Heather Hanson

Late Bloomer? Me?

I'm only 43 and to be honest with you, I am not entirely sure that I have actualy "bloomed" yet,

but each day I inch ever closer! 

I suppose I've spent most of my life believing that in order to BE an artist you had to have a REALLY special gift or else you were just some crazy girl that spent a lot of free time doodling and coloring things. I spent an incredible amount of my "grown-up" time asking the Universe what the heck it wanted me to be when I grew up, because although I've had a few successful careers, not one of them ever felt like a good fit. The only times I was ever truly content was when I was sitting quietly with a big blank journal and piles of markers. Something always happened in those moments that allowed me to feel more connected to myself, I felt completely happy just allowing the words and images to spill onto the pages. 

But then there was THAT voice... I call her NOna, and she is the scratchy little voice that pushes me to compare what I do with every other "artsy" girl. She is the one responsible for telling me that I was not good enough, not creative enough, that I just didn't have that magic touch. For a really long time I let her be the deciding voice in my world, if she said NO, I listened, if she said "forget about it," I did. For a long time I allowed her to control just about everything and got very comfortable with the idea that I just didn't cut it...and then one day out of the blue, everything changed. It was Wednesday December 22, and just another ordinary morning in our home.

 

I woke up and was quietly sitting in the living room doodling and drinking my coffee, asking, for the millionth time, what the heck I should do with my life, when out of nowhere a new voice popped up and she was telling me that "it was time..." For a few minutes I thought I was losing my mind because the voice was as clear as a bell, and it sounded alot like me! I immediately knew what "she" meant and almost without thinking I started writing down little sentences about myself and doodling some sketches to go with them....that was the day that changed everything. I can't tell you for sure what it was but something magical happened that morning that prompted me to temporarily stop all the self-sabotaging banter and give myself permission to just BE. For a week or so I sketched, wrote and ultimately created a little line of greeting cards called Wednesday Wisdom; quirky little ladies that take all the insanity and observations running around my head and allow me to put them out into the world. Card after card just kept coming and for the first time I wasn't afraid of being judged and it felt amazing....until the day my husband coaxed me into opening an Etsy shop. Until then it was just me and the little ladies and I was perfectly fine with that. But for years hubby had seen the piles of writing, sketchy pictures and knew that I wouldn't be happy until I finally mustered the courage to put it out there. Come what may, he convinced me that it was time to do SOMETHING with all these little creations.  So, I loaded a few of the cards and prints onto the site and within a day or two, I had my first order, and then my second and they just kept coming! That was the day I thought maybe, just maybe I might be an artist, not a VanGogh or Renoir, but a Heather Hanson, and that suits me just fine!

                   

 

My best days are the ones when clients wander into my shop, VISIT IT HERE,

pick up one of my cards without knowing I'm the one who created it, and they actually laugh out loud. It's like a tiny little miracle every time I hear it and a sound I never get tired of. I'm in the process of creating a new line of cards and products that I hope beyond hope will give every woman the ability to silence her own scratchy NOna voice long enough to find her own version of bliss. I believe that each and every one of us comes to this planet filled with the MOST amazing gifts, the trouble is that we spend far too much time listening to the NOna's of the world and are rarely ever able to hear what's in our own hearts instead of the noise around us. Today I am happy to tell you that although NOna is constantly fighting to be heard, her voice gets a bit quieter every day. With any luck, one day soon she will pack her bags and finally hit the road for good!

http://www.flawedisthenewfabulous.com

http://www.flawedisthenewfabulous.blogspot.com

Sue Grilli

Well perhaps if you want to consider that I have 3 children in their 30’s, 2 grandsons and I’m working on developing a second career, then I guess you could say my world is “ blooming” a little late.

I have always been creative. The smell of a new box of crayons makes the neurons in my brain tingle and I just want to color all over the page. I actually studied art in college but then made other choices and life began to get in the way. I was busy raising a family where there really wasn’t time to dedicate to fine art work. I did fun creative projects with the kids and on my own but nothing I would consider fine art.

