Meet Becky Jewell

We recently connected with Becky Jewell and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Becky with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

When I lived in Houston a few years ago, I was out on a run in a park and I saw a piece of paper on the ground, it was a coloring assignment for a student. It seemed interesting to me, so I looked at it more closely. What it ended up being was a blank coloring sheet, and it was a reward for completing another coloring assignment well.

I think it’s been said before by several people throughout time, but often the reward for making art that people enjoy is being able to make more art. It’s sort of like the coloring assignment that I saw on my run, and this is something that we can learn at a very young age! If you do well at something, and you enjoy that thing, the reward is getting to do more of that thing. If you like what you do and other people like it, what you usually have is momentum from internal and external forces. That kind of momentum is often unstoppable.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m a visual artist living and working in Boulder, CO. I’m originally from Leadville, CO and I have lived all around the United States.

I utilize mediums such as paint, paper, and I also make digital art. I work with themes about nature, animals, mountains, and motherhood.

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?

– How to draw

Since I’m an artist, the most impactful thing I could have learned was one of my first steps ever! How to draw. I learned through self-study and eventually was taught through the now-classic book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”.

– How to talk to anyone

It’s good to be able to remember names and faces, and to find common points to chat about with people.

– “Extreme” time management

In addition to having monthly quotas for making art, I am a busy mom! Oftentimes the question of time management comes down to “what can I get done in 5 minutes?” The more limits I have, the more I have to prioritize and allocate time effectively.

My advice for anyone starting out would be to make something that people want. If you have a successful aspect of your business or something successful in your development of skills, consider doubling down on that aspect.

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?

While it’s important to double-down on strengths and maximize strengths, I think it’s a good thing to understand my weaknesses. If someone who is successful in my realm or industry confides in me and tells me that I have a weakness or a blind spot, I usually think of that person as doing me a huge favor. I take steps to make my weaknesses at least into neutral habits, so that they don’t drive my hard work backwards.

Sometimes people make it seem like you can’t do both, like you can’t hone strengths and also address weaknesses at the same time. It’s totally possible.

An example of this for me or someone like me might be doing art events or art fairs. I’m very strong at art and selling art, but sometimes I struggle to remember people’s names. This is a weakness for me. But I make it a point at each art fair to work on sharpening my conversational skills. This will sound funny, but what I do is I imagine that I am on a candid camera show. Then, I imagine that if I remember a person’s name or something about them, I will win a million dollar prize on the imaginary show, and people will jump out and shower me with confetti.

In a way, if we remember people’s names and something special about them, it is like winning a kind of prize.

I would say if I had to prioritize, I would reinforce my strengths first and work on my weaknesses second. But I do think there are ways to address them both.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.beckyjewellart.com
• Instagram: @beckyjewell

Image Credits

Becky Jewell