Transcripts
1. Welcome! : How many moments do you
remember from last week? What about last
month... or last year? Wouldn't it be fun
if your art practice could help you keep your
memories for longer. Hellooo! Welcome to class! This is the most serious class, workshop, challenge you
might have ever done. I'm Elise, I'm a watercolor
artist and teacher and an advocate for looking
for little joys in your life, lowering the threshold to get started with your
creative practice, and not just out of obligation or as another thing
on your to-do list. So since this week is all about painting from our memories, we can either take a
photo of that memory, a photo of the situation
that we're in, the moment that we're in,
the thing that we see, the person that we see, whatever it might be, the
prompt for that day. Or we can just remember it,
in our brains, and paint something that helps
us remember. It can be figurative, as in it looks like the thing that it's
supposed to look like. Or it can be abstract and only mean something for you. It
doesn't need to make sense for anyone else. The only one that matters, makes sense for, is you. I did a 100 day
project the spring. And the reason I was able to complete it is
because I made it so easy for myself and I was
so forgiving with myself. If I had days where
I couldn't paint, days where I was super tired, Can I catch up with it? Not to let myself get into this perfectionist
mindset of not perfect. I can't do it. If I'm not doing exactly
what I said I would do. I can't tweak it. I can't change it. I have to commit to this thing, which wasn't helpful because nobody's perfect,
it doesn't exist. And I know you've been
told this and I'm like, "but I'm going to try it anyways"... So this is an opportunity for lowering the threshold to get started getting rid
of that inner critic. And then we can start
trusting ourselves to show up and do the things that we said we
were going to do. I have added this pajama element because I always paint at night. But you're of course
welcome to paint this at any time of day! It's just because we're painting
from a memory every day. I like to do it in
the evening, that way, however late it is, I will have some
memories to choose from throughout the day
that we've been through... that I've been... through that
you've been through... that we have been through this day. I also think
sometimes we can get stuck in thinking
that we need to create something
beautiful, or within our style or niche or
color palette. And maybe that can be
a separate project. But your check-in daily habit, like brushing your teeth, like you wouldn't just
brush your teeth on a Sunday for an hour instead of brushing your teeth
every single day, you will make time for
the things that keep.. keep it fresh seems like a really appropriate
sentence when it compares it to toothbrushing. But that's kind of it! Every action that we do is a vote for the kind of
person we want to be. And if you are a creative, artistic person then
your habits will also reflect that, in what you choose
to do and make time for. And I'm really happy
that you're here, that you've taken this time to look for those
moments in your life. Creating that practice that
makes you feel like "Hm! I'm an artist. I paint all the time!" Then it's not surprising to
you that you sit down to paint for a longer session when you have that
time available. So this can be done with
any medium of choice, with any level of experience. My examples will
be in watercolor, but you do you!
I'll see you inside.
2. Class project : Welcome to the class project. For this class project, we're going to do something
a little bit different. I don't need to
see what you make. Let me explain what I mean. In this class, you'll be asked
to do memory painting from everyday of a seven-day,
week, seven-day workshop. You don't have to do it in
one week consecutively. You can take breaks
if you'd like, make it sustainable for you. I did a painting every day for a 100 days of memories
from that specific day. So I know that a lot of my paintings from those 100
days... were not beautiful. They were not pretty. They were not technically good. They were not
something I would want to maybe maybe show to anyone. I have shown them
and they'll be in the resources and you'll
be able to see them. But I don't need to see yours. If you want to show me
that you've done them, you can show them
without showing them. You're allowed to
show them just from the back and be like
Here are seven paintings. I did it. They look like mblah,
but it's done. And it had the effect because
the only thing they need to do is exist. That's it. And I mean, it, I don't need them
to be beautiful. I don't need them to be
pretty or functional or it makes sense to anyone
else except you, because you, you are the one making a hint to yourself as to what the
memory from that day was. And that's it. That's what we want.
That's all we need. That's what this
whole week is about. So if you want to, of course, you're
welcome to share them. And if you want to share stories about what
you've painted where this might not
look like anything, but this was
actually this thing. Tell us a story. Tell us something about why you painted what
you've painted. I would love to know. But you can also
share those stories. Maybe share what you've
chosen and why but not actually show the
painting or the drawing. So that's out of the way. So the project is to paint a memory from
every single day. And I'll give you prompts
every day to start looking for those little things,
some different prompts. You're also very
welcome to, of course, get the same prompt
throughout the whole week. You can look through
all the videos first if you'd like to, but you want to follow it and the way that
it was intended, There's a video for every
morning and then you use those glasses that
filter to look at every day to notice things
that you could paint, things that you could use as
your inspiration to paint something every day
because you're just choosing something
from that day. You don't need a lot of prep. Maybe you've set up
your paint supplies in advance so that you can
get started quickly. That way, we eliminate
as many obstacles as possible and I'll
be talking about that in the supplies
video as well. So hope to see you
in the next one. Welcome to this workshop.
