of ink and insight podcast

This week, I’m turning 58.

Recently, I found a letter my mom wrote titled “Blessings of Turning 40.” What stopped me was this: she wrote it when she was 58.

So here I am, at the same age, reading her reflections across time… and noticing what lands differently now.

In this short episode, I share her letter in full, along with a few quiet realizations about what this age is actually offering. Not as a milestone. More as a series of small permissions.

There’s also a simple writing prompt at the end, if you feel like joining me.

I decided to conduct a week-long artist retreat for myself…starting today.

I also decided to share what I’m doing (or not doing). So if you’re craving an opportunity to deepen your art practice, here’s one way to do it. Though, my idea of a retreat may not be your idea of a retreat. In any case, you get to see my face for once. And if you’d like to retreat alongside me, send me a message and let’s do it together. xo

PS I will share more here on Substack NOTES. But there may also be some things happening on my Instagram stories.

I’m really excited to share this interview with St. Paul artist, Mark Granlund.

A few years ago, when I started cultivating my interest in making art, I looked around my local area for artists I liked, and in particular, I was hoping to find artists who were open to chatting with an artist newbie like me. I came across Mark’s website and blog, signed up for his newsletter, and recently reached out and invited him to have coffee. And I’m so glad I did because Mark is, beyond a talented artist, a really genuine and generous person who is passionate about people and the environment.

In our chat, we talk about: Early art memories, Art as storytelling, Mark’s transitioning art style, Connection to nature, ecology and conservation, The art-making process, Using earth-friendly art materials, Mark’s career in art education and public art administration, The Impact of public art in culture and community healing, Renovating the cutest studio space in St. Paul, A passion for creating artist communities and collaborations

Mark Granlund is an oil painter who is well known for his landscape and still-life paintings. His love of lakes and woods is rooted in his early years while living in Northern New Jersey and later experiences with his family on the lakes of Northern Minnesota

Grounded in respect for nature, Mark chooses to work with eco-friendly materials and make substrates from sustainable lumber sources.

Mark Granlund received a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing from The City University of New York at Brooklyn College. He is represented in galleries in Minneapolis and Grand Marais, Minnesota. He has exhibited regularly for 30 years alongside a career in art education and public art administration, currently the Public Art Administrator for Metro Transit in the Twin Cities.

https://markgranlund.com

Subscribe to Mark’s Newsletter

Facebook @mark.granlundartist

Instagram @markgranlundstudio

P.S. You might have noticed that the Of Ink + Insight Podcast doesn't have sponsored ads. This is intentional! I personally support and serve this creative community. To keep bringing you new episodes and interviews on the podcast, community chats, writing workshops, and more, I would love your support! 

Subscribing is an easy way you can appreciate and support this community and your own creative growth at the same time. https://ofinkandinsight.substack.com/subscribe

Giving you a bit of an update on how I’m doing with a big, hairy, audacious creative goal (h/t Jim Collins) I set for myself last year around this time.

Fair warning, I’m feeling plenty of trepidation and insecurity about this Open Studios event that’s coming up fast in May. So it’s all I can really think about right now. I’m going to be talking about my story, but consider how this could be your story too.

If you’ve ever thought about taking your creative practice (your business, your relationships, or anything else that’s important to you) to a new level, this episode might give you a peek at how setting a giant, high-stakes goal could generate insights and opportunities you couldn’t get by playing it safe.

Am I ready for this BHAG? No.

Am I going to do it before I’m ready and pretend I know what I’m doing?

Yes indeedy.

To learn more about how you can attend Art A Whirl 2023, visit the Art A Whirl website. https://nemaa.org/art-a-whirl/

To learn more about my Open Studios event, make sure you subscribe to Of Ink + Insight on Substack https://ofinkandinsight.substack.com/subscribe or my Studio Notes newsletter https://ofinkandinsight.com/subscribe . I’ll send you the details for how to stop by in-person or virtually.

To talk about how you could be a guest on the Of Ink + Insight podcast, send me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you.

P.S. You might have noticed that the Of Ink + Insight Podcast doesn't have sponsored ads. This is intentional! I personally support and serve this creative community. 

To keep bringing you new episodes and interviews on the podcast, community chats, writing workshops, and more, I would love your support! 

Subscribing is an easy way you can appreciate and support this community and your own creative growth at the same time. https://ofinkandinsight.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s episode, I talk about being stuck.

Sure, I talk about being stuck in creative work – as in writer’s block or feeling stuck when painting. But you may want to listen for how these situations are analogous to feeling stuck with just about anything in life – a job, a relationship, a health condition.

Even if you’re not a writer or artist, the problem is universal…..as are the solutions. And the topic of being STUCK came up in a lot of ways for me in February, so I figured the Universe was trying to tell me something.

