Latest / The Daily Writer / Artist Marabeth Quin on Creativity, Habits & Collaboration

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Artist Marabeth Quin on Creativity, Habits & Collaboration · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for riding success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode is very special because I've been a fan of my guest's creative work since I was in college, and now I'm honored to talk to her for the first time ever in this interview.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: My guest is Meribeth Quinn.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: She has been working in the arts in Nashville, Tennessee for over 35 years.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was music that originally brought her to Nashville as a professional studio vocalist in 1987 and gave her a decades-long career.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: But in 2007, she expanded her artistic endeavors into painting when she began selling her colorful works of art.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, with Art Collector spanning the globe, she continues to explore a wide variety of subject matter, materials, and platforms, never really satiating her fascination with art's instructive influence in shaping her spirit.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: When Meredith paints, it is an exercise of letting go, a sort of meditative process in which she notices the impulse to control, to dictate, to have an agenda.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: These cues gently redirect her thoughts and aims to that of simply loving and honoring the work and being a co-creator, not a dictator.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: When this is achieved, the work flows differently.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I've been familiar with Meribeth's work as a vocalist over the years, but it's only recently that I became aware of her work as an artist.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: And one of my convictions about writing is that in order to be successful as a writer, you've got to be curious about different kinds of creative expression, including music, visual art, acting, filmmaking, and a lot of other areas.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: You become a deeper and more well-rounded writer when you can learn from artists working in other fields.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I'm really excited to have Merbeth on the show today to talk about her journey as an artist, her creative process, her work in collage, her collaboration with author Amy Mateo, creative habits, and much more.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Meribeth is not only an incredibly gifted artist, she's also thoughtful and compassionate, which are all the qualities that you find in the best creative minds.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before we get to the conversation, I want to make sure and encourage you to check out Meribeth's artwork at MeribethQinArt.com.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: There will be a link in the show notes.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And while you're there, download her free Art Buyers Guide to Creating Magic in Your Life.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really fun, very simple, but really extraordinarily powerful guide for anybody doing creative work.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Meribeth also has a really cool YouTube channel that I am kind of obsessed with because I love watching her create her collages and explaining the process by which she's doing it.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't really explain what she does in these videos other than while she's creating, she's also giving you these meditative and inspirational and really inspiring thoughts.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: I just really love what she's doing all the way around.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I think you're going to enjoy this conversation just as much as I did.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: So here's my interview with artist Maribeth Quinn.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Meribeth, it is so good to have you here on the Daily Rider podcast.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I've been following your art for a while, and I'm just so grateful to be able to talk to you about it because I've spent a lot of time with you on YouTube.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: But now here we are, sort of in person, live, sort of.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for making time to do this.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm so happy to be here.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: I I love to talk about art.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: I love to talk about the creative process.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's one of my favorite things in the world.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So let's go.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's interesting.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, your journey is interesting in so many different ways, but you have not been how many years have you been doing art in the way that you're doing it now?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because this was something that you started later in life, correct?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so fascinated by how you got into this after having had this really long successful career in music, and then you sort of have made this pivot.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, can you share about how you got started in your career as an artist and what that was like to pivot in a different direction?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it was a long pivot.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was very, very lots of tiny pivots.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I like you said, I started in music.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: I came um right out of college to Nashville, Tennessee.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: And um, like everybody thought, oh, I'm gonna get a record deal.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And it took me years to realize, oh, I'm that that career is not suited for me at all.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I much prefer to be behind the scenes, doing my own thing creatively.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so most of my music career has been, I've had uh well over 30 years of being a studio musician here in Nashville.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just the most wonderful career.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: You work with some of the most amazing musicians in the world, and many of them, you've never heard their name unless you read credits on records.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: And but um, they just work in the studio and they're fabulous people, and so I really did enjoy that.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: But um, when I was really doing it the most condensed, um, this was back when I was in my 30s.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it can be a really hard job sometimes when you're doing it full time.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard on your body, actually.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: You can work really long hours, and I just needed something, I needed something that was totally creative and under my own control, where I could just explore.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't work.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I had just met who is now my husband, this was back in 1997.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and um I started getting this urge to return to something that I loved in my childhood, which was drawing and painting.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it terrified me to go to the art store and just buy some things.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: There, I like so many people, I was terrified of learning that maybe I didn't have talent, or I was terrified of making bad art, which now I realize uh making bad art is simply part of the process.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: That is actually the course, that is actually the road.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: But then I was so scared of learning that this thing that I loved, maybe I wasn't talented enough or talented in this area.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: And um so it it took me a long time to get started.