and inspiring others to commit to their art practice and get their work out in a bigger way.
One thing I know about her is she is extremely generous when it comes to sharing what she knows about being an artist and committed to supporting others.
And she’s doing it for FREE in her teleclass “5 Keys to Success: Creating a Soul-Infused Art Career” TODAY, Wednesday, May 25, at 8 pm EDT/5 pm PDT
Find out more and sign up here: http://bit.ly/jOE2sF
But do it fast, because the teleclass starts in just a few hours!
Full disclosure: I am an affiliate with Michele, which means that if you end up signing up for her Artists Mentorship Program I’ll earn a commission. However, I believe so strongly in what she’s doing that I’d tell you about it even if I weren’t an affiliate. And if you don’t sign up, or if you sign up through some other link, I’ll never know about it anyway. 😉
Hope to see you on the call!
Breathe deep.
Walnut ink, Ziller ink, watercolor ground, steel pointed pen on paper
3.83″ x 7.147″
In the style of meditation I do, you focus on the breath. Rather brilliant, I think. After all, your breath is something you carry with you at all times. Plus I think we spend so much time completely unaware of our breathing. And when I’m anxious, my first line of defense is to breathe, slowly and deeply.
Sometimes that’s all you need to work wonders.
Lisa Fisher
Want an original ArtSpark for your own collection? Watch my Facebook page, because I periodically auction off my ArtSparks there.
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
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Let me ask you a question: What makes you happy?
Have you spent time really looking into that question? Do you know what gives you joy, what makes your soul dance and your heart sing?
And here’s the bigger question: are you doing it?
Because here’s a secret:
I figured out some time ago that my own happiness rests on two pillars. Let’s start with…
It seems obvious now, but I didn’t always know this.
I’ve spent years – decades – shut down from my creativity. The child in me was so stifled I almost forgot she was there.
There was a time the poor thing was so malnourished I truly believed my creativity had been permanently quashed out of me.
I struggled with fear. Resistance. The crippling belief that connecting to my creativity wasn’t important, that it was a waste of time.
And even if it wasn’t a waste of time, surely whatever I might create wouldn’t be any good anyway, so what was the use?
When I look back now, I’m amazed I ever got past all this negative self-talk!
I believe that human beings are wired to create, just as deeply as we’re wired to stay alive.
That hard-wiring drove me forward, and somehow, with a lot of stumbling and bumbling, I managed to find cracks in the blocks in my way and squeeze myself through.
I figured out that expressing myself creativity was not just frivolous; it is an essential part of my happiness.
In other words, happiness comes from doing my creative things.
When I get disconnected from my creativity, I get cranky. If I stay disconnected for long enough, I’ll get depressed.
Life feels flat. Shades of grey, instead of Technicolor.
But as long as I stay connected, as long as I do my creative things – even if that means just dangling a toe in the stream of my creativity – I’m alive. Joyful.
And when I’m connected at my best, I’m on fire!
Think Dorothy in Oz, instead of black & white Kansas.
As I said, though, my happiness rests on two pillars, not just one. Let’s look at…
In addition to my deep need to create, I have a deep need to make a difference.
I have a dream of a world where everyone is in touch with their own creative muse. Where everyone is creating, everyone playing in the Creative Sandbox.
Can you imagine such a world?
I don’t care whether you paint, or dance, or sing, or write, or build atomic models out of Legos.
Whatever is calling to you, I want to see you doing it.
Nutty once called me an Inspirationalist, and it tickled me no end. YES! That’s exactly what I want to be. What I am.
When I get an email or a tweet from a client or reader telling me how much I’ve inspired them, the wattage of my smile could light up San Francisco.
I want to inspire you. I want to use what I’ve learned about getting past my own blocks to help you get past the blocks in your way.
Even the art I’m making in my Creative Sandbox time is all about inspiration.
In fact, I’m working right now on brewing up something to do just that.
I’ve spent the past two weeks immersed in Action Studio, figuring out what my business is all about, and what I want to share with the world.
I’ve figured out that I’m a Creator, first and foremost (not a big surprise), and that getting you creating too is how I most want to change the world.
And here’s where I could use your help.
In order to help get you past your blocks, I want to know what those blocks are.
Where do you get stuck?
What gets in between you and doing your creative thing?
What thoughts or “voices” keep you from creating?
What fears get in your way?
I’m genuinely curious, so please share in the comments below. There are no wrong answers. I truly want to make something that will get you creating, and the more you’re able to share, the more you’ll help me do that.
Watch this space for more info on what I’m brewing up… (And if you want first dibs when the new thing is ready, sign up below to get on my advance list.)
And if this post has inspired you already, go get creating!