Here are all the posts or podcasts I mention:

https://emergingform.substack.com/p/how-might-awe-inspire-our-creative

https://ofinkandinsight.substack.com/p/insight-writing-march2023

https://susannahconway.substack.com/p/thoughts-from-this-morning

https://maggiesmith.substack.com/p/pep-talk

P.S. You might have noticed that the Of Ink + Insight Podcast doesn't have sponsored ads. This is intentional! I personally support and serve this creative community. 

To keep bringing you new episodes and interviews on the podcast, community chats, writing workshops, and more, I would love your support! 

Subscribing is an easy way you can appreciate and support this community and your own creative growth at the same time. https://ofinkandinsight.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, I continue where my last Museletter left off, inspired by a chapter in the book The Adjacent Possible by Nancy Hillis M.D., to explore what holds me/us back from starting.

Turns out, there’s an explanation for why it’s so hard to go from NOTHING to SOMETHING - and it’s not because we’re lazy.

And if you think you’re not READY to start, keep in mind that readiness might actually wreak havoc with your creativity.

Change is hard. Let’s do it together. Enjoy.

Subscribe to the Of Ink + Insight Museletter

Read The Adjacent Possible by Nancy Hillis M.D.

I’ve started something new already this year. It’s a Pinterest page!

I’ve been putting it off because I didn’t feel ready. And then, I just decided to go for it. Guess what? I already have ONE follower!

Enjoy the humble beginnings and follow me there if you’re a Pinterest user. xo

For all of you out there making your art at the kitchen table or in a corner of the basement…..I see you. I feel your pain.

The problems of a small studio are about more than just storage. I’ve been struggling with my small space since I started making art about two years ago.

But I found one solution that has really changed my whole practice. It’s not perfect - but it’s a BIG improvement.

Tell me what you’ve done to make the most of a small studio space in the comments!

Mentioned:

The Walker System

A little photography, a little poetry, a little inspiration to move your pen across the page, your brush over the canvas, a spark for your creative courage.

This is the MUSELETTER you’ll look forward to receiving. And it’s not on Substack.

SUBSCRIBE

“Any minute now, my ship is coming in…” croons Colin Hay on a random Spotify playlist.

I remember this moment a few years ago – I was really struggling with almost everything in my life. My job, my health, my relationships, money, self-esteem, purpose – I mean, good Lord, will I ever figure out what I want to be when I grow up?

Ever have a period in your life where it seems completely overwhelmed with things to fix?

Well, this is the episode for you. Let me know if you can relate. Maybe some of my insights can help you out.

Insight Writing® is a practice of allowing your creative unconscious energy to roam free on the page. It’s spontaneous, messy and vulnerable.  

Take the free course - DISCOVER INSIGHT WRITING®

In this episode, I share a simple tactic for reminding myself to pay attention and write, inspired by a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye called Prayer in my Boot. And I read you a bit of my own prayer from a little something I wrote back in 2017.

I hope you’ll be inspired to create your own kind of prayer and share it with us. xo

Insight Writing® is a practice of allowing your creative unconscious energy to roam free on the page. It’s spontaneous, messy and vulnerable.  

To get beyond the head and into the heart and soul requires a kind of permission slip – permission to bypass cleverness and the inner editor, to write about what's really true and Say YES to the words that are coming instead of searching for a better story. 

The most enjoyable result of trusting this process of writing is learning something new about yourself and developing a healing sense of being fully expressed, a few things most of us lose touch with as we grow into serious adults. 

Take the free course - DISCOVER INSIGHT WRITING®

This episode may sound familiar to those who receive my monthly Museletter. Yet, you may enjoy this audio version, complete with my reading of the poem Don’t Expect Applause with permission from the poet, Ellen Bass (The Human Line, Copper Canyon Press, 2007).

Consider me a champion for the creative unconscious, the intuitive approach, the ‘messes make the best art’ scenario. Perhaps there’s a risk that art made in this way won’t be accepted as the real thing. Maybe no one will reward the effort with money or approval if it doesn’t look like something out of the Room & Board catalog. 

Listen in as I dig into how my desire for approval may (or may not) be changing my art practice.

Some questions for you...

* Do you find yourself sometimes angling for approval - in your work, your relationships, your creative life?

* What, in your ordinary life, deserves a little acceptance or applause?

Leave a comment and let me know! And if you’d like to receive my monthly Museletter…

A little photography, a little poetry, a little inspiration to move your pen across the page, your brush over the canvas, a spark for your creative courage.

This is the MUSELETTER you’ll look forward to receiving. And it’s not on Substack.

SUBSCRIBE

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