Episodes
Sunday Aug 30, 2020
Sunday Aug 30, 2020
LINKS:
The Collective (doors are open through August 31st!)
The Alaska Retreat
EmilyJeffords.com
Hello, burnout. We meet again, I see you, I feel you, and I thank you.
Picture a match. You’re holding it in your hand, maybe lighting candles on a cake, maybe lighting a fire, but you’re holding and it’s getting closer and closer to your finger. You want to keep going, just one more candle! But the flame is getting hotter so your heart rate goes up and you move faster to the next candle and your fingers begin to hurt, and then
It’s too late.
You got burned.
You drop the match and kiss your fingertips and feel so silly and also OUCH!
That is burnout.
Burnout is deeply painful, but it is often a result of growth (often, growing too fast). We allow ego to hop in and take charge -- which leads us to say "I can do that!" waaay too often.
But there are some benefits to burnout too. It acts as an irrefutable reminder that I do not need to please everyone and solving all problems. To stop holding pain and worry. It is a reminder that I do not need to show up in every way and to rely on my support structure.
Burnout clearly let me know that I was allowing anxiety to be my first response, rather than trusting that everything will be fine. It is a clear, loud sign that I was NOT OPERATING WITHIN MY VALUES
Burnout can be a generous gift -- a moment of course correction before it's too late.
And when you heal from burnout, oh life is so sweet. IF you have actively and carefully healed and set up some boundaries, the upsides of burnout can be:
— energy
— hard truths
— realignment
— honesty
— asking for help
— accepting help
— losing the absurd idea that you can or should do it all
— a deeper love for what matters
— humility
— healing
The sweetest thing about burnout is it requires you to be honest with your limits
It allows you to pay attention. And attention is the clearest doorway to gratitude.
Tuesday Aug 18, 2020
Art to Print (How to Make $$ With Your Art) with Laurie Anne Gonzalez
Tuesday Aug 18, 2020
Tuesday Aug 18, 2020
I have a treat for you today! I recorded a conversation with my pal Laurie Anne Gonzalez about creating PRINTS!
- Photograph or scan?
- In-house printing or out-sourced printing?
- Canvas or paper?
- Limited edition or open edition?
- How do I get the right file size?
- What kind of camera or scanner should I use?
- Do prints devalue your work?
We get into ALL THE QUESTIONS.
Prints have been a huge source of revenue for my business and I would absolutely NOT have the healthy studio I do today without offering reproductions of my work.
If you're ready to begin or grow this part of your studio practice, I highly recommend Art To Print. Laurie Anne takes you through each and every step of the process -- from easel to print to packaging. It is a thorough, clear, and insightful course and I know it's going to change your business!
Sign up for Art To Print HERE.
Also, THE COLLECTIVE opens for enrollment on Monday! August 24th - 31st. JOIN US. This space is designed to help creatives and artists thrive. Learn more HERE.
Friday Aug 07, 2020
Come Into The Studio: Inside the "Quite Adventure" Collection
Friday Aug 07, 2020
Friday Aug 07, 2020
Visit the collection at emilyjeffords.com
Step into the studio for a bit. Let's catch up and talk about the new collection of artwork I have created, "Quiet Adventure". In this episode, I share my process and favorite methods to create and release a collection of artwork.
This body of work came together slowly and gently, a form of meditation and healing over the past 20+ months. There are paintings in this collection I worked on as my baby was crawling around my feet, others I created as a refuge from my own home as we shelter-in-place. This body of work was created selfishly as an act of self-care, but it is also for you. I hope the theme of love and adventure and peace fill you too.
"Quiet Adventure"
I walked through a field.
It was new to me, but I knew it already.
The earth smelled like childhood.
The grasses clung to my bare feet in familiar ways.
The only thing unknown was the landscape.
She was vast and led to places I have not been.
Adventure, we call it.
Unknowing.
But in the unknowing is a deep self-knowing.
Trust in my body. Trust in my mind.
Trust in the bravery I have shown.
Knowing that I will be brave again.
Even when the landscape unnerves me
with the edges she is asking me to explore.
Even when Adventure wraps itself in unfamiliar foliage.
I step outside of my mind
and the endlessness of my concerns
to focus on each footfall.
Moss.
Small blooms to be avoided (they are too pretty to squish).
A deep hole just the right size for a snake.
A rock to climb. Then another.
A cliff.
We’re a little too high now.
A rusty-red puddle.
The sound of wind in the thousand-mile-field.
Mindfulness, they call this; the act of focusing on the present moment.
I call it a Quiet Adventure.
And it is all so quiet and so beautiful I cannot breathe.
I cannot breathe so I take big, cavity-filling breaths.
Imprinting the scent and textures on my soul.
Consuming it in thirsty eyefuls.
Scooping it up and tucking it in
and asking it to stay with me.
I walked through a field that was wholly unfamiliar to me.
But I knew myself in it. I knew that I would be brave.
I knew I would let it change me.
Music at the end written and performed by Half Measure