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: But he, you know, my husband, Casey, was really encouraging me, do it.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: You need it, you know, you need it for work, like you're burnout on work.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I would do this at night after the kids would go to bed.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: I would just paint and enter my own world.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it was the best feeling.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: I just I loved it.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I did that for a number of years.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I sold anything professionally until 2007.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: So that was about 10 years.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't think it takes people 10 years to get to that point, but for me it did.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so in 2007, I really decided, no, I want to do this for a career.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I started getting into shows and um, you know, just sort of building up a clientele, which I did.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: But in um 2012, my my daughter, my 18-year-old daughter, had a massive stroke and it sort of upended our entire lives because she was at college and she came home basically incapacitated as much as like like a baby would be, like needed that kind of care.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so for the last 10 years, or for 10 years from that, I really that was like my sole focus.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: I still painted, I still sold, but I didn't have much bandwidth for anything else.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't sing as much, I didn't even paint as much.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: I just that was she was my creative project.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it's only been in the last year that I have sort of gotten the indication from just my own life and from the environment around me that she's okay.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: You can you can get back to your own life.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so I've had so much fun, really, for about a year really thinking about what do I want to do now?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like I'm sort of sinking my teeth back into it.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, in a way, I feel like when the reason I bring that up is because I feel like in some ways I'm starting over with my art practice.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, um, how how do I want to approach this?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: How much do I need to be doing it?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, how do I want to do it?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, I did make that creative transition.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: And now I feel like it's a whole other transition.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: Again, maybe there'll be another one on down the road.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it's um it's sort of a feel as you go thing, I think, you know, like anything else.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for sharing that.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I know obviously your your story is like for all of us, your story is really close to your heart, especially when it involves your kids and what they need.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And anybody who has kids, of course, knows whenever your kids are in trouble or whenever they're sick or they need help, everything else stops.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: No gotcha.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you have no bandwidth for really anything else.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, it's very true.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is this is maybe kind of a dumb question.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, what one of the reasons I do a podcast is I get to talk to cool people who've had cool experiences and I get to learn from that.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I happen to share the conversations with my audience.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: But for someone in your world who's doing art, what is what ultimately does success look like?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Does it mean having more paintings and more galleries?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Does it mean selling more?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Does it mean exploring new kinds of art as time goes on?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: How does how does somebody who's doing art, how do you really define success and what that typically would look like for someone doing doing art?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Hmm, that's such a great question.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um obviously it's not exactly what I would have said it was a number of years ago, you know.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, of course, there's always the uh the monetary element, like I want to be selling or I want to be supporting myself or contributing to my family.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um or I'd love for my spouse to be able to retire or whatever that is.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's always an element for me.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I think what has changed is that I have begun thinking of my art truly as almost synonymous with developing myself, developing um my own character, my the way that I think, the way my mind works, uh developing my ability to open my heart and and have that be part of my work.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's so multifaceted.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: I I think I really have a longing to connect with other people that feel like I do about their life, maybe um people that when they look at art, like I've never been someone that has wanted to make a sale no matter what.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like to me, if someone sees one of my paintings and they're just deeply moved or it means something really important to them, then I I love that.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: That feels to me like success.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: But but if somebody's like, well yeah, that that's okay, then I I immediately think this is not for them.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't want them to own a painting that they're of mine that they're not moved by in some way.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: I want it to mean something.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think that's the idea of success has been developing in the direction of I want to be connecting more with the people that I connect with, you know, that that would look at one of my paintings and go, this feels meaningful in some way.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Or I get what she's talking about.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: I get um, because I work a lot with collage.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I do that for a very specific purpose.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like the reason I'm interested in collage is for a very specific set of reasons, I guess.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: And when certain people see my work and that is what appeals to them, then I guess that feels like success to me.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: But it's pretty multifaceted.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a lot of dreams that I have concerning my art.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I'm not sure about galleries.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to be represented.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: The past 10 years, I haven't felt like I I could fulfill that obligation um just because I had so much on my plate.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: But now I would like, I would like to be represented, but I want it to be a really great fit.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I just don't want it to be just anything.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I think as I get older, it gets way more refined.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this is probably not a very satisfying answer because I I guess I it's it's so nuanced, I'm having trouble um really describing it.