Community

It's where you put your energy... mostly.

(a personal post, be prepared for a bit of a read and not something I have shared anywhere else…)

I’ve been thinking a lot about community lately. As someone who studied Sociology and Anthropology a million years ago, I am a keen observer of people, how we interact and behave, and how important community is both in-person and online.

I am fascinated by the way we interact, how we support one another and how we inspire one another consciously and subconsciously.

For the last year or so, something has shifted. Whether it’s what’s happening online, in our world, or perhaps at the point of my life where I care less about the frivolous and more about the deeper, speak directly-to-my-heart-or -spirit kind of vibe, I’ve tried to fill this void that I’m feeling at the moment.

And I think I realize what’s been missing

It’s community.

As someone who has a thriving online based business, I often focus on where we are building a community of creatives and how they interact within that community. But also how I can best serve them in a way that suits my energy, my lifestyle, and my personal goals for why I do what I do - which is make art, teach art, and help fellow artists fall in love with their art practice (in case we are meeting for the first time :)). I have a wonderful community. A loyal community. Talented, gifted, kind, and supportive community.

But a lot has changed in the online space.

I’m feeling like we don’t interact enough. We are overwhelmed by information and the quantity of how much information we have available to us.

I don’t know about you, but I have hundreds of reels saved of recipes, workouts, DIY’s, advice, yoga face exercises, travel ideas, new art tools…. the list goes on and is one that I never look at again! How is it in a time where we have access to anyone and everything that we have very little connection?

Is it just me?!

This past year I have put energy into things that I think are going to fill a need and end up falling short or leaving me more drained than energized, I tried resurrecting the podcast - with good intention. Then it was just too much or didn’t feed me with the energy that I wanted or needed. I tried creating a new Youtube video a week with coffee chats, tutorials etc. - it left me feeling overwhelmed. I tried spending more time on Instagram - hello hundreds of saved reels and the feeling of drain and overwhelm again.

I’m feeling nostalgic for a time when the online space was filled with blogs that shared a bit of soul, photos that I could pause, sit with, and take a moment to feel the energy of what I was observing.

When conversations were less about algorithms and more about connections, and art and creativity felt like a genuine expression of what we innately needed to share. When in-person was more about sharing and less about the postering or making me feel like I need to be hustling more.

Yes, perhaps even back then we were over edited, over curated, and not authentic enough. We are all just carving out our space and sharing our voice and doing the best we can right?!

So here’s where I am feeling excited and energized and hoping you’ll join me with!

This space right here.

Whether you’re reading this in your emails, or hanging out on Substack and reading, this is the space where I am putting in my energy and personally hanging out.

It doesn’t mean that I am leaving all the others behind, it means this is where I am building my community and interacting, and creating and making art, and sharing more of my spirit and passion.

This is where each week I’ll share advice, techniques, snippets of my personal space and once in a while long posts like these! It’s where we will paint live, chat and carve out our time to spend on art, being inspired and feeling less overwhelm.

Take what you need, leave what you don’t, and most importantly spend more time with brush in hand and time to work on your personal art practice.

We start June 1st and it will be slow, lovely, and beautiful!

Nicki x