We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Karolynn Vaisanen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Karolynn below.
Karolynn, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
I am committed to my creativity. This is the foundation of keeping my creativity alive. I am married to it for the long haul and even though it may ebb and flow, it’s always there. There’s work that has to be done to keep the fiery passion alive but I’m here for it from creative dry spells to creative overdrives and all the times in between. It’s the only commitment that I know, in my soul, is 1000 percent full proof. There are tools that I draw on to fire it up and keep it flowing; play, curiosity, continual self-growth and evolution, and magic.
Play is the breeding ground for activating innovation and imagination. As an elementary art teacher, I’m immersed in a world of playful, limitless imaginations. This is a beautiful environment to foster my playfulness. Play is also anything that brings me joy. From traveling to Paris and sipping champagne to the wee hours of the morning to grabbing a coffee and hitting up my fave art store to indulge in the eye candy (a.k.a. art supplies), these both very different but juicy scenarios light me up and make my heart explode. This joy is how I practice my self-care. They are artist dates, as I remember this explicitly from Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way”. Artist Dates are when you take yourself out, solo, to do things that you love to activate your creativity. When I honour this process, I naturally evolve as a person and there is a beautiful magic in these moments. I live in a magical way. I find the magic in the mundane to the ethereal. I am fascinated and moved by spirit and colour. As a tarot and psychic energy reader, I find that my artwork is most definitely a channel of the divine.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Kreativia was born out of the many creative facets of my life. I’ve been creating art since I was old enough to hold a pencil. I came across a drawing I did of a cat when I was 3 and it was pretty amazing for a 3 year old. I have vivid memories of creating drawings upon drawings when I was about 7 years old. I would sit out on my front porch, which was an enclosed space, and I would tape my drawings up to the walls and windows in a gallery type way. After my gallery was up and complete, I would shout out to the world, “Pictures for sale”. I had the utmost faith that someone would come and be interested in my art. Now I can’t remember if I did in fact attract any buyers, however it didn’t matter. My heart was full knowing that I had created something that I valued and wanted to share with the world. Furthermore, my house was across the street from fairgrounds on a very quiet street, so my market was slim! I go back to this memory pretty frequently in reflective moments to remember my ‘why’, especially when I become overwhelmed or feel blocked in sharing my art with the world as an adult. My ‘why’ is a myriad of reasons but the first and foremost reason is because I feel it with every fibre of my being. Creativity oozes out of me from the way I decorate my home, style my fashion and make up to, and most obviously, my artwork. Painting is like breathing to me. When my brush glides across the canvas from the first few brushstrokes to the final finishing touches, I am present with the flow. The flow of divinely inspired magic that is dripping from my fingertips. Colour is my jam, I play and experiment with it and develop a synergy of working with it as I paint. When I start a piece, it’s always a new journey, a new adventure. I am sometimes shown, in my third eye, a vision of the piece and sometimes not. The beautiful thing that fascinates me about my process is that once that paint hits the canvas, I become the medium for whatever images, colours, lines, shapes need to emerge and be brought to life on my canvas. It always feels like it’s just emerging from my hands when I get in that flow and no longer up in my head. This is the sweet spot. The place where I am in complete flow and completely present. It’s simply magical.
I live my life magically. I learned over the past decade or more of my psychic gifts, and it really came as no surprise to me. Reflecting back on my childhood and all of my imaginative ways; from imaginary friends to prophetic dreams about family pregnancies. My psychic and spiritual gifts fascinate me on the daily. When I do readings for clients and I am able to help guide them back to their intuitive compass it is such a massive gift. I am able to see auras and also channel this into intuitive artworks for others. I have developed a type of intuitive artwork called a “Third Eye Portrait”. I read the person’s energy in a visual way. I draw their eye and then channel colours, symbols, and images surrounding it. I’ve done hundreds of these for clients and the reactions are always nothing short of magical. This lights me up in a way that is difficult to put into words. This is also just a small snippet of the ways my spirituality has developed and shows up in my life. I am constantly in awe of the connections of all of the facets of my gifts from my art to psychic gifts to my teaching.