Then as all parents come to find, the nest was empty and I longed for a deeper connection to my creative ties. I began taking some painting classes and workshops and I loved that one night a week was mine to go and be creative. Watercolor was my weapon of choice and still is for that matter. And boy was it exciting to watch that paint and water mingle together on the paper creating vibrant new colors and patterns, even though it didn’t always do what I wanted it to do. I studied with some great teachers and absorbed all that I could. I joined local art organizations and became involved in the art community. I would suggest this to any new artist out there. These groups are a wonderful resource and I have made true friendships along the way.

As I continued painting and during my travels I noticed that I had been taking many photos of doorways and architecture. The doorways were intriguing to me. Each one interesting in their own way. Homeowners coming and going through those doors, year after year, oh! the stories that could be told.  I started incorporating these doorways into my artwork and as I painted I imagined a story behind each one. Friends and family would send me photos of doorways they would find on their trips or ask to have their special home painted. That’s when I realized I could expand this love of architecture, homes and doorways and share it with others

Every doorway has a story… what’s your story?

www.suegrilli.com/blog

reminder

Remember to come back Wednesday to read HER story.

Michelle Traynor

 

I have always had a creative side and experimented in various art forms sporadically over the years but I have never really thought of myself as an artist. However since retiring 2 years ago and beginning this next chapter of my life I have had time to explore the world of mixed-media and art journaling. It is funny to think that 34 years ago I had planned on enrolling in art school full time after taking some summer school classes in silk screen at Emily Carr School of Art, but then we bought a house, my life changed and financially it wasn’t the right time to go on an art journey.

I was fortunate to meet a new artist friend Violette and she had just published her book ‘Journal Bliss’which I purchased inspiring me to move into the world of art. Then I discovered Pam Carriker, ‘Art at the Speed of Life’ and Donna Downey they have all been a great influence in my artistic growth.

I challenged myself to do an art journal page each day for 30 days to keep myself growing artistically. I explored various artist blogs, bought books on mixed-media and joined a few on-line communities, participated in on-line workshops and all of that has helped me grow and become a mixed-media artist. I also discovered taking my scanned art pages and using them in digital collage, which I love – there is no mess to clean up! I am delightfully surprised when I compare my creations now to a year and half ago and how art brings so much joy into my life.

I created my blog that I could record my journey in the art world and post some of my work. My dream and passion is to create art that relays affirmations for kindness, living from the heart, the power of positive thoughts and to believe that there is magic in your dreams.

Each day is a new creative adventure and I am excited to see where the road leads me and who knows along the way I may inspire others that is never to late to discover their artistic side.

http://creativityblossomsafter60.wordpress.com/

reminder

What is she doing instead? Read more on WEDNESDAY morning.

Stacie Florer

I became a late bloomer creatively when I was about 37 years old.

I was working in the Real Estate industry, but felt like something was missing from my life. I was on my lunch hour one day, and wandered into a jewelry store. The owner was there, at his jewelry bench, and I spontaneously asked him what one had to do in order to learn how to make jewelry. And all of a sudden, I found myself confiding in this complete stranger that my life didn't feel like it had any meaning. I started to cry, and was astonished by the emotions that were spilling out of me. He listened, and said, "You start by doing it. You will figure it out, but I have to get back to work now," or something along those lines. It was one of those moments in my life where I heard exactly what I needed to hear--no more, no less.

I made a trip up to Seattle the next weekend to see a friend, and she took me to a bead store. I bought some beads after the owner of the bead store showed me how to form a loop in a headpin and attach it to an ear wire. I grabbed onto beads like a life preserver, and was content to make beaded jewelry in my spare time.

About a year passed, and my husband and I decided to sell most of our possessions and our house, and we went on the road with his business as a computer consultant. We were living in Singapore, and one day, as I was walking around the Arab part of the city, I ducked into a perfume shop to get out of a rainstorm. As I was poking around a back room, I found a box with some old tribal jewelry from the areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. In one brief moment, I found my passion in oxidized metal. I told myself that I would learn how to make metal jewelry one day, and on that day, my life changed forever  I couldn't get the way that jewelry felt to me emotionally out of my head.

