Maria is an artist living in Stockholm, Sweden. She paints mostly abstract landscapes in watercolors and acrylics. Her aim is to capture the majestic nature and reserved cultural atmosphere of Scandinavia in her art. Her hope is that her work will bring a sense of calm to the viewer.
This episode is about Maria's story of growing into an artist. She shares her personal struggles and where she is at now in her journey. We talked a lot about making art and what stands in the way and how to approach it. There is a lot of great advice for creatives.
This episode is a treat for visual artists and painters as her approach to art is inspiring and uplifting. I really hope you'll enjoy the conversation as much as I did and take something of value out of it.
Here's what we talk about in this episode:
- a little intro about Maria and her work
- growing up with an artist mother and how she felt afraid of her work being compared to her mother's
- choosing graphic design over painting and making art to follow the structure plus rules and saving herself from getting it wrong
- painting for the sake of the process in private
- moving through the discomfort
- taking a leap and taking two years off to paint and figure out what she would like to be doing next
- how she is managing her time and work online
- managing the company and showing her work online
- the creative freedom that we all long for
- taking the pressure off by allowing yourself to not make money from your art
- finding your style and how to go about it
- putting in the hours in your art practice is important
- how she approaches painting
- ways to keep yourself motivated and not getting disappointed along the way
- creating without focusing on a specific outcome but creating for the sake of creating
- an exercise for perfectionists who would like to paint
- the 100 day project of painting
- how one can take the pressure off your paintings
- growing and developing as an artist
- detaching your self-worth from your work allows you to experiment more
- learning to not think what other people say about your art because it is not for everyone
- advice for someone who is starting out
- investing in fewer good materials instead of having more cheaper ones
- struggles with not wanting to waste the materials and how to go about it
- her struggles with creative blocks
Find links to the resources we discuss in the full show notes.
Maria's website and Instagram
Hira's website and Instagram
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