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: But it really does feel like as I get older, it gets it gets more personal and less about the obvious things that maybe people might guess.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Can you talk about your collage process for a little bit?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: So you you mentioned that, and that's one of the things I'd like to love to ask you about.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I also want to tack on something else here.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if I mentioned this um in our email exchange kind of prepping for this conversation.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: But like I find your artwork really emotionally moving.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't normally have that response to most artwork.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why, but there's there's something that I can't quite put my finger on with the way that you design collages and your painting, where simultaneously, and I hope I feel like as I'm getting ready to say this, it doesn't even make any sense.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that it does.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's something that's simultaneously, there's a melancholy to it, but there's also a hopefulness to it.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's almost like I'm just blown away because there's something in the way that you put together these images and you create them that simultaneously sort of brings up tears, but it also brings up this immense joyfulness and hope.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea how you do that or what the process is, but that's how I emotionally respond to those images.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, have you ever heard that kind of a thing before, or am I just totally off my rocker?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, no, I I would say that you are dead on in picking up where I'm coming from.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's really I've never had anybody tell me quite that thing.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's and it's beautiful.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: I love it because it's so accurate.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, we after my daughter got sick, um it it was it was big.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was big in my life.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: It was scary.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: She almost died.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was, you know, we got a lot of horrible, horrible sounding, really bad uh predictions about her future.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I flipped into this mode of, I know it was like a mama bear thing or something, but I flipped into this mode of, oh no, no, no, no, no.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: I am not listening to a word of this.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I became all about hope because when it's that dire, you it's like you have two choices, you know, it's like the abyss or wild hope.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where I lived.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: As as the years passed, and I really do believe that sometimes that is what life takes, you know, it takes that um almost what may seem to other people as ridiculous or almost looking like denial, sort of faith.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: But as she got older, I mean, as she got, well, yes, she was getting older, but as she got better, um, and the years started passing by it all of the things that I didn't feel at the time that she got sick, in order to be all about hope, all of those things were sort of piling up.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like they were just sort of piling up in my body.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: And about three years ago, three or four years ago, my brother-in-law unexpectedly died.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, something cracked.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like some, like the the the dam cracked.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: And shortly after that, my uncle that I was very close to, who was also an artist and a collage artist, um he died.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I wasn't able to go be with him or really communicate with him by the time we realized he was dying.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: So those things together um brought up this river of grief in me about what had happened to Sophie, my daughter, what you know, my brother-in-law, now my dear, dear sister was a widow so young, and then my uncle died.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: It was like my whole life was it, it was almost like my life said, Okay, now you grieve.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: She's your daughter's safe, she's gonna make it.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's you've done your job now, grieve.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I did have about two years of immense grief and high anxiety, and that is when I started collaging.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: And there was something about taking these tiny pieces of paper, and everything's disjointed and nothing really goes together, and you're just attaching them to the surface, and you don't know where you're going.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's sort of like feeling your way through something, and and you can't see, you can't see anything, but you're just doing it in faith that it's going to go somewhere.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that that was really how I felt about my grief.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like it took trust in life for me to go there because it felt like a pit from which I would not come out of, which I guess anybody that's really had big grief in their life probably knows what I'm talking about.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: But you go because you you've run out of other options.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so when I started collaging and just piecing these things together, that was my feeling exactly.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: What you described was life had become suddenly the full canvas.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like I could see all of these different parts of my life.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when I was a younger person, I struggled a lot with depression.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then I really worked on my mind and I got very disciplined and hopeful.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: And now I was in this grief stage.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I just felt that the way forward was that I had to figure out how to become big enough inside so it all could exist.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't just being one thing, but it all could be there together.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the more I thought about it and the more I settled into that, I really felt like, oh, this is what's beautiful about life.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's not about being happy all the time, it's not about being hopeful all the time, and it's not about being in the pit all the time.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's being able to do all of it and just really trust, just trust the process.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: So that is what collage, I think that's why it appeals to me.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: I never really was interested in it at all.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh after all this, um, I think maybe it feels maybe feel a little bit closer to my uncle to play with collage.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: And the more I did it, it it developed into um little elements in my paintings.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: And now it really has sort of taken over the canvas.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: I I start with paint, but I I pretty much cover the entire thing with these bits or even big pieces of transparent colored tissue paper.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: And um the effect once those layers get built up, the effect that it has is so dreamy and There's so much depth to it.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: It just makes you want to sit and look at each little piece of it for a really long time because there's so much to see.