Ep 03. Staying Rooted by Tuning into Your Artistic Expression, with Fiona Valentine

Kim: [00:00:00] All right, Fiona, could you please tell us a little bit about your background, your personal story as it relates to being an expat and as it relates to art and kind of give us some background on how you got to where you’re where you are today and what you’re doing now.

Fiona: [00:00:17] I’d love to. Well, these days I’m an art coach and I host luxury art retreats for women. And I’m an artist; I work in my home studio in Melbourne, Australia, and I teach a few art classes each week. And I love sharing how to take your ideas and turn them into finished paintings. I like to create beautiful, meaningful art and to encourage people that I believe they have more than enough talent and creativity; what they need is skills. I love teaching color, drawing, design, the creative process – so that people can find art accessible.

Fiona: [00:01:03] So my expat story started a long time before that. I left school and went to Africa to teach kids to read. And I met my husband and married and had kids. And I think we had six international moves in the first 10 years we were together.

Kim: [00:01:22] Wow.

Fiona: [00:01:23] Crazy time. So in the middle of that, I had been a very creative person. I did painting in high school and I found myself in a mud village, no electricity, no running water, nobody who spoke my language, making some really bad decisions about my creativity. At that stage in my early 20s I just couldn’t see – up close and personal with poverty – how it mattered, why it was important. And I put it aside and at the time, I had no idea what I was doing to myself, and I actually became really quite depressed. 

And looking back, I think, if only somebody had helped me to see how tied my creativity was to who I was as a person, how I was wired, and how I could have nurtured myself and strengthened the very skills I needed to thrive in a cross-cultural situation. I couldn’t see that at the time. It only came with a lot of years and two kids, nine years of home schooling, lots of moves. And now I’ve got back into art in my thirties. So this is kind of the nutshell version of how I went from expat – I’m married to an American, I’m Australian – and how I found my way back to art in my thirties, and now that’s what I do and I love it.

Kim: [00:02:56] That’s fantastic. I love how you talked about learning to take your creativity seriously, that it was something that you really had to bring with you everywhere you go as a as a tool for emotional and mental well-being. Yeah, I love that.

Fiona: [00:03:16] Yeah. I just did not see in those days, you know, I was packing for the physical, even preparing for the spiritual, but I just I didn’t really understand about soul care, and how I could prepare and make space for my creativity and how that would really assist the transition and thriving in another culture.

Kim: [00:03:36] Mm hmm. Yeah, and and you talked also about – that you didn’t have a lot of space in your suitcase. And a lot of times when we’re moving, that’s a huge consideration and we have to choose: what do we take and what do we leave behind? And it’s a really hard decision, and I know I left behind a lot of my creativity and inspiring tools and then took many years to rebuild my supply. So what would you say to someone who feels like they don’t have enough space to take their creativity with them?

Fiona: [00:04:21] I think when we’re weighing – literally weighing – our bags and adding up the excess baggage fees and really making careful choices about what we take, it’s all about priorities, isn’t it? I think when we start to see that having a few simple tools, to keep our creative practice going, when we see the benefits that that can bring to integrating in another culture. Even on a brain level, just keeping our brain functioning so that the synapses and neural pathways for innovation, problem-solving, adapting, so we’re keeping those strong as well as managing our stress and creativity. If we realize the huge amount of benefit that can come, we’re more willing, I think, to make a little bit of space than a few grams – or, you know, whatever your measuring your bags with – for some pencils and some paint. 

These days, if I were moving and having to weigh my bags, all my boxes, I would be thinking about drawing because you can do so much with a bit of quality paper, some 6B and HB pencils, and a couple of erasers. Even some blue tack. I just use something called a kneaded eraser, which is kind of like putty. But blue tack will do a similar thing. Blue tack sometimes, I don’t know what… You know that gray stuff that you stick on the wall, do you call it blue tack?

Kim: [00:05:55] I don’t think I did in the US, but I know what you’re talking about. We would call it sticky tack, or, I don’t remember what I used to call it.

Fiona: [00:06:04] Yeah. Well that stuff. That’s good for just cleaning up your paper. So you can do a lot just with graphite and paper.

