How I Traded Corporate Life for Creative Freedom

Taking a leap of faith and diving into full-time creative entrepreneurship marks the beginning of this raw, honest conversation about pursuing your passions. After leaving a steady paycheck behind, I've jumped headfirst into running my art studio full-time and launching my very first children's art camps.

The joy of watching toddlers discover art materials for the first time has been nothing short of magical. These little ones arrive each morning bursting with excitement, ready to sculpt self-portraits in air-dry clay, adding new elements daily from facial features to personal touches reflecting their interests. Though smaller than anticipated, this intimate group has created the perfect environment for genuine creative exploration. The ripple effects extend beyond our studio sessions, with parents reporting hours of continued artistic play at home.

What's truly surprised me is how far people will travel for authentic creative experiences. Students drive from counties away to participate in workshops, families plan special trips centered around visiting the studio, and social media connections bring in new creatives seeking community. This widespread interest has validated my decision in unexpected ways, as has being selected as an animator for Toronto's Winter Wonderland exhibit and being invited to speak about establishing yourself as an artist. These opportunities simply weren't possible when my energy was divided.

The transition hasn't been without challenges - it's simultaneously "scary and exhilarating and demanding and stressful" - but the fulfillment outweighs the fear. If you've been hesitating to pursue your own creative calling, consider this your sign to take that first step. Even dedicating just a few minutes daily to what you love can nurture that passion and potentially transform your life. Life truly is too short to postpone joy. Follow along on social media to see our studio adventures and perhaps find the inspiration for your own creative journey.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome Back: Full Artist Mode
• 0:51 Toddler Art Camp Adventures
• 4:09 Community Growth Beyond Local Area
• 6:22 Toronto Animation Award News
• 8:14 Embracing Creative Dreams Despite Fear
• 9:52 Upcoming Events and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:06

Welcome back to a new episode. I am so excited to be back with Brutally Made. I am in full artist mode. I have retired, we went through the 4th of July holiday and this is my first full week of kids camps and running my art studio during the day, so it has been an amazing transition. So thanks for bearing with me through some little time changes and differences, because I have been doing so much. I absolutely love it.

Speaker 0: 0:44

So this week I wanted to talk about just expecting the unexpected. And you have the best plans put in place, but you never know what's going to happen, and I have never had art camps before. So I'm going to be sharing on the YouTube channel some of the pictures from the toddlers this week. They have been hilarious, so stinking cute and I didn't know like what I would have going with, how many would sign up. I have all boys and they are the sweetest and I wasn't sure if they would even like some of the activities I had planned, and they love them and they are just so curious and trying new things. Everything that we have done has been something new. They had never tried it before. So I love that. And one comes with his grandma and one comes with his mom, and I have two and I had a minimum or I'm sorry, I had a request for at least 10. But two were fine because I will take. I didn't, I didn't care if we only got one sign up, I just wanted to be able to offer that age group and it is just so. I mean fulfilling for me, because they are just so sweet and they love playing and learning and exploring and every morning when they come in it's like they're so excited and then they take things home to work on. And you know, jill, one of the moms, comes back and she's like she played with this for like two hours and it's just so sweet. So I love it. I love that they're exploring and I love that they're learning to do new things and trying new things.

Speaker 0: 2:34

We have this progressive self portrait that they're working on. So every day they have a craft that they get to work on and take home. But there's one that they've been working on and it stays at the studio every day and they add to it. And so today's the last day, friday, and they'll be adding their hair to it. So their self-portrait's on a canvas and it's in air dry clay and every day they've been sculpting their face, their ears, their neck. That was the first day. And then they added their eyes and their eyelids and eyebrows and their eyes and their pupils. That was the second day. The third day they got to add their little noses and add everything around their head that they liked. So if they like certain toys or certain foods, or they get to paint around it and draw around it and just decorate it. And then yesterday they got to add their little mouths and teeth and tongue. It's just the sweetest. And so today they'll get to finally get the hair added on and they'll take it home today.

