Meet Lonnie Busch

We were lucky to catch up with Lonnie Busch recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lonnie, 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?

Probably from my parents, as they were both hard workers and still found time for play. But along with that, I believe it comes from doing what I love. The majority of my life has been spent working as an artist, doing commercial illustration for over forty-five years. And now writing, for over twenty. I’ve managed to do things I love, and sometimes even make money at them.

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?

As you may have figured out, I love everything to do with art. I’ve worked in so many mediums in my life and found creative delight in all of them. Painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, print making, silkscreening, design, animation, video editing, CG work, 3D modeling and of course, the main tool I used for illustration for over 4 decades, the airbrush.

And yet, that isn’t the whole story. My creative pursuits are only one aspect of my journey, the other being a profound love of the outdoors. Over the past 15 years, I’ve backpacked over 6000 miles in the United States. I’ve hiked to the top of Mt. Whitney at over 14,000 feet. I’ve seen parts of this incredible country I’d never have seen if not for backpacking, places where roads don’t go. I’ve hiked with my partner for up to six months at a time, sleeping in a tent, and only checking into nearby towns to resupply and enjoy some hot pizza and a cold soda.

And both of my children (grown with families of their own) seem to share that same love of the outdoors, and my son an astounding aesthetic for photography.

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

Just to be clear, my answers do not reflect a roadmap to financial success. It may come, but it won’t be the most driving force that gets you through the doubting times.

So, first and foremost, finding the thing you love the most, that animates you, that you know is your calling, no matter what. Then following it.

Two, I guess, would be trusting yourself and your path, even when no one else does. This may be the hardest. For me, with little formal education (one year of college) it would have been very difficult had it not been for a few people who believed in my work; a handful of art directors, my drawing professor my first and only year of college, and aunt who was also an artist, and finally, a mother who involved me in every artistic project she could think of, especially around Christmas time. (Yes, even painting the front windows of our house with snowy, holiday settings)

And, Third, staying with it when all your friends are successful titans of business, (Unless you’re the successful titan, and if so, good for you! It takes a village!) With writing, this has been the hardest. It called to me late in life, and while I love it, it is not without its challenges, but the love of it keeps me going. (That and heaps of encouragement from my first reader, amazing speller, hiking buddy and beautiful partner, Nancy!)

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

The emerging AI technology, how discouraged I am by how it’s impacting creativity and our future as human beings. Some may think this is overly dramatic, and maybe it is, but I’m a writer and artist, so there is going to be some philosophical stirrings in my psyche.

But maybe the best way I can describe what I’m talking about is to use a backpacking analogy. Using AI, for me, is tantamount to me paying someone to hike all 2650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail for me, from the Mexico border to the Canadian border, then handing me the pictures so I can post them on social media and flex about them as if they were my own. The problem is, the thing I’ve missed out on by doing this, is the journey. The journey, the friends along the way, the blisters, the sore knees, the fresh scent of a sudden rain shower, the rainbows, the charged air of an approaching thunderstorm, the tightness in your chest navigating a narrow, sheer cliff, the rattlesnakes, the cold sodas and candy bars someone left in a cooler as trail magic, and the kindness of a ride into town after a hard twenty-mile day. The journey is all we ever have.

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