• The Power of One Person: Why having just one teacher stand up for your creativity can change the trajectory of your life.
• The Safety Tangent: Why we often choose the responsible path to please our families, and how we eventually find our way back home.
• Art Store Radiation: Why Nathalie packed a box of art supplies for her cancer treatment room and how drawing became her proof of life.
• Befriending the Trauma: The slow, patient process of healing and learning to find wisdom in our most difficult experiences.
• Prayers for Peace: How to combine spiritual practice with your creative practice to create a landscape of inner calm.

Want more? Here are handy playlists with all my previous interviews with guests in visual arts.

Check out the full show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join us for the Follow Your Curiosity Creativity Circle.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

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• The Mistake Rule: Why Jackie only allowed herself to stop working once she messed up—and how it saved her from burnout.
• The Handbrake Turn: Why closing a successful business to pursue art was an act of self-trust, not failure.
• Merz Pies: How Jackie uses local landscapes and found objects to tell stories through experimental art.
• The Power of Play: Why Jackie’s 800-costume inventory is now a hands-on archive for community research and curiosity.

Want more? Here are handy playlists with all my previous interviews with guests in visual arts.

Check out the full show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join us for the Follow Your Curiosity Creativity Circle.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.

Will Brooks is a freelance artist and designer who mostly works with licensed properties, especially Doctor Who. For five years, Will was the in-house ‘photo’ artist for Titan Comics’ Doctor Who ranges, providing more than 160 covers. He’s also produced artwork for Big Finish Productions and the Doctor Who Experience, and was the lead artist and designer for the second edition of Cubicle 7’s Doctor Who RPG, for which he also wrote material.

Will joins me to talk about how he got his start with licensed artwork, the process of creating covers for Titan and Big Finish, the power of just doing something when nothing seems to be coming together creatively, helpful criticism vs. tearing folks’ work down,  the effects of leaving social media, and more.

If you’re tired of your inner critic running amok in your head and you're ready to confine it to quarters, Make Bad Art: Ditch Perfectionism and Have Fun Doing It starts on October 14!

Episode breakdown:

00:00 - Intro

01:10 - Creative Childhood

04:54 - Starting with Doctor Who Art

13:18 - Art School Lessons

15:34 - Art School Experience

19:14 - Impostor Syndrome Insights

24:54 - Beginning in Doctor Who Comics

30:14 - Comic Cover Creation

32:28 - Sources of Creativity

40:00 - Comic Cover Process

42:58 - Social Media Impact

47:10 - Importance of Consistency

50:26 - Facebook Manipulation

56:34 - Current Projects

59:57 - Conclusion

Want more? Here are handy playlists with all my previous interviews with guests in Doctor Who and visual arts.

If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.

Check out the full show notes at fycuriosity.com, and connect with me and fellow creatives on Substack.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

Andrew Darlow is a New Jersey-based photographer, inventor, author, and digital workflow coach. For over 25 years he has helped people preserve, protect and back up their irreplaceable photos, videos and other digital files. His photography, tips and reviews have appeared in many publications and media outlets, including: People magazine, Animal Planet, Reader’s Digest and Professional Photographer Magazine. He is the author of four award-winning books, including his newest book: Focus and Filter.

Andrew talks with me about what drew him to photography, what we lost and gained in the shift to digital photography, the improvements in phone cameras in recent years, how best to preserve your photos—and weed out the junk—and more.

Want more? Here's a handy playlist with all my previous interviews with guests in visual arts.

Episode breakdown:

00:00 Introduction

01:22 Creativity explored in childhood, grandparents encouraged art.

03:57 Transition from drawing on walls to discovering photography.

05:30 Fascination with darkroom photography and its magic.

07:00 Different methods in darkroom, use of contact printing.

10:00 Engagement with photography, schools in Washington D.C.

11:27 Shift from film to digital, instant access vs. patience.

14:41 Improvement in phone cameras, use for scanning documents.

15:59 Loss of thoughtful consideration with digital photography.

19:16 Exploration of aperture and shutter priority.

21:39 Impact of phone cameras on traditional photography.

23:44 Usefulness of phone photography courses.