I was determined to learn how to work with metal in a meaningful way.

 After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, we were transferred to Metairie. While back in the States, I saw an article somewhere about Lynn Merchant's wire work. Her jewelry made my heart pound like it did in that shop in Singapore. I found a jewelry supply store and began my creative career in metal. I attended my first craft show where I sold my work and never looked back.

My work with retail links and more information can be found at www.stacieflorer.com.
I write a blog too http://soultosubstance.blogspot.com/ and write jewelry tutorials and teach metalsmith classes.

reminder

COME BACK ON WEDNESDAY FOR THE REST OF THE STORY.

Robyn Greenhouse

I'm a Late Bloomer!

Not the words any high schooler would shout with joy,

just me a middle age woman finding her way in life!

http://www.laughwithme45.blogspot.com/

On my 45th birthday, something inside me remembered that I used to want to be a writer and a photographer. I had this dream that as I walked past a book store, there in the window would be piles of my hugely popular books!  It occurred to me to stop waiting. There would never be exactly enough time or just the right (write?) moment, so it was now or never. With that idea in mind, I started my blog, Adventures in Laughter. Living with 3 boys, 2 dogs, and 1 husband, there is usually something that gets my fingers tapping on the keyboard!

Along my path as a late bloomer, I also became a certified yoga instructor. I love the calmness practicing yoga brings me after a class. Besides, if for some reason I miss a few classes, my kids remind me to go to class! My son said it best when he told me one day, Mom, I like you better when you do yoga!

My photography is still a work in progress, but I'm having fun working on it

While I may not love the crow's feet around my eyes, or the sun spots that pop up (who knew tin foil and baby oil would be bad for you?)

at

45

I'm

following

my heart

and

loving it!

reminder

Stop back on Wednesday to see who's knocking on the creative Late Bloomer's door.

Sue Jorgenson

It makes me appreciate the blessings so much more.

(I wouldn't have thought so back in the day!)

I was born deaf in 1956 and this was discovered when I was some four months old in early 1957 - and the first three years of a child's life are the most important in linguistic development, so that was a blessing. My first hearing aid and speech lessons came when I was 9 months old. Does that make me an early late bloomer?

I didn't get married until I was 35 and I became a mother ten months later, two weeks before I turned 36. But I had to put my own personal life on hold when I had to leave her father (with her at 21 months of age), and we were embroiled in a custody battle that lasted until his death fifteen years later. In the midst of all that, I also had to care for my parents, particularly my mother, who passed away early this year. After her estate was settled, I faced a huge void in my life - who was I, really? What did I want to do with my life? Or just simply DO?

  

http://www.theowlslantern.com/about/

One of my saving graces was that I got fired in December 2010 and I knew that I never wanted to work for someone else. Not ever.  Three months later a friend said to me, "I believe in what you're doing. How much do you need to start your business?"  Having my own business has helped me to stay steady in dealing with that huge void. 

I took Liv Lane's blogging e-course (Building a Blog You Truly Love) and early on in the e-course, some Very Important Questions were asked. What did I want to do? What did I want my blog to be about? Who would be the ideal readers? This was the first time I was able to sit down and actually think through such questions and come up with honest answers. Had I had such questions in my 20s or 30s, I truly don't think I would have known or been honest enough with myself. But because I had been kicked to the curb and then some, I was able to tackle the questions with clarity. 

Well, good golly, Miss Molly! Answering them triggered off this crazy-awesome domino effect! I realized that I don't always have the patience to be an artist with pencils, paints, etc. but I always had wanted to do photography. That led me to upgrading a loved-to-death camera and then signing up for a photography workshop in the Eastern Sierras in October...and then...the opportunity presented itself for me to attend a photography workshop chasing the aurora borealis in Iceland! Of all places! In February.

The other thing about being a late bloomer is that I am more secure and confident with who I am. One of the hats I wear is that of astrologer (over 40 years), tarot reading (nearly 30 years) and medium (going on 13 years). It is part and parcel of me.   Everyone has their beliefs, and I respect them for their beliefs (as long as no one is harmed), and I have learned to ask that they respect me for my beliefs as well. The playground of Life is big enough for all of us!

