Why artists should ditch their smart phones

Today on Willful, Toronto portrait artist Malinda Prud'homme shares:
• Her best advice for young artists
• Her thoughts on a beauty industry that profits from women’s low self-esteem
• Ditching her smart phone to increase her productivity

Prud’homme is a mixed media artist who believes in a broader definition of female beauty, regardless of age, size, ethnicity, or personal style. Check out her work at Malinda Prud'homme Art and malindaprudhomme.com

Jumpstart your day and get inspired by all of our Willful guests at WillfulProject.com. You'll make our day if you follow us here on Facebook. 

Our heartfelt thanks to Greg Garson for offering us our stage at The Merchant Taps & Tavern (181 University Ave. at Adelaide). If you drop by, Greg will hand-deliver to you his famous meat loaf. The guy does everything!

#Beauty #PortraitPainting #diversity #The6ix 
#WomenAndBeauty #RealBeauty #HyperRealism #SelfEsteem

Magazine editor turned landscape designer

In honour of #Spring, Willful presents Nicolette Linton. Nikki is a former book and magazine editor turned landscape designer who traded in ridiculous amounts of swag for hauling 40-pound bags of topsoil. In ep. 1, she talks about:
• Studying to be a landscape designer after years of poring over copy.
• Becoming a mother — “it’s a different way of being” — and looking for a career to match that new reality.
• Being an antisocial extrovert.

Explore Nikki's gardens at www.green-bean.ca

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post two 5-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube each week.

Follow us here or on our YouTube Channel and website, WillfulProject.com, for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you, Greg Garson and The Merchant Taps & Tavern for offering us SUCH a fantastic stage!

Managing self-doubt

In Ep. 5, our last day with Mark Challen (*sniff*), Mark talks about:
• Rejecting academia and the fashion and design worlds in favour of work with more meaning and context
• Free time, the highs and lows of creative thinking, and managing self-doubt
• Restricting consumption of negative media (to protect your creativity)

Mark Challen is an illustrator, art and culture historian, and the creator and host of The Stylecooler Podcast on iTunes. Also look for his soon-to-be-launched website, StyleCooler.com.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day.

Follow us here or on our YouTube Channel and Facebook page for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you, Greg Garson and The Merchant Taps & Tavern. We see you buzzing around in the background!

#Drawing #Prismacolor #Art #Culture #History #Style #PopCulture #DesignHistory#StyleCooler#ArtistProject #Nostalgia #MustSeeTV #HouseAndHome #BarbraStreisand @amyrrosen @Rosensbuns #SelfDoubt #Negativity #Freelancer #Startup

I want to start my own company

Mark Challen gets Willful this week. Mark is an illustrator, art and culture historian, and the creator and host of The Stylecooler Podcast on iTunes. Also look for his soon-to-be-launched website, StyleCooler.com. In Ep. 1, Mark talks about:
• His 18-year run at House and Home Media
• Answering the call that said, Own your own company
• Creating a new avenue to express our intense nostalgia for design history and pop culture

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day.

Follow us here or on our YouTube Channel and Facebook Page for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you, Greg Garson, for your hospitality at The Merchant Taps & Tavern.

Emo confessions

In episode 2 of Willful, Opera 5s Rachel Krehm and Aria Umezawa talk about:
• Growing up immersed in the arts
• Opera bragging rights in grade school
• Feeding their teenage souls with Stevie Nicks ballads, Emo confessions, and harpsichord scales

Rachel and Aria are the founders and directors of Opera5, an independent opera company in Toronto that’s hooking a new generation with its immersive live productions and YouTube high jinks.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day.

Follow us here or on our YouTube Channel and Facebook Page for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you, Greg Garson, for your hospitality at The Merchant Taps & Tavern.

Hunting for inspiration

Today on Willful, artist Heather Kocsis describes how tearing down a historical building scatters its stories. Kocsis makes wood assemblages of old buildings and back alleys that make us rethink our past and present. In Video 2, Heather describes: 

• Hunting for inspiration in the urban landscapes of New York and Chicago.
• Deciding on a composition and building it, using layers of wood like a paintbrush.
• How buildings change our sense of community and our sense of self.

Learn more about Heather’s study of architecture and the effects of time at HeatherKocsis.com. Her multidimensional pieces are in public, private and corporate collections across North America, including the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto and The City Reliquary in Brooklyn, New York.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day. 

Follow us on our YouTube Channel and Facebook Page, or here on our website WillfulProject.com for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

#CreativeEntrepreneur #Interview #Willful #Mentors #Inspiration #Motivation #ArtMaking #Innovation #Leadership #FindItLiveIt #LeadFromWithin #SmallBusiness #Solopreneur #Interview #Freelancer #Painter #Sculptor #Architecture #ArchitecturalHistory #UrbanActivism, #JaneJacobs

Thank you to Greg Garson and The Merchant Taps & Tavern for your tremendous hospitality!

