Latest / This is Not Art Therapy (The Podcast) / Episode 5: Creativity/ Inspiration

Transcript

Episode 5: Creativity/ Inspiration · This is Not Art Therapy (The Podcast)

0:06
How you doing, John? Doing pretty good, Linnea.
0:09
How are you? I'm pretty good. Beautiful day today.
0:12
So got some creative juices out with me and my
0:15
buddy. We did some self -portraits and yeah.
0:17
Love that. Love that. All right. Today's theme
0:21
is creativity slash. I feel like we were also
0:24
getting into inspiration based on our earlier
0:26
exchange. Is that kind of the vibe? I'm down
0:30
for that. That sounds good. Right on. Sounds
0:32
good. So I'm going to introduce my friend, John,
0:35
the internet's favorite childless father figure.
0:40
Oh, you can hear so much more. When you say it
0:43
like that, it sounds sad. I'm just, just your
0:46
yatted up tattooed Ned Flanders. Highly ho neighborino.
0:50
Love that. Love that. Yeah. Right on. um we made
0:54
some art today all about creativity yeah yeah
0:56
we uh did a little bit of creativity and what
0:59
inspires us for to be creative so john do you
1:02
want to talk about your creative spark your where
1:06
your creativity comes from yeah so i went with
1:09
three photos of uh so three photos of things
1:13
that basically inspire me uh one is a photo of
1:16
my of it sounds bad and super cocky so the first
1:20
one i guess would be Maybe we could probably
1:25
cut or edit this at this point. Sorry. Or just
1:27
keep it in. Okay. Or keep it in Emily, whatever
1:29
you want to do. So my first one is me and my
1:32
buddy Brent. Oh, this one. Okay. That's the first
1:35
one. I didn't know what the first one was. You're
1:37
like the first one. The first one. Yeah. I had
1:39
to take a look at them. So the first one is me
1:41
and my friend Brent. And we were, so he was the
1:44
first guy that I'd seen really have any sort
1:47
of creative talent and do something with it.
1:51
I remember we were hanging out and one day like
1:53
a box showed up in his room and it was this box.
1:56
It was a tattoo gun. And yeah, it was back where
1:59
I lived in the shacks. What year was this for
2:02
context? Oh my goodness. 2011, probably 2012.
2:06
And you were like 21 at the time? Yeah, 21, 22.
2:12
That was some fast, quick math. Yeah, like 22.
2:14
I was about 22 at the time. And he started giving
2:18
guys tattoos. And I watched him tattoo a British
2:23
flag on one of our friends who's British. And
2:25
I walked out of the room. I was like, I'm not
2:28
getting any tattoos from you, my man. So he did
2:31
a lot of free tattoos in the beginning and got
2:34
really good. And he's a great amateur self -taught
2:38
tattoo artist. My second picture that I have.
2:42
here is me popping a wheelie uh after in a wheelchair
2:45
yeah when was this picture taken that was taken
2:49
after I got back from West Africa I finally got
2:53
into surgery after about a year of waiting yes
2:55
but like when when I don't know when that is
2:59
that's true I'm glad you got me on track so I
3:03
think the time frame for that would have been
3:05
about two or three years ago when I started up
3:09
my t -shirt company okay it's a very summery
3:11
picture too it was a summer vibe yeah it's uh
3:15
so that picture right there is basically me popping
3:18
a wheelie and take doing like a photo shoot with
3:20
me and some of my buddies and making some t -shirts
3:23
for a few friends of ours is your logo on this
3:26
shirt It is not my logo. It was, it was just
3:30
a logo that they wanted printed up. So we did
3:32
that. Cause it kind of looks like your logo logo
3:35
too. A little bit. Yes. At the front, the front
3:38
is my logo. Okay. That was the one time edition.
3:42
You caught me in a lie. Yes. So that was my one
3:45
time. Yeah. One time edition. We just put that
3:47
at the front and I just didn't love it. So then
3:50
we were like, we could put other things in there.
3:53
And yeah, we never did that again. But the back
3:56
is the stuff that we did for them. Okay, not
3:59
seen in the photo for those who are trying to
4:01
picture the photo. Oh, but in other photos that
4:04
you have shared, there is, okay, I see it now.
4:07
The pirate has emerged. Yes, we can throw that
4:10
guy. Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll include
4:12
that too. Cool. So different shirts, different
4:14
colors. Love it. yeah my friend my friend kyle
4:17
he was the artist and i hadn't really started
4:19
drawing then but i knew i wanted to start making
4:21
things okay like i just was like i want to start
4:25
doing things but like i was too nervous and shy
4:28
and i was like i don't possibly have the time
4:29
for this and i'm like i've had two surgeries
4:32
now i have time to start teaching myself how
4:34
to do that yeah you made time yeah and then the
4:38
the third one the third picture is a picture
4:41
of me and my sister and um She came down and
4:44
took care of me after my surgery. Where is this?
4:48
This looks like some sort of museum. That is
4:51
a museum. Yeah, that was me and my sister in
4:53
a Newfoundland war museum. Okay. Yeah, I'm still
4:57
using a cane. I'm in between surgeries there.
4:59
And she came down to take care of me. And she's
5:02
the inspiration of the person that got me into
5:04
it. Yeah, she was the first sketchbook purchaser,
5:07
correct? Yeah, yeah. She was the real push. Right
5:10
on. Yeah. Thanks, Zoe. Yeah, go Zoe. Yeah, right
5:14
on. Does Zoe do art? Is she an artist? She does
5:18
pottery. Oh, cool. I did not know this about
5:22
her. Yeah, she's a pothead. A pottist? The pottist.
5:29
It's like a pottery artist from Boston. A pottist.
5:33
Pottery artist. Make wicked pots. She makes some
5:37
wicked pots. She made an awesome tea kettle.
5:39
The tea kettle is, I'm like... A kettle or a
5:43
pot? She made a, I think it's a pot. Probably.
5:47
Okay. Like a kettle would go on the oven, right?
5:50
Or the stove? Would it set on fire? I don't know.
5:52
I'm not a pottist. I'm no pottist. Zoe, add in.
