Erin Faith Allen is the spirited, rich, raw creator of Call of the Wild Soul Art Retreats. These art retreats are as filled to the brim with heart and soul as she is.
Erin Faith Allen; I am an artist, filmmaker, and event creator who moves in many directions at one time.
Describe a time when you walked through the doors of passage? How has it transformed you?
Last summer when I decided to research my lineage, I had no idea the power that my ancestors were just waiting to pass through the ethers to me. What I have discovered has been nothing short of mindblowing – it’s like suddenly I am a complete picture, made up of fragments of so many people I’d never even heard of. To feel a belonging like I suddenly feel cannot be put into words … but I paint it every single day.
How has being female affected your spiritual journey?
This is a big question. I get stuck on the word ‘spiritual’ because it’s become a bit of a buzz word, or a label, or a way of separating self from other. I suppose the same could be said about the word ‘female’ in some ways. :) For me, being human – whether spiritual, male, atheist, female, etc – is the real journey. Every day I deepen into a more profound relationship with human nature, only because I dig into myself and explore my own motivations and how I navigate interactions with others. I used to spend a lot of time thinking about femaleness and woman-ness, and while there is massive value in that, these daysI’m all about settling into human connectivity and recognizing that underneath the skin we wear we are all just trying to experience love and acceptance; it’s an innate craving that is gender-less.
That said, there is definitely a massive power blast that moves through my art about the spectrum of experiences a woman has. For example, these days I am doing a lot of work about the concept of mothering – which is a female experience. I guess we are made up of slices: I am a human who is a woman who is a mother who is an artist who is hard-working who loves nutrition and CrossFit who loves sunshine and Los Angeles and also loves thunderstorms who loves the color red who is obsessed with genealogy who is an introvert who was born under a Scorpio full moon. After so many years of endeavoring to integrate aspects of myself it’s hard to separate the slices and isolate just one of them.
How do you show up? Who are you becoming? How do you rise up in your fullness?
I show up by showing up. I am becoming who I’ve always been. I rise up to my fullness by constantly falling down.
What is pulling you forward? What is your motivation?
Happiness and beauty. Happiness pulls me forward, and every day I am happier than I was the day before. Beauty, the enigmatic muse, is the road I walk to happiness.
What does being BRAVE look like these days? What does it feel like?
Being brave is something I do well … even though conversely, a lot of fear has passed down through my lineage and I spent many years being subconsciously governed by it. After being around the block a few times now, I like to think I eviscerate it every day. At least most days :)
Tell me about what you crave? What are you saying a big Holy YES to these days? Tell us the juicy details of what makes life GOOOOOOOOOD these days?
I crave solitude, hours of creating without interruption, and soaking in other people’s creations. I say a Holy YES to surrendering to the ‘tricky’ moments in life … sometimes after a little kicking and screaming. And the juicy details? I have a rare version of synaesthetic response to sound, color, texture, and line. I always knew I was acutely sensitive because the world has generally overwhelmed me. The more at peace I am within myself, the more pronounced the synaesthetic engagement with my surrounding becomes.It’s a blessing and a curse, it is beyond description, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Who are your heroes? What are their stories, myths? What did they teach you?
My heroines: Anais Nin, Sylvia Plath, Sally Mann, and myself. I’ve walked through, and subconciously masterminded, a lot of sh!* in my life, but I never fall down hard enough that I can’t get back up. My heroes: Cy Twombly, Walker Evans, Mozart, Klimt, Christian Dior. I am enlivened by people who are geniuses, who ‘see’ and ‘hear’ things nobody else does, who change history with their tenacity. Equally, any person who has ever crashed down into hell and kept on walking with their head high and heart open are my hero. I have a really big soft spot for the veterans of WW2. My grandfathers both served in that war, and I think all those men and women are absolute heroes. I went to the DDay celebrations in Normandy a couple years ago and I was cracked open. All the ‘old boys’ walking around in their medals, heads high, hearts open. They are an embodiment of the strength and fragility of humans. How we suffer, how we survive, and how our bodies carry our memories. It can sound so trite to say ‘they sacrificed so much’ … but they DID.
Tell me of myth? Of Magic? What they mean to you, how they show up in your work?
Oh goodness. They are so much a part of me and my process that I am not even sure how to articulate or express it. Symbols and subconscious urgings ARE my work. At the end of the day I’m just a person with chewed fingernails, food allergies, skin, bones, and blond hair who sits in front of an easel. The rest is magic.
What would you like everyone to know deep into their bones?
