It takes time to grow an art business and it requires equal doses of patience and passion. In this episode Keita shares how getting to know yourself and your cycles as a creative with a feminine side, can help to cultivate patience, and ways you can ignite your passion for art making even when you’re SO not in the mood!

In This Episode Keita Discusses:

·       Making the shift from art as a hobby to art as a business

·       How understanding your cycle can help with patience

·       Ways to cultivate your passion - even when you’re not in the mood

Mentioned in this Episode:

DM me on instagram @artbykeita - I'd love to know what you're passionate about and how you cultivate it in your creative process

Click Here to check out the “MyFLO” app mentioned in this episode.

00:05

Hello, and welcome to the painty mama podcast. We're taught that artists are poor, throw kids in the mix, and it seems impossible to thrive. While balancing motherhood creative projects, and building a business along with everything else is hard. I believe the universe gave you your unique talents and children, so you could live a full inspiring, creative, beautiful life together. Join me for conversations about creativity, motherhood, business, and finding calm in the chaos. I'm Keita Thomas, and this is the painty mama podcast.

00:40

Hello, lovely, how are you? Thanks so much for tuning into the podcast this week! It's a bit of a rambley one, I think this week, because these are just like a culmination of thoughts that I've been that have been kind of like swimming around in my head recently. And I just wanted to dive a little bit deeper into why it does take time to grow an art business. And also, just that that's okay. And that is important to get comfortable with that idea of it taking time. And it's not what we want to hear as business owners. And it's not what we want to hear as people that are making art that "Oh, it takes time". Like we always want a fast track solution to things but sometimes there just isn't one. And I do find that generally with things in life that oh, you know, I mean, there's sayings around that isn't there, like, "everything that's worth waiting for is worth waiting for".

01:43

But I do think that that really does apply to a creative career choice, or creative practice as a whole. If you want to improve your artwork, it takes time, it takes hours sitting down and drawing. And that's true for any creative discipline. So whether that's you know, music, or learning a new instrument, practicing how to move your body in dance, or whatever it is, however you express yourself, there's a certain amount of skills that we've got to get used to and settle into before we can really get to where we want to get with them. And in our day and age of fast paced social media,you know, likes and presence and trying to run a business, we can always feel like we're kind of behind or not fast enough, or we're not getting there as quickly as the ads that will pop up and say, "I will make you a millionaire within three months", I saw a meme, I actually saw a really good meme the other day. And it was this picture of Leonardo da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa. And it was saying how it took him four years and it was like, underneath there was like switch to modern day. And it's like "I haven't posted in three days. And you know, I'm now irrelevant". But it's important to maintain that sense of relevance for yourself. And to know why you're making what you're making, who you making it for. And whether that's you or someone else, that's kind of where the shift comes in a little bit, when you start to turn your artwork into a business, because there is an element and you can't really get away from it, that you do need to make art that is gonna be you know, purchased by other people. However, I think that there's a really beautiful balance between making what you want to make, and making what other people might like, because you're also a person with likes, and if you like something, then you can be pretty sure that somebody else is gonna like it as well.

03:59

So yeah, it takes a long time to grow an art based business. And it requires, I think, equal doses of patience and passion. Without either one of those. Or if they're slightly unbalanced, then it's not really going to get to where you want to go. If you're looking to start a successful art business and choosing to make a business out of a passion, (whether that's artwork, as I say, or anything creative or anything that you're passionate about). It's both a blessing and a curse. Because the thing that you love the most that you go to feel fulfilled and scratch that creative itch is usually, and certainly is for me and I'm guessing for you if you're listening to this and you're a creative person, it's kind of a private place. If you've spent the time there because you felt the urge to create things usually it feels really private, and it can feel really vulnerable and uncomfortable. To actually begin to share that with people. But when you choose to make a business out of your passion, you have to share, or you don't have a business. And it essentially just remains a hobby, which is also absolutely fine. And I think that sometimes we can get carried away with the idea of, "I have to make, you know, I have to make money from this hobby, so that I can justify doing it" - it's certainly where I kind of started, it's also fine to have hobbies, it's, you're still you're a valuable person in the world with interests and things that you were brought here and given life to so that you can experience things and hobbies are super important to have just things that you do because you love it. But often, it's a bit of a tricky area switching from "I have this hobby", to, "I want to create this hobby and take it and make a business out of it and make an income out of it".