The Jane Jacobs Effect

Today on Willful, we sat down with artist Heather Kocsis (@HKocsis) whose wood assemblages of old buildings and back alleys make us rethink our past and present. In Video 1, Heather describes: 

• Going from painting and printmaking to ripping apart pieces of wood.

• The role Jane Jacobs’ urban activism has played in her art practice.

• The joys of living with no rules.

Learn more about Heather’s study of architecture and the effects of time at HeatherKocsis.com. Her multidimensional pieces are in public, private and corporate collections across North America, including the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto and The City Reliquary in Brooklyn, New York.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day. 

Follow us on our YouTube Channel and Facebook Page, or here on our website WillfulProject.com for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

#CreativeEntrepreneur #Interview #Willful #Mentors #Inspiration #Motivation #ArtMaking #Innovation #Leadership #FindItLiveIt #LeadFromWithin #SmallBusiness #Solopreneur #Interview #Freelancer #Painter #Sculptor #Architecture #ArchitecturalHistory #UrbanActivism, #JaneJacobs

Thank you to Greg Garson and The Merchant Taps & Tavern for your tremendous hospitality!

When to ignore your client

Today on Willful, Ricardo McRae explains why he and his partner, Gloria Roheim McRae, won’t let their clients lead a project. “We don’t do mock-ups for feedback, we don’t do surveys, and we don’t do rounds of changes. We have conversations.” He also describes:
• Promising clients things you have no idea how to deliver (to create pressure and force growth).
• Blending project management, business, and art.
• Knowing when to listen to your client, and when to ignore them.

McRae is a painter, TEDx speaker, and vision activator for Wedge15, the branding agency he co-founded with Gloria Roheim McRae. He is also the founder of Black In Canada the host of TheFramingPodcast.com.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day.

Follow us here or on YouTube Channel and Facebook Page for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thanks, Greg Garson, for inviting us into your beautiful restaurant, The Merchant Taps & Tavern, and for also always believing in delivering the best you've got.

When to listen to your parents

Today on Willful, Ricardo McRae describes: 

• Turning down a placement in business school … for art school.
• When to listen to your parents’ advice, and when to say, “I got this!’
• Combining practical and analytical skills with emotional intelligence.

McRae is a painter, TEDx speaker, and vision activator for Wedge15, the branding agency he co-founded with Gloria Roheim McRae. He is also the founder of Black In Canada and the host of TheFramingPodcast.com.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day. 

Follow us here or on our Facebook Page for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thanks, Greg Garson, for inviting us into your beautiful restaurant, The Merchant Taps & Tavern.

The starving artist scenario

Today on Willful, Ricardo McRae (@RicardoMcRae) describes: 

• Growing up in Trinidad, a hotbed of colour and creativity.
• How fear of being a starving artist pushed him into the tech sector.
• What racism feels like: “It’s like facing waves in the ocean. You can’t win against the ocean, you have to ride the waves.”

McRae is a painter, TEDx speaker, and vision activator for Wedge15, the branding agency he co-founded with Gloria Roheim McRae. He is also the founder of Black In Canada, and host of TheFramingPodcast.com.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day. 

Follow us here or on our YouTube Channel for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you, Greg Garson and the staff at The Merchant Tavern for your hospitality!

Writing YA fiction with Angela Misri

This week on Willful, I sat down with Angela Misri (‪@karmicangel‪), a Toronto-based journalist and former CBC’er, now a co-host of the podcast, Ada’s Sisters (with Eden Spodek), and the author of the A Portia Adams Adventure Series. In Ep. 3, Angela shares her thoughts on:‬‬

• Writing Young Adult fiction.

• Searching for female protagonists in books.

• Why Nancy Drew isn’t her cup of tea.

• Running in heels.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day.

Follow on our YouTube Channel (WillfulProject) and Facebook Page, or on our website WillfulProject.com for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you to Greg Garson and the staff of  The Merchant Taps & Tavern for the location and the hospitality.

Shot and edited by the talented Yann Yap.

Finding time to write with Angela Misri

This week on Willful, I sat down with Angela Misri (‪@karmicangel‪ ‬), a Toronto-based journalist and former CBC’er, now a co-host of the Ada’s Sisters Podcast (with @EdenSpodek), and the author of the Portia Adams Adventure Series. In Ep. 1, Angela talks about:

• Finding time to write when you’re spending all your creative energy at work. 
• First steps: filling Moleskin notebooks with ideas.
• How her characters make themselves known to her.
• Creating a female detective out of Baker Street.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day. 

Follow us here our website WillfulProject.com or our Facebook Page for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.