5 Things it Took Me 10 Years to Figure Out

[Music] Hi, my friends and welcome to this video. I wanted to chat with you face to

video. I wanted to chat with you face to face today, but I just got two of my wisdom teeth taken out and quite frankly, I look like and I also

feel like So, in celebration of that, I'm going to sketch a postsurgery self-portrait instead, while I tell you some important lessons that I've learned

as a self-taught, self-employed artist over the past decade. So, hi, I'm Brooke, and 10 years ago, I decided that despite working towards a degree in

landscape architecture, what I actually wanted was to pursue a career as an artist. This decision turned my life

artist. This decision turned my life upside down, but I could not be more grateful to my 21-year-old self for taking the leap despite all odds. Now,

I've been painting full-time for 9 years, and it has been more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined. But it

wasn't easy. So, here are five things that I have learned from my artistic journey, which I wish I could have told 21-year-old Brooke because it probably would have saved us both a lot of time

and headaches. Number one is stop making

and headaches. Number one is stop making money related goals. When I started my art journey, I had this habit of setting financial goals for myself. Like I want

to make this much money at this art fair or I want to make this much money by the end of the year. And guess what? I

pretty much never reached them. And that

was a very discouraging feeling. No

matter where you are in your art journey, motivation is key to pushing yourself forward. And that's why I think

yourself forward. And that's why I think it's so important that we set goals that are within our control. I had zero control over the amount of money I would

make at any given art fair. 10 wealthy

collectors may show up or five teenagers just looking for something to do on a Sunday afternoon. So, instead of the

Sunday afternoon. So, instead of the goal, I want to make $2,000 at this art fair, my goal should have been, I want to create 10 new paintings for this art

fair, or I want to apply to five art fairs this year. Those are goals that are within your control. And that makes them way more achievable. And when you do achieve these goals, it will do

wonders for your confidence and motivation. And just so there's no

motivation. And just so there's no misunderstandings, I do think that it is very important to think about money in an unpredictable profession such as an

artist. We have to be really smart about

artist. We have to be really smart about our savings. And I don't think that it's

our savings. And I don't think that it's a bad thing to set financial goals for yourself. But what can be damaging is

yourself. But what can be damaging is tying your worth as an artist to them.

This is something I still have to remind myself and not just with money, but with other things, too, like YouTube subscribers, for example. At the

beginning of this year, I said to myself, I want to reach a 100,000 subscribers by the end of this year. And

after sitting with this goal for a few weeks, I realized that I have no control over this number. And if I don't reach it by the end of the year, I'm probably going to feel pretty shitty about

myself. So instead, I set a goal that

myself. So instead, I set a goal that was within my control, and that was to upload a quality video every other week for an entire year. That's two videos a

month for a total of 26 videos. And at

the end of 2025, no matter what my subscriber count is, I can give myself a pat on the back for achieving my goal.

So, no matter where you are on your art journey, make sure that you're setting goals that are within your control. And

also celebrate the small victories

because they matter.

[Music]

Am [Music]

I true?

[Music] Number two, inspiration is holding you back. There have been so many times in

back. There have been so many times in my art career where I've procrastinated on painting because I thought I didn't have any good ideas or I wasn't feeling inspired.

But the truth is though inspiration is amazing and wonderful and precious, it's not reliable and it doesn't replace consistent work. You can't wait around

consistent work. You can't wait around for the lightning bolt to strike. You

got to be a stormchaser. Developing a

consistent art practice is way more valuable and beneficial. And I find that it's often through this practice that we find our way to inspiration. One idea

leads to another and you find yourself getting more and more excited until it's all you can think about. And there's

nothing that you'd rather do than this one brilliant creative thing. And when

this happens to you, I recommend riding that wave for as long as you can. I

think it's okay if it takes up most of your brain power because inspiration is such a fleeting thing. But I can also tell you that I think that 95% of my

best work happened not when I was feeling particularly inspired, but when I sat down and painted anyway. So don't

sit around and wait for the inspiration bug to bite you. Go build a bug hotel or design a bespoke line of bug suits or

paint a bug's portrait.

[Music] Number three, organization is underrated. I think as artists, we tend

underrated. I think as artists, we tend to romanticize the idea of chaos. We

love the charm of a messy art studio and the allure of a scattered artist brain.

But whether you'd like to acknowledge it or not, being organized is what allows you to take bigger steps faster. And

yes, I am talking to my younger self here. It literally took me 7 years to

here. It literally took me 7 years to figure this out. And this video is not sponsored by anyone, but I have to give a big old shout out to Notion for changing my life. I discovered Notion 2

years ago when I was planning my honeymoon, and I found it really useful for putting all the moving parts of this big trip in one place. And then I thought, what the heck? I should be doing this for my business. I had all

these ongoing projects, but I felt so disorganized. And I was kind of making

disorganized. And I was kind of making goals, but I didn't really know what I was working towards big picture. And

honestly, I was feeling down on myself, like I wasn't making enough progress and dillydallying way too much. So, I

decided I was going to build myself a notion template where I could keep everything. My goals, my ongoing

everything. My goals, my ongoing projects, my to-do list, my calendars, my ideas, everything. And now I can't picture my life without it. And I know

that sounds a little dramatic, but it's true. I use it every single day. And it

true. I use it every single day. And it

is the reason why I have been able to, for example, upload a video every other week on top of all of my other projects.