My life is literally beginning anew at 55 and I have a lot of goals to fulfill - owning my own residence, being with the right-for-me man, growing my business, traveling, and so much more. And I know I can achieve them all!

You can keep track of my late-bloomin' journey at http://www.inlilithsgrove.com/

reminder

Come back Wednesday to meet this mystery Bloomer!



Suzanne McRae

My journey through creativity…

My creative life started when I was about 12 years old. At that time I learned how to do embroidery and sewing at a 4-H club and shortly after that I learned how to knit and crochet. And at age 14 an elderly neighbor decided to show me how to quilt.

For the next three decades I did sew some clothing for our children and I sewed a beautiful flower-girl dress for our daughter that I was very proud of. I did a bit of quilting, smocking, and needlepoint

I took a tole painting class and made a small project. I was hooked. During those years, creativity was mostly done in little spurts here and there, never seeming to be a priority for me since there never seemed to be enough time. For a couple of decades, I have been a stay-at-home mom. Our son, who is the youngest, has autism. My life revolved mostly in the world of autism, researching and learning everything I possibly could… until last year... when I felt an urgent need to do something for myself.

and this is how I re-discovered the creative spark that was still within me…

In the fall of 2011 at age 53, I decided to hire a career coach to help me discover what I could do in this next phase of my life. It had to be something that I was passionate about and that would nourish and fulfill me in many ways while still being able to stay home to help support our son. Writing and creativity were two things that kept coming up constantly while doing the coaching. So I began by knitting dishcloths for myself, then I made a granny-square afghan for our daughter for Christmas. In February 2012 I opened my Etsy shop online, and since April I have my own website and am writing and figuring out all that I want to share about. I love having these two places that are mine.

I also enjoy genealogy and presently am working on a family book that includes over 6 generations of photos and stories. I want to start scrapbooking again, because anything that has to do with preserving memories for the next generations is very important to me. I have done a bit of painting and would love to explore the many different techniques that exist. I have also taken an interest in photography and love to travel with my family.

In the last decade I studied energy healing and have become quite passionate about learning several different types (Karuna, Reiki, Sphe-Re, Reiki Crystal Healing, and EFT). I am a firm believer in Heilkunst therapy and essential oils. Spirituality and personal growth are a big part of my life.

Come and check out what I am writing about and
what I am having a great time creating in my life.

 http://www.suzanne-mcrae.com

reminder

STOP BY WEDNESDAY AND LET'S SEE WHERE HER JOURNEY TAKES HER.

Denise Mulligan

Creative late bloomers have an artist

living inside them as a seed.

I'm 49 years old and I'm a creative late bloomer. The reason it took me so long to become an artist is that I had to stop believing the lies that our society tells us. The lies that tell us "you're too young and not good enough." Later on we're told we've missed the boat."You're too old, you should have begun early in life." Creative late bloomers have an artist living inside them as a seed. This creativity lies dormant until you decide to pay attention and nurture it. If you do nothing it dies. I was an artist as a child and all through high school. After high school I abandoned art because I believed the lies.

Art can be tricky. There is a social myth that artists have an innate talent. This may be true to a certain extent. You may have an ability as a child or even just pick it up and are really good at it. However, it's not often publicized that this is rare. Art can be taught. You can get better with practice. For some reason the myth remains and we want to believe this. We want to believe we are special that we have an inner genius. I got caught up in comparisons and never gave myself a chance to explore, experiment and practice. Believing that I was pretty good at art since childhood, I assumed I should be able to pick up a brush and create master pieces. I wasn't thinking of all the great masters who were apprentices to other artists and spent years practicing to become masters themselves. I didn't practice very much so I never got very good.

After I married and had children, mothering two little boys became my life. I never took much time for myself. I had a few episodes of taking art classes but they were short lived. When the class finished I put away my paints.