06:05

The one thing that I've struggled with, and that's kind of why I wanted to talk about this a little bit more today is self discipline where that's concerned, because really, that's where the patience piece, of patience and passion comes in. Because we can be easily passionate about our hobbies, about the things that bring us joy, the passions are there, the fires lit, we're all good to go. But the patience part is what makes it difficult. And to cultivate that feeling of patience, it really does require discipline. And if you're anything like me, I really struggle with routines I always have, and just things that are really set in stone. And I've been self employed now for a really long time, like most of my adult life, I've been self employed or freelancing. And I feel like it does suit my personality more because I've learned to ebb and flow with the pressures that that brings, but also with the positive points that that brings in too. I'm more of a, like touchy feely, not an A-type personality. And it depends if I'm in the mood, kind of a person. And it doesn't really fit that well. When you are working in you know, (which I have had, you know, office jobs and like strict routines type jobs, nine to fives), there's not much room for you to be like a creative in-the-flow-of-energy person. And that is probably one of the main things that I love about being self employed and freelancing. Because I get to set what goes on when in my business, and therefore in my life. And I think it's such an amazing, if not the most amazing part about working as an artist. And I am a busy person, I've always got loads going on in life. It's not like I'm just sitting on my bum going, "Oh, I'm too tired today, I won't do anything". Even though some days I do feel like that. And some days, I would rather honestly poke myself in the eye than face another load of laundry or do any housework and domestic stuff. And other days, I can whip around the entire house, get it cleaned, top to bottom, just everything clean, everything organized, declutter a few drawers, and I can absolutely love doing it. And I feel like that's me being in the flow. Whereas then other times, I just can't even stand the thought of doing that. And that is true for like lots of different areas of my life. So I use it use like the domestic stuff as an example. But I'm the same way when it comes to like sitting down and writing things, whether that's like emails or copy for my business or, you know, changing listings on my website. And it feels like such an effort to get those things done some days and other days, I can just whip through it.

09:11

It didn't used to make any sense to me at all. And the reason I wanted to talk to you about it as well, is because if you're anything like me, you've just beat yourself up about it. I thought I was such a flaky person and what it's like one half of me is really driven. And the other half of me is just like a total flake and is, you know, whether that's too emotional or too rigid at times or to something or, you know, I'm always I was always beating myself up about like, "Oh, I didn't get this done today. I didn't get this task done today. Why does it feel like it's so much effort?" but over the past couple of years I've slowly got to know myself better. And I've got to know myself well enough to know that the balance, the balance actually comes through naturally, it's just not in a convenient way for the way that our society is set up and for the way that, you know, your average job, nine to five, Monday to Friday is set up doesn't really work that well with. (And I'm going to get woowoo here, as you know, I like a bit of woo!), they're not set up to complement the feminine side of our natures and I say feminine side, because we all do have cycles, we all do have aspects of ourselves that are masculine and feminine. So whether you identify as a woman, or you identify as a man, or it doesn't matter what gender you identify as, we all have masculine, and feminine traits, and sides to ourselves, and I feel like the masculine side of things is often really celebrated in the workplace. It's all about productivity and taking action. And if I'm not in that, I feel sometimes like I'm getting really down on myself. And I actually put a cap on my ability to feel creative, to feel in the flow to nurture myself and other people in a way that feels natural to me.

11:20

And to be honest, I do think that most women are like that. I don't want to be heteronormative here, but I do also feel like the feminine physicality does play into that as well. I did some research a couple of years ago, and it really helped me, and I'm hoping it'll help you, if you maybe you've heard of this before, but I hadn't before a couple years ago. And it's helped me to accept that side of my nature a bit more. And it's about if you're menstruating woman, and you go through phases within your cycle that change throughout the cycle of the month, and that can be affected by the moon as well. So if you're in a later season of life, where you no longer menstruating, that can also help to track the cycles of the moon.