That our bones are literally made up of everyone who came before us. Our story, both present and past tense, isn’t just our personal story woven of tragedies and victories and all the spaces between. It belongs to every ancestor we’ve ever had. Their decisions pulsate through every thought, decision, action, and desire we’ve ever had. It’s breathtaking when you recognize this, life takes on a certain meaning that changes perspectives, patterns, and opens possibilities.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life? Experience true, unabashed peace that permeates every cell of my body, every wisp of my soul, every root that takes hold in my mind.For more information about her art, upcoming retreats and classes visit: www.erinfaithallen.com
To me Kate is an incredible woman, an example of how there really is no such thing as too late. It’s all connected. She is inspirational and I loved listening to her story unfolded of how she became an artist only a few years ago.
Kate Thompson works as a fiber artist. Working with fabric and fiber to create abstract 3-dimensional forms was her focus for many years. She started painting full time in 2009 focusing on portrait/figure work painting in acrylics, watercolors and mixed media. Fractured Angels is the continuous thread throughout her work. Kate Thompson’s art parallels her spiritual journey as she identifies with the flawed, cracked and fractured human yearning for peace and fulfillment.
“The older I get the stronger the pull to explore and express this theme in my work. Along the way I discovered I loved teaching. I find the creative process so incredibly interesting. My energy lies in that process and to share that with others has been the most fulfilling role of my life. The spiritual nature of the creative process is something that I think about a lot. The idea of constant practicing of my craft along with allowing myself to let go in moments of creating is the key to authentic art.”
Tell me about spirituality being integrated with your work? Tell me the story of the Fractured Angelics:
My creative process is a direct reflection of my spiritual life. I can have a day of incredible flowing creativity. It is almost effortless and so joyful and I think to myself….”I figured it out, it is all going to come flowing out of me now”. I go to bed and wake up to another day in the studio and nothing goes right. I forget how to paint a face. The more I try and struggle, the worse it gets. What happened to that amazing flow?
What I realized is that my creativity, like my spiritual condition, is a day at a time. The discipline is to go to the studio everyday no matter how the work comes out.
The days I struggle, usually create a crack, that will eventually open me up to another level in my work….so I call myself a Fractured Angel and my work Fractured Angelics. There is a song by Leonard Cohen called Anthem and one of the lines in the song is “There is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” I found that so profound and so very true in my life. I never can rest on my laurels. I continue to be a student and will never stop growing and learning.
How has your experience as an artist changed you? How can or does this experience help others?
My experience as an artist has changed me by giving me hope. No matter what is going on in my life, I always have my creative practice to look forward to. It is such a gift to have this. I can look out the window of my studio and watch the light hit the trees in such a magical way that I can run outside and capture that in a photograph which can lead to creating art. Being an artist makes my senses open to incredible visual experiences. If I didn’t create in my life I would be deeply depressed. I know that about myself. It is a gift to me to keep me content and each day I am so humbled and grateful to have this in my life. This experience has helped others through my teaching. I love the part of art that is the practice as well as allowing the spirit and the muse to take over. It is quite a dance to concentrate on the practice, then get out of the way and allow the spirit to take over. It goes back and forth, back and forth and I watch my students go through the same thing. I love to help them navigate through the process and to appreciate the struggle. Also important is to know when to let go and just let it rip…such surprising images show up! It is pure magic!
What is pulling you forward? What is your motivation?
Learning is my motivation. I never stop learning how to create. My challenge is to come up with a body of work that has my signature and at the same time is new and fresh. So often I find work I love and then I look at the body of work and it all starts to look the same to me. I know many artists fall into the situation of producing what is selling and therefore not spending that time to experiment to make the work into something fresh each time. It is a hard thing to do, especially when your income comes from your art. I have to maintain that enthusiasm involved in creating and at the same time, not always ‘reinvent the wheel’. To take all my experience and practice while creating but allow myself to be open to inspiration . I have always been a cautious person and never thought big about my life. That changed for me a couple of years ago and through hard work and incredible focus I have created the most amazing life.
I started painting 5 years ago and was not very good at first. I just kept practicing and taking online classes and became better. I was not born an artist, I had to work very hard at the craft of art and eventually all my hard work paid off. Anyone can learn to paint and draw if you just put in the time.
How do you start you day? What is nourishing in your day?