3. Storytime - Why all the kisses?: I wanted to tell you the
story of why this was originally called kiss your
art supplies good night. It's because sometimes
our lives gets super, super busy and we
don't have time for, even for the people
that we love, even for the things
that we love to do. And I think treating
your art practice like a relationship in the sense
that instead of saying, "I will only paint
if I have two hours available" or if I have
this specific setting. Can we make it so
easy so that it's the same as with a partner or
someone that you love. You see them at night, you run, past each other in the hallways and you see them and you say, "Hey, I love you. I haven't forgotten you. I see you and I will
see you tomorrow" And you've checked in with them. You've given them a
little kiss goodnight, and you can try again tomorrow and you will make
time another day. I think more than
the grand gestures. The little things
we do every day is a much stronger indicator of how healthy our
relationships are. How easy it is for us to show love and to show up for the things that
are important to us. I would much rather
have a friend that Regularly sends me
a little message or a little note,
or a little meme, or send something funny than
someone who will only make time once a year or for
something very special, even though those kinds of friendships can
also be alright, but to have a relationship
that's continuous, I think the daily check-ins
or the regular check-ins are so important to feel
loved and to show love. And that might not
resonate for you. And I know it's a bit of
a romantic perspective, but it helped me
see that it wasn't a waste of time to use those five-minutes
to paint something. It was actually a
really nice check-in, both for me to check in
with my artists itself. It wasn't just that I
use my art supplies. It wasn't just that I
put my brush to paper. It was also that
every time I did it, it was casting a vote for the kind of person
that I wanted to be, the kind of person that I want to prove to myself that I am, which is... an artist. It's someone who creates, someone who takes
time for themselves to do the things they love. And it's also an act of self-love of something
that might just be for me and it's not to produce anything
or make money or all of these things that we normally do to keep the wheels spinning. So checking in with
something that's just for you and just to bring you joy is really,
really valuable. And I hope you can
take something from that into your art
practice as well.
4. Supplies and Preparations: Supplies, you will
need a cup of coffee. No, you will not
But, of course, you're very welcome to have
one if you'd like to. This one makes sense for
day four of the prompts. So stay tuned for that. You don't have to have watercolor supplies
for this class. I'm a watercolor artist, so that's what I was using for my 100 day project when I
started this the first time. But! This can be done with anything. This can be for any
creative practice. The only thing I would
want you to do is prepare your supplies in a way that
makes it easy to get started. I don't want you to use
ten minutes, five minutes. I don't want you
to use any minutes! Maybe just one... to get started,
to get your setup ready. One of the ways that I
removed an obstacle when I was sitting down
to create was that I had prepped my paper. And I prepped all of them, all my 100 pieces of paper. I prepped in the exact
same size and I even decided that I wanted to
do them all vertically. So I didn't even have to choose between horizontal
or vertical. That way, there was
another decision taken away and we didn't fall into this trap of decision fatigue. Like, I don't know if I
should paint this *incoherent mumble stress* Another obstacle. Gone. Any decision that you
can make ahead of time, We'll make it easier
to get started. If that means finding
a water brush to watercolor brush that
has water in the barrel, like in the handle, that you can quickly get some paint on. Paint, those quickly, five minutes. I would often use my travel
set for this challenge. If you want that. That's an
excellent way of doing it. If you're like actually "it's
quite overwhelming to get. my jars... and and what about..." anything that makes
you feel like that? Maybe eliminate those obstacles to see if you can make it easy. Maybe this week you'll use
colored pencils or markers. Or maybe you'll use
just a pen and a pencil or paper in a notebook
and be able to do. That being said, you don't have
to paint for this to work. What we want to do is make a visual reminder of memory
from every single day. You can do this in a way
that feels easy for you. I'll be showing you
examples from how I did it and all of those
will be watercolor. But you're very welcome to
use any medium that you like. I know some mediums
take longer to dry. They take longer to set up through an oil
painter, for example, this might be a moment to do
something in a sketchbook, maybe use something else. I'm not sure how this applies
in the oil world works, but I can imagine this
type of creative practice that prompts can be
used for any medium. But the timeframe,
because we were painting for such a
short amount of time, it might be better to maybe shifted to a medium that
you're less familiar with, but lowers the threshold
to get started. And I find that sometimes
if I'm painting with a medium that I don t know
as well as watercolor. It actually makes me
feel less pressured to create something
beautiful and worthy. Because I wouldn't know what I'm doing makes no
sense for me to expect to be perfect at a medium that I'm not very
familiar with (even though, we shouldn't expect
you to be perfect with any medium ever)
but here we are. So if there's something
you can do to lower the threshold to
get your supplies ready, maybe put them in a place where
it's easy to access them. I have my setup here already. But maybe you'll have a
tray that's there. Maybe you'll have like a box, you will have a
book and a pencil. That's it. That's all you need to
get ready so that you can get started quickly and also
that it's easy to put away. The threshold doesn't
become see what I mean. Yes. So get your supplies prep. And if you want it, you
can start today as day one or you can start tomorrow morning whenever
you're watching this video. Welcome to this
workshop challenge. And I'm excited to see what
happens for you this week. And one last thing, you don't have to do this, but I would usually set a timer on my phone
for five-minutes for every day for the
painting challenge the base. I didn't have five-minutes. I would set one minute. There were days where I was sick or super tired or
whatever it might be in. I didn't set a timer. My only aim was my
brush onto paper. Brush paper. That's it. It can be a 10 second thing. If it was I saw a
really cool palm tree. That's it. How many seconds will
it take you to draw a tiny palm tree in your sketch book and be
like That was today's date. I remember it because
it's just a little bit. I always painted
just before bedtime. Sometimes I would make sure it was early enough to
have a bit of time. So if I got creative
juices flowing, I was like, Maybe
I'll try this thing. I could paint for longer. But if not, don't beat your up... don't beat your up? Don't beat yourself up for not setting aside more time
to paint in that day. Just take that little moment
that you said that you would get your brush
on some paper. And a reminder again, I will keep reminding
you of this. Forgiving yourself
really, really quickly. If you skip a day
or two or three, please make sure that
you're doing this with some self kindness
of self-compassion. Because if not, if this
turns into another like to do thing I need to deal with this thing needs
to be done perfectly. Then we're not going to be open for the opportunity of this not turning
out perfectly. And then what we're going to be mean to
ourselves about it. I don't think so. I see yourself set
yourself up for success. They'll make it as easy
as possible to get started with supplies
that you like. That's what always motivates me, at least when I go home,
I love this color. You can also do this
whole week with just one color and
monochrome if you'd like. That's one of my favorite ways of painting and
lowering the threshold. That leg will have muddy colors and it won't mix beautifully. Use your favorite color for this whole week or every
single painting is one brush, one color, one paper,
one sketchbook. Get it ready, make it easy, easiest possible, and
will those obstacles. And I'll see you for day one.