24:25 Concept of the best camera being the one with you.

26:11 Ethical considerations in photography, respecting subjects.

28:06 Dangers of distractions, selfies, and phone use.

30:01 Tips for safely backing up digital images.

34:06 Managing and organizing digital photo collections.

38:12 Strategies for dealing with physical photo preservation.

40:27 Importance of online backup services like Backblaze.

43:39 Overview of local and cloud backup solutions.

47:31 Andrew's upcoming projects, including course platform.

51:19 Insight into unique, personalized photography prints.

Check out the full show notes (now including transcripts!) at fycuriosity.com, and connect with me and fellow creatives on Substack.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.

My guest today is Josh Mendoza, an award-winning filmmaker known for his post-apocalyptic feature film, What Still Remains. His debut novel, Shadow of the Eternal Watcher, which combines sci-if and film noir, was released in January. Josh joins me to talk about his start in creative writing and his move into film, the similarities and differences in writing fiction and film, the necessity of learning through failure, the democratization of creative pursuits like filmmaking, and more.

Episode breakdown:

00:00 Introduction

04:42 Family support fuels persistence in creative pursuits.

08:51 Emphasizing positivity over negativity in sharing creative feedback.

13:40 Unexpected audience reactions highlight creators' limited control.

16:25 Importance of not focusing on negative reviews or criticism.

20:14 Film structure rules help shape and tighten storytelling in novels.

24:05 Editing and trimming elevate both novels and screenplays significantly.

28:14 Books become lasting physical achievements compared to shelved scripts.

32:07 Movie-making demands flexibility and compromise with real-world constraints.

36:02 Intellectual property’s role in getting projects greenlighted discussed.

39:56 Technology enables democratization, but creates challenges in standing out.

44:02 Bad creative work is necessary learning for improved future art.

48:13 Letting characters shape the story often leads to authenticity.

52:10 Duster Raines, Josh's protagonist, is both flawed and compelling.

55:38 Genre mashups and series building.

Want more? Here's a handy playlist with all my previous interviews with guests in writing.

If you’ve been tearing up when you encounter other people’s art because you’ve lost touch with your own, we should talk.

Check out the full show notes (now including transcripts!) at fycuriosity.com, and connect with me and fellow creatives on Substack.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.

Photographer and author Autumn Carolynn’s relationship with wanderlust started early in her life, with a semester abroad in England. From there, she’s held a variety of travel-related positions, including flight attendant and travel agent, and all of them have allowed her to pursue photography around the globe. During the pandemic, she combined her photography with her travel stories, and the result is “Traveling in Wonder: A Photographer’s Tales of Wanderlust,” which encourages readers to embrace exploration and life’s everyday challenges. Autumn joins me to talk about the surprising gut instinct that changed the direction of her life, the realities of life as a flight attendant (including the wide range of life skills required for and learned on the job), the importance of traveling now rather than putting it off for retirement, and how she sees the intersection between travel and creativity. If you’re looking for inspiration to buy that plane ticket, this is it!

Episode breakdown: 

00:00 Introduction

05:15 The alchemy of photo development

09:59 13 countries in 13 weeks

12:53 Secretive travels shared via Facebook

14:57 Exploring global fast food menus

18:13 Lost in Budapest

23:14 Gut feeling cancels Australia trip

25:44 Intense flight attendant training

29:34 Moving abroad: Not so simple

31:57 Adventure in Australia

38:10 Handling in-flight medical emergencies

41:53 "Traveling in Wonder" book release

43:28 Building a creative art business

47:20 Capturing memories for mom

50:05 Seize opportunities while able

55:48 Embrace new experiences

Want more? Here's a handy playlist with all my previous interviews with guests in visual arts.

Check out the full show notes (now including transcripts!) at fycuriosity.com, and connect with me and fellow creatives on Substack.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.