I start my day with a cup of coffee and daily spiritual reading. I follow up with a 20 minute meditation. I then get dressed and go to my studio, catch up on emails and other social media. I am a pretty disciplined self employed artist. I treat my job as an artist like any other job by making sure I work in my studio 6-8 hours a day during the week on my classes and painting. Week ends are strictly for me with no other goal but to better my practice. What nourishes me during the day is good healthy meals and plenty of water. My studio has full windows on 3 walls overlooking my backyard. Now that it is spring I look forward to watching the birds come back to build their nests in one of our hanging plants as well as the porch light. I talk to them sometimes and sometimes they talk back. I love being a part of new family.
What have you placed in your nest(home) that comforts?
Things that bring you beauty. I have two Bengal cats that I just adore. My male was always very skittish and shy and over the years I have just loved him to death and he now sleeps in my arms every night. I am so glad that he finally feels safe! My patio in the back of our house is my comfy place. My boyfriend, John, is really the nester. He loves to decorate and build things, I am more of the bachelor but I really appreciate how he built this cozy patio right off of my studio with a really nice awning he built from scratch. We have a huge backyard and I get to watch all the activity with birds, rabbits and even deer. One day a little family of deer decided to hang out in our backyard. I love hanging out in my studio and John hung some nice lacey curtains which adds to my little Shabby Chic studio with my white xmas lights hung year round.
What are you saying a full bodied YES to?
Healthy living and exercise. I am 60 years old and have always been obsessed with fitness. I remember when I was very young thinking when I am 60 I will not worry about how I look and I can let myself go. It is true at 60 looks aren’t a priority but feeling good is! I joined a running group and I am now up to 12 miles…very slow 12 miles but none the less, it is a big giant YES!
What does being BRAVE look like these days? What does it feel like?
Being BRAVE is allowing myself to be comfortable and to become familiar with not knowing how things are going to turn out. I am a control and security freak or so I thought. I always felt like I needed everything planned out. I worked full time as a print designer in the apparel business for 20 years and worked at three different companies . Security was a big priority and I stayed in those situations much longer than I should. Moving across the country and losing all my connections forced me to start over. Being self -employed is scary, especially for someone like me. I can’t believe that I am making a living creating art and teaching. For someone who is shy and introverted, I find myself flying to new cities, meeting and teaching new people, accepting room and board from strangers and loving it. Before each trip, I always get nervous because so much can go wrong. Airports and flying can go very very wrong but I am up for the challenge. That is brave for me. I show up and live with the uncertainty.
What way of being is calling you? Who are you becoming? or How do you rise up in your fullness?
I am drawn to people that have a sense of grace and gratitude about them. To be able to quietly sip a cup of tea and savor that moment. I have a very addictive nature and tend to rush past these powerful moments waiting for the next shiny object to come my way. I practice meditation to get me in touch with staying in the moment and to feel enough. I get glimpses of myself being this way but still have my addictive default mode I fall back on. I believe that will continue to be present in my life and maybe it is not so bad. It is my drive but I believe the balance between the two is probably my sweet spot.
What do you want everyone to know?
Well, I am planning my first overseas workshop in Orvieto, Italy in the Fall of 2016. I can’t tell you what a big deal this is. I have never been to Italy but I know my soul yearns to experience this beautiful country. When I first started this journey of teaching/painting in 2010, I dreamed of having this lifestyle of teaching all over the world and painting being my day job
The last three years I started teaching, learned how to film and edit myself painting to create online classes on my website, as well as teaching live. Don’t ever underestimate yourself. I did for many years and therefore didn’t grow. You can find out all about my online classes on my website as well as workshops I do on location at fracturedangelics.com. I am also a part of 21 Secrets Journaling Spring 2015 online class. You can read all about that on my blog fracturedangelics.blogspot.com
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
To continue to connect with women all over the world with my teaching. I never had children and often felt I had nothing to contribute to the world. My teaching has given me this incredible purpose in life. That I can help another person by giving them a nudge to jump off and just see what happens. I never was taught how to teach and yet it feels so comfortable for me. I want to continue to travel all over the world and I think I will want to revisit Italy again and again!
Hey sweet loves, we had this brilliant mind today. Have you heard of her, the Ninja Poet? She is pretty lovely take a gander at what she is up too.