5. Memory keeping - Photo vs Brain : The background for this workshop is a 100 day
challenge that I did. And I painted from memory
every day for a 100 days. And when I say that, that
sounds super impressive and sounds I get painted
every day for a 100 days. I didn't I had some breaks. I had some skips. I had some days where I'm like, I can't or I fell asleep. I paint yesterday at my list, crossing street,
perfectionist self, like I just love, just keep
up on the whole thing. I did. I let myself be imperfect. And my street like, well, I can catch up with
that tomorrow. Maybelle pink to the next day, but then still keeping
that memory from the day before or the photo so that every single one of the paintings was a memory
from that specific day. And I put the date
on the back to go back and check if
sometimes I was like, oh, I skipped the 18th of April, I could go back
and redo that day. There are ways to fix
it. Nobody is checking. I won't be checking so that you do it in a
way that works for you and in a gentle way so that we're not
beating ourselves up, being neutral ourselves
about not doing this. Perfectly. Agreed. Great. I wanted to mention one
thing, not two things. One thing, but with two options. I really like painting
from a photo, from a photo of a memory. That means that I can look
at the composition of it. Even if the composition
is terrible, it will make it easier for me to decide how big
should this be? This was a plate that was here. I **** was I want
a hand and I was like scissors and something. It made it easier for me
to get started as well. Again, less obstacles. Like this is what it looks like. I'm going to put this on
the paper or a part of it. You might not like
that as much as just having that memory in your
head and you're like, Yeah, it was
something like this. It was like a blue
and that makes me remember it was
like yellow house. If that's enough,
then that's perfect. I did that for a lot
of days as well. And I was like, there was a day where I
painted the shapes of the pancakes that we had for
dinner because people were folding them in
different ways and I was very entertained. And I just paid to that with
a sparkly paint that I like. That's also allowed. So it can be as abstract as you want or you can paint
it from a photo. Anything that'll
help you remember that Laura remind
you of that thing. Sometimes it'll be a photo and
sometimes at least for me, sometimes it would be
just from that memory of what will help me
remember this thing. There was a day when we were
a bit dazzling sweaters, putting lots of sparkles
on our sweaters. My sweater was green. I did a little green swatch and had like some glitter
sparkles on it. That was it. That was a
memory from that day. It could be as
abstract as you want. Can be just a concept,
can be an idea. It could be from a photo, from the structure of the photo. If you're doing
it in monochrome, you will just find
the main shapes, maybe the main
dark in lightness. And makes sure that it's enough for you to
remember what that was. So that being said, there's no right or
wrong way of doing this. The only thing is this practice is
practice of showing up. This practice of
putting your ideas, printing things, moments from your life, memories onto paper. Toy, hammer it better, whiter to make it feel
like you have all of these things that
makes you happy, that brings you joy,
that makes notice. I'm really happy
that you're here and I'm really excited
to get started. We'll be talking a bit
about our supplies and how this week is structured. And I'll see you in
the next lesson.
