We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Danielle Daniel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Danielle, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
Keeping creativity alive can be a big challenge when creating art is my everyday. I can easily reach creative burnout quickly, but I have found a few things that work for me to avoid this. First is easy, take time to rest. I stay out of my studio during certain hours that I have set for myself and do other things I love, like hiking, camping or catching up with close friends and family. Creating a complete distraction for myself is the best thing to give my mind that break it needs. Secondly, I will make time for fun art. This is time I will set aside that I try a new technique or challenge, or I will set up an art night with friends. This is when we create whatever we feel like and catch up with one another at the same time. It helps me take the pressure off and then I also get input from others of things I should try or see something they are making and get some inspiration from them as well. The last thing I will make sure to do is try something difficult and don’t share it. I try out a whole new medium or attempt an art piece that I have never done and may not finish. Trying out new ways to do things always teaches me a new technique or way I can relate that back to my wood-burning art. Not sharing it with anyone takes a lot of the pressure to make it look good away. I can create the “ugly art” and truly take time to learn from the mistakes rather than worry about what others may think of it.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a self taught pyrography artist, which means I create artistic designs on wood using heat. I sell my artwork, host classes and take commissions as part of my small business. Every piece is hand made and I often incorporate color into my work in creative ways that go beyond simply painting it. My favorite thing to create are my shadow boxes where I can get some additional creative thinking going considering the layering and 3D elements with those pieces. My class offerings are expanding, so please check my instagram for upcoming opportunities!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Folks who are just starting out on their journey should learn to love learning and to create “ugly” art. Remember you are always learning and improving, the best mindset you can have is to learn to love the journey because if you keep trying to just reach the end goal, you’ll ultimately handicap yourself and won’t take advantage of the learning opportunities that struggling with the journey can present. I would also stress the importance of interacting with your customers and incorporating constructive criticism and feedback into your processes. I found that for me participating in craft markets really helped to show me what customers were drawn to and in turn helped me know what I should be utilizing my time creating. Creating art can be very time consuming and when you know what you should focus your time more on also helps you create art that you and your customers will love.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
Some of my biggest improvements with DBT has been the growth of my classes. I started off participating in craft markets as a vendor but have quickly switched gears and have been focusing more of my energy on classes and teaching my art form to others. At first my classes started off, in my mind, a disaster. I did not have very many wood-burning pens and had no idea how to set up or prep as well for people to attend. I was very new to this and could not find very much information out there of how to prepare and set up for this. Everything was a learning curve, but after the first few classes and getting input from the people taking them I changed and improved everything. It has been a really fun journey since then and they have become my most popular offering!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.deesburnttrees.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deesburnttrees/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deesburnttrees/