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's not, you're never just seeing what's on the surface.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: You're seeing all of the layers and how they shine through one another.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think that's why it interests me because when I think about getting older, I think that's that's how I want to be in my life.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I want to, I want all the layers to show.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to be okay with that.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I I want to be trusting that that that's what makes a life beautiful.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you you really can feel it all.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: And um when I'm creating, I think I'm teaching myself the way forward, really.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's it's that sounds like I'm really romanticizing it, but I really do think there is something about the the process of creating and the trust that it that it demands.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you really want to follow it through, it demands that you keep trusting and that you don't get too attached to what's happening just in this moment.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: So um it teaches me as I every day that I do it, it teaches me how to do that with myself and with my life.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I love about art.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I'll probably be doing it into my old age because it's just it's the way forward to me now.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: We could probably just stop there because that's that's just such a beautiful explanation of not just your story, but how the creative process works.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: And there's so many parallels here also to the writing journey.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's really the same thing.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: And any creative expression is really the same thing, just expressed in different mediums and formats.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get back to the interview in just a moment.
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  SPEAKER_00: And when you do so, Vellum can create ebooks for every platform, including Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, and more, as well as a PDF ready to upload for the print version.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: To download Vellum for free, visit trivellum.com slash daily.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's trivellum.com slash daily.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: And now back to the conversation with Meribeth Quinn.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Something that that people talk about a lot in the the writing in the book world is writing with your own voice and discovering what your authentic voice is.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious, as you were were really getting more into collage and artwork and painting, and you were discovering your unique style.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think for creative people, is it a matter of your style and the way that you sort of show up in the world creatively?
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is it already there?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it's our job to kind of identify it and find it?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it a process where we have to create it from scratch?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it maybe a mix of both things?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: I guess really what I'm asking is whether you're a writer or painter or musician, how do you find your authentic voice in the way that you show up creatively in the world?
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think it's something that is embedded within us already?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we kind of have to just find it, or is there something else that's a part of that process?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: This is such a great question because it's only been recently, like in the last couple of years, that I've been thinking heavily about this and realizing that the way I used to think about this greatly impeded my development.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because I think I used to, like so many people, I used to think when you get into the when you're talking about creative work, I used to think you either had talent or you didn't.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've had so many people say that to me at shows.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love art.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I I wish I could draw, but I I have no art talent.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I I remember always thinking, well, how do you know that?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, I guess here's where I've landed with this.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: I do think that talent is involved.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, for sure.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I think the way that that shows up is in interest.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think that you're interested in the things that you actually have potential for.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's why you're interested in it.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't think that talent is just something that's there and it will just carry you.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think that from there it's about developing it.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I took an art class recently from an artist, she's British.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Her name is Louise Fletcher, she's fabulous.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: And she really talks to creatives about this uh this very thing.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: But she said, you know, why do we think this about creative work?
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: If someone wants to be a surgeon, we don't just say, Oh my gosh, you look like you have talent to do surgery.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, good luck.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, go go do surgery.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: No, you go, you go to school, they invest money, they invest time, years of their life, and they learn and they develop that skill.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then they're this brilliant surgeon.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: She said, being an artist is or a writer is no different.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so if you are sitting down to write or to paint and you don't like what you get, that doesn't mean you don't have talent.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: It means you're underdeveloped.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: You have work to do.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the only way that you can do that work, this is what I've discovered for myself.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: The only way that I can get to where I want to go is to just keep doing it.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I have to be dedicated to it.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's a practice, it's it's something that I'm committed to.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not about getting in there and just hammering it out.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: It it's more like a relationship, you know, when my creative the creative part of myself has become almost like this other person.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just a part of me that I have dominion over.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's something that has its own agenda, which sometimes I know about, sometimes I don't.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes it cooperates with me, sometimes it does not.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: And over the years I've realized when it's not cooperating with me, it's because of what I'm doing.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's because I'm I'm being controlling or I'm trying to make it do something that it's not intending to do.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so it it's it's like a relationship in that you're only half of it and you have to show up and you have to pay respect and you have to ask questions, you know?
