Ernesto Lopez is the owner of Chicago based Oak Leaf Garden Design. I loved learning about the origins of his interest in gardening and how he always sees the potential of things before he begins. We start our conversation with one of the unique aspects of what he does; that it combines both creativity and biology.

Ted Sollinger otterartstudio.com is a graphic designer and artist based in Chicago. Much of his work is figurative, with wood being one of his favorite substrates. We spoke about getting more people enjoying and creating art.

Ernesto Heen artinuum.com and I met at a 6-week painting and drawing workshop in Florence Italy. He is currently a painter based in Hamburg Germany, and also has started teaching art technique. Ernesto’s background is very similar to mine and our creative journey has many parallels. Learn more at rickyartist.com

Brian Justice’s brianjustice.com career spans the visual and written arts. He was an oil painter, transitioned to being a freelance writer and is currently working on a play. We speak about creativity across all of these roles and how he keeps things moving forward.

John McDaviit is an artist and muralist who paints large, public murals. We met at an industry event and I immediate liked him. I found his energy fantastic and him very easy to talk to. John‘s background is different from mine and I always like speaking with those who have had a different creative journey than me.

Diana Leviton Gondek is a visual artist whose childhood was filled with all forms of creative activities and creative people. We discuss her journey and what her background in art taught her about being a mom.

Marlon Lyles https://www.instagram.com/marlonlyles/ is an artist with a varied background, including time as a Chicago Public Schools English teacher. I just love teachers and it is always great to be able to speak with them. Marlon’s unique and artwork is called geometric abstraction and it is inspired from a surprising source.

Comic books, figure drawing and being an artist after a zombie apocalypse; I spoke to artist Eric Elliott about all sort of topics in this refreshing and fun conversation.

Juan de Lascurain is an artist-designer from Mexico City. He travels the world painting and exhibiting his work as well as commercializing his brand Dream Big. We spoke about faith, believing in yourself and seeing obstacles as adventures.

Allie Pleiter is a speaker, coach and bestselling author of over 40 books. She is also a creativity and productivity expert who helps creative people be more productive and business people be more creative.