5:57
Sign off in the comments about if you're a pottist
6:00
or not. Right on. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Sweet. Great
6:05
collection of pictures. What did you end up doing?
6:07
Oh, I sent you a picture, but I will also show
6:10
it to you here because you can see it. It's big.
6:14
I realized I initially want. Oh, and I didn't
6:17
even go over the art directives. We didn't do
6:19
the art directive. Should I do that now before
6:21
I talk about my art? Let's do that. Sorry, everyone.
6:23
Let's get it. So three art invitations. first
6:28
one is creative landscape paint or draw a landscape
6:30
that represents your inner world of creativity
6:33
is it a jungle a desert a secret third thing
6:36
I think mine is a secret fourth thing spoiler
6:38
alert but we'll get into that in a minute You
6:41
can do creative source. So creative visual that
6:43
represents where your creative force might come
6:46
from. And then the third one we have is intuitive
6:49
drawing. So make something without a plan, focus
6:52
on movement, shapes, feeling, and less so about
6:55
outcome. And now that I'm thinking about it,
6:57
I think that this art that I made is all three,
7:00
which I tend to do because I'm not really good
7:02
at making just one decision. Beautiful. It's
7:07
abstract. So for those who can't see, I'll try
7:10
to do my best to use the words. What I did is
7:13
I mixed glue, like liquid glue, PVA glue for
7:16
the Art Attack fans out there, and black paint.
7:19
And I just kind of swirled it around to make
7:23
this weird, almost inky looking thing. very messy.
7:28
It wasn't planned. It was just, I just went with
7:32
it and it's, it's textured. Like you can see,
7:34
you can't necessarily see it, but you can feel
7:37
that the black parts are slightly raised because
7:39
the PVA glue gave it some additional texture.
7:43
And then what I've gone ahead and done is used
7:46
a few different medium to color in certain parts
7:49
of the landscape. Because I am a mixed media
7:53
artist, even though I do call myself a collage
7:55
artist because I mostly do collage, I very much
7:58
am a mixed media artist. So I try to include
8:00
there's watercolor, there's pencil crayons. I
8:02
think there's acrylic paint. There's oil pastels.
8:05
And it's also not done because I'm so good at
8:08
not finishing art. So it's bit my creative landscape.
8:12
It's a bit my creative source because often my
8:16
creativity comes from mess and chaos and me not
8:19
being able to understand myself from the get
8:22
go. Like I find I need to make art about things
8:27
in order to understand how I'm feeling. Yeah.
8:30
Like the feeling comes first and then the words
8:33
come after. I really like it. Can you just hold
8:37
it up a second? Yeah. I don't know. From one
8:41
person who likes to draw to another, I like it.
8:46
I don't know. I think less is more with this
8:49
one. The open spaces and the amount of colors
8:52
that you've used, I think the white actually
8:55
lets the colors pop out quite well. And the black
8:59
itself, to me, honestly, just looks like that's
9:02
just such a big part of it because it's so interconnected.
9:05
yeah yeah I like I don't know but I mean if you
9:08
want I might not you keep going but if you just
9:10
leave it like that that's good enough for me
9:12
cool that reminds me of my favorite line from
9:15
our last was it our last episode or maybe it
9:17
was like our second episode I'm already losing
9:19
track of like whatever you've done today was
9:22
enough yeah I've held on to that one and it's
9:25
also an intuitive drawing because I wasn't I
9:28
didn't know what it was gonna look like and I
9:31
love doing that because if I be like, I'm going
9:34
to paint an apple and it's going to be an apple,
9:37
I will think way too much about what an apple
9:39
looks like. And I'll get too much in my head
9:41
of like, oh, is that the right red? Like I'll
9:43
overthink it and I'll kind of lose the joy of
9:46
the art. So in working on something that's more
9:49
intuitive, less technical, I find I get more
9:53
joy out of art making. No, I get what you feel.
9:57
You're too much pressure to make a perfect apple.
10:00
Forget that. Apple's got ridges, bumps, and all
10:02
kinds of stuff to them. Yeah. It's just, yeah,
10:05
you can really do a lot with that. So I like
10:08
that you just went with your feeling. Yeah. It's
10:10
hard not to sometimes. I know. But yeah, so what
10:14
type of music were you listening to when you're
10:16
doing your medium? Oh, it's whatever song. I
10:20
don't know. It's for this one. For this one.
10:23
I don't think I was listening to music. I was
10:25
or maybe I was also full disclosure. I'm so bad
10:30
at getting homework done. So part of this was
10:32
done like a while ago. And then I'm like, oh,
10:35
what's going to work for today's recording? Or
10:38
I thought of this a few days ago. But like, so
10:40
it's kind of like, oh, this will work because
10:42
this kind of is on theme. um so i don't remember
10:46
really making the first part or like if i was
10:49
listening to music yeah um but i do listen to
10:52
music pretty much all the time oh it i think
10:56
it's it's such an important way like it helps
10:58
you go with the flow i i like listen to a lot
11:01
of like um a little a lot of uh different types
11:05
of so i i'm like i listen to i listen to music
11:08
uh i i like uh like synthwave or yeah that's
11:12
very you yeah yeah that's been part of your aesthetic
11:16
since i've known you it's it it works the waves
11:20
yeah it because it's like it's like elevator
11:24
it's like elevator music with taste okay yeah
11:28
that's a good way to put it yeah or like the
11:30
theme that like just the background music before
11:33
something cool is about to happen or something
11:35
cinematic for me like a good drive like like
11:38
when I was driving in Jordan I did tons of uh
11:41
GoPro videos of just oh cool it was a wild landscape
11:46
that I really want to get back to drawing to
11:48
like I don't do much landscape stuff but I'm
11:51
like that I have to get down and download it
11:53
onto a computer. And then from there, I'm definitely
11:55
going to take some of the beautiful landscapes
11:58
I saw out there because it's just so vastly different.
12:01
I was in Petra, sorry, or Wadi Rum in Petra.
