Q: Where do you find creative joy in your everyday life?
A: Really just from kind of taking in the scenery of my everyday life. Whether it's in gardening, or even cooking. All the sensory details, the scents, the sights---I'm always very into color, and it always catches my eye. I'll investigate it further--like a flower or a pattern of fabric really sparks that joy in me.
Q: What are some of your most enjoyable creative outlets?
A: My most enjoyable creative outlet is painting, and really anything that has to do with visual art. My favorite things to do are painting, watercolor, oil paints. I love to do pen and ink illustrations, drawing.
These are some of the things I've worked on recently. From left to right they are in watercolor, pencil, and oil paints.
(Images copyright Lisa Fahn, 2021)
Q: How did creativity coaching sessions affect your relationship to your creativity?
A: I would say it definitely turned it into a much more approachable and positive experience for me. It helped me to really get past a lot of blocks I had that I really wasn't even in touch with or aware of. Even just being able to identify what those were, get to the root of them and work through them, really helped me to kind of move past them and enjoy my creative work again. Also to get past the guilt that comes along with devoting your time and effort into your creative practice. Just being able to fully enjoy it again and not feel guilty about it is a big part of what I got.
Another thing that's really helped me is to be more confident and comfortable in really being able to be authentically who I am as an artist. And get over the fear of putting myself out there.
Q: What’s a project you’re currently interested in?
A: I am currently working on a pen and ink illustration, and I have a painting in mind that I'd like to do in watercolor. It's a still life, but it will be more of a personal piece that's more introspective for me, and kind of therapeutic. I'm moving into doing pieces that are a little bit more personal that I can share with other people and hope they'd get something out of the experience.
Q: What nurtures your creativity, and what shuts it down?
A: What nurtures it is definitely working closely with other artists. I also have a very close relationship with my mentor, who I've worked with for decades. She's a big part of nurturing my creativity and is always challenging me to break out of my comfort zone and get to that next level.
I also find Co-Creation Time really helpful, because it gives me the chance to focus on my work for an hour each week. The community is so warm and friendly, and it's fun to know we're working together from different places in the world.
What shuts it down is just everyday life stresses overwhelming me so that I can't get into my own creative space, because of life circumstances. Or outside stressors weighing me down.
Q: What types of creative events do you like to attend in non-Covid times?
A: I definitely absolutely love to visit art museums. I really especially enjoy being able to have my friends who are artists share their work with me, and what they're working on. Honestly, it's so hard to remember what life was like before! I also really like to read about other artists.
Q: What kind of person do you think creativity coaching would benefit?
A: Anyone who is looking to become more productive with their creative work, and anyone who wants to develop whatever skill they do have. Whether it be a writer or a visual artist, if they want to develop in a more self-awareness. It's so freeing and makes your creative practice so much more fulfilling. Anyone who wants to take their creative practice to the next level.
When you are a creative person you have so much going on under the surface that you're not fully in touch with because there's too much else going on. Getting in touch with the things that were getting in your way is so liberating. To realize all the things that have been holding your creative work back that you weren't even aware of. What you do is help people sort through all that so they can move on to the next level. Figuring out what works for you. There's so much outside pressure, and creative people have a hard time sometimes being able to hear their own voice. What you do is get us back to being able to work in a more authentic way where we can sort through all of that and find ourselves again as artists.
Cutting through all the outside options (almost always from people who are not creative), and they're not even things that are not even true or valuable to us at all.
Q: What inspires you lately?
A: Music is one of my biggest influences as far as helping me to come up with my next idea. I think partly that goes hand in hand with being a Four, because we're more in touch with and aware of things. So when I hear certain lyrics, I kind of get a visual sometimes. I've also been really into poetry lately, and that's been kind of a big influence for me too. Mostly because the direction that I want to move in is more personal, when I explore those things, it helps me to get in touch with what I want my next piece to reflect. I'm also always inspired by seeing other art work, but lately mostly a lot of music and poetry.
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Thanks so much for sharing your work and your experience with us, Lisa. Very much looking forward to seeing your upcoming projects!
If you, like Lisa, enjoy working in the company of other artists, Co-Creation Time sessions might be of interest. Held twice a week, these sessions are held over video call give you the chance to work on your creative project while in the company of other people working on theirs. With warm, friendly participants from all over the world, we get lots done and have fun while we're at it.
Learn more about Co-Creation Time sessions (including how to sign up) over here.
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Come join us! We'd love to have you create with us, from wherever you are.