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: How how are you feeling?
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you want to go with this?
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I think my developing my capacity to make bad art has been life-changing for my art career.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I would, I mean, I'm guessing, is that what it's like being a writer?
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like you have to have the stomach for writing things that you know came out less than you hoped they would, but you hope that the next one is a little bit better.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: I would think that that's how everything creative is.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you involve, yeah, in the book world, especially when you involve editors, and part of what I do is ghostwriting.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: So you're you're really in a submission kind of relationship to not just the client, but also editors.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: When you're doing a client book, you also have to think about what do the readers want out of this?
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: What does the publisher want?
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: If it's a self-published book, you still have to think about what the readers want because ultimately that's who you're creating it for.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, as a writer, you kind of have your own agenda.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: And what do I want emotionally out of this process or financially or whatever my goal might be?
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it's almost like you have these several different agendas, and sometimes they're not all jiving with each other.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: You you have to kind of figure out a way to make that work.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess that's true of every creative industry, particularly movies, because you know, when it comes to movies, I mean, they're talking many times about hundreds of millions of dollars they've invested in movies.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're the director of a project, that's a lot of pressure.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_03: Oh gosh.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: You've got the studio, the the stars and the cast, the the audience, what you want from the project career-wise or creatively.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: I can't imagine having that much pressure for I I really can't either.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's and I would think as the director, you really have to be the visionary that is so magnetic that with all those moving parts, you you have such a strong vision that you somehow manage to herd the cats, you know, it's like getting everyone to come into the fold and mostly do what you know needs to happen.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: I I honestly cannot imagine that kind of project.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Years of working on one single project is just, I don't know, I think that would be beyond my capacity.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I can't I can't imagine uh with something like ghostwriting managing all of those influences because you know that is part of it, right?
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's always part of it.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know when I do commissions for people, you always have that element, you know, they they want you, they want what you do, but they also are wanting something specific.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you really do have to learn how to negotiate that and also learn, you know, I know there are some artists that go, oh, I never do a commission.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Nope, not for me.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: That just doesn't work.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then there are other people who mostly thrive on commissions.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it I guess it's about knowing yourself well.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: But um yeah, I I think where do we start with this?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: Were we talking about finding your voice?
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: I've lost somewhere along the lines.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: I I I really do think that finding your voice is not only something that takes time, but that you have to come to terms with the fact that your voice is also going to change.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's good.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I've got a great story about that.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: When I first started selling my artwork, I had sort of stumbled on this process that I did.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: It was I I would use um a lot of gesso at the start of a painting and just with gesso, which is like a really thick white um paint type substance.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I would put in all of my figures with this gesso, so it was highly textured.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: But then when I would come in to put put on the color, I would uh dilute all of the acrylic paint.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it was just like water, except with a lot of pigment in it.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I would do layers and layers and layers of this color, and it would run and it would do all these things.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: So in the end, it it was this um highly textured and then what looked like watercolor sort of surface.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: It looked very unique, and I loved making it.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um people loved it, I it sold really well, but I was a very young painter.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: And about five years into it, I noticed, I had noticed for about a year that when it I wasn't excited about it anymore.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like I didn't go down to my studio thinking, I have a great idea for what I'm gonna do next.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I was sort of recreating things, and people would, you know, say, Well, I loved that, and so I would make something like that again.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: I just wasn't into it, it wasn't interesting me.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so um I had a set of spring shows that I did that year, and I did not sell one painting in all of those shows.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: It was like four shows.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: By the time I got to the last show to pick up my paintings, and I saw I hadn't sold anything.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: I just literally sat there and laughed and then probably cried in the car.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: But it was just it was hilarious.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, okay, I get it.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: I this is not working anymore.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I was very confused by it.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now, looking back, I can see I just didn't know that when you're creative, you have to keep pushing that envelope.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: You have to keep exploring your curiosity and your interest level in something is your indicator of where to go next.