Maya Rachel Stein: I am a Ninja poet, writing guide, and creative adventuress. I wrote my first poem, “Papa Tree and the Seasons,” when I was 9 years old. It told the story of the life cycle of leaves, honing specifically on the fate of one little leaf that is the last one clinging before winter comes. I bound this poem into a little book, filled it with color pencil drawings, and proudly offered it up to my parents one evening. I see now that this quite accurately represents the instincts behind most of my work to date – the desire to capture that which is most fleeting, to locate the heart of its beauty and power, sustain its life through language, and share that language with others. I have self-published four collections of writing, most recently “How We Are Not Alone,” a compilation of work from my poetry blog. Since 2005, I have also kept a weekly writing practice, “10-line Tuesday,” and my poems now reach more than 1,200 people each week. I lead “Feral Writing” workshops, both live and online, providing mentor-ship and guiding students through simple, often playful exercises and activities that help strengthen their creative instincts in order to develop a writing practice that sticks. Among my latest escapades are a 30-day tandem bicycle journey through the Midwest, a French crepe stand at a Massachusetts farmers market, a relocation from San Francisco to suburban New Jersey, a business collaboration— Food for the Soul Train — turning a vintage trailer into a mobile creative workshop space with my partner, and most recently, marriage and step-motherhood. My favorite body part is my left hand, as it has gifted me the ability to sink a nearly invincible hook shot and peel a whole apple without a break.
Today, right now what does your next breath wish to say?
Don’t rush what isn’t ready to become.
Ya I am asking it, what turns you on? Makes your heart quicken? Lights you up?
Laughter.
A genuine embrace.
The truth.
Intelligence.
Homemade bread swiped with butter.
Fresh-squeezed anything.
Afternoon cocktails on a porch,
watching dusk advancing.
What supports the true expression of your authentic self?
A blank page.
A quiet afternoon.
An open road.
A bicycle.
Summer rainstorms.
A mountain lake.
My hands.
My legs.
My nose,
both literal and figurative.
The words “What do you feel like doing today?”
What is your mantra, your words to live by?
How so much of the time, all it takes for a fantasy to become reality are two words: “Yes, please.”
What does mystery taste like to you?
Tangerine sorbet. The sweetness punctuated by a hint of tart that wakes up the mouth and makes it pay attention.
What are your tools and teachers? What have you been learning from them personally?
Silence is powerful. When I allow myself to get quiet – and to still the other voices in the room – the landscape is a lot more navigable. And silence is hard to get to because it is a rare moment when there is nothing and no one clamoring for your time and attention, when your brain lies low for a little while. We are constantly anticipating and responding and reacting to the forces that present themselves to us. So part of the work of getting quiet is clearing that path. Parting the sea of cacophony so we can actually distinguish what we’re listening to.
Love is always an incredible teacher. The tests it takes of us. The test we take of it. Ultimately, if I can get to the place where I am doing things from a place of love and feeling loved, I am so much more flexible with what success looks like.
What are you saying YES to these days?
Frivolous projects. I love getting off the train of over-focused productivity. Play is an extremely important element in my work.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
Write good poems (though I’ll even take the bad ones). Love. Play. Do this as many times as I can, and with people who are open to joining me.
I list my current classes at mayastein.com. At the moment, this includes Quick ‘n Dirty Poetry, a 20-day daily online writing class. I send out a choice of 3 prompts per day, and participants write for a maximum of 20 minutes, then send their work back to me. I read and respond to everything I receive, and once a week I provide extensive feedback on a piece that each participant chooses. The purpose of this class is to practice the level of accountability necessary to experience a sense of commitment to a writing practice, and to enjoy a sense of company and camaraderie along the way, since everyone has a chance to share their work in our online classroom.
Another exciting offering coming up in June, when my partner and I are hosting “Spoke & Word,” a 4-day, 5-night creativity and biking retreat in Vermont. We’ll be leading gentle daily rides, as well as art and writing activities inspired by our surroundings. It’ll be a wonderful chance for people to restore and reinvigorate themselves. More info and registration for that lives here: www.food4thesoultrain.com/retreats
I love Juliette’s work. It is playful, mythical and vibrant. Little worlds of magic. Juliette is abundantly of beautiful and full of artful knowledge. She shares so much of these attributes in the many e-courses she has created to inspire your artful living.
Juliette Crane: I’m an artist, teacher, storyteller and adventurer. As often as possible, I paint outside, mostly in the grass surrounded by flower gardens and the tallest trees.
I’m also an avid gardener and enthusiastic cook and would be delighted to have you over for dinner! When I’m not teaching, travelling, and painting in gardens around the world, I live with my bluegrass-singing husband in Madison, Wisconsin. I’m the creator of a series of online courses that encourage thousands around the world to get creative. From my art play mini course Backgrounds and Layers, to my How To Paint An Owl and How To Paint An Owl 2 courses, for bird and whimsy-lovers, to the mixed media workshops How To Paint A Girl and How To Create Whimsical Animals. My work has been published in Oprah.com, Glamour Magazine UK, Somerset Studio, Somerset Studio Gallery, Mingle, and Artful Blogging and on blogs including Crescendoh, My Owl Barn and Do What You Love just to name a few.
