Meet Jessie Macaw

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessie Macaw. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Jessie, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

For me, developing confidence and self-esteem came from consciously spending time on my ‘growing edge’; the area on the outside of my comfort zone. I am not naturally confident and I certainly don’t enjoy being the centre of attention but every time you do something on the edge of your comfort area, the more confident and comfortable you grow.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Hi, I’m Jessie Macaw ‘The Doodling Painter’, a Mixed Media Intuitive Painter from Tairua, New Zealand.

As an intuitive painter, art to me is about the journey not the destination. I love the first layers of the painting where it’s all about playing, making a mess and trying new things. I consider my art to be joyful, fun and full of quirks and humour.

I love animals and their personalities (real and imagined) so it’s not unusual for these characters to appear in my work.

The next big event on my calendar is the Mercury Bay Art Escape open studios which runs for the first two weekends of March and features 50+ artists from around the Eastern Coromandel. This is always a great event as it gives people the opportunity to come to the studio, meet the artist and see some of the latest work. For me this is also a great opportunity to further build my confidence and self esteem as an artist. And in June I’m looking forward to my first ever Auckland Art Show.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back, the three skills that were most impactful on my journey were learning to paint intuitively, incorporating mixed media and social media.

I am not a planner by nature so painting intuitively allows me to build depth by building layers. I’m the type of person that sees faces and creatures in everyday things; a rock face, knots in wood, folds in fabric etc. so I paint what I see in the marks and textures in the piece. I will be forever grateful for finding Flora Bowley’s ‘Brave Intuitive Painting’ class.

Years later, I stumbled upon Judy Woods ‘Art for Good’ and subsequently ‘StARTS’ classes. Once again this was an intuitive style painting course but included the use of mixed media; collage, oil pastels, pencils etc. This was a real ‘ah-ha!’ moment for me and allowed me to bring surprises into my work. I love the way people notice something different every time they look at the painting and these different marks and textures allow me to do that.

Lastly, social media. I understand that social media is a double-edged sword but it’s a really great way to get your work out there and find your art tribe. When I was in the early stages of sharing my art I took part in the #100dayproject where you create a new piece of art every day for 100 days as a way of honing your style and developing an art practice. The feedback I got back from others involved was invaluable but it was also a great way of developing confidence and getting used to showing my art to an audience.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

I have a few books which have played a big part in my art journey;
1) Brave Intuitive Painting by Flora Waycott
2) Expressive Flower Painting by Lynn Whipple
3) If You Can Doodle You Can Paint by Diane Culhane
4) Although it’s not a book it wouldn’t be right not to mention Carla Sonheim and her online classes

All of these books explore the joy of creating, following your intuition and keeping it fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://doodlingpainter.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/the_doodlingpainter
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/the_doodlingpainter