Authentic Obsessions

Idea generation, your brain on cartoons, incongruency & divergent thinking, and how to encourage your creativity are all on the mind of cartoonist, writer and artist Paul Noth.

Paul is a cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine, where his work has appeared regularly since 2004. He created the Emmy-nominated animated series "Pale Force" for Late Night with Conan O’Brien. He has been an animation consultant for Saturday Night Live and developed shows for Cartoon Network Adult Swim and Nickelodeon. Paul is the author of the middle grade novels “How to Sell Your Family to the Aliens,” “How to Properly Dispose of Planet Earth,” and “How to Win the Science Fair When You’re Dead,” all published by Bloomsbury.

Takeaways

1. Embrace the limitations of your art form.
2. Conscious effort impedes the incubation process.
3. The preparatory phase of creative work requires hard work and skill, but it also requires letting go.
4. The idea comes despite the effort not because of it.

Paul Noth on X

Paul Noth on Instagram

Paul Noth on Facebook

Paul Noth on LinkedIn

Paul’s middle grade books

Paul Noth on IMBD

'Midwest nice' cartoonist for The New Yorker is ready for Chicago and the DNC

The New Yorker 

This is Your Brain on Cartoons article by Sarah Larson

Roz Chast

Iain McGilchrist

Photo credits, Camila Guarda, Chicago Sun Times

Rocker chick Paula Hare talks about no longer giving a rip what other people think, New York City, and Wisconsin’s most iconic dessert – the cream puff.

Paula Hare is a life-long artist, designer and creative director, plein air and studio painter. She brings a unique perspective to her work which includes unusual juxtapositions, compositions, and subjects. Paula's keen eye for detail and appreciation for the unconventional allows her to breathe life into scenes that might escape the notice of others. Whether it's the play of light on chrome, the wind-swept landscapes that unfold along the journey, or elements of a back-alley way, Paula captures the essence of the moments they portray and the stories they tell. 

Paula’s obsession with the biker lifestyle (Harley’s, not bicycles!) spills over into all her ventures, including Gearhead Fashion, which features sustainable, repurposed, reinvented, one-of-a-kind apparel and accessories for anyone that wants to look and feel like a rock star.

Takeaways

1. Do cool stuff, paint cool things.
2. You gotta jam 24/7 – suck it up and get to work. You’ve got to make yourself do it. Just put one foot in front of the other and just keep moving forward and not stop.
3. Bundle up all your skills and energy and figure out what’s in you, and then you have a direction. Stick to that path and you’ll be successful.

Paula Hare

Paula Hare on Facebook

Paula Hare on LinkedIn

The Arts Mill on Facebook, and Instagram

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

Deadwood, South Dakota

Original Cream Puffs

Sketchnoting

Gearhead Fashion

Gearhead Fashion on Instagram

Diving deep into your own life to find your voice, the selfish nature of being an artist, the power of observation, and reacting to marks and layers are all considered during my conversation with Victoria McDonnell.

Victoria relocated from Bogota, Colombia – at the age of 28 – to the rural countryside of Norfolk, UK. The cultural change was already overwhelming, but the language barrier added another layer of challenge. It was an act of courage, driven by love, to move to a town of just over 300 people. In response, she turned to the language without words – art – which became her constant companion that has deepened over time.

Victoria offers glimpses of familiarity in her subjects, inviting viewers to engage playfully while allowing ample room for personal exploration. Working across a diverse array of subjects in oils and acrylics, she unifies them through the lens of abstraction.

Victoria’s latest obsession is ‘Chairs,’ a project of exploration, observation, and discovery. Inspired by the simple objects that are central to our daily lives and our personal connections with them, she examines the narratives they embody. Whether it's the chair in the corner that sparks conversation, the kitchen chairs that keep the family united, or the old nursing chair passed through generations, each chair tells a different story.

Takeaways

1. “Not having distractions is my best friend.”
2. The more you put yourself out there, the more comes your way. Little steps give way to little successes and they all add up.
3. “Through her eyes we organized my mind.”
4. Abstraction requires a lot of confidence.
5. Every chair has a story.

