Make-up & Messages From the Universe Ep. 3 | How I Make My Artistic Process More Accessible 💖💄

Video Transcription:

A transformative aspect of my life came to be when I began to think about my goals as an artist by first addressing what I DIDN'T enjoy about the process. Often, we are rushed into our creativity while feeling the mounting pressure, usually from within ourselves, to create something so spectacular that came about organically and with ease. The truth is, I often feel anxious, defeated, and entirely uninterested in doing anything related to making or creating. There are countless unrealistic expectations, impractical roadblocks, and things that make life in general pretty logistically impossible to navigate in the first place. Being distracted about what *I THINK* I ought to be doing only makes me want to do the exact opposite. That mindset kills my creativity, leaves me uninspired, makes me feel like a failure of an artist and a human being and for what? How does that enrich my life in any way?! I don't get paid to create, post, write, edit, upload, or share content so my main motivation comes from a genuine desire to just be immersed (when I have the time and energy) in the aspects of art making that I love most and look forward to.

In 2018 I wrote a book on how to trust trusting your creative process and why learning to LOVE your unique artistic processes is so important. The same goes for anyone who has a hobby that doesn't pay the bills but makes you feel alive - like you're living your purpose. As a person who is chronically ill and disabled, I have to be deliberate about how I use my energy and what I choose to focus on, depending on my needs at any given time. I usually wake up with a -30% battery life (or negative 10 spoons), so it is very rare that I even feel well enough to do my makeup, write, take photos, etc. Things that drain my energy VERY quickly include: overstimulating and loud environments, temperature fluctuations (especially on hot days), being interrupted by someone/something, not eating or drinking water regularly, and ignoring my own needs like stopping to take a bathroom break, or getting up to stretch every now and then.

Other things I just HATE include not having an organized space to do my makeup, wanting to do my makeup and then realizing all of my makeup brushes and sponges are dirty, not having adequate lighting needed for hours of work, forgetting to charge my camera battery, etc.  If you're also living with ADHD and inconvenient over stimulation, it's best to be HONEST and shamelessly transparent with yourself about what makes things difficult, uncomfortable, discouraging, frustrated and so forth. If you don't know where to start, start there.

I am also prone to having painful and debilitating flare-ups. So, to eliminate some of these flare up triggers, I wash my makeup brushes at night, in front of my kitchen window where there is often a cool breeze, it's more calm and quiet outside, no one's awake to interrupt the flow I have going on.

You just gotta work with what you've got and BE CREATIVE about how you make your environment more accessible to your needs, even down to every last detail if you're like me.

What I DO enjoy about this process is the sensation of swirling a brush in my palm and massaging the bristles with my fingers until I can tell that it's ready to be rinsed. Im usually not wearing gloves, but in this video I enjoyed doing so because I DONT like the texture of liquid foundation and concealer left on my hands because it creates a mess. When I wash my brushes with my bare hands though, Im able to hear whether there's enough soap in the lather, I can feel the difference between a squeaky clean brush and one that still has makeup residue or soap left behind. I love the sound of the running water and feel soo satisfied when I rinse each brush and see the gunk melt away. To keep me motivated during this tedious and exhausting process, I think about how much I look forward to the end results. Like the way my clean brushes will feel on my skin the next time I do my makeup. Or how satisfying it will be the next day when I can put my fully dried brushes back in their acrylic case, organize them into sections, and hear the different tone of the tapping sounds each brush handle makes when being placed bristle side up on my vanity.

Loving this process has taken a while to achieve because my perspective has changed from "UGH I HATE DOING THIS!!" to "aww it's bath time for my babies!" Your unique artistic process is essentially your love language to yourself. You're doing all of this for YOU to benefit from. There's a deep level of respect and intimacy that is created when I prepare for my me-time. In the moment, it brings me comfort and warm fuzzy feelings to know that I am preparing all of this just for me to be able to enjoy the thing I love the most - playing with makeup...ang getting everything dirty again.

Видео Make-up & Messages From the Universe Ep. 3 | How I Make My Artistic Process More Accessible 💖💄 канала Vanessa Nicole Durand