YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY PERFECT JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

I’m intent on continually learning …even if it’s something simple daily.

Do you know I’ve been dedicated to ‘creating’ for almost 10 years now since my first cancer diagnosis in 2009? Using art as therapy most days, I feel I’m finally finding my style that I love, my own unique voice.

I know there’s nothing really new in the world, as there’s always someone doing something similar to you as a creative, but I truly believe that if you are creating from within yourself and your own personal life experiences, nobody else can bring exactly what you bring to the world. Only you can be you in the things you create, just as long as you are true to yourself. After all, you are perfect just the way you are.

Now that doesn’t mean that we can’t keep growing and learning throughout our lives. In fact, after years of following creators I love, doing courses here and there and lots and lots of practice, I feel my creative soul constantly growing. Finding myself and feeling more fearless along the way and sometimes sharing with the world is great fun.

I’ve always dreamt that someone would look at a random piece of my work and say hey, that’s Jennifer Reid’s work!  I’d love for people to easily recognise my art through my unique colour palette, quirky subject matter or whimsical characters. I feel honoured that people would even follow my blog or Instagram in the first place, let alone the day I become well known enough for people to recognise that I have a consistent style.

I’m excited for the day I eventually discover my own style and unique voice … that prized creative pinnacle that everyone seems to talk about. But maybe my style is actually a ‘bit of this and a bit of that’ and that’s okay too!

I’ve always got a huge list of creative ideas on the go. I love the App Trello for keeping myself organised and if you haven’t tried it yet and you like making lists, you’re going to love it. I’m not sure I’ll ever tick off all the items on my creative ideas to-do list though because the ideas just keep coming. As a new idea springs to mind I add it to my list and this could happen quite a few times a day. I guess that’s a good thing as I’ll always have something to be working on.

Since unashamedly putting my work out into the world, people have been showing how much they love and support my work by actually purchasing and wanting my art in their homes …which means so much and is a source of encouragement to keep plodding along.

Someone very close to me, who is also an artist I admire very much, once said…

“That’s all you need to do – keep going. The biggest part of this (art making) is about mental health. It’s so good for your brain and mindset to be creating. Making money is just a bonus. There are many opportunities for projects that have good outcomes for people and the community.”

If I can help just one person through sharing my creative journey and my work, that to me is creative success.

To finish, I’m sharing this quote I love, to encourage you to talk to yourself like I do and tell yourself to believe that there is nothing you cannot do if you persevere:

“I’ve learned to TALK to myself rather than LISTEN to myself. When I listen to myself, all I hear is fear, doubt, lies and failure. But when I talk to myself, I can tell myself anything I want to. I can feed myself good thoughts of hope, confidence, truth and victory. I can tell myself I can do it. When I learned to talk to myself rather than listen to myself, I realized that there was nothing I couldn’t do.”
~ Dr. James Pitzer Gills II, Eye Surgeon & 6 x Double Ironman Triathlete

Never stop dreaming,

Jennifer xo