Welcome back to The Inspired Artist.
Each Friday, we explore identity, creativity, and the way who you are influences what you create. Then you'll receive a new mixed-media printable to spark your creativity.
What Are You Building Your Creative Business On?
There is something incredibly exciting about deciding to build a business around your creativity.
An idea that once lived in your imagination becomes something you can share with someone else. Maybe you begin selling your artwork, teaching what you know, designing products, or finding another way to earn money from something you genuinely love.
Then the business begins asking you to make decisions.
This is where identity matters.
Every decision you make in your creative business comes from the person making it. Your beliefs about yourself influence the opportunities you pursue, the value you place on your work, and the amount of space you're willing to take up as an artist.
That means the foundation of your business begins long before you choose a logo or open a shop.
It begins with knowing who you are.
When you have a strong sense of your own identity, you have a reference point for the business you're creating. You can look at an opportunity and decide whether it belongs in the direction you're headed. You can allow your work to evolve while remaining connected to what matters to you.
This becomes especially important in a creative business because your work is personal.
Your perspective is part of what gives your art its character. The experiences you've had influence what captures your attention and eventually finds its way into your work. That same perspective can shape the business surrounding it.
There will always be another artist doing something interesting. There will always be a new idea worth exploring. Inspiration can open doors you hadn't considered, while a strong connection to your own identity helps you decide which doors belong to you.
That's the foundation.
Before you ask what you should sell or how you should market it, spend some time thinking about the person creating the business.
Who are you, and what do you want this business to become an expression of?
The clearer that answer becomes, the easier it is to build something that actually feels like yours.
The Story Behind Unstoppable Strength
There are pieces of art that begin with a clear idea, and there are others that seem to reveal their meaning as I create them. Unstoppable Strength became one of those pieces.
At the center is a butterfly fairy surrounded by blooming roses. As I began layering the words unstoppable strength, courageous, and in bloom into the collage, I kept thinking about the kind of strength we discover through experience.
We often think of strength as something we either have or we need to find. I see it differently. I think we discover our strength when life gives us an opportunity to use it. Each experience shows us a little more of what we're capable of, and that knowledge becomes part of who we are.
That's what the butterfly fairy represents to me. Her transformation has already happened, and now she gets to use her wings. There is freedom in that image because becoming changes what we believe is possible for ourselves.
The roses surrounding her felt equally important. A rose unfolds in its own way, revealing more of itself as it blooms. I think we do the same throughout our lives. Experience gives us an opportunity to discover another part of ourselves, and sometimes that discovery changes the way we see who we are.
That's the meaning behind Unstoppable Strength.
I created this original 10" x 10" mixed-media collage as a reminder of the strength that becomes visible when we choose to keep moving forward. Sometimes we discover who we are by seeing what we're capable of becoming.
