Meet Linda Plaisted

We were lucky to catch up with Linda Plaisted recently and have shared our conversation below.

Linda, 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?

I keep my creativity alive by showing up- daily. There is a quote by Picasso that sums up my approach to keeping the small but steady spark of creativity burning- “Inspiration Exists, But It Has to Find You Working.” Being an artist is not always a magical mystical state of connection with the Universe. Most of the time, getting to that place of inspiration requires the mundane daily practice of applying the seat of your pants to the chair and staying there until you can feel like you’ve made some incremental progress. In that way, every single day you get a tiny bit better at your craft, and one small step closer to knowing yourself. This commitment to daily practice is an immersive state of active meditation that keeps me showing up, even on the bad days- especially on the bad days.

Come rain or shine, I use my creative expression as a therapeutic practice- each day’s work is an ongoing daily journal and sketchbook of my thoughts and feelings. Showing up to work each morning helps me release stress and process what’s going on in the world; something increasingly challenging in this time of global upheaval and collective grief. I work for a few hours every morning after I’ve spent some time outside in nature sipping my coffee and conferring with the birds and trees. When I come inside, I try not to overthink it when I sit down at my desk to work- I respectfully ask the Universe to guide me and I just begin. This powerful step forward into action and trust in the process is key to unlocking inspiration and building momentum. Starting to work, even if it’s just the smallest act, is the catalyst for further creative energy.

That first step of beginning may look a bit different each day, but I always follow the pull of my curiosity. Following this current of energy becomes the process of gathering seeds for new work. Some days this gathering looks like shooting new photographs, other days it’s combing through my archives to find just the right images I shot in the past, and many days it’s searching for bits and pieces of collected ephemera to use as collage layers in my mixed media work. When I gather together these disparate elements and begin to combine them, I am now actively planting the seeds I have gathered. A story begins. The expression of this narrative I have pictured in my imagination is my only assignment at this stage; I am not looking for some kind of unachievable perfection or a finished piece. There are no rules and I give myself no limitations- I just allow myself to take an idea as far as it will go. Turn an image upside down, crop it in an unusual way or make it a negative? Let’s see what that looks like. Combining a piece of vintage material with something quite contemporary- Why not? Pairing bold colors with stark black and white? Let’s try it. I trust my instincts and intuition to take me in the right direction and I trust my consistency and perseverance to see an idea through to completion.

The best days involve a few hours of experimentation and play; with dead-ends, switchbacks and failures as proof of progress. Some days, if I am lucky, I may develop a fully formed new concept for a series that begins to materialize before my eyes. Some days, I struggle to find cohesion amongst the images I am playing with and nothing sticks. Frustrating? Sure. But I know tomorrow is a new day, and if I show up, I get 364 more chances a year to figure it out. Regardless of what comes from a day’s work, I always share one image from each day to my Instagram account as my daily sketchbook. You can follow along @TheManymuses

As Rick Rubin said, “The reason we’re alive is to express ourselves in the world. And creating art may be the most effective and beautiful method of doing so. Art goes beyond language, beyond lives. It’s a universal way to send messages between each other and through time.”

Showing up to express myself each day keeps my creativity alive and when we share our unique vision with the world, we just might create an echoing response that ripples outward to encourage others to do the same.

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

Linda Plaisted is an award-winning American multi-disciplinary artist whose exploratory practices include photography, collage, painting and encaustic. Her work has been exhibited extensively across the United States and internationally. She has also illustrated book and magazine covers for major publishers and been featured in publications such as Lenscratch, Shots Magazine, Black and White Photography Magazine UK, Artdoc Magazine and Phototrouvee Magazine.

She is a 2025, 2024 and 2023 Photolucida Critical Mass Finalist, 2024 LA Photo Curator Award winner for best series and winner of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers.

Approaching her work as both artist and historian, she uses her visionary practices to champion women and nature; two critically endangered species. Each piece she creates tells a story, using traditions of collection, synthesis and cultural interpretation as therapeutic practices. Layering her original photography and paintings with found images and gathered ephemera, she creates photographic mixed media pieces with translucent veils of narrative; layers of time and memory bleeding through one another, seeking a deeper truth.

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

1. A quality that sustains me and the growth of my work is having a creative mission statement that I come back to every time I begin to create something new. My carefully considered mission is to champion the stories of Women and Mother Nature- two critically endangered species. When beginning any new project or sharing that work in the world, I ask myself – does this align with my core beliefs and will this endeavor amplify the stories that need to be told at this time in history? This guiding statement keeps me clear on my path forward when things get murky.

2. I have learned what my creative mission is by standing firm in the knowledge of the Who, What, When and Where that determines the How and Why of the work I do. In other words, Who I am now is the lifelong culmination of What I have learned- When I was alive in historical context and Where I have lived in the world that shaped my worldview. These lived experiences have formed my all-important Why- the kind of work I want to see in the world that can only come through my particular How- the unique creative perspective and set of skills I have honed throughout my lifetime as an artist. Distilling the essence of the tools and gifts we’ve been given is the work of a lifetime.

3. I stay curious and never stop learning. I was fortunate to have been raised in a family that encouraged my curiosity and exploration, but I have always been self-motivated to learn new things. Since I was a small child, I drew and wrote every day and was constantly checking new books out of the library. When I was not yet a teenager, I was so full of questions that my parents and teachers couldn’t answer. I set about expanding my own understanding of the world by devouring all the classic literature, music, art, mythology, history and philosophy I could get my hands on. Nobody prompted or forced me to undertake this classical course of studies- my curiosity led the way. In my college studies, I pursued learning in Art, Literature and Creative Writing. Since college, I have continued studying new topics of interest as they arise because they continue to form and re-arrange my evolving world view.

Approaching a new subject or skill with a beginner’s mind, this openness helps me to let go of preconceived notions, integrate new ideas and look at every aspect of life from a fresh, untarnished perspective. I like to think this lifelong curiosity keeps my creativity agile as I get older.

My advice to others, whether just starting out or coming back to yourself creatively after a prolonged absence like I did, is to show up for yourself daily. Make a commitment to self knowledge and self-expression and invest in yourself accordingly. There is no time to lose. Get very clear on who you are and what you stand for, and show up in the world each day bearing a light that might help others find the way.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

I am now almost exactly one decade younger than my mother was when she died far too young, so I am constantly aware of this concept and it informs and impacts everything I do in my life. Because there is no guarantee on the number of days or years allotted to any of us, I try to achieve that delicate balance of safeguarding my health while fully savoring each moment I am given. I am very conscious of not wasting time with my life, which is why I use what creative gifts I have been given every day and strive to keep learning. I don’t spend a lot of time on small talk, watching TV or consuming passive entertainment, which makes me a misfit in this society, but I am alive at this time in history for a reason, and I want to make impactful work that speaks to our times.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://lindaplaisted.com
• Instagram: @themanymuses

Image Credits

Linda Plaisted