And it's because I'm planning ahead. I'm

writing down all my ideas. I'm

scheduling when I'm going to do what.

And it has made all the difference. And

I think it's really important, especially if you're a beginner artist at the start of your art journey, to be organized. I can't tell you how many

organized. I can't tell you how many hours I wasted just wondering what I was going to do that day. And time is precious, my friends. Now, every Monday

morning, I sit down and write out my priorities for the week in my weekly planner. I figure out what I'm going to

planner. I figure out what I'm going to do when and then I know exactly how to spend my time in a way that will bring me closer to my goals. I know that not everybody is a digital person, but I did

make my notion template available for purchase if you're interested. And here

is a video. I'm putting it on the screen now if you want to see exactly how I use it. And if you're more of an analog type

it. And if you're more of an analog type of person, just go to a stationary shop or even the dollar store and just get yourself a weekly planner. Just please

trust me when I say that organization is going to make your life and your artistic goals much more manageable.

[Music]

Number four, follow your curiosities.

When I was pursuing my art career, I fell into a bit of a mental trap. And

that was, oh my god, I'm again, oh my god, I need to find my niche. I need to find my artistic voice. I need to have a consistent body of work.

and it caused me a good deal of stress, which in hindsight was completely unnecessary. I think as long as you're

unnecessary. I think as long as you're making good work, you don't need to freak out about niching down. I think

it's so important as artists that we don't restrict ourselves when we want to explore something creatively, especially when you're at the beginning of your art journey. That's the worst time to be

journey. That's the worst time to be putting yourself in a box. I have had the most amount of fun creatively when I've let myself follow my curiosities, and that helps keep the creative spark

alive. You may not think that my

alive. You may not think that my handmade jewelry projects or my mushroom ornaments had anything to do with my painting career, but after exploring these mediums and learning new skills, I

get back behind the easel feeling refreshed and motivated and creatively charged. And that's when the ideas come

charged. And that's when the ideas come and the masterpieces get made. So,

seriously, stop worrying so much if all your paintings look like they're made by 10 different people. And don't feel guilty if you want to take a week or a month and get obsessed with a different

creative project and learn some new skills. The most important thing is that

skills. The most important thing is that you're trying to produce the best work that you can, no matter what you're making. Since I feel quite passionately

making. Since I feel quite passionately about this, I did make a whole video about niching down, which you can watch here on the screen. I'm putting it on

the screen now. And lastly, number five, your mindset is everything. And I mean everything. If you want to make art your

everything. If you want to make art your career, you have to adopt a growth mindset. What is a growth mindset? Well,

mindset. What is a growth mindset? Well,

it is the belief that your abilities, intelligence, and talents can be developed through dedication, hard work, learning, and persistence rather than being fixed or innate. People with a

growth mindset see challenges as opportunities. view setbacks as learning

opportunities. view setbacks as learning experiences and believe that effort is a path to mastery and success. And that is according to my Google search. I learned

to adopt a growth mindset early in my career. And it was thanks to an

career. And it was thanks to an experience that honestly could have been careerending. I had just worked for over

careerending. I had just worked for over a month straight on two paintings that I created as submissions for a jured art exhibition at a nearby gallery. I felt

so confident that I would get into this show since I had applied the year prior and had all of my submissions accepted.

And well, you can probably already guess what happened. I was rejected. And for a

what happened. I was rejected. And for a budding artist, this was crushing. My

ego was hurt. I felt angry and sad and confused. And after a few hours of

confused. And after a few hours of feeling really sorry for myself, I had to make a decision. Was I going to let this thing derail my entire dream, or was I going to grow from it? And that's

when I decided that no matter what, I was going to choose growth. I'm always

going to persist through the setbacks because my dream deserves that. And I'm

also not going to let my ego get in the way of a learning experience. I'm always

going to approach my art journey as a student because I'm always learning. And

that means that I'm always growing.

Does it look like me? You know what?

It's been a minute since I've done a self-portrait, and I like how this turned out. I think that it's good to

turned out. I think that it's good to sometimes turn your pain into art. I'm

not going to talk for too much longer, cuz to be honest, my mouth hurts. But I

wanted to thank you for watching this video and for joining me today and hanging out. And I hope that we can do

hanging out. And I hope that we can do it again together soon. Hopefully

without an ice pack on my face. I hope

sincerely that you found some value in this video and take what resonates with you and leave what doesn't. That's

always the way the way to go, the way we should be learning. If you have any of your own tips or things that you've learned throughout the course of your own art journey that you want to share,

please leave it in the comments. Love to

hear that. Also, if you are working on something while watching this video, I also like to hear those things. So, just

leave a comment below. Even just say hi.

Love to hear from you guys. Thank you so much and I hope I see you in the next video. I'm Brooke Cormier and I'll

video. I'm Brooke Cormier and I'll see you next time.

[Music] [Laughter] [Music]