12:04
And it's like Mars. It's real red sand. It looks
12:08
kind of marshal -y. Yeah. Of Mars descent. it
12:14
does yeah it's uh it's it's just everything with
12:18
a red filter that that's just basically which
12:22
you're painting in picture that you sent me reminded
12:25
me because of that red light in the yeah in the
12:27
photo yeah but yeah cool i uh yeah i think that
12:33
it's um yeah it's it's definitely gonna i don't
12:36
know why i said i'm gonna but it's it's uh it's
12:39
gonna happen this landscape drawing i'm excited
12:41
because 99 of the art i've seen you do is people
12:45
people yeah yeah people are just so interesting
12:48
yeah yeah i'm excited to see where you go with
12:51
that yeah and it kind of goes back to this theme
12:54
of creativity of like what where do we get inspiration
12:57
sometimes just seeing something beautiful yeah
13:00
is inspiring and I also and I don't know if this
13:05
is true but I'm going to say it as if it is true
13:08
but being an artist and like working on that
13:12
artistic eye you end up seeing beauty more often
13:16
I think what do you think about that I I think
13:19
that yeah like you start looking for things in
13:21
different avenues. Something that I noticed about
13:24
people once I started drawing was ears and noses
13:26
and wrinkles and eyes. Yeah. Details. Yeah. You
13:30
just start, you're like, oh, that guy's got an
13:32
interesting set of ears or like just a real set
13:35
of like wrinkles in their forehead. And you're
13:37
like, how would I put that into like through
13:39
pen to paper? So you start, you start looking
13:41
at people, people to dear listener, don't look
13:44
at people too much or as much as I do. But yeah,
13:49
you just. You just get really kind of fascinated
13:51
by things that before was a mundane. You'd be
13:53
like, oh yeah, that's just a guy. But now I feel
13:56
like I'd be good at like an eyewitness. I'd be
13:59
like, oh yeah, that dude, wonky ears and a crinkly
14:03
ass forehead. Now draw that. Draw the wonk. Draw
14:08
the crinkle. The wonk is the best. Yeah. Yeah.
14:12
You don't want Leonardo DiCaprio's face. You
14:14
want just somebody who's at your grocery store's
14:17
face. Yeah. The character. Yeah. I hear that.
14:19
Yeah. That's an untold story. Yeah. So it sounds
14:22
like interesting people faces are a big source
14:26
of inspiration. I also know from chatting with
14:29
you that you will. sit in public and draw people,
14:32
which I think is so courageous. Thank you. I've
14:35
yet to show anybody. I've yet to, I've yet to
14:38
do that. I feel like that's a little strange.
14:41
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, it's sort of
14:45
a life. It's a more interactive way. Like I can
14:48
really be in my own zone. Coffee shops are kind
14:50
of my jam. Yeah. Yeah. Like what I loved about
14:53
traveling and like bringing a sketchbook. And
14:56
I did a lot of solo traveling slash do a lot
14:59
of solo traveling that you could just post up
15:01
somewhere and draw and people would be curious
15:04
and like ask like, oh, what are you doing? And
15:06
it's a way to connect with people. That's what
15:10
I think it's all about, honestly, in being an
15:13
artist because nobody here is doing it for the
15:15
money. You know, like I'll never get rich off
15:19
this and I don't, you know. you know well i don't
15:22
think we'll ever get rich off of this but it's
15:23
just about getting to know people see people
15:26
hear their stories uh just and like learn something
15:29
yeah and it's different i think when you're making
15:31
art for money whereas when you're doing it to
15:34
do it for you yeah i imagine i i think if like
15:38
i had money on the line oh I wouldn't get I would
15:41
get so nervous I'd be so bad at it it's like
15:44
when I used to fight for money versus like wrestling
15:48
for like as an amateur it was like the pressure
15:51
kind of builds up oh because that value the value
15:54
changes absolutely it's a different game and
15:57
I think the same thing would be said for art
15:59
like I like my curious pieces for for me and
16:02
I think that like I like to show them to my dear
16:04
friends and our new dear listeners and um like
16:07
I think that like if something like money happened
16:10
i'd have to learn how to manage like my emotions
16:13
with it yeah or maybe some expectations yeah
16:16
or i think of oh sorry go ahead no i you had
16:19
a really interesting question that like you we
16:22
because we both share like the uh the questions
16:24
the q and a's and stuff like that and i'm not
16:27
i was never super creative as a child but i was
16:30
wondering what made you creative as a kid and
16:32
like what's different about it now um i have
16:34
always been creative i have a creative family
16:38
yeah I have like, you know, the last time I spoke
16:42
about creative child me, I was in my studio and
16:44
I have art in my studio of something that I made
16:48
when I was younger. And I have like, before I
16:50
even learned how to spell my name, I have art
16:53
that I've made on my wall as well. And I like
16:55
having that on my wall as a reminder of like,
16:56
I do it for them. Like I keep making art for
17:01
the younger versions of me that loved making
17:04
art because there was a chunk of. my life where
17:07
I didn't make art. And I see this in the young
17:10
people I work with as well. Yeah. And I think
17:13
it happens around 12. You know, I'm sure there's
17:16
some science to back that up. But once people
17:18
become teenagers or close to that teenage age,
17:21
they become so hyper aware that their peers can
17:26
judge them. And oh, and I see it all too often
17:29
where they stop making art because, you know,
17:31
they start to judge themselves. They realize
17:34
like, oh, there's, you know, There's going to
17:36
be better artists. For whatever reason, they
17:38
stopped making art. And that was kind of me.
17:40
I did take maybe one or two art classes in high
17:43
school. And once I went to university, I was
17:46
too busy to make art. And then it was actually
17:49
a really bad breakup that got me into painting
17:53
again. And a friend of mine knew I was upset
17:56
and invited me over. Her name's Laura. Laura
17:58
Lee. She's lovely. I love her. Shout out, Laura.
18:01
Yeah, shout out. She invited me over and she
18:05
was like, do you want to make some art about
18:06
it? And she might not have said it like that,
18:08
but I made this painting and it was my first
18:10
time painting in so long. And I was like, I love
18:12
this. And I think that was second year university.