Victoria McDonnell

Victoria McDonnell on Instagram

Victoria McDonnell on Facebook

Victoria McDonnell on Pinterest

Victoria McDonnell on TikTok

Victoria McDonnell on LinkedIn

Colombian Rainbow River

Gooderstone Water Gardens

Vejer de la Frontera 

Art and Success Pro Abstract Painting

Norfolk Painting School Studio talk & master classes

Roisin O’Farrell Love to Paint, Learn to Paint

Monumental undertakings through multimedia narrative projects, travel and deep introspection, embracing chance and spontaneity, baseball, and how people define happiness, all come up during my conversation with Milwaukee interdisciplinary artist and writerJon Horvath.

Influenced by his early formal education in creative fiction writing, philosophy, and composing music, Jon's practice has since expanded into the mixed use of photography, video, performance, sculptural objects, and other mediums brought into a combined space. He desires to share open-ended, poetic narratives rooted in an exploration of how we build personal and cultural mythologies as a way to better understand the world around us.

Takeaways

1. The making is driven by intuition.
2. Let go of having to know everything about every choice to allow unexpected moments.
3. Don’t let something that's making you fearful influence choices that you’re making.
4. Some distance from your more regular experience allows you to have permission to entertain other possibilities.
5. Pictures are influenced by that which surrounds them.

Jon Horvath

Jon Horvath on Instagram

This is Bliss

Throughline

Slow Burn

Listen in as Stacy Bogdonoff talks about using verbs as she works on a project, the importance of not putting too much (psychologically) into social media, slowness and control,  living at the intersection of design and art, and why the media & the process – the heart and head of knowing and being known- is her authentic obsession.

Stacy is a mixed media artist who divides her time between her very messy studio in Kent, CT. and her neater tabletop workspace in NYC. Stacy works with textiles, vintage fabric, paper, paint, dyes, and found objects to explore the theme of “Home, Safety, and Shelter”, and how those change as we age and move through life. "My inspiration comes from three directions.  I am deeply drawn to a wide variety of unconventional media, and I love to explore tools and new ways to use them.  I am also equally driven to explore my inner world and understand my feelings."

Takeaways

1. Understanding the context behind the work enhances the experience.
2. You don’t always know. You sometimes find out.
3. Know what you like to do and clear the decks to do it.
4. The phone works both ways.

Stacy Bogdonoff

Stacy Bogdonoff on Instagram

Rick Lowe

Martha Tuttle

El Anatsui

Death of An Artist podcast

Desert Island Discs podcast

Trauma journalism, social activism, igniting and changing conversations, and telling stories in a visual way are all integral part of Amy Putman’s life. Amy is a collagist and mixed media artist with a passion for issues of social justice. She helped create and brand the Million Mom March for Common Sense Gun Laws with her logo and slogan “Looking for a Few Good Moms.” 

Amy says: “I am drawn to texture, materials pattern, and color in their own right. Working with found objects expands my visual vocabulary. These materials, each of which brings its own history and associations, give a deeper and multi-dimensional reading to the work, work I hope will ignite conversation.”

Participating in artist groups, non-profit organizations, art community adds to her depth and breadth of the work she creates. She is a Trustee of the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey, SKIP of New York and the Trust for Trauma Journalism, a founding member of the New York Collage Ensemble, and Co-Chair of the Artists and Talent Peer Group for the Impact Guild. Her studio is in Manufacturer’s Village Artists, East Orange, New Jersey.

Key takeaways

1. “I have an obligation to myself to not run away from what I have to say.”
2. You have to fill your puzzle box with all the pieces before you put the puzzle together.
3. Being out there in the world helps you become aware of what’s relevant and is inspirational for the art.
4. Art is an adventure. Keep growing, as a person, and bring those adventures to your art.
5. Art is definitely therapy, whether you know it or not.
6. Know when to say no, but remember to say YES to opportunities!

Amy Putman

Amy Putman on Instagram

The Jealous Creator - Deborah Roberts episode 190, Bisa Butler episode 185

Austin Kleon

Million Mom March

NY Collage Ensemble

The Camp Gallery – The Contemporary Art Modern Project Gallery

Tish Lampert

The effect of knitting during the birthing process, the importance of resting, felting as the wild sister of fiber arts, and the role of felting in community practices and traditions all comes up during my convo with Megan Henderson. And the always impactful practice of letting go and surrendering to the present moment.  Megan is a fiber artist living on a few wooded acres in Central Ohio who is inspired by nature, our connection to it and to each other, myths, lore and symbols, shadow work and the mysteries that lay just beyond our grasp.

