Meet Autumn Elizabeth

We were lucky to catch up with Autumn Elizabeth recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Autumn , so excited to have you with us today, particularly to get your insight on a topic that comes up constantly in the community – overcoming creativity blocks. Any thoughts you can share with us?

As a creative (writer, photographer, painter, and songwriter), I have evolved my skills as I grew into the woman I am today. During differing phases of life I have fed the practice of one skill for a time, and then another during another phase. The inspiration often came and went as my surroundings shifted, quantity of free-time fluctuated, and where I was living changed. For instance, during the chapter where I worked part time and lived alone in a sprawling apartment in heritage hill, I had a home office and found myself painting and writing more, while recording less music and shooting less frequently. These chapters could continue on for several years at a time. In my opinion, it is because I simply allow my inspiration to shift mediums when I am struggling with a creative block, that I don’t often truly suffer from them.

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 writer, a photographer, a painter, and a songwriter. I like to use the symbol of a color wheel two-fold to symbolize what I do and who I am.

The first aspect to the color wheel is the contrast opposing colors have to one another. I have a wide variety of avenues through which I spend my time in order to earn money through being a creative, as well as creative things I do for the sake of creation alone (with no profit apart from the enrichment of the soul). It is in these ways that my motivations in artistic endeavors can vary.

The second aspect to the color wheel would be the energies or moods associated with the colors being representative of different mediums working best to express or accomplish different concepts. I really enjoy completing different things with my work.

For instance, with the same unimposing aura of sage green or lavender, I have used my music to raise funds and accomplish low-key, simple, effective non-profit events that support the homeless population in Grand Rapids nearly every winter since 2019, and created a gigantic collection of paintings over years to turn around and quietly gift and donate them all afterward. The nostalgia of the color mustard could be attributed to how I am writing a semi-autobiographical book titled Gethsemane because I use anecdotes based on true events from my adolescence in addition to cited science to explore how certain trauma disorders develop in children, as well as how they can be helped through therapy and mindfulness practices in adulthood. The colors indigo and plum may reflect the richness of emotions I have captured with my camera over the years with multitudes of portrait shoots. Perhaps canary red could represent the times I have written a song purely out of processing anger. Weddings I have shot, whether rain or shine, beam sunflower yellow and tea rose as I immortalized the vulnerable joys of love.

The color wheel as a whole is the creative person, and each sliver of differing light and hue are the many ways in which the creative can use their talents to express and accomplish various things. Each creative’s “color wheel” looks different as they explore and perfect different practices.

This year I plan to publish Gethsemane, launch a site where my abstract, landscape, animal, and architecture photos can be ordered as canvas prints, cell phone cases, journals, etc, and am currently planning this years “Heartside for the Homeless” drive to support the homeless downtown Grand Rapids. I am planning something extra big for this year involving a music video and our biggest food and clothing drive since 2019! If anyone wants to get involved, I can be reached via email gethsemaneway@gmail.com.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three skills that were the most impactful for me were writing, painting, and photography. As a child, painting and writing/reading were the biggest mental escapes for me. It also gave me a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction to be learning and increasing my skills as a teenager and young adult because I felt I was growing as a person as I expanded my capabilities. Writing also contributed to my love for songwriting, which has brought me so much joy and relief through expression over the years.

If you are early in your journey, enjoy where you are! Every step has its fine moments as a professional or hobby creative, and they all can add a richness to your experience as an artist.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

The book that has been the most impactful and influential in my life was The Aleph, by Paulo Coelho. This is a semi-autobiographical, mind-bending, mystical story written by the greatest author of all time (in my opinion), in which one can explore what it means to be alive, have consciousness, and discover purpose in life ( perhaps even after having already accomplished so much of what you hoped to in a single lifetime). Though I have read every book written by this man, when I began reading The Aleph, it was the exact right time to do so in my life. Through completing it, some sort of mental shower had happened for me and I felt renewed and refreshed for life. I was never the same after that.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @zeitgeistyou

Image Credits

@zeitgeistyou