#create now
Enigma 002.
A simple vibrational study.
About a month ago @jameswyper and I decided that it was time for a radical change. It’s often tempting to keep doing the things that were successful in the past, but we are not great at that. We want expansion and adventure, even if it’s all only occurring within or at home.
One thing led to another, and with a new laptop in hand, I felt inspired to see how my paintings would translate into digital form. Then I thought maybe I’d try animating them. I got a bit carried away, and I am completely obsessed!! I may end up selling some, but right now I’m focused on the work, and seeing where it wants to go. Some of it is based on old paintings, and some is completely new—things I would have liked to achieve with paint, but couldn’t. At least not yet. I think this digital work will definitely feed back into the physical work wherever it can, allowing me to push both mediums further and further.
This piece is a simple reimagining of my physical painting, The Nature of Compassion. It is a loop that is meant to be meditated with. Relax your mind, breathe, and see how it makes you feel in your body.
Alt Text: an animated square-shaped pastel-toned colour field painting, with a large circle at the top centre of the frame. The circle is an unchanging creamy white, while the background is a gradient that transitions from peachy yellow to a soft violet pink.
It’s a great time to reflect on whether you are living in a wee little box (any box smaller than the whole entire universe is too small for you), or as your true fucking feral self.
Let go of any reservedness, pretence, arrogance, fear, and inhibition. Be wild and free. You have more power than you understand, but you must liberate yourself to remember it.
Just know this: if it is not guided from within, by love, it is not free. If it is rebellious, if it fights against what is, it is not free. If it is dictated by your ego, it is not free.
Simply live in the highest truth you can find and let it be loud.
You may have seen on my IG or Twitter, but I’ve been working on a new beaded painting. This one is 8x8 inches and will likely take well over 100 hours to finish.
This work is a heart meditation. I hope you can feel the love that I’m putting into it.
Hi All,
I’m a Canadian artist, author, and creativity consultant. I’ve been called an “artist whisperer” but my work is more about life than art, and I can work with anyone.
My philosophy is about building holistic abundance outside of “the system” through compassion-based creativity, for the purpose of maximum joy and freedom for all. I believe that creativity is our natural state, and it should be used for all aspects of life, all jobs, all educational systems, all businesses, everything. We are not meant to conform. We are not meant to work ourselves into illness or depression just to keep the old economic and power structures going.
I always knew I was an artist, but spent too much of my life overwhelmed by negativity and trauma to access the inspiration or confidence needed. I operated on anxiety, just trying to survive.
It was my very cliché journey out of that dark place that informs my work now. I have an intimate understanding of the intense pain and depression of disconnectedness, but also of the fact that there are ways out into a life of profound inspiration and bliss. I also know how impossible and trite that can sound.
I learned my biggest lessons the hard way after a very severe health crash in my 20s that still affects me now. I was forced to give up my work and money-focused lifestyle, and I eventually surrendered to my real loves: deeper truth, higher creativity, and inspired service.
I rested and learned to prioritize my needs and inspiration, and that led to accidentally writing my first book (my second book was on purpose). These books are powerful, but they ask a lot. A complete creative awakening can mean disrupting your whole life.
My partner @jameswyper is a full-time working artist, who supported me through all my health flareups solely with his art, even while living on a small island in a big, dreamy oceanfront house, which also probably sounds impossible to some. We are just stubborn and use an effective philosophy.
My health is now quite a bit better, we love our lives and our work more than ever, and we recently bought a new home in the mountains, where we live with our dog (who is the best).
I always so badly want to give the relief and joy I find to everyone else who needs it too, but I know it doesn’t really work like that. I had to hit rock bottom to change direction, and I know most others do as well. I hope I can at least help a few people to find their bounce.
If you have any questions feel free to ask below!
We are settled enough into our new place that I’ve been thinking about starting another beaded painting soon. This prototype is only 6x6” yet took over 100 hrs, so it’s a bit of a commitment. I love spending that much time with a work of art though, slowly watching the vision come alive. When it’s done that experience is over.
Plus I do find the effect of several thousand beads pretty astounding. Each one of these was individually hand-stitched and meticulously adjusted so the thread isn’t visible. I did buy a luneville hook, which could speed things up, but I don’t yet know how to use it. I also love how the stitches on the back of the prototype look, so I’m not totally sure I even want to change techniques.
Untitled Prototype. 2019. Hand-stitched glass beads on oil on canvas. 6x6 inches.
My favourite method for strengthening intuition starts with conscious self-care.