6. Day 1 - Smile: Hello and welcome to day one. And we're going to start this whole week off with
one of my favorite prompts, which is the one I
always go back to, the one that started
this whole thing when I started writing down
things that made me happy and kinda morphed into gratitude journal in the end was something that
makes you smile. That's it. That is the whole prompt. And I'm like, that's very easy. I hope so. I hope it's easy for
you to find something, something throughout your
day that makes you smile. And it can be anything. It can be something
in your house. It can be something
that you did. It can be something
that you see, can be something that you heard, a story that someone tells you. And see if you can find
something within that. That'll be a visual
reminder like when you see what you painted or doodled, or even if you're
writing this down, can you make sure that is a good enough hint for you to start this like little
avalanche of memories. Like oh, that's that's that
thing. There was a time. Yeah. And that was that
was with this person or in this clays and then maybe you'll have made more
associations than, you know, just by writing down or drawing or painting,
which was what I was doing. Painting that one
thing that will remind you of a moment
that was really silly. So I will show you my
favorite ones that I've made, which was, I don't know
if you've seen the clip. There's lots of different
clips of this online. But in the Harry Potter movies, there's a Voldemort
scene where he holds his wand in a bit
of a strange way. And that along with this, like I saw someone do it with a what's
called icicle once. And I was out with two friends
and we were having dinner. And we did that with
our chopsticks. And it's the most
ridiculous painting. And I will show it
here, the screen. Because it doesn't need
to be anything very advanced or artistic
or creative. It just needs to be something
that made you smile. Maybe, maybe this is also okay. Maybe it won't start
an avalanche of memories when I think
back on that day now, like, I don't remember a lot of other things
that happen that day. But that moment is something I remember because that
only happened that one day in that one location with those people that I love. So something that makes you smile no matter how small
and insignificant it seems. Because what happens? This is the trick
to the whole thing, is you'll start looking for it, you'll start noticing and
you'll catch yourself. You'd be like outside
seeing strange something. We're like, Oh, Smiley. And then you'll remember it. And then when you go
back to paint it, you'd be like, what
was that thing? That thing that made me smile makes you
think of it again. And then you paint it for
those five minutes or even that one
minute backup plan. And then the next
time you look at it, you will remember it again. And I think it just takes this one moment of maybe as
well that would have gone unnoticed if not an input
amplify, amplify it. So that the next time
you see it and be like, look at all these
little moments that I gathered that made me smile, made me feel a bit of joy. Maybe it's a long thing. Maybe you watch the whole movie so much at that whole movie. But chances are it
wasn't the whole movie. There were moments in that
movie that made you laugh, made you smile, made
you feel something. And those are the ones we
want to notice in catch so that we start looking
for them elsewhere. If you want you to keep this
prompt for the entire week, I won't tell anyone. And if you want to, you can also write down a
little note of what it was, but most likely
the image itself, what you've painted will be enough to spark that
memory and be like, Oh, that was that moment telling
a little story about it. So good luck for today. Excited to see what you
create if you wish to share it and or just a
feedback on I did it. It worked. I found this thing. So you want to
share what it was. You can, if you want to keep it for yourself and your
creative practice and be a secret undercover agent
of art and creativity. I want a 100% approve
of that as well. So here's the permission for you to do it in exactly
the way you want to do it. And I'll see you again tomorrow.
7. Day 2 - New: Welcome to day two. Today is day two. And Today's prompt
is something that happens for the first time or something which is
kinda the same thing. So what I find really
fascinating in that I read this in a lovely book called The Art of
making memories. And it makes sense as well. I feel like I've heard
it somewhere else before that we remember things
that happened for the first time better than the 500s time or the 15th
time where the second fourth, however many times that first
time of doing something, the first time arriving
somewhere new, the first time tasting
something might be a much stronger memory than any other
time that happens. So keeping those, making our lives more memorable
by doing something new. What I noticed,
and these are all just examples from the past week or the
past couple of days. Yesterday, I went to
a new restaurant. And by just painting
that pizza that we had, which was also the first time ever pizza at this restaurant. It's the first time
me and this other friend that I was with had
pizza at this restaurant. And I only we also
brought back a lot of carts that were outside and that felt like
a nice thing to do. And I'm so glad I have
friends who does that. And then again, just like
little avalanche starts. That was that day. And the reason we
went there was to celebrate something that I had done that I was
really proud of. And it's like this
needs to be marked. It needs to be an occasion,
not just be like okay, pat on the back, move
on to the next thing. So this is also a
reminder to celebrate. If you did yesterdays prompt, Give yourself a pat on the back. At least it'd be like I
did the thing. Very nice. And also the new things
that we do make our lives. This sounds weird. It makes
our lives seem slower. And you might have noticed
this when you're on a holiday and you might be in
a new place for a weekend, everything is new and you're not sure what's important yet. So we're like, okay, well, you didn't notice all
this corner here. That's where that shop. It's maybe I'll go there and
fruit or around this corner. Actually it's blocked so I can't go that way tomorrow to go to the beach or
whatever and make my way back to
wherever I'm staying. And everything is
new and exciting. And your brain is like all
this new information which makes it feel slower because
in your day-to-day life, that might not happen as much. I don't remember which sock I put on first in the
morning because it's not important information
for my brain to remember. It's just these habits and a
lot of the times I feel like the autopilot makes all of
our days feel rather similar. And this is also
kinda what we're combating with this
whole thing is, okay, can I noticed what
makes each day special? Can I noticed something that
happens for the first time? And maybe the only time, maybe that's the
only time I'll ever go to that restaurant
with that friend. And I know it's the
only time I will be celebrating that
specific one thing that just happened now
and it makes us pause. Yeah, these are the moments. These are the times where I
notice extra what's going on, who I'm with landing
in the moment. And I think that's a really
beautiful thing and I think that can be, for me. This was my second
favorite prompt, my second favorite thing
and things I would look for is what makes
this day unique. And it's often something that
happens for the first time. So good luck looking
for that today. Put on those first-time
glasses where something new, something out of
the ordinary and maybe you get off the bus one-stop before a one-stop after where you usually
get off like this. The first time I've
done this, this is the first time
I've had this thing. This is the first time I'm
sitting on this side of the table having lunch
with these two people. This is the first
time something. So maybe it's a new food that you try it, maybe
it's a new drink. Maybe you tried to limited
edition ice tea flavor with watermelon and realized it only tasted like candy and
you didn't really like it, but it was the first time. And it's easy to remember. And then whatever
you create from that little drawing or painting
or writing it down again, can it trigger that
memory through like that was that day and coming
back to something joyful. Ideally, of course,
we want all of these memories and paintings
to be something joyful, but sometimes it could
also be something sad. It could be something that is important to remember
and you won't forget it, but it colors that whole day. So one of my
paintings throughout my challenge was my
grandmother's funeral. And I fainted the
blue sky behind the white church and all of the little people
that were there. And it is an important
date to remember, but not all memories
will only be joyful. So there's your
permission to also paint something that maybe
made you feel something really strongly or
me to really angry. And that's also okay. And we'll also teach you
something about yourself. So enjoy today's prompt. Look for something new, and
I'll see you again tomorrow.
