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Be you!  You have a personal responsibility to live the best life that you can imagine - so believe in yourself, get out there and embrace all your fears, trust your intuition and let your best-self be discovered.  Love yourself... I MEAN REALLY BE IN LOVE WITH YOURSELF!

Emily Carr, a Canadian Artist, once said “Ones art is a growth inside one...one cannot explain growth, it is silent and subtle.  One does not keep digging up the plant to see how it grows”.

All of the little elements that make up your history have made you who you are today.  The lessons you have learned pave the way for your future success.  Your past days have influenced your fears and your beliefs, but have also strengthened you intuition.  Your past trials and tribulations do not define you.  Instead, I suggest that you look to solutions and redefine the problems as obstacles that have written a part of your story.  

Every good story needs a bit of drama, and art has taught me just that - that with every step forward I look for creative solutions and don't dwell on problems... I do this all day long.  The key is to keep your mind open, leave the roots of your past where they lay, focus not on your flaws but push forward with your strengths - aware that you are one of a kind.  

Anything is possible, if you truly are focused on what you want to take from this life, and what you want to leave behind for others to remember.  This mindset will trigger your creative conscience to develop solutions that move you towards how you can achieve your dreams!  Every individual has their own unique genius... it is your responsibility to find it.

Me... I’m not that great at some things, but I know what I can do and that I have other strengths that will help me surpass any roadblocks that come my way - this mindset has helped me to be where I am today.  A dream of mine, since I was as young as I can remember, was to paint... simple enough right?  Well, I kept that close to my heart while taking on many different career paths - and because I am not going to pull up the “roots of my past”, I’ll just say I have lived quite an interesting life full of ups and downs.  My creative mindset has helped me to look past those obstacles, and has paved the way for me to realize my entrepreneurial and career goals.

Fast forward seven years later, and I have created a life that I love.  As an Arts Business Consultant, I truly enjoy making people happy by showing them that they are one of a kind, and their stories are too... and that they can achieve a vibrant and viable business in the arts.  Today, I am recognized as an Entrepreneur; a local Thunder Bay artist; I teach others to paint; I provide a space for local artists to sell their works; and I run events like Poetry Night - Reading Series & Acoustic Performance (combining the visual, literary & performing arts all under one roof) through The Nest Studio - Life is Good!

Imagination and impressions can come in many forms, and I am often asked: "what influences your artistic mind?"  Well, to be honest, our artistic imagination is in all of us, and it has been from birth.  It is the driving force behind our personal development, ambitions, decisions and our limitless dreams.  Our bodies and our minds are trying to show us what our creative path is every day - what we choose as a hobby; a sport; our social environment; or what we find ourselves thinking about and how we use that to create.  An inspired person is one who has built their passions into their daily lives.

There are so many forms of being a creative and inspired person; it’s as simple as being able to find the right pieces to express yourself - be it a DIY project, or something made by someone else's creative hand.  Art speaks to me what words cannot, and so that is my creative path.  Don’t waste another year with your old mindset - embrace your productive and imaginitive mind.  Focus on what the definition of you CAN be, and not on what others say defines you.

And, if you need a friendly and innovative nudge, please come to visit me in my 'nest', at my place of happiness - The Nest Studio - in and alongside my associates at the Painted Turtle Art Shop and Gallery 33 at the corner of River Road and Balsam Street.