Fiona: [00:06:13] And if you’re really keen to paint water color comes in squeezable tubes and it also comes with dried blocks called pans. Those are light. They last a long time. They go a long way. So getting some artist quality watercolor paper, if you can. It’s very light. It can lay in the bottom of your suitcase and you can cut it up into the sizes that you want. And if it wrinkles you just iron it. Put it between some clean pieces of cotton paper.

Fiona: [00:06:42] So even if it gets a bit crumpled and banged up on the trip, steam iron between some clean sheets, you’ll be fine. And that will go a long way. Careful drawing and some watercolor on there. You can do a lot with those very light supplies.

Fiona: [00:06:57] Faber-Castell make a lovely little twelve pan set. That’s great for kids. It’s very inexpensive. And on their website you can find their stores all over the world, all over Europe, Africa, the Middle East. They’re in a lot of different places, so if you’re looking for something in country, pan water colors can be great. So that’s what I’d say for someone making space: Think pencils Think watercolor. Definitely think priority.

Kim: [00:07:25] That is really, really helpful. Now, what about paint brushes? Is that something that you think people should bring from home if they have something they like? Or is that generally something that’s easy to find a reasonable quality?

Fiona: [00:07:39] I would say paint brushes are definitely worth taking because they’re so light, they’re so small. Often they can be tricky to find good ones. If you’re doing watercolor, you want something with a good point. A couple of round brushes in different sizes will go a long way and save you for a long time. So, yes, if you can make some room for brushes, do.

Fiona: [00:08:04] There are a lot of – if you’re into reference photos, it’s so easy to have digital copies or online access to resource material. Kathy Barbro from ArtProjectsForKids.org, I think it is, has great printables for kids: free ones, very inexpensive to purchase ones. I use them in my kids classes. They’re simple. And they’re fun to do just to sit down with kids and do them. And they’re just about the right degree of difficulty.

Kim: [00:08:35] These are for drawing?

Fiona: [00:08:38] For drawing. Yeah. And the kids in my classes draw them and then we paint them in watercolor.

Kim: [00:08:44] Ok.

Fiona: [00:08:45] Yeah, they’re fun.

Kim: [00:08:47] OK. And then you talked also about getting a high quality pigment. Can you say a little bit more about how do you know before you buy something, like if you don’t already have the training in art to know that, which one should you buy?

Fiona: [00:09:03] That’s a good question. Yeah. I actually have some information on my Web site, FionaValentine.com. The pigment quality is really important. Faber-Castell, this little pan set, it isn’t bad. As a general rule, I would choose artist’s watercolor if you can. Because when you mix color, if you have all three primaries, red, yellow and blue, you’re going to mix brown. So any time that you have a pigment in your paint, that’s not really pure, as soon as you start mixing two colors together, you’re going to get brown unless that pigment is really pure. So I teach a lot of color theory in my classes. You’ll find that in my blog, on my website. 

I also have a color course that teaches how to mix color using two yellows, reds and two blues. And there’s a whole science in pigment. There’s no such thing as a pure pigment, there’s always a bias to orange or green or purple. And when you understand that, it can help you mix a bright clean color or a more dull color. So pigment quality matters if you’re interested in mixing paint. So it can help to go for a good quality paint, an artist quality.

Kim: [00:10:21] Ok. And is it marked that way on the package? Does it say artist’s paint?

Fiona: [00:10:25] It usually does. It’ll usually say for student or artist. So a reputable brand like Winsor & Newton in England or Daniel Smith in the U.S. is another excellent brand. But anything that’s listing artist quality is likely to be just what you need.

Kim: [00:10:50] I see in your Facebook group, it’s called the Confident Artist. You’ve got a fantastic video for people who are working with kids. And you show exactly the materials that you have tried and tested and discovered work really, really well. And that was really helpful. Plus, a carrying case all looks super convenient just to carry it all around.

