Meet Brenna Farrell

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brenna Farrell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brenna, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I require structure and routine in order to function in my everyday life. If anything interferes with it, I just stop functioning (which generally means just sitting on the sofa). Since sitting around doing nothing while waiting to restart my routine is obviously not good, I needed some way to cope and so I created multiple backup routines for different situations. This need for structure and routine also gives me a strong work ethic: it helps me set and stick to multiple goals for myself while working on projects and assignments to make sure I meet deadlines. If I ever miss a self goal, I can apply experience from creating backup routines to creating new goals to help ensure I’m still on track to meeting the deadline.

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

I’m a photographer and artist who loves owls. I photograph most living things, as well as planes and landscapes. I usually draw owls, dragons, and other fantasy creatures, and I’m currently drawing all extant owl species. I sell my photos on SmugMug and most of what I sell on my Etsy is my art, usually owl focused. I just recently added to my Etsy a set of 10 owl fruit phone backgrounds and I’m currently working on a set of 15 owl coloring pages.

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?

I think the three most important qualities and skills that were most impactful in my journey are curiosity, attention to detail, and time management. Being curious, I constantly ask questions and always like learning new things. This can help me find unique solution to any problem I encounter as well as help me grow as an artist by incorporating new techniques. I’m able to see details most people overlook, which helps me as an artist as well for my landscape and nature photography. I’m able to find birds both big and small that others pass by (sometimes earning me the nickname ‘Eagle Eyes’) and capture the cryptic details of an owl’s plumage as I draw it. Having good time management skills helps me keep my schedule so I don’t get behind on deadlines/goals.
For those just starting on their journey, my advice is to keep asking questions and approach everyday life with childlike wonder, even if your questions go unanswered or you get discouraged. Make sure to take time out of your day to appreciate little things and maybe slow down every once in a while to take in the big picture (like how the light hits a cloud just right or the beauty of your surrounds). If you’re having trouble keeping schedules, make charts, break tasks down into smaller sizes, and reward yourself when you finish a task (even for small ones). Also, make sure to take a few breaks so don’t overwork yourself (but also don’t take too many!).

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

When I notice I’m feeling overwhelmed, I usually take a break from what I’m doing. Sometimes I just don’t do anything, other times I scroll through social media (usually Pinterest or Instagram), or do a different project. Sometimes my feeling overwhelmed only lasts a short time, so I then start the project from where I left off, break it up into smaller, more doable pieces, or take a different approach to completing it. Other times it can take days before I stop feeling overwhelmed, so I’ll just focus on other things until I can tackle the project again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/iamowls
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamowls711/

Image Credits

Personal Photo: Aislinn Farrell