We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristen Fagan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kristen, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
I am devoted to inviting my muse out to play through a variety of art making mediums, curiosity and wonder! I enjoy reading books written by artists and books about the creative process.
Whenever I want to deep dive into a new subject matter in my life such as color energy, flower meanings, numerology or animal symbolism for example, I engage my creative senses as a way of understanding the material. Art journals, dance, and my painting practice are my way in. I get inspired when I am discovering new things.
I love exploring art challenges. I think these are a wonderful way to shake up your routine, open up to new ideas, and connect with new artists in the process. They move stagnant energy and get my creative mojo flowing!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I paint soul-full expressive art and hold space for you to discover your creative magic! I believe art to be an invitation to get to know yourself more fully. Art is our healer and our ally.
In my personal painting practice, I am currently working on The 100 Day Project exploring small abstract portals, my symbol of the year, and contemplating what the portal symbol means to me through the process. I visualize the canvas as being a portal to possibility, resilience, joy, empowerment and more! I have been experimenting with making my own paint from natural pigments. I enjoy the meditative process and the rich natural colors are calling me to work with them. The depth of using these materials is something I’m excited to work on bringing forth in my work. I am also working on creating a virtual exhibition to commemorate my “Floral Explorations” series of paintings that I began a few years ago. It is my largest body of work to date and I am looking forward to sharing this collection soon.
As a creativity empowerment guide, I share my passion for expression through creative wellbeing prompts, sketchbook studies and soul painting workshops that combine intuitive painting techniques with meditation, symbolism and self-exploration.
In the “Discover Your Creative Magic” Facebook group, I guide you to discover life’s magical moments through simple creative practices and rituals. It’s a safe place to share, explore and celebrate your art making adventures! Joining my Facebook group and subscribing to my YouTube channel, Kristen Fagan Art, are two ways to learn more about my creative process, expressive art techniques and give yourself permission to tap into your own inner artist.
In the “Creative Magic Circle” painting membership I launched this year I am cultivating an inspiring and magical sacred space. A community of soul artists connecting to their creative magic! The Creative Magic Circle is for those who want to discover themselves and their personal power through an intuitive and intentional painting process. Workshops are held over zoom. This allows us to support one another through the painting process virtually in way that is similar to being together in-person. However, I believe this virtual circle can be even more expansive! The ability to grow a collective of soul artists with diverse skills, experiences, and backgrounds in the circle will naturally deepen the soul journey of everyone. Here we gather, set intentions, strengthen our intuition, gain access to our inner wisdom and unleash our wild creativity. We are exploring the idea of a “meditation canvas” and allowing the art to shift and evolve with each layer. Join us in Creative Magic Circle on Patreon! Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/
I look forward to more creative connections, creative conversations and continuing my devotion to my personal practice.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Making time to play. The ability to play is a direct connection to our creative spirit. All work and no play make for a very dull existence. For me, it makes for a very cranky one too. At the heart of my creative practice is play. You must give yourself permission to play. Allow yourself to be a beginner. Paint just for the fun of painting. Be curious about a medium, technique, subject matter and make time to try new things without an end goal in mind.
Strengthening my intuition. Intuition is a way of knowing without thinking. It comes from a much deeper place than our thoughts alone. As a people pleaser, I struggled with saying no to things that where not serving my highest good. I didn’t value my worth and found making decisions to be difficult. The more my intuition grows, the more easily I understand what I truly want. I can make decisions quicker based on what is best for me. I value what I have to offer and let go of the guilt associated with saying “no” to things that take me away from my desired path. When I connect with my intuition and choose to be guided by it, I feel aligned with my inner wise self. Some of the ways I like to strengthen to my intuition are through meditation, oracle cards, stream of consciousness writing and painting.
Embrace planning and consistency. I fought against this for far too long. I didn’t want to be boxed into one thing or feel bored or inauthentic. In my mind, I framed not doing these things as “freedom”. I realize now is that it was fear. Not planning = I cannot fail if I am not really putting in the effort to plan. Not being consistent = I cannot disappoint someone by not showing up when I said I would and I cannot be seen as a specific type of artist if I was always changing. This actually took me further away from the freedom I desired. Without any real plan, I had to work harder and longer to get to where I am today. Doing something consistently not only allows others to know what to expect from me and when, it also gives me the opportunity to get better in a specific skillset over time. In my experience, a little planning and consistency goes a long way in Inviting more ease and flow into your life. It gave my art and process more credibility as my practice flourished. It made me a better on camera teacher & creativity guide. I am not as easily distracted by little things when I have a larger plan in mind.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
I read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron many years ago and still return to the principle ideas and practices, The book is about restoring the connection between creativity and spirituality and that this connection is available for everyone. Many of the habits she shares to reconnect your creative self I still circle back to, Morning pages, artist dates and nurturing your inner child are some of the tools I regularly incorporate into my practice. Morning pages are three pages of free-flowing, stream-of-consciousness writing by hand immediately upon waking up.
A New Earth by Ekhart Tolle is a book that shifted something deep within me. I found some of the content challenging at times but overall it was powerfully insightful. I read it at a time when I was working to understand the nature of our ego and it’s role in our lives. It helped me understand the power of detachment, my role in victim mentality and helped me stop waiting for some change in the future and enjoy the present. Quote from the book, “Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.”
Lastly, I want to highlight the book Rise Above – Free Your Mind One Brushstroke at a Time by Whitney Freya. This book is luscious in it’s inspiring art projects as well as the beautiful soulful art messages. I am certified through Whitney’s Creatively Fit Coaching Program and adore her encouraging, authentic, accessible guidance. In this book, she will invite your innate creative self to bloom, become more free with painting and offer soul healing inspiration.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kristenfagan.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristenfagan/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KristenFaganArt
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/kristenfaganart
- Creative Magic Circle Membership: https://www.patreon.com/kristenfagan
- Free Paint Freedom Mixed Media Tutorial: https://mailchi.mp/afb83be0d5ce/paintfreedom
