We were lucky to catch up with Judi Lightfield recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Judi, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.
I started the same way everyone starts, with crayons and coloring book. Occasionally I’d press harder on the crayon and low and behold a different color resulted. Years went by and painting got me. Painting was sloppy. Moving the paint from the palette to the canvas was an adventure. So many times it didn’t look the way I intended. too light or dark , too weak or too strong. It was a struggle. Decades went by and I gave up on the brush. Now I thin the paint down with mineral spirits and pour it from cups on to a birch panel. So many happy accidents. And if I don’t like it a can start again. Something better is always on the way. I trust the process. Taking risks is a fundamental part of making a painting. You never know if your going to connect with an viewer. I have connected to many viewers in my career.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’ve spent 4 and half decades in the arts. It’s been a bumpy ride. For 12 years I worked at an art museum as an exhibition designer. In that capacity I played with everything that came into the museum before it went on display. I filtered through a lot of influences, Asian, Meso-American, ancient art history and contemporary art. Teaching was my next career and it gave me the language to describe everything I see. Two decades past and my oldest student was 93 and my youngest was 3, I taught all ages in between. Some years I sold more painting, some years I taught more classes. The difference between being bipolar and an artist is a pay check. And I earned checks until my 20 year old daughter died from an allergic reaction to a prescription medication. Poetry came into my life and I started to write it down. I have 98 poems and 49 are in my book, Very Short Stories. I am going to be a featured writer at a local bookstore.
Shall I self-identify
with my wild monkey mind?
When I do, what do I find?
It pilfers, it ponders
but it never decides.
It simply has to see all sides.
Blurring out the fastest lines.
Frazzled, fretful
I can’t hide
From this frenzyfried state of mind.
But don’t you be troubled by
My poor wild, crazy, monkey mind.
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?
Keeping an open mind and heart. You never know the next step until you’re ready to take it. Once I got a large design project because I sat next to a person at a funeral. So now I show up for funerals. Be resilient. Life is like a trampoline, you’re up, you’re down. Just try not to fall off. If you do take a break and then get back to jumping.
Be curious. Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know. There’s always Google.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
My dogs are my closest companions. They’re here for me when I walk in the door, excited to see me. A comedian said ” Suppose you put your dog and your partner in the trunk, went away for an hour, came back, who’d be happy to see you?” They’re names are Lucy and Coco. Lucy is a small poodle mix, Coco is a small terrier mix. Both are rescues. They are getting up in age. One of them has liver problems. Eventually they’ll die. I’ll be heart broken. But for today they are here, sleeping while I type this.
Contact Info:
- Website: judilightfield.com
- Facebook: [email protected]
- Linkedin: [email protected]
Image Credits
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