It can feel trivial at first, but this is essential—the practice of self-compassion is the key to your highest potential. It unlocks greater wellbeing, tunes you to your higher consciousness, and results in all of your joy and inspiration.
So start by being a deep listener within. At first you can focus on your obvious bodily clues, like thirst, sore eyes, or stiff legs. You know what to do with these. Then try the emotional ones. Do you need to process something that has been bothering you? Do you need to reconnect with yourself or your joy or your passions? Be honest with yourself.
Then see what happens when you follow the small irrational-seeming whims—like when you feel like going the “wrong” way to the store, or have a random urge to go outside and look at the sky, or to call someone you haven’t spoken to in awhile. Once you get into the flow of it, you will start trusting it more, and can make bigger and bigger decisions this way.
Before long you may find your life overflowing with amazing inspirations and synchronicities that would have previously seemed unbelievable to you. You may start to create things that are so brilliant it takes you years to understand what you made. You might follow an impulse to go somewhere new and end up having an incredible animal encounter, or run into the exact person you were hoping to see. You might even accidentally write a book and start a new career as an author…
These are the kinds of things that happen to me all the time.
This type of holistic and magically-flowing existence is way more fun than one of discipline, rules, or control. And it is usually far more effective, because your inspiration tunes you to a higher level of logic and power than your rational mind is capable of. It is the language of your higher consciousness.
If you’re not yet living in this kind of magic, try playing more games with your intuition. Be more curious. Prioritize inspiration. Leave more spaces in your day for tuning in and just listening within.
And love yourself more.
It’s a great time to have a flexible and self-generated source of cash and other resources. If you’re curious about how we’re able to live rich lives and do what we love for a living it’s all in this book. You can use it for anything creative, whether that’s art or any other kind of business you’d like to build in an inspired, holistic, and innovative way. I’ve seen people design all kinds of business plans using these steps, from designers and writers to tech entrepreneurs.
The big key that some people don’t like to face is inspiration. This isn’t a “work harder” type model. This is about tuning into your intuition and passion and following just the steps that are exciting and effective for you—not designing your path based on someone else’s. That doesn’t work and it’s not fun.
You really have to step up and empower yourself to rely on your own creative solutions, but when you do it works so well it feels like pure magic. When you build your career like this from the start, the steps you need to grow your business become the steps you are actually most excited about doing! Motivation is no longer an issue.
Plus, this system is universal and will work whether you live in a utopian dreamworld, an apocalyptic dystopia, or anything in between. It can help you through whatever is next, no matter what’s coming. This philosophy is not about buying into the game that everyone else is playing, it’s about designing your own and flying high enough that what everyone else is doing doesn’t matter. This is prosperity through self-liberation.
On Pervasive Anxiety and Stimulating the Nervous System For Deep Relaxation
A short burst of fight-or-flight gives you an adrenaline boost and intensifies your mental focus so you can react quickly and effectively in a dangerous situation. Prolonged activation of this state is unproductive and damaging, however. It keeps you looking for danger—even in the most mundane circumstances!—and depletes you greatly, impairing your immune system, cognitive function, digestion, healing, nervous system, and more. It also makes it easier for you to be influenced or controlled.
How do you ease yourself into ease (your natural state) even when things feel scary? It might not be as difficult as it seems.
I like to start by making a clear goal—to shift myself out of anxiety/fight-or-flight into parasympathetic nervous system dominance (rest-and-digest). This state of deep relaxation is how you’d generally feel after an amazing massage, and is how you’re supposed to feel most of the time!
How often do you actually feel this way? Make your goal to go fully into it—stop settling for just okay! Once you find deep ease you will activate a positive feedback loop that makes it far easier to maintain.
There are lots of ways to do it, but I’ll share the two things I use most, then you can test them or do your own research.
The main tool I use repeatedly throughout the day is a simple breathing strategy. A few minutes of deep, full, noisy breaths to bring in more oxygen and stimulate the nervous system directly from within. Experiment with different ways of doing this and listen to your body. Do you feel high, tingly, giddy, or calmed? What feels best?
This strategy could also bring up some negative emotions at first. This is good! Be prepared to embrace and process what comes.
Secondly, I really like to use the system at the beginning of my first book (Create Now) about once a day to get into focus and flow. It also helps you to address underlying negative beliefs/emotions that may surface from the breathing—if you don’t cheat and skip the venting exercise!
If you want to, try a few minutes of noisy deep breathing now, and let me know below how it goes! Or tag some friends and you can try it together.