Speaker 0: 3:37

And I have a shirt and bandana nature project that we're working on. So it's been so hot and sunny I was really counting on it to be nice today, so I'm hoping it will. So we get to decorate those t-shirts and those bandanas like I want to. But I've got some backup plans and I think they're going to roll with the punches just fine and just. You know, I just am very excited about having that opportunity for the kids in our community. Next week I have almost an entirely full class for primary kids that's my biggest one so I'm very excited about getting to craft with them all week long and then after that I have middle school and then after that I have teenagers.

Speaker 0: 4:24

So the entire month of January listen to me of July is kids camps in the mornings, before I even open the store studio, and I have also been blown away by people stopping in to craft during the day and some of them travel quite far. I have a student that will be back today for our air dry clay watercolor palette. We have a sculpture class going on and striving from. You know Ravenna. That's amazing to me. I had a family come in from Akron, from Summit County. You know they're traveling to visit the studio and take a class or an explore. You know creativity and I love that. That is just blowing my mind how, outside of the local area, people are craving to have a community, to make something, enjoy some time together, think outside the box, and that's what I absolutely love. People are coming in saying they're finding me on social media and you know crafting along.

Speaker 0: 5:31

I had a great opening exhibit this month. I am the exhibiting artist. I have my work on the walls I painted live during my exhibit open reception and one of the toddlers wanted to see the painting come to life so early this morning I animated that. So when he comes in today I can show him that experience, because he got to see some of the work on the wall and watch it come to life and was just like blown away. And so I again. That's one of the reasons I love doing that, because it gets the kids so engaged with art and he's putting his little hands in the pictures and, just you know, fascinated by it.

Speaker 0: 6:12

And then I found out this week I was awarded as one of the animators for Toronto, canada's Winter Wonderland exhibit at Toronto Junction. I am so excited for that. I am literally going to get my passport so I can go. I was in Toronto over 20 years ago and I want to go back. I want to go back with my husband. I want to explore the mural festival in the winter. I just am so excited about getting to participate in that. And so I get to use those, I guess, talents.

Speaker 0: 6:48

I always have a hard time. I'm always encouraging others to be like, yes, you're an artist, yes, you're talented, yes, but I still, to this day, it's hard for me to be like, yeah, I have this interest and you know, yeah, I do this. I got to practice what I preach right. It's really hard, but I am really really excited about that. And then on the 24th of July, I will be speaking in the Foundry about establishing yourself as an artist and embracing the local environment, and how you can use print on demand to give a lot of options so people can experience your work. So I'm very excited and very thankful for Margot Tantow to ask me to speak in that amazing group. I love being part of the Foundry, so I'm very honored and humbled to have been asked, because there are a lot of amazing artists there that I love learning from and I'm just trying to like find the right you know cadence where I can attend these.

Speaker 0: 7:54

Now, with the store being open, I tried to come to one of the open quarterly events and we had the store open and I got people coming in. So I had to like close out and I felt so bad, but it's a good problem to have, I think. And so I had to like close out and I felt so bad, but it's a good problem to have, I think, and so I just am very excited about everything going on. It was such a huge leap to quit a full-time, steady paycheck job and rely heavily on myself and just my husband working and the store. So yeah, it's scary and exhilarating and demanding and stressful, but I am still super excited about it all.

Speaker 0: 8:44

So I'm just here to encourage you to do anything that your heart is telling you to do, and don't let the negativity and the doubt overcome the little positive voice in your head. Keep that alive. Keep pursuing what you love to do and doing what you love, and find ways to make it work, even if it's just for a few minutes a day, and let that grow. Don't let it, you know, slip away. That's, that's my message for today. Keep your dreams alive. Life is too short and you've got to find ways to um, find ways to to make yourself, yourself, happy with what doing what you love. That's what's most important.

Speaker 0: 9:33

So, getting ready to go with those toddlers I can't wait for today's event. So follow me on social media and check out what we've been doing. It is a small but mighty group. It's been a lot of fun. So this is your weekly encouragement and a reminder that I'm back. I just have to, you know, get a new schedule in order, and July has got a lot in store. So I, oh, and I'm talking on Sunday at the Akron Zoo. So if you are local and you want to go to the zoo, find me, and Brian's going to be with me at the tiger exhibit and my friend Rachel is going to take over the store for me, so I didn't have to close. So thank you, rach, I appreciate that. Okay, a lot going on and a lot more coming up, so I will talk to you all later. Take care, have a wonderful weekend. Bye.