On your blog I found this lovely quote by Martin Gayford: “Drawing makes you see things clearer, and clearer, and clearer still.”
I wonder what was not so clear with how you viewed your artistic future or even how you viewed yourself at the onset of this career that drawing has helped define?
I have always been an artist. Whether it was coloring with crayons or fingerpainting as a little kid I always loved to create and had a wild imagination. But I went to college to study environmental biology. Yet I could not stay away from the art room. I didn’t know what to do with art and graduated with degrees in journalism and fine art. At first I went into arts journalism and worked at newspapers.
It took lots of different jobs as a journalist, graphic designer, web programmer and many more before I finally became a full-time artist. All of those different jobs in what seemed like mistakes at the time now help me to run my current business.
“My first blog was titled Inspired By The Little Things… and it is a notion I am really returning to these days.
I used to write weekly posts, sharing my inspirations.”
Oh indulge us please and share your inspirations these days? What are you saying a holy YES to?
These days I am all about clearing my schedule and saying no, so that I can have more time to create, relax and have fun. That way, my imagination and creativity has so many chances to go in new directions. Lately I have been inspired by flowers and trees. That led me to create floral backgrounds out of inks and acrylics instead of using so many layers and papers for my backgrounds. Then those new floral backgrounds inspired me to create flower girls. That seemed to open up a whole new door for my creativity. It inspired me to start sketching again.
Those sketches reminded me of children’s books. So I’ve started putting together the sketches with some of my writing and am hoping to put everything together into a picture book. Once I started writing again, I went back to my mixed-media paintings and started creating new characters. Soon I realized that these new characters, more women with flowers on their heads, were characters that I could add to my books The novel I have been working on the last few years. That’s what I love so much about creativity is that if you continue to follow your intuition and go with whatever is inspiring you you never know where it might lead you.
“It’s become sort of a meditative process to add all of the lines and dots. Slowing down and really getting into the small embellishments and shading.”
Has this slowing transferred to other aspects of life? What have you seen happen? Where is it evolving?
That slowing down is part of my new sketching process, which, I think, is strengthening my intuition, helping me to listen, pause before acting and to look at the why I am doing something rather than just rushing to get to an end result. I think that all has also helped me to follow my creativity without judgment.
I used to always finger paint very quickly and add lots of layers to my mixed-media paintings. Now that I have started sketching with a stabilo pencil which is water soluble, I am adding water to my lines and using a thin brush to create shading. It is also a very slow process because if I use too much water in the pan so will run all over the place.
That slowing down has really helped me to stay more present in my every day. And to appreciate and savor all of the little things.
Would you share with us a memory of a recent time you painted at the beach, what came of it? How did it feel?
A few years ago before I became a full-time artist I was part of an artist’s Way group where we went through the chapters of Julia Cameron’s book together. One of the questions we had to answer was what would we most desire? I said I just want to paint at the beach. That to me felt like complete freedom. And even though everyone in the group thought I was a little bit crazy, now, five years later, every winter I make time and go paint for weeks at the beach.
To me, painting at the beach is the most freeing and inspirational environment. I love to be outside and to listen and watch the waves and the sun. I always take just a few supplies with me when I go to paint at the beach. I have a little 8 x 8″ sketchbook, my stabilo pencil, a white and a neon pink paint pen, and a set of watercolors that I carry with me. I bring a blanket and lay out all of my supplies on the blanket and just paint. To me, it is a combination of two of my favorite things:
Being outside and creating. That combination is my bliss.
What are your tools and teachers? What have you been learning from them personally?
I am always most inspired by whatever it is that is around me. I try consistently to meet new people, listen to their stories, learn new things, and always experience. That keeps my imagination expanding. And it drives my creativity. I try and take everything I learn and experience and filter that into my artwork and stories. Then I love hearing how others perceive and are inspired by my artwork. Maybe they see a painting or take one of my classes and are inspired by a certain project and start to do that project like painting owls with their kids. That creates new experiences and connections for them. And then when they share those experiences with me I put that back into my artwork and what I share. That to me completes the circle.
How do you start your day?
I am super fortunate that I do not need to wake up with an alarm. I don’t have a set schedule during the day. But I definitely follow a morning routine. I start with a cup of warm water with lemon and Cayanne pepper. While I sip my lemon water I journal. I write down anything that is on my mind. Then I have a cup of coffee and check my email. After that, I always have a peanut butter and banana smoothie (unless we go out for breakfast… one of my favorite things).