8. Day 3 - Size: Are you ready for day three? So today's bit of a strange one, and this is something
that fascinates me, usually is when I
find something that is uncharacteristically
big or small. So it's looking for
something that's wrong. Size. Is your prompt today. And that might sound
a bit strange, but sometimes most
of the time we have a certain expectation
of what something is going to look like and what
size it's going to be. Size, whose color,
whatever it might be, It's just something that
size fascinates me so much. So one of my most
entertaining things, and this happens at work. I'm not sure if it's
because I'm in France. This might not happen with
the vegetation around you, but flowers are so tall
and it makes me smile. And thanks back to day
one. It's fascinating. Sometimes it's new,
like yesterday, sometimes it's like, I've
never seen this before. This is the first time I've
seen a flower this tall. And it links into this looking for things that stand out to
use things that you notice. So if it's something big or small, it
doesn't really matter. But looking for something that's in a size that you
wouldn't expect. This could be something
that's man-made, are created. Or look at this gigantic, I've never seen a
leaf this big or like gigantic lemon or a
tiny liquid water is just a smallest banana ever. Something that makes you
go That's the wrong size. And it can be anything. It
can be something you'd see. It can be something
you've heard of a guess, but obviously a
visual reminder would probably be easier if it's
something that you find. And I know I mentioned
this before, but again, can take
a photo of this. I know I took a photo
of my hand next to most things because this
is a size that I know. This size doesn't change. Usually, if I had
my hand next to something next to a
gigantic flower or like holding a little lemon or like my little fingerprints next
two tiny, tiny leaves. I love that. So can you make sure that you, when you look back on this, you remember why this
was a thing that was uncharacteristically big or
small, weird weird size. I also saw the other
day, I'm like really, really long, thin
aubergine eggplant. That's the first time I've
seen that. How strange. That's not usually
what they look like. So this can also be, again, we're just adding those
filters of like Can I, what can I find that's
out of the ordinary? Something that maybe
makes you smile. And something that's new, something that maybe
surprises you a little bit. So that's our day three prompt. And happy, happy
you're looking happy. Size glasses. That's a weird thing to say. That's okay. I would be interested in
knowing what in your world, what in your environment do
you find that weirdly sized? I guess it could also
be really shaped, but that also changes the sides. Good luck.
9. Day 4 - Gift: Every day until now, everyday up until
they flower has started with something blank. So I guess in that format would be something
that is a gift. A gift can be something that you give or something you receive. It could be something
that you're given on this day or it could be something that you've
been given before or that you planning
on giving to someone. Maybe you're buying
gift or maybe you're giving something to someone. And it can be anything. It can be that someone buys
you a cup of coffee at work. It can be that someone
brings you flowers. Like, Hey, I thought
of you here. Something like, I
thought you would like to try this limited
edition chocolate. I would love that as a gift. Or you can also look for
something that's in your space. That is a gift that
you got from someone. It can also be a gift from
yourself to yourself. And if you want to, this can also be your permission slip to buy that thing that you wanted and you
wanted to give it to yourself as a precedent,
but you haven't yet. If you have the funds for it, maybe today will be
bad day where you go and buy that thing
that you're like. I deserve it, I await. You deserve it. You can buy it for yourself. You're allowed to give
yourself presence. Like you're allowed to give
someone else that you love. Presence to show that
you think about them, what they like, what
they would enjoy. The reason I brought this
car for every single video, because this was a
gift, a double gift. These penguins are
my friend group. So I painted these penguins and gave it to one
of my friends. She then printed them
on cups, them back. So it actually has my signature. I love this cup so much. And it was my favorite
Christmas gift last Christmas. And something about
it being so personal, personalized, like they're
giving back and forth. All that symbolizes the gifts. Seamless, even if your lung
language isn't present. You can be given
the gift of time. You can be given the
gift of a phone call. You can be given the gift of
self attention, something, a hug, even something
that you're given today, will be your prompt for today. And let your life be really open when it
comes to this prompt. So a gift could also
be a tomato plant. Gave me a tomato or Bye. Fridge, gave me my dinner today. I don't know, might
be a bit abstract, but don't underestimate something
that's been given to you. Have you been given even if something even
something very strange, like has someone cancelled
plan that gave you more time. Maybe that's a gift today. So give yourself a gift, you give someone else a
gift, receive a gift. Something has to with giving something that has to
do with being generous. Something, even if it's something
that even a very small, because that's
also what we like. We like to find
those little things. There's so many more chances for something small to happen. And something grant app is like, I didn't receive a car today, so I know something small, some kind of present, some kind of gift.
