Just Getting Started: 1/24th down, and endless possibilities ahead!
8-minute read
Hello, friends!
I hope you’ve had a brilliant week!
We are already 1/24th the way through the year!
Have you set goals for yourself?
Sometimes, 90-day goals are the perfect fuel to jumpstart a new beginning.
Here are some ideas:
You can challenge yourself to create one sketch a day.
Or you might paint what inspires you from a poem. (I love the words of Rabindranath Tagore.)
You could try en plein air in the same spot at all four seasons, or in different weather.
Your art challenge can fuel you in the best way possible.
THE INFINITY OF YOUR LOVE
Stand before my eyes, and let Your glance touch my songs into a flame.
Stand among Your stars, and let me find kindled in their lights my own fire of worship.
The earth is waiting at the world’s wayside.
Stand upon the green mantle she has flung upon Your path, and let me in her grass and meadow flowers spread my own salutation.
Stand in my lonely evening where my heart watches alone; fill her cup of solitude, and let me feel in myself the infinity of Your love.
~Rabindranath Tagore
In my first 90 days, I am completing a series of art pieces for my Legacy Collection. For those, I’m making frames with the help of my stepfather, Gary (thank you, Gary!). And they’re scheduled to show at The Loft Gallery in Black Dog Salvage. Koiner Culp is the curator there and she designs the BEST exhibitions. ‘Super excited’ is an understatement.
Then, to kick off the following 90 days, I will be the live event artist for the Gloucester Daffodil Festival in northern Virginia.
2025 is amazing so far!
On top of it all, creativity is flowing abundantly in all my colleagues and friends. I see it in their art, their words, and their actions. It is a blessed year. ART is the word of the year!
Within an abundance of creativity!
It nourishes us.
How do we always live from that artistic place within?
When an artist is fueled from that place, you can see it.
On LinkedIn, I wrote about Monet, but I want to share it here, too.
There’s joy in studying the lives of the masters.
🌷 Claude Monet didn’t start with vast landscapes bathed in light.
At his start, in the 1850s, he made caricatures—good ones—but they didn’t pay much. Then, everything changed on the beaches of Normandy.
That’s where Monet met Eugene-Louis Boudin, who introduced him to en plein air painting. This technique immerses you in the scene—painting outdoors, feeling the wind, hearing the birds, watching shadows move across the land.
Monet fell in love with light.
It became his obsession, his calling.
🌼 Monet’s work redefined art. He inspired Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and helped create a movement: Impressionism.
This rebellious style broke tradition. It captured fleeting beauty, raw emotion, and life itself.
Rather than traditional portraiture in a studio, these incredible artists, including Cézanne, Degas, and Van Gogh, developed a new way to practice and enjoy art. To be in the midst of the scene. To paint the moment. To capture movement in the sky and horizon (what I hope to achieve at the Daffodil Festival).
▪️So, artist, what inspires you?
▪️What makes your heart race and your soul sing?
▪️Where are your mysterious places to find your light?
THE GRASP OF YOUR HAND
Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it.
Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved but hope for the patience to win my freedom.
Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling Your mercy in my success alone; but let me find the grasp of
Your hand in my failure.
~Rabindranath Tagore
--> Grace <--
In whatever you're going through today, and for the rest of the year, and with every 90-day challenge, KNOW that you are enough. Everything inside you is enough.
All the answers are in the quiet places within.
Just as we might not see what's beneath the ground's surface, ready to nourish and sustain us, we might not see what's within us either. But there it is, rooted in us.
I hope you have the most abundant and incredible season of life!
Until next week,
Happy creating!
~Jesse
MORE ABOUT WHAT I OFFER TO ARTISTS:
As an artist, do you feel like you're being pulled in countless directions?
It's YOU I'm reaching out to in my programs.
Ambition is a good thing🙏🏼—but too many options create a stand-still.
As a result, you're wasting hundreds of hours on anxious thoughts, dead ends, and confusing options, hoping to find a small light in the dark.
Meanwhile, you're wondering
▪️ How does my art stand out?
▪️ What skills do I need to stack?
▪️ How do I plan for success?
Worrying --> Instead of using those hours to develop more of your art and excellence in business.
How do we fix that?
❤️🔥 A heart-fueled mission, ⛯ a desired destination, and 🧭 a compass to guide you.
These metaphors stand for:
1️⃣ Your WHY
2️⃣ Your WHERE
3️⃣ Your HOW
Here's what I ask you to do:
Imagine your art business thriving and your work showing in galleries.
You are at peace with your progress.
You are proud of your product.
You wake up every morning excited for what's to come.
More importantly, you have a Legacy Collection with which you are enamored.
Clients seek YOU because they resonate with YOUR ART.
You're in a position of POWER.
🚨How do you get to that place?
This is where I come in.
I believe that everyone has a legacy, and that by understanding that and giving it expression, people will tap into endless positive progression.
Here's what you'll get:
▪️ ART PROLIFERATION (I help artists become self-actualized; there is an immense amount of artistic/creative ability in you)
▪️ WORKBOOK (Actionable steps to personal development)
▪️ OPEN STUDIO SESSIONS (online open hours drawing, painting, or creating together)
▪️ ART BUSINESS ACCELERATOR (Clearer brand, focused goals, refreshed socials, website, content strategy, and confidence)
Now, are you ready to build your art business?
Let's make it happen.
👉🏼 respond to this email or DM through Substack or linkedIn.
And I'll see you at the canvas!
~Jesse
TESTIMONIALS