Key takeaways

1. Pay attention and notice when fear needs to be conquered and when it is our intuition giving us a warning.
2. Don’t beat yourself up when you find yourself going down the path of thinking you’re not doing enough. But if you try and notice when it happens, those feelings might lessen.
3. You don’t have to EARN your rest.
4. “We are not meant to understand it all. We are not meant to grasp it. We are meant to make guesses about it.”

Megan Henderson

Megan Henderson on Instagram

Megan Henderson on Facebook

Nuno felting

Insight Timer meditation app

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman

Rest is Resistance, Tricia Hersey

The Leftovers

ArtHoles, 7 episodes of Frida Kahlo

Pulling the Thread podcast, Knitting Together our Lives (Peggy Orenstein)

Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, Susan Cain

Antieau Gallery

Sue Bulmer is an artist, educator, Art Psychotherapist and Inspiration Facilitator. Her expressive, energetic and colourful work is inspired by landscape and seasonal alignment. Sue believes we are all creative souls and is a passionate advocate for the well-being benefits of living a more creative life. ​She has a deep understanding, stemming from personal experience, of the many benefits of living a more creative life and the barriers and beliefs that stop us. We chat about paying attention to when it’s time to rest, confronting the fear that tries to keep you small and safe, being stuck and what happens when you stop fighting it, putting yourself out there even though it can be scary, the payoff is worth it!

Takeaways:

1. Make art just for you.
2. Nature takes a rest during the year. Why don’t we?
3. Categorizing things help us understand things, but they come with rules and those rules can be limiting.
4. It’s in the spaces that the ideas come.
5. “Stress is caused by being here and wanting to be there.”
6. It’s never too late.

Sue Bulmer

Sue Bulmer on Instagram

Sue Bulmer on Facebook

Sustain Your Creativity through Autumn & Winter, A free guide from Sue Bulmer

The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, Florence Williams

Environmental Arts Therapy and the Tree of Life, Ian Siddons Heginworth

Rick Rubin on Feel Better Live More

Sue’s Creative Soul Sketchbooks course

Kellee Wynne Conrad, Build it Remarkable

Beltane, Gaelic May Day Festival

Feedback loops in the art world, finding ways to accumulate more moments of joy, the in-between spaces, writing vs. storytelling, not fitting into a box, and the orange couch are all part of Bela Suresh Roongta’s story. Bela is a Milwaukee-based visual artist, writer and storyteller. She has shown in solo & group exhibitions, been featured as a writer & speaker and recognized for innovation and success in art and storytelling. Committed to the rituals of drawing, journaling and traveling, Bela makes art, writes stories and curates experiences that explore identity & place, dance with memory and tradition and tell of the times we live in. Her art and storytelling honors those who came before us, our shared experiences and our differences.

Key Takeaways:

1. The more personal you are, the more personal your work is, and the more universal it becomes.
2. Find the magic in the unknown.
3. Allow yourself to be seen so that others can be seen. The more story we know about you the more connected we feel.
4. Art is a very self forward profession.
5. Find ways to accumulate more moments of joy.

Bela Suresh

Bela Suresh on Instagram

Part 1 | Night Country Origins with Showrunner Issa López and Executive Producer Mari Jo Winkler
The True Detective: Night Country Podcast

Saint Kate Exhibition: Relief — The Stories We Carry by Bela Suresh Roongta

Robin Davisson Episode 69 on Authentic Obsessions

Susan Lerner is  a New York City based contemporary hand-cut collage artist drawn to vintage imagery and maps, evoking a sense of familiarity and nostalgia.  Her work is a reflection of the power of visual storytelling and its ability to connect us to our memories and emotions. Susan’s work has been published in periodicals and books, she’s the co-founder of the New York Collage Ensemble, and she is currently licensed with Jiggy Puzzles and Jiggy Studio. Enjoy our conversation about tag sales, boundaries, trying new things, taking pauses, and challenges of selling your work. 

Takeaways

1. “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.” Twyla Tharpe
2. Having too many options can drive you crazy.
3. Moving your body helps with problem solving and artistic creativity.
4. Find different outlets to sell your work.

Links

Susan Lerner

Susan Lerner on Instagram

Jiggy Puzzles, City of Dreams

92NY

Hollie Chastain

Galen Gibson-Cornell

Art and Cocktails podcast

The Jealous Curator, Art for Your Ear podcast