Fiona: [00:11:17] Yes, since my class was mobile, I have to be really efficient. You have to lug it in and out of the car a couple of times a week. So I really paired it down. That little video, which if you just search “painting with kids” or something like that in the Facebook group, you’ll be able to find that that video. It’ll explain what I do.

Kim: [00:11:39] Yeah. Very nice. What would you say about the difference between… Is there a difference between the process of creating art and the end product or in your mind, is that kind of all different pieces or different steps along one continuum?

Fiona: [00:12:06] I really like this. Now we’re getting into the good stuff. I found in my own journey with making art and working with hundreds of other people in making art, both adults and kids, that it is really helpful to distinguish the journey from the finished result. Because we can get really results focused.

Fiona: [00:12:27] And we’d love to think if I just wave the paint brush around while feeling inspired, then I’m going to create something amazing. But like most worthwhile things, learning to create good art actually takes a lot of skill. So if you can kind of break it down and enjoy the journey of learning each of the skills, that’s where I found a lot of the joy is. If we’ve got unrealistic expectations of creating a masterpiece pretty fast without much practice, we’re going to end up in frustration quite a bit.

Fiona: [00:13:03] And our inner critic gets super vocal around creativity. It can be really mean. Whether that’s writing or painting, it seems to be similar. So when you know that, you can set a smaller goal and decide: Am I working through a particular set of drawing practices? Or learning to mix color? Am I beginning to discover paint and experimenting? And that’s where having someone to help guide you, a book or an online tutorial or a course, can be helpful because it can really break it down so that you have fun in the step you’re in and you kind of get in that zone where you lose track of time and you’re just having fun pushing paint around and you can kind of keep yourself from that painful, critical, unrealistic, I have to produce a masterpiece kind of thing.

Fiona: [00:13:57] And the nice thing about art is if you don’t try to bite off more than you can chew as we say, if you don’t aim too much higher than your skill, you’ll continually be surprised and delighted with little joys along the way.

Kim: [00:14:14] Yeah, I have definitely found that in photography, that if I start with an intention that’s just outside my reach, then I’m really growing and enjoying the discovery process rather than having some expectation that’s really beyond what I can do in that moment. So that’s helpful. I have not yet tried that with painting, but I’m becoming more and more interested in painting as I see what’s going on in your group and seeing what other people are doing. Yeah.

Fiona: [00:14:45] Yeah, it’s fun. I think one of the things that surprised me when I started making regular time to painting was how much it opened my eyes to everyday beauty I’d just been walking straight past things and not paying attention and learning to paint and draw made me look closer. And I started enjoying the sky, the flowers, the birds, just the little things, the way the light moved. And I think when you, particularly if you’re in transition, everything’s fresh. It’s different. And it can be good different and bad different. And we notice both. But a simple drawing practice or a simple painting practice can really (or even photography) can open your eyes to noticing all the little beauties around you. And it can be a wonderful way to enter another culture and really appreciate it.

Kim: [00:15:40] Yeah. So do you recommend that people set aside regular time every day or every week or just go with their inspiration?

Fiona: [00:15:52] Well, somebody said it when inspiration shows up, it should find you working. I found that really true. Inspiration can be incredibly frustrating because it will show up when you can’t make time. And then when you’ve made time, you wonder where it is. So I’ve found routine has been huge.

Fiona: [00:16:15] And routine really works with what we know of brain science. Little and often is the best way to learn. So ideally, I encourage people towards a 20 minute studio practice. You can – in your diary, and physically in your home – make a physical space and a time space where you can spend fifteen or twenty minutes regularly. Obviously you’re not going to get tons done in that time. But your main task is to show up. To show up regularly. And to have something ready that you can go on with. And then if once a week or once a fortnight, you can have a longer session to really dive deep, it’s great.

Fiona: [00:16:55] But that little “regular and often” will break down so much of the resistance that you might find that you encounter when you start to prioritize creativity. Because there is a really powerful dynamic that is not really fully just us. It’s bigger than us. But artists and writers have all observed this and written about it for years. Resistance is real. So routine can be your friend.

Kim: [00:17:22] What do you recommend for parents who are wanting to encourage their kids to paint but feel like the setup and cleanup process takes longer than the actual painting, and that is an obstacle for them to overcome?