Whats pulling you forward?
It took me a long time to have the confidence to share my creativity and imagination with the world. For years I thought my creativity was worthless. I saw it as a weakness. My hope is that in sharing what I create and continuing to follow my inspirations, adults and children are inspired to follow their own passions (whatever those may be). Hearing their stories and dreams helps to keep pushing me forward. And that then gets filtered into my artwork and keeps me creating.
What is it you want everyone to know?
I would like everyone to know that your story matters, that it is okay to have big dreams and to follow whatever it is that brings you joy.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
I intend to follow the things that bring me joy. To me that means creating as much as possible, being outside as much as possible and having tea with as many people as possible.
“I wanted to create a class that would help you overcome creative blocks and strengthen your own unique style.”
I created this class in response to feedback I’ve gotten from my students. So many have said they want to develop their own style and whenever they learn from another artist they feel like they’re just copying. Well, in this class I’ll share with you how I strengthen and evolve my own style and take what I learn from classes and other inspirations in my every day and incorporate them all into my own paintings in a new and unique way.
In Happy Painting, she shares a variety of techniques and characters to help you overcome creative blocks and easily develop your own style.
By the end of class, you’ll have five gorgeous paintings and the painting template to get you started again and again, so you can keep creating in a style that is unique to YOU.
I met Renee Bryd in our dear friend Kelsie McNair’s kitchen (owner of With Lavender and Lace) we were making guacamole and her husband was schooling me on astrology information. Renee is the sweetest of beings. One of those spirits you can’t help but melt all edges with. She is here today to tell us about her journey and love affair with life and food!
I’m Renee Byrd. I like avocado on/in everything and I never travel without a mini Hario V6 coffee drip filter. I collect handmade mugs like some people collect treasure trolls. I dabble in playing drums and writing poetry. My kitchen is always a mess. I’m a blogger, writer, photographer, and recipe developer and I’ve lived all over Virginia but I currently reside in the small mountain city of Charlottesville, VA with my husband. I blog over at Will Frolic for Food.
How do you start your day?
Cuddling with my husband. Putting the final touches on a blog post while he starts coffee. Making avocado toast and wolfing that down before hitting publish and walking over to catch my favorite ashtanga yoga vinyasa improv class (if I’m lucky).
Describe vibrant living? What does this look like for you?
Vibrant living, to me, starts with practicing love and gratitude: for myself, my blessings, my teachers, my friends, and all beings everywhere. Vibrance, technically, comes from the Sanskrit word vipra which in its most literal translation means “to vibrate.” It’s a word that in Sanskrit is used to describe aspirants (or “the vibrant/vibrating ones”) on their many different paths to self-knowledge, actualization, and realization of the true nature of all things. I bring this up because living a vibrant life, to me, is about experiencing a sense of vibrating with this palpable vitality and grace on our way to ultimate knowledge of the Self or God. Vibrance is about spirit energy supported by internal and external work. A healthy, pure, wholesome diet and balancing physical exertion combined with a centered spiritual practice is what makes living a vibrant life easeful. If you put the work in daily, you can experience vibrance all the time. And begin to share it with others!
You said: “I believe that art and the making of food don’t have to be separate.”
How did you discover that this way your way in life?
After college I started to realize how vital the act of cooking and sharing a lovingly prepared meal or dessert was to my relationships and overall mental health. When my dead-end job was draining me I could touch something beautiful and hopeful and MORE in a pot of curry or a batch of donuts it became essential emotional support. At the time I was working at a grocery store and writing and studying yoga. And making food was the only artistic medium I had that I could share with other humans.
Art elevates our experience of life beyond the mundane. It gives us a sense of the beyond; something emotive and untouchable that exists in our reality but that isn’t often perceived; that we rarely connect with outside of existential or religious experiences.
To me a really fantastic meal can offer illumination and escape;
can act as a salve or a door into experience you otherwise could never touch.
Good food is emotional, nostalgic and yet requires total presence in order to experience it in fullness.
It’s so human.
What does nourishment look like to you?
To me, nourishment is a balance of feeding your heart, soul, body, and mind. Nourishing your heart with loving, supportive relationships (and putting less or no energy towards emotional vampires); your soul with work that feeds you (for me that’s music, yoga, meditation, and cooking); your body with exercise and pure, wholesome foods (mostly plants); and your mind with meditation and the constant pursuit of knowledge.
