Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alexandra Mathieu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alexandra, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Simply put: through empathy, failure, and the creation that becomes between and above all.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a freelance artist working mostly in oil and acrylic paint. I own a community arts center and school in Santa Monica that focuses on providing a safe space for adults and children to explore themselves through a visceral practice of painting, drawing, and creating physical art. My main focus is letting go of the unexpected (in the external atmosphere, but mostly within my internal world) and making space for others to indulge in this ideal.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Accepting change within the creative process has been so key. In other words: I accept that with patience I can adjust aspects of my ultimate vision, and without the present sense of uncertainty there would be no ground to shift from into the space I want to hold. Accepting that a complete picture (the “work” for me exclusively – a painting -) includes many planned layers of line/color/shape which will be unseen in the final demonstration and involves giving into a compromise between practice and the end result- satisfaction.
What we put out is what we receive. In my experience, this ideal comes so multifaceted. If I am positive, strong, and bearing the weight of time- I share this weight. People open themselves and come for commeradity. When I am open these stories pass leaving morale and take with them the weight of single-minded struggle. If I’m down and faking a smile the response I see is empty or with added heavyness from misery (misery always loves company). If I am stressed or outside of the moment, time is stalled- people are stressed and all is delayed. (I would like to note that I only recognize this in hindsight hah).
It’s a tale as old as time that manifests in huge waves of change and subtle conversations. If my intentions are pure – the lesson is pure and fluid. If otherwise. the lesson is .. hard to digest.
Everything is deep and shallow. Every all holds both hands. Without light, there is no dark.. without dark.. you know 😛 Learning to accept these qualities inward lets the outward blossom from both points.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
In my experience becoming a business owner has immensely sharpened my creative flow. Becoming familiar with government regulation and human resource function has heightened every sense of my present action and reaction. Seeing all sides makes a round circle, and having access to the larger scale of city/state/federal rule has allowed insight and empathy for all walks of life. This has deepened my practice to a great degree.
Contact Info:
- Website:www.paintlab.net
- Instagram: paint_lab
- Facebook: PAINT:LAB
- Linkedin: PAINT LAB
- Yelp: PAINT:LAB
