Sarah’s Creative Journey

I just finished reading this book, and I am so awed with White's journey and his gratitude and openness to share his successes and failures. Even though he doesn't go into much detail about his time with The Lion King, I feel that knowing his backstory and everything that lead up to him gaining (and maintaining) the part of Mufasa has made me connect with The Lion King even more. This book is helping me ask questions and give some thoughts into introspection. I'm so excited about some of it, that I wanted to share parts of it with you. Ironically, the very things we naturally love to do often bring us the most uncertainty, the most discomfort. But that's because they are so important to us, and so revealing of who we are. The good news is that the more we let the world see us as we really are, the more support we find from the people who matter. Going forward and doing what we love, whether it's singing or sports or making robots, can actually give us the will a...

A year has already passed since I made my list of 30 goals. But yet, I have only completed two so far, and am in the midst of "completing" or writing about another.  Despite the numbers being very low, I feel like I have accomplished a lot in this past year. Especially considering many of these are not just one time goals. So even though I have only completed two, I am in the process of working on 10 other goals-either intermittently or simultaneously. I have traveled to 2 out of 5 new states. I have come a decent way in my latte art making (and I keep learning more everyday). I have been using Photoshop for actual projects at least a couple times a month--a very slow but steady start. I've already attempted baking with some handmade dough recipes. I am still in the midst of illustrating a kid's book. I have been doing a decent amount of meditation. I am on page 155 (or so) of Italian HP7. I have learned to make a couple of cocktails. I spent one weekend v...

Awhile ago I read a book called Creativity, Inc. written by Ed Catmull. In the book, he talks about Pixar and how the original team have kept the Pixar name and movies great. He goes behind the movies to the people creating them and talks about the struggles they have and how the leaders have tried to hold the company together during major changes. In doing so, they have had to come up with some creative and new ways to keep the work from getting stale. Though there are many great insights in the book, the one that has really stuck with me is Andrew Stanton's motto, "Fail faster." His thought behind it being that the faster you try new things, the faster you can fail and the faster you can learn from your failures. I love that idea. We all have to fail at some point, and we will always have to fail again to move on. So why not just embrace the failures? Why should I be scared of failing? I'm still able to create, which is the main goal to begin with. So in my 30 ...

It's been over a year since I decided to reach out to a friend (other than my husband) to help keep me on track with setting art goals. Sounds easy, right? I have trouble keeping deadlines, so if I reach out to other people they can help hold me accountable! Except that's never how it works. I've always been accountable for myself. But now it's not for a grade. It's not to complete a lesson or specific project with standards set by someone else. I set the standards. I set the project. I have high standards and expectations of myself because I know what I can accomplish. I know that I can continue to push myself to learn more and to accomplish more. But now, there are no immediate consequences. No pass or fail grade. Nothing holding me back and nothing really pushing me forward. So how do I continue?  Because of this question, a lot of people have asked me if I love creating art. Of course I do! Otherwise I wouldn't be struggling this much to keep myself doin...

This happens to be the first item on my list but I have not done these in any order. This just happened to be the first one I fully completed. I decided to sign up for a hot yoga class the night before Thanksgiving so I could feel less guilty about the amount of food I was going to consume on Thursday. Well, when I first got there, the whole classroom was only lit by strung lights and a couple of candles. It smelled really good too surprisingly-not too overwhelming either. The point was to help everyone focus on doing yoga for themselves and to not be self-conscious about it.   The class was challenging and I did enjoy it. However, had both positives and negatives to say about it: Positives: Loved being able to workout in semi-darkness and not worry as much about the people around me.   It never smelled like sweat. I think the mat covers were scented with something and the whole ventilation seemed to have some kind of diffuser spray to mask any smell of sweat and...

I haven't posted here in over six months, but things come and go, and sometimes go around in circles. Still love the idea I posted about last January, and might consider still doing it, but in the meantime, I will just keep logging my thoughts and creative journey before going into specific questions. Each year brings more and more learning, and sometimes learning comes from doing nothing...  then maybe regretting it later. But the fact still remains that I want to keep putting myself out there. I will not give up no matter how silly the ideas may be. Some may stick and some may not, but I am moving on and still trying to be inspired everyday.  So to new beginnings, everyday, may they be abundant and clumsy!

The list you've been waiting for! My list of 30 Goals before I turn 30! Granted, some of these may change or vary slightly based on how accessible things are. But generally, things I will be aiming to accomplish by the big 3-0.  1. Attend a hot yoga class      -I'm weird and actually like sweating 2. Travel to 5 new states 3. Be able to (consistently) make latte art      -Obviously I'm going to take pictures and instagram this when it starts happening 4. Actually use Adobe programs for artwork        -Again, consistently 5. Bake something fancy      -because I've been inspired by The Great British Baking Show! And it would be fun to bake more. 6. Go to a music festival 7. Illustrate a book       -like actually finish illustrating a whole book 8. Travel camp across the U.S. hitting up National Parks       -probably going to be pretty difficult to accomplish based on f...