18:15
Okay. So that was 2010. And basically from second
18:20
year university to the end of university, I painted
18:22
every day. I loved painting. I had to do it all
18:28
the time. It was just something that brought
18:29
me so much joy. And once I graduated university,
18:32
I went to art school. And then day one of art
18:36
school, I started hating my painting because
18:39
I had a teacher who told me I was painting wrong.
18:43
And that the way I was, she actually said, your
18:46
painting is too expressive. Do you know what
18:49
that means? And at the time I did not know what
18:51
that meant, but I said, yes, because I was scared.
18:53
Can you tell me what that means? I don't know.
18:55
So essentially this teacher is very technical.
18:59
It was a painting of a banana that I had done
19:01
and it was good from my standards, but it wasn't
19:05
like technically that very detailed. I bet I
19:09
can find a picture of it. It might be somewhere
19:11
on social media. Tell me about it now, but we
19:14
will find this. We will find the nanner. Nene's
19:18
nanner. And basically what she was trying to
19:22
say is that it needed to be more technical. It
19:24
needed to look more realistic. And mine was more
19:26
expressive. If you think of art on a... continuum
19:31
on a spectrum hyper realistic it essentially
19:34
looks like a photo is on one end and like totally
19:37
expressive expressive or abstract yeah abstract
19:42
is the word i'm looking for is on the other end
19:44
of the spectrum and mine was closer to it looked
19:46
like a banana but it was more expressive and
19:49
it's abstract i don't know why i'm having such
19:51
a hard time with that word today so abstract
19:53
is that so my buddy he's the tattoo artist yeah
19:56
and he has a lot of pieces by uh robert stedman
20:00
i believe ralph stedman sorry yeah yeah yeah
20:04
and so that's so what's that if that's more expressive
20:08
yeah i fucking love that style dude yeah like
20:11
that's american expressions and from i want to
20:14
say the 60s i could be wrong someone's gonna
20:15
correct me on that and i'll google it later it's
20:18
gnarly and i i like it because it's it's like
20:21
those paint splatters get your attention you're
20:25
like okay why am i looking at like a mickey mouse
20:27
looking like he's on acid with some stains behind
20:30
him like what's going on in this picture it's
20:33
almost like jarring yeah like and that's expression
20:35
okay or expressive art yeah and that's more my
20:39
style yes I like that that's like that's that
20:43
for me I'm like that is somebody who's out there
20:46
just they're not just throwing paint at a wall
20:48
I mean sometimes for sure and not that there's
20:50
anything wrong with that yeah but like then there's
20:53
like but i think when it's deliberately done
20:56
like in a way like the way with stedman for me
20:59
like that's the i that's the only it's funny
21:02
you're saying that that's like my only artist
21:04
i know for this week uh but yeah like that guy
21:07
for me really captures a lot yeah and it's weird
21:10
because i like to do like sort of not comics
21:12
but caricatures of people or slash comics but
21:16
like with little stories but i was like I don't
21:19
want to ever copy a Stedman style, but I do like
21:23
that. You'll have your own. It'll be called the
21:25
Goodyear style. The Goodyear. Oh, heck yeah.
21:28
The Bonnet if I get super, super fancy. Ooh.
21:31
Trilingual. We're trilingual. We did it. There
21:33
we go. We did it. But going back to that story
21:36
of how my teacher told me I was too expressive,
21:40
that's when my art critic. was given a voice
21:43
and spent most of my time in art school being
21:47
very critical, very analytical of my art. And
21:52
I started. I don't want to say hating it because
21:54
that seems strong, but I started not liking it.
21:56
And I ended up low -key dropping out of art school,
21:58
but not really. It was more like a performance
22:00
dropout than an actual dropout. And then I went
22:03
to art therapy school and art therapy school
22:05
basically helped me unlearn all the critical
22:09
voice that I had developed in art school. And
22:12
again, going to art therapy school is probably
22:14
the best thing I could have done for my art because
22:16
I'm now starting to love my art again because
22:19
it's way more focused on process, less about
22:22
product. product and more about kind of learning
22:24
more about myself. And of course, as a therapist,
22:26
learning about other people and helping them
22:28
learn about themselves. So it has changed so
22:31
much from, you know, little me, I point over
22:34
there to my wall, maybe I'll share that picture
22:36
as well online to what I make now. And I like
22:40
to put it in there because it's all part. of
22:43
the narrative it's all kind of jumbled in there
22:45
i so you're saying like an like you got a negative
22:48
voice or a critic right oh yeah your artist big
22:52
time it's so okay i don't want to sound like
22:55
we call this uh i'm not going to get into it
22:57
but there's a there's a uh so i don't want to
23:00
sound like rude but i'm like for me I don't have,
23:04
or like, this is so good for me. I don't really
23:07
have an artist critic for me because I don't
23:10
feel like I'm that good. I'm just kind of happy
23:11
with what shows up on the page right now. Love
23:14
that for you. But like, there's so many other
23:16
areas in my life that I take serious that I'm
23:19
very critical about. Am I going to get an inner
23:23
critic? I don't want an inner critic. I don't
23:25
want that guy to show up. I don't want him to
23:27
show up and be like, you suck. You know, I was
23:30
like, that's, that's tough. It's not a guarantee.