Fiona: [00:17:38] Yeah, I remember feeling like that so much back in our home schooling days. There was so much to do that mess was not high on my priorities.

Fiona: [00:17:48] I think watch my video. Because I can clean up after 16 kids in under half an hour. So it’s a pretty fast. And it’s such a simple way of painting that the kids can even do it for themselves. Rinse a few brushes. Watercolor is very forgiving in terms of clean up. It’s much easier than acrylic or oil. So that simple setup really helps. And I found too that some kids love you to sit with them and tell them exactly what to do and comment on their every move. And other kids do not want to be told. Just give them the supplies and leave them alone. So kind of knowing your own child helps.

Fiona: [00:18:34] And sometimes if you tell them we’re going to do art, resistance will kick in. But if you sit down and draw, often it’s like a magnet. They’ll just want to come and sit down and join you. You just have to be careful that it’s not time for YOU. Because it’s time for you, you don’t to be doing it with your kids. Promise me. But if it’s time for them, sometimes you can draw them in through the back door, just sitting down and having a go, and they can’t help themselves. They’ve got to come and, “Oh, can I have a go?”

Kim: [00:19:07] Yeah. That is so true with almost everything, isn’t it.

Fiona: [00:19:12] Yeah.

Kim: [00:19:12] OK, so then how how can parents set aside time for themselves? Like if I want to have art time for the kids and art time for me. Are there any quick tips that can help us carve out that time? When we’re in the middle of family life and school and cooking and raising kids and everything that comes with that.

Fiona: [00:19:34] Yeah, it’s huge. I have realized and I tell my students all the time, unless you put it in your diary, it’s never going to happen. But when you realize the value to you in terms of soul care, just being able to feel happier within yourself, more settled, show up more creatively for parenting and work and problem solving, all the things, you start to realize, OK, that 20 minutes that I can carve out at a time of day that suits me, it’s just so worth it.

Fiona: [00:20:04] So I like to start with asking yourself: are you a morning person or a night person? And if you can find your optimum time of day and book it in then, and find a physical space, it doesn’t have to be fancy, but if you don’t have to drag everything out every time you sit down to draw or paint. If you can’t absolutely have little desk spot or a table spot, that’s just for your art, then have a box where you can pull out all the supplies and it’s really quick to just begin.

Fiona: [00:20:36] Because obviously that’s the hardest part, just beginning. But I also use a timer. Because I find if I set the timer, then it helps me overcome if I’m feeling reluctant. And the appointment in my calendar helps me show up, no matter how I’m feeling. And I like to tell the family, this is my art time. Trust me, I’m going to be a nicer mother if I get this time. Will you help me?

Fiona: [00:21:02] And when they know, oh, this is mom’s art time. And you remind them and you hold that boundary, if they’re even awake when you’re doing it. All those, those little things can help.

Fiona: [00:21:13] And if you kind of, if you realize making art is war, and everything’s going to come against you, then you can kind of set up the battlefield so that you’re going to win. And I think you kind of have to see it on those terms.

Kim: [00:21:27] Ok, that’s really helpful. Let’s see as far as packing your suitcase, you had told me the other day as well that we need to consider the climate. Can you tell us a little bit more about how we might think about the climate as we’re choosing art supplies?

Fiona: [00:21:47] So if you’re in a really dry climate, you may find that paint tubes or supplies are going to dry out very quickly. If you’re trying to paint in acrylic it may be more difficult in a dry environment. If you’re in a very humid environment you may find that things get moldy. So if you’re using pan watercolors, I would leave the lid off and let them dry out. And if you need to keep them dust free, make sure that there’s still air circulating somehow, so that you keep things from going moldy.

Fiona: [00:22:19] So those kind of considerations. Sometimes you’ll have to keep things in the refrigerator. Brushes you might need to be careful that they dry flat on the table, with lots of air around them so they don’t go moldy. And you may need to just keep an eye that bugs or moths or insects aren’t getting into your brushes. If you’re using them regularly that won’t really be a problem. But a few little awarenesses really of the climate you’re living in, and precautions, could help preserve your precious art materials. So that the climate’s not doing some damage.