So enjoy today. Enjoy your day, and I'll
see you again tomorrow. Oh. Sometimes we talk
about our talents, our capacities as a gift. You're allowed to
use that as well. If you're like, I'm
a gifted singer, if you're gonna go sing on
an open-mind karaoke night, I allow you to treat
that as a gift. You're welcome to use it.
10. Day 5 - Fascinating: Welcome to day five. You realize we're almost through this entire week
is almost weekend. How wonderful. So today, I wanted
to talk to somebody. I mentioned a little
bit in a few days ago. But Today's prompt is
something that fascinates you. That's it. And it can be a
small fascination. It doesn't have to be like,
this is my passion of life. This is all I ever care about. It doesn't need to be that it can be
something that you're curious about or that sparks
your interests in life. Maybe curious could be
a better word for you. I love getting
fascinated by things. So when I read books or someone tells me a story
where I see suddenly like I didn't like something
that you didn't know, something that like
super fascinating. I think fascination is
something that we can practice getting excited
about something. And I think because
what excites me, what fascinates me might not be the same thing as
what fascinates you. So I just finished a book
called why we sleep. And I'm super fascinated by all the research around sleep powered functions
with our brain, how it impacts us, how it
all it takes to change. The caret is all went
up in a state where they changed the starting
times in schools. I think that's fascinating. I think being a bit of a nerd
about something a bit of a fascinated enthusiast
does make our lives more interesting and it
can be on so many levels. So one thing that
always fascinates me, and I don't always
think about it. But if I, when I was
starting to think about these prompts and what could be something that
makes you look for, something that could be a way to make your life
richer and more interesting, more like these layers, look at all these things I like. Look at all these things
that bring me joy. I'm so fascinated
by my contexts, contacts that I put in my
eyes every single morning and this little plastic thing, this little I'm not even
sure what it's made up. I put it on my eyeball
and I can see clearly, I understand that
it has something to do with the way
the light crosses, but I don't need to
understand how it works to be fascinated by
the fact that it does. Today. I invite you to look for something
that fascinates you, something that makes it go. That's pretty cool or
fascinating. Food. Fascinating. Flavor
is fascinating. I wonder why they really
extra like super pink. The sunset is something, whatever it could
be the mechanism of an umbrella if it's raining
where you are today. And I think this really, for me, this is one of the
things that brought me into watercolor in
the first place was I saw a video of someone
painting wet in wet. And when you paint wet in wet, you put water down first and
then you put your paint into water and it starts
spreading outwards. It. So finding something
that fascinates you, I think will be
something that can keep you propel E4 with something that can
keep you moving in. Research team. Maybe
I should Google that. Anything that makes
you think today, let me google that to find
out about something might be, something might be a clue that you're fascinated
by something. So if you want to test it out with your art supply, spied
something fascinating. I think color mixing
is fascinating. I think. Like if I mix this green, it looks completely
different from this green. If I mix this yellow
with this blue, this yellow with something else, I was just like, yeah, as you can see, if I can get fascinated by so many things and
I think you can do, and I think that is, there is a bit of them. I want to call it stigma, but maybe there's a, there's a, if you're cool, you
don't get as fascinated. I think it's super cool to
get fascinated by things. I think someone who's excited about what
they're talking about, no matter what it is, is someone that's
interesting to listen to. So if someone's telling
you a story and they make you fascinated by what
they're talking about. I think that's also a good
clue that you're being told it in a way that fascinates you. You can be fascinated by
array of different things. I'm sure everything
you can see around you from looking
around me now, Hebrew, that's like how,
how fabric is made, how cotton is made, how, like how this wall was built. I don't know. Probably
fascinating for someone how they cause a house
built, where do we start? And then they go into
that if their profession, maybe building houses. And there's so much
information available. So if you find something
that fascinates, you, maybe start looking for
more information about it. See where it can take you and
make a little painting or drawing or something today that reminds you of that
thing that fascinates you, reminds you that you
have interests in, have these things
that you like you up, that you are intrigued by. Enjoy day five and
I'll see you tomorrow.
11. Day 6 - One: After day five columns, day six, we're just actually
go to build on yesterday's looking
for fascination, looking for curiosity and
looking for something that makes you intrigued. Today, the prompt is
someone who fascinates you. This can be someone
in your life that you literally know or someone
that you know of, or have been told a
story of someone. It's fascinating life to you. Not because this is a
fascinating person. Don't Google most
fascinating person, although that could be
something that fascinates you. So yeah, absolutely. But can you find someone who
would go like this person? There's something, there's
something about them. This could be a partner, it could be someone that you
just met really quickly. Someone who's like, that's a
fascinating outfit or like, I'm intrigued by this person and the way that they
carry themselves, the way that they dress, the way that they look. Beautiful tattoo, I wonder
where that came from. Something about someone
around you or from far away. Someone who fascinates you in their own way of working,
their way of showing up, the way they talk,
the way they sing, the way they act, the way they
dance, the way they paint. Something. I find so many
artists fascinating. After this waste is coming from fascinating stuff,
fascinating people. Today we're going to look for
someone who fascinates us. And if you're like
me and you're like, I don't paint humans. You don't have to
paint the human. You can paint something that
has to do with that human. I painted myself and a friend, and I literally only painted that I was wearing
this colored hat. She was wearing
that colored hat. She had glasses and
our colored scarves. That was it. It's like a
weird silhouette thing. I also paint a lot
of self portraits. One was only like my
hair, my sunglasses, and what I was wearing,
and then I had a stick in my hair. That's it. That's
what we need. Also. If this doesn't turn it into something very
difficult for you, it can be yourself. If you find that you do
something like what a weird, fascinating thing to do, I'm glad I do this
thing like this. What a fascinating concept, how weird that I'm like. This can also be
something weird. It can be something
you're curious about. That's also allowed for today. If you don't want
to paint a human, you can paint something that
reminds you about them. So say that I would like to use work that has fascinating
hair and I'm always like, just luck, so weightless. You can paint that here.