23:32
yeah i don't i don't want that i'm not i'm definitely
23:35
i'm gonna critic be gone critic honestly uh i'm
23:39
gonna i'm gonna say some some harsh words in
23:41
harry potter abracadabra get out of here that's
23:45
the death curse okay yeah yeah yeah that's the
23:48
big one i'll just be like he shows up i'll be
23:50
like get out of here like uh what was it what's
23:53
the bad one voldemort hell yeah you're not supposed
23:56
to say his name i can't say his name oh shoot
23:58
this is i'm a halfway harry potter fan i'm not
24:01
a full -fledged right but i know that one abracadabra
24:04
to my inner art critic and you should say that
24:06
too okay or whatever sort of ritual you need
24:10
to kind of shoot yeah just have fun with it yeah
24:14
and that's one thing I've really admired about
24:17
getting to know your art is just how into it
24:20
you are and I don't think it's because I have
24:25
my critic shows up everywhere not just art thank
24:27
you critic for being so widespread in my life
24:32
And I really admire that about your process is
24:35
that you're just so into it and it's art for
24:37
art's sake, which is great. Yeah. I have a great
24:40
tattoo about your inner critic. Oh yeah. Is this
24:43
an idea or actual tattoo? No, it's a real tattoo
24:46
that I put down and I'll share it later at some
24:49
point when I think we were going to do an episode
24:51
on tattoos or something along the lines and maybe
24:54
get like an artist or two on, which would be
24:56
cool if we could start interviewing people, if
24:58
people listen to the show and you like us, contact
25:00
us. Yeah. want to talk to you yeah we want to
25:03
talk to you and uh but uh yeah so like i think
25:07
i i got this one piece done and i'll share it
25:10
later but it it does help you let go of that
25:12
mean the mean spirited side of you oh okay i
25:16
love that yeah i love that and it's interesting
25:19
right before you got on you're like yo the creativity
25:23
is flowing yes what contributed to that uh is
25:27
that something you have control over or is that
25:29
just you ride the wave when it comes i think
25:31
if it feels good do it like that is such a good
25:35
rule of thumb yeah if you're like this is feeling
25:37
great let's go um I've tried to force art and
25:41
that's when it sucks. I feel like you're just
25:44
like, I should, because I want to post for a
25:47
certain time. There was a time when I was posting
25:49
every day at 12 o 'clock, no matter what. And
25:52
then I was just putting. That's so military of
25:54
you. Yeah. I was like, you will perform. You
25:56
will perform. And like, it's like, it's like
25:59
if a certain amount of people don't look at it,
26:01
you have failed. And you're like, why, why am
26:04
I doing that? Like, I should enjoy this and taking
26:06
my time and enjoying them. My pieces. have have
26:09
definitely benefited that's that's what I've
26:12
noticed is is not taking it serious and basically
26:15
being like this is something that brings me joy
26:17
right on and focusing on that like positive felt
26:20
sense that you get out of art yeah I think that
26:23
it's such a good it's a it's a good road for
26:25
healing it's a good road for just being able
26:28
to get that outlet if you got the time for it
26:30
and I know like some of you out there listening
26:32
have definitely got like you know schedules family
26:36
commitments as something like there's something
26:39
pulling you in a different direction yes those
26:42
jobs right hey spelt it right but yeah there's
26:49
something getting in the way but i mean if you
26:51
can like if you can manage to get that time to
26:53
do something that you've made and you can look
26:56
at it and be like I feel good about this that's
26:58
that's pretty dope yeah and you don't need a
27:01
lot of time to make art and that's one of my
27:03
favorite things to tell the humans I work with
27:05
is that like I'll give out post -it notes of
27:08
like if you just want to doodle on this tiny
27:10
little post -it note that is better than absolutely
27:13
nothing like whatever you do just make art when
27:16
in doubt hearted out yeah i i it's funny you
27:19
say that i i did a doodle when i was in spain
27:22
with my buddy um for we were getting drunk so
27:25
i i was writing on a napkin just to like start
27:28
a conversation with some people in spanish because
27:30
my friend speaks portuguese i have very poco
27:34
de spanish un poquito and that makes me feel
27:37
like i'm a real spaniard so like i don't i don't
27:41
i don't got a lot but i like to practice so like
27:44
like by me drawing some goofy stuff and showing
27:46
some people a little drinking it started a conversation
27:50
that basically just I don't think would have
27:52
happened because like usually it's just loud
27:54
foreigners we hate you but you're like hey look
27:57
at this little thing and then they're like oh
27:59
interesting enough let's have a chat you know
28:01
yeah and art crosses language barriers it does
28:06
like people who speak different language can
28:08
look at a piece of art and connect with it in
28:11
some way which is super cool yeah i did some
28:14
some drawing of tools because i was trying to
28:17
explain to people what i was doing when i was
28:18
in jordan and uh like i can't write or speak
28:22
arabic at all and uh so I was just like drawing
28:25
hammers and nails and stuff. And I was like,
28:28
carpenter. And like, they were like, oh, cool.
28:31
And then like, they were like, and like, I was
28:33
like this chair, like in doing the hand signals
28:36
and just, yeah, a couple of doodles here and
28:38
there to basically that I could open up my book
28:40
and be like, this is what I do. Cause people
28:42
were like, what, why are you here? What are you
28:44
doing? Cause you're definitely stick out here.
28:47
So you're like trying to explain, like I'm on
28:49
a vacation. I'm helping my friend navigate Jordan.
28:53
And I'm, you know, also a little bit of an artist
28:55
and a carpenter. Cool. Yeah. Do you think you'll
28:58
ever draw on something you carpent? Oh, that
29:02
would be cool. I've never thought of it. I might
29:05
have to use a wood burning tool. Whoa. Have you
29:07
ever tried that? uh i have it's unfortunately
29:10
i'm about as good as it is i am at welding and
29:14
i'm a terrible welder i get lost in the sauce
29:17
it's like i don't know what it is it's like the
29:19
fumes of like burnt wood or something it just
29:22
distracts me and i just can't get into it but
29:25
if i really you know what if i laid it out i
29:27
think i could do it yeah i think i can do it
29:30
I got a whole woodshop. Let's go. Yeah. Challenge
29:33
accepted. On your back. Did we challenge myself?
29:40
If you can't challenge yourself to a fight, challenge
29:44
yourself to a huge fart. Be careful, listeners.
29:49
Don't do that. It could end in tragedy. But yeah,
29:54
I've challenged myself to an art battle with
29:57
myself. Ooh, an inner fight club. I'm here for
30:00
it. Art styles. Do you see yourself as a creative
30:04
person? I mean, yeah, kind of. I like to just
30:10
sort of bend things and make things kind of work
30:12
and fit into other spots. I don't know what that's
30:15
called. Yeah, that's like the definition of creativity,
30:17
I think. Yeah, I think that's the... I like doing
30:21
that. Yeah. Like I sent you a picture of like
30:23
a hammer that I recently made. How do you make
30:26
a hammer? Do you take the head of the hammer
30:28
and put it on the piece of wood? So, yeah. So
30:31
what had happened was we, somebody had broken
30:34
a hammer in our shop. And so we just had the
30:35
head and we were, and we have like a whole wood
30:38
bin and there's scrap wood and stuff like that.