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're not satisfying that, it's going to get into a dangerous sort of situation.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I had, you know, I was very, this is my income, this is my job, you know, it was very utilitarian the way I was looking at it.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: This is what I make, this is what people want.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so it was at that point, it was that was right around the time that my daughter got sick as well.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I just sort of I quit doing that gladly.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: I quit doing that process because I was done there.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I started teaching myself, because I'm self-taught all the way.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I started teaching myself how to do landscapes and doing these other things.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I went through a period of having to make really bad, bad, bad art.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: And there were a couple of years there where I thought, I guess I'm done.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I guess I guess that was it.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: I guess I had one little spurt of creativity and that was it.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: But I just I I couldn't quit.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: I I kept going, I kept going.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: And now I'm much clearer about how I work and that I always have to be doing something new.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it hasn't led to a lot of consistency in my art career.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, uh, and that's one thing that's, you know, a lot of artists will say, no, you've got to be consistent, um, or you'll never get in galleries, you'll never do this, you'll never do that.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe that's true.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: It really might be true.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: But what's truer even than that is that I know that my creativity is about exploration.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: And once I begin to lose interest in something, it's it's bad news if I keep trying to make myself, you know.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I have to walk that line between being practical with it and really serving it, serving my voice because it keeps changing.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: It really does.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: The line keeps moving.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that really that's part of being an artist, no matter if it's if you're an artist in music or painting or writing, that um you have to keep exploring and and going into that new place.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a practice, you know.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: So coming coming from the music world earlier in your career, how how would you handle it if you were not even sure what I'm trying to ask here?
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: So you have all these legacy bands.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let's so the other day I was watching some some stuff on YouTube.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it was the Rolling Stones did a concert a couple years ago.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: And they've been playing the same songs, I mean, for literally decades.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: You have all these, you know, Journey or um Brian Adams.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, all these artists that I love their music.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm trying to imagine what would it be like to be a creative person?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you have all this new music you probably want to create, but your fans only really want to hear the hits from decades ago.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: How do you how do people creatively make it make it in that world?
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do you show up show up as an artist with energy and with interest when you're when you're doing the same thing you've done a million times?
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know there are there are probably analogous people in the painting world, where I know there are in the book world where you just kind of keep producing the same kinds of things over and over and over again.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure how you would handle that as a creative person.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not I'm not sure either.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I now have wondered that and and actually felt for, I mean, I guess that's the the blessing and the curse of writing a hit song.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: And a hit song is that you well, I hope you like it because you're gonna be singing, you're gonna be singing this for the rest of your life.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and I've heard people, you know, I've had friends that are in that business and I've heard them talk about it, you know, and it's like mind-numbing, and and people don't just want to hear the song, they want to hear you do it exactly like you did it originally.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: So there's no other arrangements that really will put up with.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's gotta be the exact same guitar riff or whatever.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I think um some people are better at doing that, and then I think other people just can't.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: I I I think there are different levels of tolerance for that.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: That makes a lot of sense.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: When I, you know, I there were a number of years that I wrote songs, and um I I didn't do it for very long because it was so formulaic.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it was like, oh, so and so wants a song like such and such.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I just that I think that was actually the first time that I realized something's shutting, shutting down here in me.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: I can't sorry, I don't think I can write songs anymore.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: I just I couldn't do it.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: I literally could not do it.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you being a ghostwriter, I I think that's a better question for you because I would think to some extent, you're really, really good at being able to take your talent and your craft, but partner with somebody and really form it to something that they need.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that is a yeah, huge talent.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't, I don't have that.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, how how do you think they do it?
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to hear your thoughts on that.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I one of the reasons that I like ghostwriting, and and I don't just do ghostwriting, I also write my own books and other stuff because if I were just working for clients, I think I would go nuts because I have a lot of my own things I want to say that don't fit into client projects.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think all there's also the economic part of it where when you are only doing client work, you're only getting paid when you do the work.