I could paint that here. I have a painting of hair, my 100th day thing because that day I braided someone's hair. I don't often do that. And it was a first
edit was nice, a nice moment with someone
that I care about. And I was like,
Oh, this is nice. Paint the hair paint, a reminder that
triggers then again, looking at that a year from now? Yeah. Yeah. That was that day that I was focused on
looking for things that fascinate me and
not things today. Someone looking for
people who fascinate me because people
are fascinating. They can also be a fixtures
character, infectious. It can also be a
fictional character if you're mesmerized, loci, if you're
mesmerized by how much? By someone in a story
by Harry Potter, by someone that doesn't exist. They exist, you're allowed
to paint those as well. Someone, a human was
fascinating, actually. Yeah, I'll allow you to
paint an animal as well. Someone, something alive. An identical. So if that's your cat, you're allowed to paint
your cat as well. If she fascinating or a
fascinating, fascinating. It's class. I'm really excited to see you. I will tell you all
about it tomorrow.
12. Day 7 - Where: Hey, so bad. And that means the last day, the last day of the week. And I'm so proud of you
for making it all this way through an entire week
of tiny daily problems, little things, little paintings. And if this has
taken me more than a week, that's not a problem. You can take this
at any paste if you've never make
it to this video, I will know, you will know, but here we are and I'm
really proud of you for having taken this time to start cultivating
this practice, start practicing,
practicing your practice. Showing up for yourself, telling yourself that I'm gonna do this and then doing that. Even if it changes along
the way, even if you say, I'm going to wait for
five minutes today and you paint for four. Guess what still happened? Still painted. You still showed up. She painted for one if
you painted at all. And also, I would like to
mention if you did it, what what are we going to do or you're gonna beat
ourselves up over it? Are we gonna be
like, You know what? That's okay. That happens sometimes. I forgive you. You know, it's not the end of the world. It's not saying something
about who you are as a human, how kind you are, how worthy you are, how wonderful and enough you are that this happened in a different way than
you thought it would. Give herself some kindness, give yourself that compassion
of that's happened. What I like it to happen again. How can I make it easier for me to not let that happen again? So that being said,
our final prompt, our last prompt of
this week is some where a place somewhere
that feels good. Somewhere that feels good for you to be somewhere in my eyes, maybe it's somewhere important. And it can be a small place. It can be placed
inside of me, please. Outdoors. If you
place in your house, it can be a location
out somewhere. It can be a view that you love. It can be or hammock. That's one of my
favorite places. And it can be somewhere
that makes you feel like this is a
good place to be. This corner. My credo space,
this is my studio. This is one of my
favorite places. And it can be your bed. If you'd be your favorite chair, it can be your bathroom. If your bathroom lovely plants and it's only if it's
solving and how plants, if it makes you feel good. That's a nice place
for you to be in. Somewhere. Nice. It could be outdoors as well. It could be somewhere
that you walk past. It can be a cafe that
you really enjoy. And maybe today, today is the day to go to that
cafe and have a cup of coffee or a little cake or
something, or a big gauge. What do I know? Somewhere
landing somewhere. Like right now. I'm in this place
and nowhere else. And it's a strange
feeling to have like, this is all there is. I like I stopped here. This is this is all of me. I'm all be right here right now. I think landing in a
place we like Yeah, this is it can help you
kind of ground in a moment. Then maybe you'll paint
something of that place. We will paint the place. Or maybe you'll paint something that reminds you of that place. Maybe we'll paint the
chromosome that you had for the first time
with this new cafe that made you feel
really peaceful. Maybe you'll paint something
in your favorite corner, but I am going to put in my pajamas and get
my blanket and get my favorite cup and read
a book in this corner today because it's such
a lovely place to be. Somewhere, a location that feels good, that
feels important, that feels happy and joyful to you landing
in that moment, in that place today. They save it. And I'm still so grateful for you coming on this
journey with me. And for the next video, I'll just be summarizing a
little bit of what's happened this week and also give
you some questions. If you're a bit like,
cool, I like this. Where do we go from here? So that you can keep cultivating your practice, keep practicing, keep showing up for yourself and your art even after
this week is done, which of course you can repeat forever if you'd like
to see you there.
