Starting Over with a Creative Life featuring Nell Painter

In this episode, we talk to the renowned historian and bestselling author Nell Painter, who left her wildly successful academic career to enter art school at the age of 65 — an experience she documented in her book, Old in Art School, A Memoir of Starting Over, which was named a National Book Critics Circle finalist. We talk about working with constraints, overcoming unfair criticism, healthy creative addictions like yarn and ink, and we even talk about the role of women without children. At 82, Nell shows no signs of slowing down. It’s an episode you don’t want to miss.

Takeaways:

• Age should never be a barrier to creativity.
• Role models can play a big part in your creative journey, especially for women.
• You shouldn’t listen to other people's views of yourself; it’s what you think about yourself that matters.
• Constraints are opportunities, which is a big part of the No Time to be Timid manifesto.

Resources:

Check out Nell’s website.

Follow her on instagram @nellpainter.