Why I don’t want to hear your success story
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I love to read stories about how the people I admire got to where they are now. I especially love stories of other later bloomers or people who changed direction in life. I read as many as I can, often written by artists, always...
Playmate of the Month?
I’m just getting over the heinous jetlag from a four day trip to Los Angeles, a part of the prize for winning the Stoli Originals competition. Along with the other winners, I got treated like royalty for four days. We were picked up at the airport in an enormous...
A Love Letter to the Terrified
Those of you who have known me for a while know that I once wrote a blog called "The Drama Queens Guide to Changing the World." It was like a personal journal of my life change from stressed stockbroker to a new, more creative life. I loved writing for it and I loved...
A note on “Luck”
If you want to be a photographer in today’s world, you will be bombarded with stories of woe and terror. You’ll hear that no one will want to pay you.......ever. You’ll hear that amateurs charging low rates are pricing professional photographers out of every...
Talent and Skill: Why Being An Artist is Like Training for a Marathon
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text disable_pattern="true" align="left" margin_bottom="0"] The reason why most people fail instead of succeed is because they give up what they want the most for what they want that moment. ~ Anonymous Last year I was a full time student...
The A-Word – How mindset can stop your creativity in its tracks
In September 2010, I went to an art retreat in New Hampshire. I had left my job in finance six months before and I was just about to start a photography course at the London College of Communication. I had travelled in Asia on my own, trained as a yoga teacher and...
Making Space for a Full Life
Many of us think we’re not creative because we don’t create. We believe that creativity cannot be denied, cannot be suppressed. We believe that it bursts through. We believe it overcomes everything else. And if it doesn’t......it’s not there. This is one of the great...
Growing Pains
The dream is usually the same. I’ve forgotten to do something. It’s something really important but I can’t remember what it is. I know it’s preparation but I don’t know for what. I know that someone, some time, is going to ask me a very basic question about why I do...
What Nicola Did in 2011
Ok, so I know these posts are cheesy but I can’t help myself. I feel a pathological need around New Year, and again around my birthday, to take stock of everything I’ve done in the last year. This is a good exercise generally for reminding yourself how far you’ve...
Why Artists and Crafters need to read more business books
Last week I got an email from Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz. I always look forward to Naomi’s emails as they manage to make business fundamentals entertaining and they keep it short and to the point. This particular email was entitled “Why people hate your competitors” and...