12:15

And within those cycles, there's like a week in the month where you will feel more like physically energized. So you've got lots of energy in your body to like, actively get things done, and you feel like you've got more physical energy, and then other times of the month where you're more internally reflective, and then another time of the month where you're good at communicating. And it really depends in your specific cycle. Or if you're in a later stage of life where you're no longer menstruating, for whatever reason that the moon can also help you to identify where those cycles are and learn your patterns in yourself. And learning about that with me, as really helped me to stop beating myself up on my unproductive or struggling days where I just like "I just can't do life today. Like I just needs to be an easy day". Like I'm just craving easiness. And I am just feeling like I want to be a blob on the couch. Like I usually will look at my like cycle calendar, I have this app called my flow. And I would highly recommend it. If this is resonating with you, I would highly recommend downloading that app because it really helps you to figure out where in that energy cycle you are. And I'm not claiming to be an expert on this, I just know that it has really helped me and it's helped me to go, "it's not your time to shine in physical exertion this week Keita". And on those days, I'll pop in some time to like write emails or list items in my shop and basically do something that it still is moving my life and my business forward. While I feel restful, in my body at the same time. So it's like, I will choose to do those tasks. And it helps me to plan out my tasks a little bit more. If I look at my cycle, or I look at what's going to be going on in my life, and I kind of preempt where those phases will fit in.

14:23

And sometimes it's not. I mean, I'm just going on about your cycle right now. But sometimes it's not your cycles, sometimes just having a day. And on those days, I like to remind myself why I'm doing what I'm doing. And it totally shifts the perspective I have of my own mood. And I start to do the things that feel good.

14:47

Now, I also want to talk a bit about like feeding the passion part of things. We've kind of talked about the patience and that's something that's really helped me as learning my how my cycle and how I will move through the month and have an understanding and a reflection on "it's okay to feel the way I feel it's okay to feel unproductive some days and that my worth doesn't live in that". And that's just a reminder for you, maybe you need to hear that, again, your worth does not lie in your productivity levels, your worth does not lie in your productivity levels, you are worthy, just for being alive just for being yourself, you are your good, you don't need to fix how you feel. You just need to feel it. And it will flow like waves. So I hope that helps.

15:42

Anyway, so feeding the passion part is also a tricky thing. Because once you make your hobby into a business, and you're approaching it that way, some of that discipline has to come into feeding that passion and making art - it feels good. So if I'm feeling low, I'm not gonna sit around and be like, "please bless me with divine inspiration and help me to get into the mood" while I'm just like sitting around going, "Oh, gosh, I wish I was in the mood to paint. But I'm just not". It doesn't, creativity doesn't really work like that, even though I definitely used to think it did. And that's why I didn't paint as often. But I find that like creativity begets more creativity. So if I'm feeling low, but I kind of know that I'm in that same stage in my cycle where I should be doing some more creative work like either that's, you know, coming up with ideas, or sitting down and actually painting or sketching or planning. If I don't feel good for whatever reason that day, I start making art, even if it turns out crappy. I mean, I know I did an episode on this couple of couple of episodes ago. But even if it turns out and it's absolutely pants, if it is the most rubbish thing I've ever drawn, it doesn't matter because it actually ends up - I'm moving the pencil and moving the creativity around, I'm inviting it in. I'm inviting it to keep going and moving through my life. So I'll you know, make art, I'll spend time giggling or dancing like a buffoon in my kitchen with the kids. Because it feels good. And yoga feels good. And singing feels good. And when I do those things that make me feel good, it lifts, it lifts your energy and it reignites your passion for life overall. And it makes you feel inspired and energetic and soothed at the same time. And when I get to that point where I've lifted myself, all of a sudden, every time, I want to create more. So if I do yoga, I'll want to sing, then I'll want to dance, then I want to create (not that I'm the best dancer. In fact, I am an absolutely terrible dancer, however, I am enthusiastic! ... at least on my own).

18:14

So I'm not, I don't, yeah, I don't think it's a good idea to sit back and wait for you know, the Muse to visit you. Every time. Sometimes that happens. And I do like to jump on those opportunities when you know, when you just hit with an idea. I love to, to you know, even just quickly sketch it out or write it down is really great. But sometimes you've got to sit down, you've got to work for it. And sometimes you've got to move your body to work for it. And sometimes you've just got to do what feels good to you, so that you can get yourself to that point. And that is something that I really had to shift when changing art from being a hobby into creating a business around it because I needed to cultivate and grow and be able to lift myself up so that I am in a place of creativity and I can get there quickly. So I hope that helps you.