Teaching art is another beautiful way that I express and share my creative gifts. I have been teaching mostly art in the elementary public school board for over 20 years. My students are such amazing little beams of creative light. They fascinate me, inspire me, and help me to remain playful and curious. In fact my brand, Kreativia, came from one of the years that I taught a Grade 5 homeroom. Part of the curriculum is to cover the Canadian government and, as you can imagine, this is not the most engaging and exciting unit to teach, so I got creative. I ran the class as an imaginary country and we pretended and played the roles needed for it to run. So when it came to naming the land, the kids came up with 3 names and voted. One of them was Kreativia. The student that had come up with this name said to me, “Ms. V, I know that your first name starts with ‘K’ and your so creative so that’s how I came up with it.” This was such a beautiful gift both for later on when it came time to brand myself but also for my students to really ‘see’ me. Connection has always been such an important part of my teaching and how I relate to others in my life. I believe that it is truly one of my superpowers.
The foundation of my brand is ‘Connection through Energy’. Whether it’s the connection through art, readings, healings, it’s all through energy. Kreativia is all encompassing of all of my creative pursuits, which are boundless to say the least. I would actually need a book to explore my story further, which I believe is on the not so distant horizon. There are many exciting things coming up with my brand, my ideas, my creativity and my magic and it all is ever expanding. I hope you are able to join me upon the ride by following me on Instagram, checking out my website, reaching out for a reading or intuitive artwork to even booking me for a creative event like a paint night! The creative possibilities are endless.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Faith, Perseverance, Authenticity are the qualities that have been most impactful on my journey.
Faith. When it comes to faith, I’m talking about faith in your abilities and your dreams. The dreams, whether big or small, that were placed in your heart are there for a reason. They whisper to you in quiet moments when you’re doing mundane tasks like washing the dishes or taking a shower. Faith is like a magical potion reminding you that no matter what is in the moment, there is always a chance that things can work out exactly how they’re supposed to work out.
Perseverance is a character trait that gets you through challenging moments. Times when you want to throw in the towel due to many instances like frustration or overwhelm. If you are able to navigate the ebbs and flow of your dream while keeping the faith that it will come to fruition, you build a strong foundation and develop the stamina to keep going. I try to find the lesson in challenges and when there are big emotions around that, I have learned to sit with them and feel the feelings. This is a way of navigating and putting perseverance into practice. Perseverance also helps you to develop patience for yourself and your dream and to pace yourself. It is a journey afterall.
Authenticity. I mean if you are not showing up as your most authentic self you’re not going to be able to show the world your unique and beautiful light and even more important you cheat yourself out of your own essence. The journey to your authentic self can have many layers. If you listen to your heart, the things in your life that bring you bliss, this is a magical way to start. Following the breadcrumbs of joy. If you’re not even sure of what this could mean, our little selves can help. Think about some of your favourite memories you have from your childhood. There is so much magical information about your joy that you can tap into to get started. Sometimes what lights you up doesn’t align with what feels ‘normal’ to societal standards and that can be scary. However, if you can explore it, little by little, you will start to come back to who you truly are.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
The biggest areas for growth over the past year have been all having to do with patience and understanding that I’m in this work for the long game. When I want to do something, I want it yesterday. However, I realized that if I slow things down and really feel into, develop, ruminate, and explore my big dreams then I can lay a proper foundation for them to grow. I have my big, beautiful vision and I take actionable steps along the way. This has looked like everything from creating a pop up shop to participating in local art markets. When I do events like these, the feedback is very important to how I’m building my empire through connecting with the community. It has also looked like following my joy so that I stay true to myself and my creativity. Every little action that can feel insignificant to the bigger picture adds up over time. This past year has taught me this valuable lesson.
Contact Info:
- Website: kreativia.ca
- Instagram: @kreativiaart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kreativia.ca
- Other: Tiktok kreativiaart