Fiona: [00:22:53] The other thing to think about is if you’re flying across international borders, just be careful of where you pack things and how you label them. Most art supplies, most paint, should never be listed as paint. Because as soon as you start as paint, people think, oh, house paint, which is full of chemicals. And when you talking about artist paint, you’re not really talking about paint. It’s not in the same universe at all. It’s pigment. And the pigment is just colored powder and it’s mixed with either oil or gum arabic, or something completely non-toxic and very simple. 

So you can usually get a materials list from whoever you purchase that paint from. It’s a good idea to keep that with your paperwork and just put on your list of things in your checked baggage that it’s just pigment. Lots of artists who travel internationally will have things on their blog about how to pack for international travel. Obviously, you can’t take anything flammable or toxic. So if you’re working with oil paint, you would need to travel with no solvents, nothing [—] like that. Just keep it simple and just give it some thought before you pack.

Kim: [00:24:11] Ok, that’s excellent. Thank you. Let’s see, you talked a little bit already about being at home with your harshest critic. And I know that one of the things you offer is an art retreat. And you said that that was one of the benefits, is that you’re not just sitting home with your harsh critic. Can you say a little bit more about that and the benefits of being in a group setting and in a retreat setting?

Fiona: [00:24:45] Yeah. I’m actually borrowing a line from Jonathan Rogers, there, “home alone with your harshest critic.” When I heard him say this on his podcast, I just thought, wow, he has nailed it. That’s what it’s like.

Fiona: [00:25:02] I think too, just realizing, overcoming that inertia and the self-criticism and the motivation struggle sometimes of being alone that I often thought to myself. Wow. Just like having a weekend with a group of other artist women to plan and strategize what we’re going to paint. I can just imagine that that would be, there would be such a synergy about that. So I went about creating the kind of retreat that I had thought for years to be amazing.

Fiona: [00:25:32] And I also noticed in my classes, class time was over so soon. We just gather momentum, and there’s so much more we could say, so much more we could dive into. So having this three day art retreat where we don’t think about meals, they’re all provided. We don’t have to think about laundry or interruptions. There’s just three days and everybody in that room, that small group of women, they’re there on the same journey, and it was just powerful to watch.

Fiona: [00:26:04] A beautiful environment with time, without interruptions. To see how that creative inspiration just showed up because we were making space. And how the affirmation of being able to say to women who understood, who would hold space for you and who could hear you say, I’m thinking about having an exhibition, but it feels so scary. Why is that? To be able to unpack that, and help to brainstorm together how you could bring an exhibition together. Just the little things that came up in conversation. It was really powerful to see that synergy that happens in a class and how in retreats it happens so much more. Yeah, it’s wonderful just to have that time together, where you’re not talking about art and watching your listener just glaze over. But, you know, you’re with people who get your passion for color and paint and composition.

Kim: [00:27:06] Oh that’s great. Yeah, my mother-in-law goes on quilting retreats, and I think there are a lot of similar aspects there where the synergy of working on something together. They make a lot more progress that way.

Fiona: [00:27:21] It’s powerful. The energy of the group really just holds you and helps keep you in the zone. And it’s fun.

Kim: [00:27:30] Yeah. So do you also teach online or is your Facebook group the main online interaction that you have, or do you have classes online as well?

Fiona: [00:27:43] I do. I have a color course online and I also offer coaching – a twelve week program to help people work through becoming a profitable artist and looking at clarity around what it is they’re interested in making. What their goals are for their art, for their business. For some people, it’s a brand new dream of making a living from their art. For others, it’s realizing I’ve been doing this but I need some help to really make this work. Time wise. Income wise. So we look at the clarity around the strategy and then look at their creative process so that rather than trying to make everything they’re interested in, they’re making things that are in a very aligned way to their goals. And then we look at connection. Connecting the brand, who they’re marketing their art to, how they bring that message to their ideal customers and serve them well. So all of those things.