19:18

 I just really do... I'm so passionate about, about how creativity can just do so much and how underrated it is as a form of healing and living just living a good life. Living an expressed life. You know, as humans, we want to connect with each other. I watched this documentary a few years ago. (Sorry, I'm going off on another tangent here, but I'm just gonna roll with it). I watched this documentary, like I don't know probably about eight years ago now and I think it was on Channel Four when I lived in the UK, it was probably longer than that actually. But anyway, there was this guy and he was dropped off in the Yukon, in Canada, on his own, and he had to fend for himself. And he was like some kind of survival, Bear Grylls, type guy where he already had all the skills to do that.

20:11

So he had all these survival skills, he knew how to fish, he knew how to, you know, make himself like a shelter and everything. And he ended up cutting it short. And the one thing he said was, "I knew that it was going to be hard, survival wise, but I didn't realize how much I needed people and I needed connection". And that's always stuck with me. And I feel like also in the pandemic, too, that's a lot of what we're seeing is that people are really suffering because of the lack of connection. And again, just me going on about creativity being great creativity is connection. Creativity is expressing yourself outwardly. And then somebody else absorbing that, whether that's a song, whether that's, you know, a melody that moves you, whether that's a beat that really like resonates through your whole body, or a painting that just really inspires you and makes you think a little bit differently. It's all because they've absorbed that and they've taken the pieces of themselves that they see reflected in that. And it's like, and then and then it just gets cycled through. So it's really... arts important, I guess, is what I'm saying. And you going through the process of creating things is underrated. It's incredibly important. And I know I'm blummin' going on and on. But yeah, anyway, there we go. There's my there's my passion for you! That's what I'm passionate about.

21:46

But all this story to say, if you cultivate your creativity, it's like fueling your own fire. Instead of waiting, so say you had to come fire. And it's just, you know, it's the embers have gone down and it's cold, you wouldn't just go, "Oh, I wish there was a log on that fire to keep it going", you'd go off, you'd get yourself a log and you'd stoke the fire, because otherwise it's not going to burn. And it's the same with passion for your creative pursuits, you've got to stoke that fire. And I've listed some of the things that have helped me. And they will probably not be the exact same things that help you. But I think in the process of knowing yourself and understanding yourself and allowing yourself to prioritize that if you can, just understand it a little bit more. And allow, instead of fighting yourself, and fighting what your body's nature, what your human nature, what your feminine nature, actually is. Then you're not resistant to the flow of things, you're actually nurturing it, you're nurturing yourself, you're understanding yourself. And that surely can only lead to a better life.

23:00

As artists, we really need to fuel our own fires, or you won't be able to maintain the consistency necessary to succeed to the levels that you're dreaming about getting to and whether your goal's to, you know, start a business, run a business that's wildly successful, or to create art as a hobby, or to just simply improve on your skills. Without the passion, the consistency is gonna fall flat. Without the patience, the passion falls flat. I don't mean to direct this constantly to myself, my own experiences, I hope it doesn't feel that way. But it's really the only place that I can speak from is my own experiences. And the reason I'm sharing is because I'm hoping that you'll see again, this is an art form. Talking to you talking conversation is an art form in itself. And I hope that you can find those pieces of yourself from what I've been speaking about, and to absorb that into you, and then see where that fits and see that where that could help you in your life.

24:05

So my hope is that your takeaway for this episode is, I want to help you to identify what fills your passion, what fuels your fire. Make work that you're passionate about making or you'll run out of steam. It takes a lot of heart and mind to make art own. It's extremely rewarding and challenging. And it's challenging when you make the art from your heart because you care. So make work that you care about. And it's okay if it takes time. Because that's the work that's important. That's the work that the world needs you to make.

24:46

And one final thought, you know, it might have sounded in the beginning like equal parts, you know, discipline, patience, and, and passion. The sound like they're complete opposites, but actually that more like best friends - like two sides of the same coin. When it comes to starting or building a career, or a business from your art, it's super important to look at it like that, that they're like best buddies and they need to coexist side by side. And I hope that really helps you to get closer to your dreams.

Thanks so much for hanging out with me on the podcast today. I'm so grateful. I'd love to know about your artwork and your passion. So feel free to DM me, you can find me on Instagram @artbykeita and yeah, just feel free to send me a message I'd love to know what you're passionate about. And if there's any way I could help you with finding the discipline and balance of passion, I would love to hear from you. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe wherever you're listening. It really does help as well if you leave a review so other other people that might enjoy it just like you've enjoyed it can find it if you leave a review. You can find all things Art by Keita at www.keitathomas.com. And thanks again for listening! I hope you have an amazingly passionate and patient week. Lots of love x