What would you like everyone to know?
You can do it! Don’t ever let anyone make you feel less than or stop you from pursuing your worthy obsessions. There’s a niche for everything.
Tell me about what you crave?
Avocado toast. Hugs. Hang out times with my husband. Time hiking in the mountains. Coffee. Moving my body.
What are you saying a big Holy YES to these days?
Responding to each and every worthy inquiry and comment with love. Every person deserves to be heard. Especially if they’re taking the time to offer love and support of the work I’m doing! That and reaching out to offer support and love to folks doing good work.
What are your tools and teachers? What have you been learning from them personally?
My teachers are mostly other food bloggers, honestly! I spend a lot of time reading food blogs, and blogs in general. I feel like I’m constantly learning about how to be a better writer, photographer, and recipe developer from the incredible work other bloggers are putting out every day. I sort of feel like the internet is a free workshop for everyone to learn every thing they could possibly want to absorb. My husband calls me Hermione all the time because I’m constantly in study/research mode. I love it.
I also learn a lot through my camera, which — other than my kitchen utensils — is my main tool. I feel like a recently crossed a threshold where I now see terrain and people in terms of colors, light, patterns. I’ve never declared myself to be a visual artist before, and I’m still hesitant to do so. But I’m loving every moment of this journey and what it’s teaching me about how light paints our world and our perceptions.
I read this on your site: “Favorite textures: old cast iron, linen, well-cared-for oiled wood, tarnished silver, coarse sea salt.”
This was so simply soulful. I wonder, what is your favorite sounds? Smells? Sites?
Sounds: my husbands bursting laugh, the sound of coffee being poured into a ceramic mug, an egg being cracked and landing in a gently sizzling pan, the sound of the ocean from far away as you’re driving toward it.
Smells: melting ghee, fresh snow, clean bed linens that smell like my lavender dryer sheets, freshly roasted cacao, the smell tomato plants leave on your hands after you touch them to check on the fruit.
Sights: giant jars of our fresh roasted cacao and coffee, my husband sleeping peacefully, looking out over valleys at the top of a mountain path, early spring asparagus growing in our backyard, blackberry stains on my fingers.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
Live. Live fully. Live with stubborn joy.
Wanna follow along with Renee and her chocolate journey? See what they are up to HERE on her website.
***You can also scoop up and try some of her really delightful recipes, she is always posting new ones.
Visit her on Instagram for all kinds of inspiration. (I swoon over her photo’s! Yum…) and on Twitter!
This sweet and beautiful woman lights up a room with her joyful smile. She creates paintings that exemplify this playful joy, which she will tell you about. Im so glad she has graced us with her soulful presences!
Consu Tolosa: I am a curious & creative creature. Always wanting to learn and explore new ideas. I am a friendly introvert — a combination of traits which sometimes confuses people. I was born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay. I came to the US when I was 17 and I felt at home. I knew I had to stay. After moving around from the gorgeous high desert of northern NM to the gritty urban areas of the Mid-Atlantic region, I settled in Portland, Oregon in 1997.
I enjoy being in the role of the observer, and my favorite thing to observe in this world are People. I am fascinated by the way we think, act, look & interact with one another. And so I paint People, infusing the process with my quirky aesthetic & point of view. In doing so, I transform ‘People’ into ‘Personitas.’ Personitas are often humorous and are born at the junction of play and joy, providing me endless sessions of delight in my studio. The painting process is spontaneous and unstructured at first.
I start without a plan, simply responding to color and form. At some point a tiny window of clarity appears and offers me access to the magical world that will later emerge as the painting itself.
Adding JOY into the world through my artwork is a goal close to my heart, and witnessing a human connection with the audience is the unexpected reward of my work.
Will you please illustrate a children’s book, because I think every mom in the world would buy it. Seriously. Are you planning too?
I would love to illustrate a children’s book but I don’t have a concrete plan yet… I think for this the story and concept will come first, and then the characters will emerge from there… any ideas?
I read you say: “I recognized a desire to anchor the unleashed creativity to a deeper part of myself.”
This statement is part of my reflections in choosing my 2014 word for the year, which was ‘depth.’ In 2013 I emerged from my self-imposed shadows and decided to be brave and vulnerable by sharing my artwork with the world. Coming out was scary, but the response was wonderful and encouraging… so I kept going. It was exhilarating to have the approval of others, but I realized that this could create an unhealthy dependency if I did not tether this newly unleashed creativity to a deeper part of myself. I had to continue to be in touch with my personal ‘why.’
Will you explain a bit about this journey?