Fiona: [00:28:41] So there’s that coaching package, the color course. And then I’m working on some other courses for drawing and composition. And in the retreat we kind of look at all of that in a nutshell, particularly focused on the creative process aspect. How do I take my idea and turn it into a finished painting. So much that goes into that. We really dive deep.

Kim: [00:29:03] Yeah, yeah. Oh, that’s fantastic.

Kim: [00:30:28] What are some of the things that you observe or have experienced as people are engaging with this artistic medium, but also at the same time engaging with their internal terrain? Yeah, just what have you. How would you put that into words, some of the things that you think are happening during that time.

Fiona: [00:30:51] It’s such an interesting process, because even, even without being in an art therapy space, even when we’re just being quite practical, I’d like to paint something that looks like this, I’d like to learn the skills. You almost can’t separate the two. And it’s fascinating to see how the journey of being creative. There is a lot of soul work going on, and the things that we create are really deeply tied to our vision of ourselves. And we can feel really vulnerable when we start to get creative. And that’s great. And it’s also hard.

Fiona: [00:31:35] So for me personally, I’ve found that making art when I’m making it regularly and I stay in that space of just kind of learning the next thing, that I, I really get in that zone where I lose track of time. And I’ve Found that having that experience in my life keeps me steady. I just find myself calmer in lots of different aspects of my life. And so without me even really understanding what’s going on I see the emotional benefits for me. And coming to even make the space for myself to value my creativity enough and understood how it fit in my human experience, and in my responsibility as a human in the world.

Fiona: [00:32:22] For me, that was a really spiritual thing. And it only came when I started to see, Oh wow. My creativity is really tied to my relationship with God. And when I make time to be creative, I’m entering into the way that I’m wired on a really deep level. I’m being myself on a really authentic and deep level. So it’s not frivolous at all. And that realization really opened me up to prioritize my creativity.

Fiona: [00:32:56] And now, as I help other women to (and men as well) tap into their creativity, I see these same struggles. I see these same things surface. Self-image things, vulnerability things, valuing themselves and their desires, and fitting boundaries, there are just so many things. It’s actually amazing how much soul work is going on. And how many little struggles we have with our creativity… And they’re not really just about our creativity. They’re about our lives, how we view ourselves, how we think others see us, how we see the world. So it’s pretty deep. I’ve found it’s been really healthy.

Kim: [00:33:43] Yeah, you’ve said that really beautifully. Thank you.

Fiona: [00:33:48] My pleasure. I just, I love seeing how it works out for people, and I love helping them to not just dismiss the struggles that come along, but see that, hey, this has benefit for the whole of life and we’re all in this together. It’s not just you facing imposter syndrome. It’s not just you making the struggle to prioritize your creativity. And when they start to see, oh, my goodness, you think that, too… it’s really powerful.

Kim: [00:34:14] Mm hmm. Yeah. So it’s not just a little annoying thought that’s cropping up that we should just push aside and ignore. But it’s actually part of the entire process to recognize it and then engage with it somehow and work through it.

Fiona: [00:34:33] Yeah. Absolutely. And the more that I’ve seen it in myself and then I see it in every other student who shows up, the more I’ve learned in the retreats, for instance, as part of teaching drawing, color, design, creative process, and sharing your work, the first module that we deal with is making space. That’s not just physically. It’s not just on your calendar, but it’s internally. All those little, those things, those thoughts, those obstacles, those barriers. And when people start to see, “oh, it’s not just me,” it’s powerful.

Kim: [00:35:12] Yeah. Is there anything else you would like to add?

Fiona: [00:35:17] It would just be fun to have three days to hang out on a beach somewhere and paint.

Kim: [00:35:23] It would be. You could come and visit me. And we could hang out on the beach right outside my house and paint.

Fiona: [00:35:29] I’d love to. So good to talk with you.

Kim: [00:35:34] Thank you so much for taking the time with us. And I hope that we’ll talk again soon.

Fiona: [00:35:41] Sounds like fun. Thank you.

Kim: [00:35:44] All right. Thank you so much.

Fiona: [00:35:47] My pleasure.