30:40
So I took this, like they were just throwing
30:42
the hammer into the metal bin. And they and I
30:46
just was like, I saw this beautiful piece of
30:48
African lacewood that like you can't use for
30:50
like the pieces of the things that we're making
30:52
in our shop. But I was like, why not big enough
30:54
to be like just for like the pieces, like the
30:57
sizes and the dimensions. So like it felt like
31:02
it was a little bit of a waste to me because
31:03
I was like, this is a beautiful piece of African
31:06
lacewood. It's super rare in North America, not
31:10
in West Africa, because it grows like crazy over
31:12
there. But it's like. it took so much time to
31:16
get here and it kind of sucks that like we'd
31:19
taken like you know just this little shrimp like
31:22
this little piece and i was like there's something
31:24
that can be done with this so i'm i'm fortunate
31:27
enough to not be allergic to african lacewood
31:30
but a lot of people are so like i took the risk
31:33
to like i was like i'll pick it up i'll use it
31:35
without my hands and i was like yeah no i'm i'm
31:36
cool i don't get rashes so i was like fuck it
31:39
i'm gonna make this thing into my own hammer
31:41
and then other people in our shop can't use it
31:44
because they're allergic so it's kind of like
31:46
my own personalized tool that's what you meant
31:50
okay yeah yeah it like it's like a phone that
31:54
requires a face id yeah exactly but it's my own
31:57
low -key hammer why are people allergic to it
32:01
allergic to wood I am like yo it's a different
32:03
type of wood West Africa's a crazy place it's
32:06
got such a cool texture too I honestly thought
32:09
that was painted but that's just wood no that's
32:11
just the way it is it shows up like a gray so
32:13
it's like a woody gray and like that one is lucky
32:16
enough to have a deformity so like if you notice
32:19
on the inside it's got like white to it inside
32:22
what do you mean the inside how do I look at
32:24
the inside of a hammer sorry sorry the inner
32:26
part of the hammer there's like a white strip
32:29
almost it's super rare you never see it and i
32:31
was just like we're gonna get rid of this what
32:33
people would say quote unquote the ugly side
32:35
of like this wood would be i was like this is
32:37
great i like this piece because it's got a little
32:39
bit of its own defined character wow okay cool
32:43
and i yeah i often use it like well i mean it's
32:46
it's mine until the day it blows up and then
32:49
i'll you know make another one cool okay homemade
32:53
hammer exactly with wood that and you used it
32:56
to make this picnic bench that you that looks
32:58
like a solid picnic bench dude thank you yeah
33:01
yeah um the best thing about like like just learning
33:05
how to do anything youtube there's like so many
33:08
people out there that are just making great stuff
33:10
the internet has information it's not just for
33:15
documentaries of i don't know how if we're gonna
33:20
go blue documentaries documentaries historical
33:24
documentaries of the farm variety yeah it's got
33:28
more than that i recently learned that as well
33:30
the internet is full of stuff it's got it's chocolate
33:33
with so much stuff it had all the dimensions
33:35
i was like yeah like a picnic table for six people
33:38
what are the dimensions i need and it's just
33:40
there And you can go to your thing and make it
33:43
yourself. And then you're going to be stoked
33:45
on that. And then you can sit on it and be like,
33:47
I made this. Exactly. You're like, you'd be at
33:49
a barbecue or something and you have some people
33:51
over. They could just sit on it. They don't care.
33:53
But in your mind, you're going to be like, my
33:54
hands built that. Yeah. Yeah. What do I bring
33:57
to the table? I am the fucking table. I built
34:01
this table. Is it? Did you sand it and finish
34:05
it? It looks pretty like... No, it's pretty raw.
34:07
It's still raw. I still got to put on some lacquers
34:11
and some stuff that helps it not rot outside.
34:14
But luckily, my neighbor... bob is a uh shout
34:17
out to bob hell hell yeah bob bob and deb my
34:20
favorite they're so they're so nice they're such
34:22
sweet people um they uh so bob is like a carpenter
34:26
as well and he just kind of yeah so he's been
34:29
kind of showing me the ropes so like it's just
34:31
everywhere for me don't you also have another
34:33
neighbor who makes t -shirts that's his son oh
34:36
okay yeah I'm just learning from your community.
34:40
I love that. Yeah, the community is big and everybody
34:43
around here freaking rocks. Shout out to Dartmouth.
34:46
Right on, Dartmouth. Question, if we were to
34:51
time travel back to be the versions of ourselves
34:54
when we first met each other and I asked you
34:58
if you were a creative person, what do you think
35:01
that version of you would have said? creating
35:04
these biceps yeah okay i can probably that probably
35:09
would have just been it yeah okay yeah yeah yeah
35:12
that's that pretty much would have summed up
35:14
me wow let me think the girl with the multicolored
35:20
hair paint covered clothes mismatched shoes and
35:23
socks were you creative probably yeah well i
35:27
just graduated art art therapy school too so
35:29
you were at the height of it or did it feel like
35:31
an escape it felt like a low it was an escape
35:34
art school was an escape for you like when you
35:36
were done you're like i'm no because i need oh
35:39
Yeah, I did the art therapy thing in Vancouver
35:41
and then moved back to Ottawa, assuming I could
35:44
just get a job in my field right away because
35:46
that's what happens after you graduate, right?
35:49
Yeah, I think so. And that's not what happened.