13. The end! Or... the beginning: I feel like I should have some kind of party hat for this. And I feel like this
isn't giving the same, but instead of the party hat, I will have my
internal party hat. That doesn't sound right, but imagine that I'm wearing
my party hat for you, this pajama party
celebration at the end. I hope you're so proud of
yourself for showing up, for committing to this
however long it's taking you to come to this video. I can't wait to see
what you've made. Although like mentioned, I don't need to see
what you've made. The sense that I would love to see if this happened for you. If you showed up, if you found a way to get inspired by the things that you see in your day-to-day life. But I don't need to see
what it looks like. If you want to, you
can just hold up your sketch books
like inside of here, there are seven paintings
or seven drawings that made me document this
week and made me look for things
that make me happy. It makes me feel joy, made me feel something. Sometimes it's not even that, but it makes me
feel like a human that has a life worth living, worth documenting,
worth noticing. That we can keep our channels open for all the good things that
automatically are there. But sometimes we
don't notice them. We don't know what
they feel like because we're not practicing. Maybe we're not focused. Maybe you've never learned. Maybe if we've never
focused on it, maybe we feel so overwhelmed, but all the things we should do that nothing ever feels
really good enough because nothing is ever
finished and nothing's ever it's not, it's not enough. I see so many people
do so many things. And no matter how
well they do it, no matter how
wonderful they are, no matter how fantastic
they're performing, they still don't feel
like it's enough. They still don't
feel like they're worthy of celebrating
themselves are worthy. Whatever it might
be in this block, this like never enough
perfectionism thing is so harmful. And I think noticing tiny moments like this can be an antidote to
be like, You know what? I'm pretty happy with this. Not to say that you
can't have ambition. Not to say that you don't have dreams are things that
you would like to improve. But what's the value? Beating yourself up
about where you are now versus where you
want to go here, not be like, this
is really nice. I would like to
improve some things. I would like to
grow in this area. But I'm not going to be mean I'm not going to be a bully to myself about it because I
haven't arrived there yet. Can I stop comparing
myself to everyone else? Can I see what's already here? Notice what I'm already doing. And I think that starts in
the tiny habits that we have of looking for proof
that were enough. Looking for proof
that we belong, looking for proof
that there's joy, looking for proof that we are interested
in things that are, things that fascinated me, things that light me up, things that give me joy. And we can keep it going and our art practice
can support that. And it can be something
that supports our practice. Do you see how
this is supporting itself by being
something that lowers the threshold to get
started and also lower threshold of, I
think, happiness. It lowers the threshold of feeling joy because it
doesn't need to be. I'm feel joy when I
go to Disneyland, I will feel joy when I
have my birthday party. It doesn't need to be the big
events for there to be joy sprinkled throughout
your life like some kind of wonderful
delicious cake. Not to say that there won't
be anything heartbreaking, not to say there won't
be grief or something that hurts you or something
that makes you really angry. But I do believe that
your life gets richer. I believe that by noticing, we can start getting to
know ourselves better. And also letting that
be something that supports us in something
that you'd like to pursue, a creative practice,
something that makes you show up in a way that's easier. And we don't get this. It has to be perfect. I
have to create something, I have to make something that
is important or valuable. It can be valuable for you
and it can be a way to find out more about yourself. So happy you're here, I'm so
happy you took this time. I'm really proud of you
and I wish you all the best of luck to keep
cultivating this practice. If something in this week of
really resonated for you, I would love for you
to continue with this. It doesn't have to look
exactly like this week. It doesn't have to be
like everyone to hold it something that maybe
Tuesday was it. Nope. You can take the things that
worked the best for you. Keep tweaking them, keep
adjusting them, keep checking. If there's another prompt
you would like to add, maybe you'd like a day of, I love what I'm wearing. I'm going to paint that today
or traveling somewhere. Maybe you'd like to
paint your dreams. Maybe you'd like to
paint something else. Maybe you'll have
a week of like, I'll paint every single person that I met, whatever
it might be. Can you find prompts that you could give to yourself or
look for prompts elsewhere. That could be something that makes it east Ticket
started with like, okay, So today,
this is my prompt. I don't have to paint everything in the entire world today. I can follow this one thing
and then see if this rhythm, this rhythm wherever that
meant for you this week, if you showed up
every single day, maybe that's a perfect rhythm
for you and maybe it's not. Maybe five days a week is great. Maybe three days a
week is great too. Maybe you have other
creative practices. Maybe you have an
instrument to practice, and you knew that
the times a week, then you would like to
add this twice a week. I don't think it has
to be every day, but I think regular practice does lower the threshold
for sitting down for getting started because it's
usually the hardest part is just getting it up,
getting it started. And then you can see how
long we continue for it. If it's one hour,
if it's two hours, if it's like three hours or maybe it was just
that one minute. It doesn't count. It's still counts. So thank you again
for showing up. If you have any
questions at all, please reach out
and let me know. You can start a discussion
in the board underneath. You can leave a review. I would love to hear feedback
on how you experienced this week and leave your project in the
project gallery below. If you would like to show or an actual your project
for this week. If you would like
to, you can also share this with me on Instagram. I'm awkward, Elise, on
Instagram up with here and in the description so that you can tag
me there as well. And the kiss your art
supplies get Knight is the hashtag or
shortened to k, y, a, s, g, n. Kiss your art supplies
good night, six letters. So I hope to see you there. I would love to
see what you make. I'd love to see how you
feel more importantly, what shifted this week for you, and how can you keep that going? If you want to keep
this kind of practice, this kinda showing up this
kind of memory making, keeping activity in your
life going forward. Thank you again for
coming and I'll see you again in another
class another time.
Elise Aabakken, Voice Coach - Teacher - Performer