I longed for a time when I could relax and feel like an individual again. I moved further and further away from who I truly was. Shoving my dreams in a drawer didn't make them go away. My lack of creating art festered inside of me making me angry and depressed. I felt like a failure. Then, in September 2010 I started my own blog. Blogging was the key that unlocked my creativity. While blogging I I found an online mixed media art class. It was something that I could do while my kids were at school. It was easy in that you didn't have to draw or paint perfectly. Creating layers of paint was fun and the art came out really well. It was something I was proud of and it restored my self esteem. I became interested in reading art blogs as well. I used my blog as an online journal, expressing my feelings on the page. I got brave and started posting my art as well. I started making art on a daily basis. I found that my anger disappeared. I stopped comparing myself to others and enjoyed the process. I now experiment in all kinds of art making. I allow myself to learn and make mistakes. I allow myself to practice art.

Oil painting has become my passion. I balance my life of being a wife and mother with oil painting . I work part-time so when I'm not working and the kids are in school, I paint. Or I paint at night in the living room with my family while they watch television. When I'm not painting, I'm writing blog posts or taking photographs. I'm living my dream, I'm who I was meant to be...an artist.

Whether you paint, write, bake, or are an entrepreneur you are creative and can consider yourself an artist. Creatives are people who make something from nothing. Creatives are the innovators in our world that invent, explore, beautify and make our world a better place. It's never too late, nurture the seed, become a creative late bloomer.

http://harvestmoon17.blogspot.com/

reminder

Susan Porter

...I never truly knew what it was to be an artist until I painted away my grief

Last year the universe whacked me upside the head with a reality check.  It does that sometimes. First my mother died, then my dog. Within a matter of weeks the two old ladies I'd nursed throughout their final months, days, hours were gone. And left me all sorts of empty. I didn't know what to do with myself and questioned everything about life. And purpose.  Grief does that to you.

Seven years earlier I'd packed up my paints and moved Mama into what had been my studio, a small cottage on our property. My son was at war, Mama wasn't happy in the retirement home and I was too stressed to paint anyway. Giving up my studio didn't seem like a sacrifice at the time, it seemed like the natural thing to do. I was still teaching art, I just wasn't making any. I didn't even know what my artistic voice was anymore.

Then I discovered Judy Wise, Stephanie Lee, and their amazing Plaster Workshop. I'd never taken an on-line class before but it looked interesting. Before long it changed my life. I discovered how much fun plaster could be. I loved scraping it, carving it, taking a torch to it. I loved the way it soaked up the paint. But mostly I loved the joy that comes from art with no expectations. Making art because it made me happy.  And to my surprise, I was happy.  Every day I woke up eager to go into the studio and play. After the plaster class I took Judy's Hot Wax class. Then I began playing with cold wax and oils, because I could. And then I rediscovered acrylics through Flora Bowley's on-line workshop. I took the best from everyone and rediscovered my creative self.

Understand, I have a degree in art and have worked as an artist in one capacity or another all my professional life. Worked, but I never truly knew what it was to be an artist until I painted away my grief this past year. Painted with passion, from the gut, ego checked at the door.

As my creativity blossomed I decided to blog about it. I taught myself Wordpress and built a website, OoLaLa, Living the Arty Life. Then I built another just for my art, SLPorter . I created a FaceBook group, Random Acts of Art, that encourages people to anonymously leave little arty bits and bobs out and about for strangers to discover. As if that wasn't enough, a few weeks ago I woke up knowing I had to write yet another blog, one that would empower women...or men... to say YES!!! to their dreams and their life. Big Bold Beautiful YES!!! is the result. It's blog that truly touches my heart. And apparently the hearts of others, judging by the comments.

I look back at this past year and can't believe where I've come from...and where I'm going to. I'm at the age where I could be thinking of retirement in a few years. Instead, I find myself becoming an entrepreneur. I have two blogs with plans for a third, each one totally different from the next. I've publicly committed to finishing a novel, I'm developing e-classes, have plans for some e-books. Have had one art show with another in the works. I'm painting like I never have before. And now I have a beautiful new studio, built by my husband, financed by the inheritance from my mother. A most special place infused with the love of my man and my mom. How can I help but make amazing magic in that space?

I'm saying YES!!! to life and loving every minute of it.

http://www.oolalatheartylife.com/