35:51
And I ended up doing the space parachute thing
35:54
and meeting you. oh heck yeah okay cool what
35:57
a wild journey that i think we both escaped from
36:00
places and then ended up in uh yeah yeah making
36:04
space parachutes yeah space parachutes that was
36:07
a yeah an interesting place to land parachute
36:09
joke yes and interesting people and beloved friends
36:12
of the company no we have to try and have one
36:18
of them on yes that's true like seriously those
36:22
guys were so sweet and i feel like one of our
36:25
people we need to get on before uh you know yeah
36:28
he's older he's an older gentleman yeah his life
36:31
he's a solid dude yeah oh my god yeah man he
36:34
tried to explain what magnets were to me i still
36:36
don't know to this day but i kind of wish i did
36:40
yeah i remember one day uh i told him his parachute
36:43
worked like crap but we were just i don't think
36:51
anyone's used to talking to dave like that and
36:54
dave was like you're right and i was like it
36:56
didn't work because i think like yeah beloved
36:58
friend of company so like he basically was like
37:02
ivy i feel like people were kind of afraid to
37:04
mince words and stuff and i was just like that
37:06
didn't go well and then we were like and then
37:09
we went to the roof of the building and we just
37:11
spent the day like i remember i can't remember
37:13
what was happening but i just was like going
37:15
up and down a ladder picking up parachutes that
37:18
he was throwing off the side of a building and
37:20
we had it was a great bonding experience i loved
37:22
it for that right on yeah oh god beloved friend
37:25
of company censor censor censor his name yeah
37:31
okay Emily we're giving you work to do we're
37:35
so sorry um so back to our questions uh what
37:41
myths or rules about creativity do you want to
37:44
break oh if any myths or rule I feel like something
37:47
that you'd have to you You have to have a certain
37:50
set of tools or have gone to a certain place
37:53
or be with a certain people. That conditions
37:57
need to be specific in order to make something.
38:00
Yeah. I've met one or two guys who are artists
38:02
through the army and they were brilliant. And
38:05
they're surrounded by complete guerrilla meatheads.
38:08
And I love my guys. I love my meatheads. But
38:10
like for them to just sort of like thrive and
38:13
be different and be accepted by these guys, by
38:17
the way. uh for their creativity and just bringing
38:20
something so awesome like it might be a caricature
38:23
or a comic or something like that but um yeah
38:26
you can do it anywhere and there's no there's
38:29
nothing that's going to stop you i think the
38:30
only person that's going to stop you is you yeah
38:32
and your inner critic or the parts of you yeah
38:35
abracadabra that guy i'm i have a feeling that's
38:38
not what the spell is but i'm not going to correct
38:40
you on it because i'm guardian leviosa when guardian
38:43
leviosa i don't know if that's the right one
38:46
either oh shoot see yeah okay i'm sorry i'm sorry
38:51
we'll figure it out it's all good we have our
38:53
own magic that isn't based in latin yes yeah
38:57
yeah uh can i ask another question heck yeah
39:01
um i agree with you basically on what you said
39:04
that like there's try to remove as many barriers
39:07
to make art like make bad art if that's what
39:09
you need to do i heard about a dude oh sorry
39:12
no go ahead tell me about this one dude who uh
39:15
so he was like a professor at an art school and
39:18
my friend who i was just drawing with recently
39:20
he was telling me about this guy and he would
39:22
literally he was like it's the magic chocolate
39:24
bar and we were like what and so he started drawing
39:27
basically like a woman in a dress with a hershey's
39:31
chocolate bar and so like that means that he
39:33
was drawing and with less material every time
39:36
he took a stroke so he's oh he was drawing with
39:40
a chocolate bar with a chocolate like it was
39:42
melting okay understood yeah yeah so every time
39:44
you go to scrape it you have less of it but he
39:46
was able to within a certain amount of strokes
39:49
and with a material that you would not think
39:51
like to make art with he was making something
39:54
so might just be you guys like you could use
39:56
a rock you can use paint you can use anything
39:59
to etch or whatever like yeah yeah so there's
40:02
something and even just like we were talking
40:04
about photography earlier like with so many people
40:07
having access to a phone in their pocket or a
40:11
camera in their pocket yeah you can go take pictures
40:13
like there's I think there's a lot less physical
40:17
barriers to making art now yeah and I think maybe
40:20
a lot more psychological ones like yeah that's
40:23
the guy you got to stop it's you it's not it's
40:26
basically you can really try your best there
40:28
might be some way you just do something beautiful
40:30
it's not very much yeah touche And I might know
40:35
the answer to this question because it's kind
40:37
of about perfectionism. And you've mentioned
40:40
in the past of just how you end up rolling with
40:43
it. But do you notice a tendency to have some
40:46
perfectionism in your art? process with art not
40:50
really i it's the weirdest thing of just being
40:54
okay with like if you can kind of tell that it's
40:58
an ear or it's an eyebrow or like this is a furrowed
41:01
black brow or what ethnicity this person i'm
41:04
drawing is is or like their gender like you can
41:07
if you can get that median out of it and basically
41:09
be like this is what if i can show that much
41:12
with it i'm pretty happy As long as I just don't
41:16
make a giant blob and people are like, and I'm
41:18
like, no, that's my boy, Doug. Doug. Doug comes
41:22
up a lot. Yeah. Doug is a generic name. I don't
41:25
actually know Doug. I don't think I do. Oh, that
41:28
piece you made about Doug. Yeah. And you spelt
41:31
it D -U -G. Yeah. I got a Doug. I do have a Doug.
41:34
Nevermind. Yep. I got Doug. Yep. Right on. Yeah.
41:38
Do you think that conditions have to be a certain
41:41
way in order to make art? I mean, like, I don't
41:45
know. I think it's just what conditions are best
41:47
for you. For me? Yeah. I was thinking about this
41:51
as I was biking home because... We're in wildfire
41:54
season and it is so smoky in Ottawa and it smells
41:57
like campfire and it just makes me really sad.
41:59
And on my bike over, I was like writing poems
42:02
in my head about just the state of the world.