• 42:14
  unknown: Right.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I like having things that are more passive income related or recurring income, like a membership or your own books or whatever else, podcast sponsorships, that kind of stuff.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: But with one of the things that I do really enjoy about ghostwriting is that it's kind of like so, I I was a I was a theater kid in high school.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: Theater, band, choir, I was the artistic geek kind of a kid.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: We would to me, ghostwriting is kind of like showing up, you know, when when you're playing a character in a play, you put on the makeup, you try to adopt the voice, the mannerisms of whatever character it is.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: Ghostwriting is really the same thing where I'm putting on the costume of this person that I'm representing through the narrative or through the story or the words.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: And there's something very creatively satisfying about that.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: I consider it a big challenge.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because not only do you have, if you're working with a publisher, not only do you have the client, you also have the publisher and the editors and the reader and yourself and all these different entities that want slightly different things from this project.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like a giant puzzle piece, but I love the challenge of it.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: I love the project management side of it.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: I love the puzzle piece side of it.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: So for for me, that's one of the things I enjoy about it.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's more like studio work, like where we would come in and and you you do what you do, but you're you're doing it for someone else's record or for a commercial or whatever.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:41
  unknown: Yeah.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: I guess there those are all these different places in your creative head, right?
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's just where do you live most of the time that you Yeah.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: And really with with ghostwriting in particular, every time that you do a book for somebody, it's kind of like getting a master's degree in that topic or their life or whatever it is.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I learned things from clients that I would not be able to learn otherwise.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's funny how sometimes there is interesting cross-pollination between themes or threads of um not necessarily information, but that there are kind of repeating themes that come up in different people's books that are on totally different topics.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: But but you can kind of take what you've learned from one project and you can kind of use those insights maybe to inform how you're going to approach a totally different topic.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: So much like I'm I'm sure musicians do and artists where you take what you've learned from this one thing and you apply that learning to the next thing or whatever that looks like.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: So interesting.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: One interesting thing, and I I want to respect your time here, um, because you probably don't have five hours to do a podcast interview today.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to make sure before we start to kind of wrap this up, is I want to ask about this really fascinating project that you did recently with author Amy Mateo, based around her book, They Call Her Dirty Sally, which is a book that I is a book that I had actually never heard of until I watched your video on it.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really curious about how this project came about because essentially you took pages from her book and you incorporated those into a collage.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought it was such a beautiful project, but also as a writer, I'm looking at that going, that's a really cool expression of someone's writing in a way that I had never seen before.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm wondering if you can walk us through how this came about and anything else that you would want to share about this really unique project.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I I know Amy because, well, I guess in the biggest sense, I know Amy because I went to college with her sister Tracy, her older sister, Tracy.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: We were good friends in college.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I knew of Amy.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: And um so I had been following her on Instagram and really liked the things that she said.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_01: I liked her per her humor.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_01: Her humor was right up my alley.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_01: And um then she wrote this book and I loved the whole idea behind it because it was really a reimagining of a a real person that she had known from her childhood.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um that everyone called Dirty Sally.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just a a sad figure in a small town that everyone just w makes a wide birth around her, you know, just because she seems crazy.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so as a child, this captured her inform her imagination.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how is it that this happens to someone?
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so now as an author, she sort of broke from her typical genre of rom-com and just wanted to write this story, a fiction about how someone could be born a baby like everyone else, and wind up where this woman did.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so I read the book, loved it, and sh Amy had actually bought one of my paintings before.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it was it wasn't like I approached her out of the blue and um I knew that she liked my work and we had talked a bit, but I just I was sitting reading one night, and I just had this idea because lately uh you know, recently I had been had a few commissions where people wanted me to do a painting for them, but incorporate into the collage something that was very, very personal to them.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um so and I had really liked that.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: That there was something that made it even more meaningful to incorporate something very personal to the person that was gonna own the painting.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I just had this idea in a flash.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: I thought, what if um I made a painting for Amy and we actually use pages from her book and and her favorite parts of the book.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I just sort of threw the idea out to her, you know, what if we collaborate?
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: And she was immediately like, I love it.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it just took off from there.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_01: And we both really had a lot of fun.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_01: When it was over, you know, we both just said, I'm I'm really sorry this is over.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is this was really a fun process.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it it was a great project.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: I had never done something um where I really documented every part of the process like that, even the meetings between her and I.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: And um it turned out really nicely.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it for me it was really rewarding because it was a bit of a challenge.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, usually if I include words in my collage, I want them to be um just an accent.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want it to be something where you go up to it and go, what does that say?