Four years ago, artist and art therapist Darcy Wade joined me to talk about her own journey with art and creativity, including how her discovery of expressive arts brought her back from a period of disconnection with her creative side and helped her recovery from addiction. Darcy has since moved from North Carolina to Colorado, where she’s now undertaking fundraising efforts to help folks back home in the wake of the destruction from Hurricane Helene. She talks to me about the history and artistic culture of Western North Carolina—particularly Asheville, but also the surrounding area; the creativity, ingenuity, and community that arises from crisis; her journey from North Carolina to Colorado; how awe and wonder elevate our lives, and more. You’ll find links to our previous conversation and Darcy’s fundraiser in the show notes, and I hope you’ll check them out.

If you missed my first conversation with Darcy in 2020, you can check it out here.

Full show notes, including photos of Darcy's beautiful art, can be found here.

Read this week's post, My Perfectionism Story, here.

Episode breakdown:

00:00 Introduction

01:18 Resigned dream job, faced challenges.

07:24 Art and creativity integral in daily life.

13:37 Art project raised $7,000 for North Carolina.

17:09 Stuck in Denver due to licensure requirements.

25:32 Artists help Asheville mountain communities with essentials.

31:25 Nature-based expressive arts; paused for now.

34:13 Pass exam for new job in youth.

39:12 Expressive arts therapy empowers diverse artistic expression.

44:54 Children's fresh perspectives inspire and move me.

48:37 Redefining "bad" art: Challenging traditional definitions.

56:00 Embrace sensitivity; curiosity fuels personal growth.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.

Want more? Here's a handy playlist with all my previous interviews with guests in visual arts.

One of the hardest things to do when we've created something is to leave room for other people to see it through their own lens. I share some thoughts on why it's a good idea to step back, and how to know which opinions are worth listening to, in this short episode.

Could you leave a review? It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks!

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Read this week's article, which is on Failure and Regret.

[I'm on vacation this week, so I'm re-upping one of my favorite interviews from the last year. I'll be back with new episodes next week!]

My friend and fellow Kaizen-Muse creativity coach, Nina Hart, was one of my first guests, and she comes back to the podcast today. Nina is an author and performer—including being an original member of San Francisco’s experimental dance troupe, Contraband, and, playing a purple electric bass, recording and performing with numerous bands—and I invited her to dig into Keith Johnstone’s groundbreaking book on theatrical improvisation, Impro, with me.

I knew Nina would have a lot to say about how we unknowingly are our own biggest obstacles to our own creativity, which is a primary focus of the book. We talk about the role status plays in our lives and our perception of things like permission and perfection, how cultural and societal expectations create the fears that hold us back, the importance of feeling safe to let those fears go, and much more.

Please leave a review and in it, tell us when you feel most safe to express yourself.

Want more? Here's a handy playlist with all my previous interviews with guests in acting and theatre!

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon!

If you'd like weekly updates, plus a chance to see where my curiosity is leading me, check out my new (free!) Substack newsletter.

My friend and fellow Kaizen-Muse creativity coach, Nina Hart, was one of my first guests, and she comes back to the podcast today. Nina is an author and performer—including being an original member of San Francisco’s experimental dance troupe, Contraband, and, playing a purple electric bass, recording and performing with numerous bands—and I invited her to dig into Keith Johnstone’s groundbreaking book on theatrical improvisation, Impro, with me.

I knew Nina would have a lot to say about how we unknowingly are our own biggest obstacles to our own creativity, which is a primary focus of the book. We talk about the role status plays in our lives and our perception of things like permission and perfection, how cultural and societal expectations create the fears that hold us back, the importance of feeling safe to let those fears go, and much more.

Please leave a review and in it, tell us when you feel most safe to express yourself.

Want more? Here's a handy playlist with all my previous interviews with guests in acting and theatre!

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon! And if you're feeling stuck in your own creative process, get the 6 Creative Beliefs that Are Screwing You Up, plus biweekly updates on what's going on in my world (including upcoming events) for free!

Every year at the holidays, I feature one of my favorite episodes from the past year. I hope you find encouragement in my conversation with John Noltner of A Peace of My Mind.

My guest today is John Noltner, a writer and photographer whose project, A Peace of My Mind, has produced three books, the latest of which is Portraits of Peace: Searching for Hope in a Divided America. John’s freelance photography career took him all over the world for a variety of national magazines, but the 2008 recession, along with his increasing awareness of the growing divide in American society, called him to explore both the breadth of human experience and the things that we have in common but tend to lose track of thanks to the relentless news cycle. I think John will leave you feeling much more hopeful about our world, and how you might do your part to bring us closer. 