42:05
And I find, and I almost don't like this about
42:08
myself, but I am so inspired to make art when
42:11
I'm sad or when my feelings are really big. Again,
42:14
because I have a hard time processing feelings
42:17
as a highly sensitive person. I need to like
42:20
make art about it in order to kind of titrate
42:24
it and make it feel better or like feel less
42:27
intense. And a lot of times when I'm feeling
42:30
really inspired is because I have a really strong
42:33
emotion that I either can't handle or need to
42:35
be able to handle or both. And sometimes it's
42:38
just like, oh, I'm going to make art because
42:39
I feel like making art. But like I find that
42:41
some of my favorite pieces are from trying to
42:45
handle strong emotions. Nice. I feel like that's
42:50
just a way, like you said, it's a good way for
42:53
you to sort of process that. Would you say like
42:55
that style's evolved since you were young or
42:58
is it always just been like you had to express
43:00
it when you were younger or it was like a learned
43:02
habit? I think I almost had to because I was
43:06
never really someone who was confident expressing
43:08
themselves with words, even now. Talking and
43:11
using words to express feelings is not my forte,
43:15
despite the fact that I am a therapist and constantly
43:18
talk about feelings with other people. It's still
43:20
like, I'll have a better idea if we make art
43:25
about it. I think your inner critic might be
43:27
loud because I'm hearing somebody who can really
43:30
communicate well. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. You're
43:33
wrong, but thank you. There we go. But yeah,
43:39
I... I think that it's, it's definitely coming.
43:42
It's, it's coming around full circle and it's
43:44
cool doing these podcasts because we're probably
43:46
getting stronger. Maybe we're getting a false
43:48
sense of confidence. Whatever it is, it works.
43:51
It's working for us. I feel like I like the,
43:55
I like the fact that you're working at a knack
43:57
that you're like, okay, I'm not strong here,
43:58
but if you keep hacking at it, you'll, you'll
44:01
get strong. Yeah. And I was going to say something
44:04
to that too. And sorry, I cut you off. Sorry.
44:06
Not sorry. Cause I'm going to keep talking. Is
44:08
that. working on this with you has been really
44:11
good because you have that confidence of like
44:14
yeah let's keep going I'm gonna you know tell
44:16
people about this I'm gonna you know want to
44:18
share this and I'm like maybe like in 20 episodes
44:21
I might show like one person if they're you know
44:24
not going to listen to it I'll show them and
44:26
maybe they'll never listen to it and that's fine
44:28
but you're like no everyone needs to hear this
44:30
like and I was like okay whatever you say buddy
44:33
and it's rubbing off on me a little bit maybe
44:35
good i'm glad i'm glad i hope so i hope you're
44:38
like hey come look at my garbage and you know
44:41
and then eventually like it's gonna be good it's
44:45
gonna be great like i my first post malone picture
44:48
that i sent to zoe was like she was like she
44:50
was like oh man Like she was like, I don't know
44:55
if you watched Family Guy, but she's like, it's
44:57
like Muhammad Ali drew this. And I was like,
44:59
oh my God. I was like, yeah, that's a bad one.
45:02
Like my hands, like I was like, cause I do naturally
45:04
have shaky hands. Like it's something that's
45:07
come into my life like in the last couple of
45:10
years, but I have a little bit of a tremor and
45:13
it kind of adds to the shake, but it's getting,
45:16
the more I draw, the less the shake. is there
45:20
i was gonna ask about that i've started using
45:23
the shake a little bit to my to my own advantage
45:25
for when i want to shade and use dots and stuff
45:28
like that cool that wasn't something like that
45:30
was something that i was ashamed of embarrassed
45:32
of even writing my own name um that's something
45:35
i put down in one of my pieces um was about a
45:39
kid being teased not being able to write his
45:41
own name correct ah yes that's so episode three
45:44
i don't know i don't know it's fine either way
45:48
uh um so now like i i found my penmanship has
45:53
gotten better because i i do like so much drawing
45:56
that like now i've even started to stylize some
45:59
writing you know and as long as there's not somebody
46:02
over my shoulder waiting for me to hurry up and
46:04
write something down i feel like it almost looks
46:07
cool but i it's it's not a lot of writing like
46:10
it's not like writing pages because i've never
46:12
written pages of anything i'm very dyslexic so
46:14
but if it's like one or two cool words or slogos
46:17
or like sayings or anything i'm starting to kind
46:21
of get the knack and build up my own confidence
46:23
to maybe write my own logo i could not have somebody
46:26
else do it but actually put my own logo on something
46:29
cool so yeah one of these days very cool very
46:34
on brand of art can heal yeah and i love that
46:38
for us yeah it's uh it's a nice feeling to have
46:41
right on any other questions i feel like we might
46:44
have covered them all any last remarks takeaways
46:48
Uh, I'm so excited for, can we say the name of
46:52
the episode? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Cause
46:54
if we say the name, they'll know who it is next
46:56
episode. We're interviewing someone and we're
46:58
so excited about it. They are an artist and they
47:02
are an artist of a different medium than, than
47:04
what we have. That's what they're saying. So
47:07
don't worry. We're going to pretty much try and
47:09
always bring up an artist or somebody who creates
47:12
something or somebody that we just find or draw
47:15
inspiration with. Or some other theme that we
47:19
have planned. Cause I have some other themes
47:20
that I want to talk about that came up today
47:23
that I really want. Anyways, we can talk about
47:25
that later, but Oh my God. We can really just
47:28
love the crap out of them and they'll just be
47:29
stoked to talk to us. Yeah. Yeah. Just be little
47:32
fan people. We got it. What's your mom's name?
47:38
I feel like we should Nancy. Yeah. Shout out
47:41
to the Nance Meister. i mean if it sticks it
47:46
sticks like we gotta try brand something yeah
47:48
yeah i love that dance monster all right also
47:52
with next week we're starting this other new
47:55
thing in addition anyways next week's gonna be
47:58
fun it's gonna be cool okay we're excited to
48:02
see you yeah we're not gonna see you we're not
48:05
stalkers we're excited for you to listen to us
48:08
i don't know what are we supposed to say to that
48:10
we're gonna talk at you yeah hope you enjoy it
48:14
and if you don't enjoy it no forehead kisses
48:16
for you and a stone cold stunner So the kishes
48:22
are conditional is what you're saying. They are
48:23
conditional. You have to love our sodes. Or you
48:27
get Stone Cold Stunnered. I don't know what that
48:29
means. You don't know Stone Cold Steve Austin?
48:32
I'm going to have to tell you all about Stone
48:33
Cold Steve Austin off air. Okay, cool. Okay.
48:36
Well, now I have something to look forward to.
48:38
Thanks for listening, everyone. Goodbye. Peace
48:41
out. See you next time. hasta la vista bye yeah
48:46
i struggled to remember another language there