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I want I just want it to be an effect.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: But this was more about no, you want the actual pieces to be showing through.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_01: So um it was challenge, it was a challenge which I really liked.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it moved my work to a whole new place too, which always happens every time I do something new.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: So that was a really fun project.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: She was fun to work with.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: I I just I love it.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: I I just thought the idea of of blending pages into a collage.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like such a simple and obvious thing in hindsight, but I but then I can't think of any place that I've ever seen that before.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and it was it was so great because she she wrote me a text after when it arrived at her house, and she said, I'm gonna spend a lot of time looking at this painting.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I just thought as a writer, wow, that that would be really fun to look at a painting and just find every word on there and and be able to recognize where it's from.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um, that was really it was extra meaningful to make that painting.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: I just loved it.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I haven't read Amy's book yet, but I'm going to.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um it just just based on on your YouTube video about it and your conversations with her and the artwork itself.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it it seems like a really compelling story.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it really is.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: It it makes you think about the ways we affect one another and how that how that shapes us and it makes you be a little bit more careful.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Meribeth, this has been an absolute blast.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I could talk to you for hours about the creative process and habits and mindset and artwork.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, maybe this will have to turn into a series over time or something, because you're just so knowledgeable about this, but also so kind and inspiring and heartfelt, which is a blend of qualities you don't oftentimes see in creative people.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we creative types, we sort of are known for being a little bit prickly sometimes, maybe excessively introverted.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've got to interact with humans today.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_00: But well, no, you're you're just such a wonderful artist, and I'm so glad that we've connected and so thankful that you've made time to do this.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm wondering if you can tell listeners where they can find out more about your artwork and how they can buy prints or even buy paintings or do commissions or anything that you want to share would be fantastic.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, actually, my my website is MeribethQnArt.com.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm assuming you'll have show notes, right?
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_01: But um all of my current work that's for sale is on that site.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_01: You can also contact me through that site.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: I do a lot of commissions for people.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_01: I really love um to work with people.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_01: It um it used to intimidate me, and now I've found this really nice place where if I feel like we're a good, I I won't do the commission if I don't feel like it's a good match.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: If I don't feel like I can knock it out of the park.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um so when I find those people, I really love, love working on those.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_01: And um also my YouTube channel, I think, is a great place.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you're interested in at all in what we've been talking about today, my YouTube channel is um just Meribeth Quinn Art is what it's under.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I think I also sent you the link for the show notes.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: But the those two things um are the best way to find me and learn more about me.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I really enjoyed this and I appreciate your insightful questions.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: I love thinking deeply about this subject.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's just life-changing, I think.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's totally been my pleasure, and I'm excited to see what what's down the road for your artwork and how your voice changes over time and the kinds of cool things that you're going to be introducing.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_00: I know in one of your newsletters recently you mentioned you have some interesting things coming up.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm really I'm curious to see what those end up being and and how I can participate in what you're doing and uh continue to enjoy your artwork.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you again.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_00: This has been a blast.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_01: I've enjoyed every minute.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, my friend, I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned in the intro, in many ways, this was an interview like 30 years in the making because I followed Meribeth's uh work as a vocalist for many, many years.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_00: And way back when I first got to know her as a musician, I really never imagined that I would be doing what I'm doing now.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure she never imagined she would be doing what she's doing now.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, I never thought I'd have the chance to speak with her.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_00: So this has been a real treat on multiple levels.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that you're inspired as much as I have been by her thoughts on creativity and habits and collaboration and all the things that she's talked about here in this episode.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_00: I want to again encourage you to go to her website, MeribethQuinArt.com, and check out her artwork and be sure to download her free Art Buyer's Guide to Creating Magic in your life.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's really fantastic, and I know that you're gonna love it.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you love the stuff I'm doing here on the Daily Rider podcast, I guarantee you're gonna love her stuff as well because we talk about a lot of the same themes.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, many thanks to Meribeth for taking the time to be a guest on this show.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_00: I know that she's very busy doing artwork for all kinds of different things, and so I'm so appreciative that she took the time uh to be a guest on today's episode.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you again for listening.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: I just still appreciate you taking the time to listen to these episodes and check out these interviews and the short daily episodes.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it truly means a lot.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: It really, really does.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: I know you have a lot of other shows you can be listening to.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's uh, I mean, there's the Mandalorian that just came out on Disney Plus.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's all kinds of different ways you could be using your time, but you chose to spend this here with me and today with Meredith, and I am so appreciative.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, as always, thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.