Welcome back to The Inspired Artist.
Each Friday, we'll explore who you learned to be, who you truly are, and who you are becoming. Then you'll receive a new mixed-media printable to spark your creativity.
Your Identity Has a Job Description
Last week we explored how identity is formed.
The experiences you had, the meaning you assigned to them, and the beliefs you created eventually became the person you believe yourself to be.
Today, I'd like to take that one step further.
Your identity has a job.
Once your subconscious accepts something as part of your identity, it begins using that identity as the reference point for your life. Every experience is viewed through the lens of who you already believe yourself to be.
Think about that for a moment.
The event itself isn't what shapes your life.
The meaning you assign to the event does.
One person receives criticism and decides they have more to learn.
Another receives the very same criticism and decides they aren't good enough.
One person experiences rejection and sees redirection.
Another experiences rejection and concludes they aren't worthy of being chosen.
The event may be identical.
The identity never is.
That's why identity matters so much.
Long before you're aware of it, your subconscious has already begun interpreting the world through the conclusions you've accepted as true.
Eventually those conclusions stop feeling like conclusions.
They simply feel like reality.
The moment you recognize that, something extraordinary happens.
You realize you aren't reacting to life.
You're reacting to the meaning you've given it.
And meaning can change.
Why Birds Continue to Find Their Way Into My Artwork
People often ask why birds appear so often in my artwork.
The truth is, I don't think I ever consciously decided they would.
They simply kept showing up.
Over time, I realized they had become a reflection of the things that matter most to me.
Freedom.
Protection.
Motherhood.
The bittersweet beauty of an empty nest.
And the kind of love that doesn't disappear just because life changes.
I've watched birds fiercely protect their young, then encourage them to leave the nest when it's time. There is something incredibly beautiful about that balance. They nurture, they protect, and eventually they let go.
I think there's a lesson in that for all of us.
Love was never meant to keep someone small.
It was meant to give them the confidence to fly.
That's why birds continue to find their way into my work.
Some wear crowns. Some wear hats. Some become whimsical characters that could never exist in nature. Yet beneath all of the layers, they always represent something deeply personal.
They remind me that freedom and love can exist together.
That protecting someone doesn't mean holding onto them.
And that every ending creates the space for a new beginning.
Every bird I create carries a little of that story with it.
This Week's Printable: Enchanted Bee Fairies
This week's printable was simply fun to create.
I love imagining worlds that don't existā€”where bees wear crowns, fairies have wings borrowed from honeybees, and a beehive becomes a tiny enchanted home.
That's one of the things I love most about mixed media.
There are no rules saying a bee has to look like a bee or a fairy has to look like a fairy. The moment your imagination gets involved, ordinary ideas become something entirely your own.
I hope these little characters find their way into an art journal, a collage, a handmade card, or anywhere else your creativity decides to take them.
The image starts with me.
The story it tells is completely yours.
Thank you for spending another Friday with me.
I hope this week's printable inspires you to spend a little time creating and reminds you that imagination has a way of taking ordinary ideas somewhere extraordinary.
I'll be back next Friday with another printable and another conversation about who you are becoming.
If you'd like to explore more of my artwork, journals, and wearable art, I'd love to have you visit AnacondaArt.com. If you are looking for coaching, or a monthly mini retreat experience go to janebellante.com.
Until next Friday,
Jane
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