If you enjoy the show, please leave a review, and in it, tell us about a time when you connected with a stranger.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! I also post pretty regularly on TikTok, and you can also listen on YouTube. And if you're feeling stuck in your own creative process, I made the Creative Tune-Up just for you!

Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Universe Time session. Register here.

My guest today is John Noltner, a writer and photographer whose project, A Peace of My Mind, has produced three books, the latest of which is Portraits of Peace: Searching for Hope in a Divided America. John’s freelance photography career took him all over the world for a variety of national magazines, but the 2008 recession, along with his increasing awareness of the growing divide in American society, called him to explore both the breadth of human experience and the things that we have in common but tend to lose track of thanks to the relentless news cycle. I think John will leave you feeling much more hopeful about our world, and how you might do your part to bring us closer. 

If you enjoy the show, please leave a review, and in it, tell us about a time when you connected with a stranger.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! I also post pretty regularly on TikTok, and you can also listen on YouTube. And if you're feeling stuck in your own creative process, I made the Creative Tune-Up just for you!

Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Universe Time session. Register here.

My guest today is Tracy Matthews, Chief Visionary Officer of Flourish and Thrive Academy and host of the Thrive by Design podcast. Tracy is a jewelry designer and entrepreneur who loves marketing. Even more than that, she loves helping other creative folks (and as we discuss, by “creative” we mean EVERYONE) get a handle on the business side of their work. If you’ve ever wondered how to make the leap from hobby to business, or if you’re struggling to find the balance between the work you love and the marketing end, you’ll get a lot out of this interview, including the importance of fun and protecting your creativity, how we often give up too quickly—but sometimes, if something isn’t lighting you up anymore, you may need to switch gears—and a lot more.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com and join the conversation on Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Darcy Wade is an expressive arts therapist who knows what it's like to be derailed from her creative dream. As you’ll hear, one simple incident in high school destroyed her artistic identity, leaving her adrift through college. A chance interaction brought her back to herself and got her on the expressive arts path. If you’ve never heard of expressive arts, don’t worry—she has you covered as we talk about her early life as an artist, how she was thrown from that path and how she got back on it, and how wilderness and expressive arts therapy can bring us back to ourselves.

Check out Darcy's art and links in the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Lela Rohrer Stech is an artist based in New York. Lela’s work is playful and fun, and so is she. (You’ll hear us talk about one painting I could see in the background, from a distance, and I’ve included a photo of that painting in the show notes at fycuriosity.com so you can see it, too.) In addition to her art, we talk about what she learned from living abroad, and how everything we learn somehow manages to come together in a useful way over time.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Domenic Sciortino isn't a name you're likely to have heard before, unless you live in York, Pennsylvania. He's an old friend of mine whose day job as a barber belies his experience with art and creative expression, which includes drawing, music, and a Beastie Boys tribute band called the Brass Monkeys. Dom's passion for the arts and his vocal advocacy for creative expression are inspiring and infectious.

Check out the full show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

André Jackson is a former student of mine who has grown into one of the most thoughtful, creative people I know. André got his undergraduate degree in fashion design, but switched to fiber art in graduate school. André is also a scholar and writer. All three pursuits influence each other in deep and fascinating ways. We discuss everything from process and just what "fiber art" means to being kind to ourselves and the value of every attempt, regardless of how successful it might be.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

David Spencer is the creative force behind the Mischief Factory, where he seeks to create fun and adventure through art and illustration. He recently illustrated a new children's book, The Epic Adventures of Huggie and Stick, and also draws his own clever characters as well as commissioned and fandom-based art.

Dave embodies the ideas of mischief and fun, and has more creative energy than almost anyone I've ever met. We talk about how he got started in illustration, as well as impostor syndrome, how he fits his art into his busy schedule, and how he interacts with kids, both to fuel his own work and to encourage theirs. (Dave is basically a big kid himself, which helps!)

Visit fycuriosity.com for full show notes and links for this episode, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!