Going deeper in 2014 was amazing. I began to play with the ideas of personal power and magic along with courage and accountability. I made it a game of saying yes to things that scared, but thrilled me, and no to things that felt like obligation or some form of a ‘should.’
I reconnected with my ‘why’ {I make the choices I do including delving wholeheartedly into a more creative life} and developed a level of trust in the process that I did not know in this context. As an experiential learner I need to feel and see the outcomes before I deeply ‘get’ that something is true… and for this I had to take some leaps of faith.
“We do not cease to play because we grow old. We grow old because we cease to play.”
-George Bernard Shaw
Ironically, I take play very seriously.
The definition of play in the dictionary will tell you that it is a pleasure-seeking activity rather than one with a ‘serious or practical’ purpose. I beg to differ. Engaging in play allows us to improve our mood, which in turn supports our overall health. When we are more relaxed we are better problem-solvers and have access to deeper insight. Play connects humans to joy. Joyfully connected humans seek peace… you see where I am going with this?
I absolutely and unequivocally trust the need to dedicate ample time to engage in joyful activities. I do recognize the level of privilege that my stance implies and have tried (and will continue to try) to offer others in my community opportunities to experience moments of play and joy.
How do you make time for play? What does play look like?
Making time to play has to do with assessing your priorities and being good at setting boundaries. It means saying ‘no’ more often to things and relationships that are draining, and YES to what your heart whispers and longs for. You practice noticing moments of joy and being grounded in the moment when you allow yourself to be playful.
In practical terms, I made more time to play in the last year by recognizing where my time, and most importantly my energy were going. Changing my work schedule radically and cultivating the habit of showing up to my studio. Every one of the days that I freed-up allowed me to deeply trust that I could honor my needs AND that play does have some amazing fringe benefits. As I got ready to change my routine & schedule, I was wondering if I would be able to relax and play or if I would start doing house work instead… I am happy to report that my vacuum is still in pristine condition…
Play for me looks like this:
picture a little art house nestled in the back corner of your garden (the photo is in my website, but I can send you another if you can’t find it!). There is good lighting, sometimes you can hear music for dancing during breaks, and sometimes you can hear amazing inspiring books on tape. The walls are lined with neatly organized art supplies of every sort and stripe! There are three, four, five pieces going all at once. I let go of expectations & facilitate a dialogue between my ideas and my supplies.
What supports the true expression of your authentic self?
My commitment to show up to those whispers in my heart with a curious and compassionate stance.
What is your mantra, your words to live by?
Hmmm, two of my dad’s sayings come to mind:
“Querer es poder” and “Lo mejor es el enemigo de lo bueno” … which would be equivalent to “Where there’s a will there is a way” and the second one I am still searching for a saying in English… I have heard “Done is best” which comes close in spirit since it’s meant to encourage movement and combat any perfectionistic tendencies. (it literally means ‘the best’ is the enemy of ‘the good’ – i.e. there is no such thing as ‘best’ and its pursuit can keep you from getting things done at all!!).
You said: “I have a blast tuning into my creative impulses each day!”
Tell me dear one, what does your creative impulses look like most days?
Every day that I show up to the studio to start a new piece or indulge on exploration I know I am likely to create a ‘Personita’ (which is what I call my many 2-d children!)… and I am always dying to meet them. It is so much fun to play with color and slowly watch a character emerge. By the time I get to their little faces I am literally smiling with them (or making whatever facial expression they are making). Sometimes I have a flash of awareness at that particular point and I wish I would have a hidden camera to see how often I crack myself up during a painting session.
What are you saying YES to these days?
I am saying YES to acknowledging dreams.
Anything that scares and excites me at the same time gets a YES!
I am saying ‘yes’ to walking out of my comfort zone.
I am saying yes to believing in {my own} magic and power to realize dreams.
What lights you up? What turns you on? What makes your heart quicken?
Laughter, color, thinking of obstacles, solvable puzzles & intelligence. Oh, and cats!
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
This question will make my interview be late!! It is so big and so awesome … and I want to get it right!
So I will have to keep my answer as broad as the question. As it deserves to be. And let the details emerge unique for each season of that one precious life.
I think my plan is to always try to walk my talk. I plan to be brave and follow my gut to keep me grounded in my spirit, and be present so that I am able to contribute something relevant to the world at each stage. In this present stage I want to live the idea of turning inward for direction and trusting whatever comes up. My word for 2015 is ‘focus.’
For more information about her art, upcoming retreats and classes visit: www.erinfaithallen.com
