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Published July 9, 2017 by Emily Jeffords

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Emily Jeffords

Most days you can find me, in the studio with my little girls, speckled in oil paint (drinking too much coffee), creating artwork for collectors around the world and collaborating with select brands. Check out my artwork on EmilyJeffords.com

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I’ve been keeping a secret from you. ⁣ Over the past year (actually longer than a year), I have been creating a body of 𝐀𝐁𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 as a personal project — my own art therapy and celebration during this year+ of mothering a BABY again (so different than mothering independent kids and brings a whole new energy and depth to our family). ⁣ ⁣ These pieces are all small (5x7) and each holds so much energy and chemistry and it’s own surprising goodness. ⁣😍🥰 ⁣ I’m gathering QUITE a little collection of them and will be releasing about 15-20 of my favorites in mid March! Stay tuned. 𝑬𝑴𝑨𝑰𝑳 𝑺𝑼𝑩𝑺𝑪𝑹𝑰𝑩𝑬𝑹𝑺 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒔. ☺️☺️

I owe a lot to this little lady. She made me soooo extraordinarily ill while pregnant that I had to leave my retail job and basically just lay in bed, eating saltine crackers and watching Smallville (hey. It was 2009 🙈). But really, this “career” (😂) focus shift was SUCH a gift because it gave me space to explore MY goals (not those of my store manager or directives from corporate). I dabbled in graphic design, photography, web design (hint: NOT MY SKILL — have you seen my first website? 😂)... and, after she was born and while she napped, I came home to painting! ⁣ ⁣ I shared more about this journey on my podcasts last week (it wasn’t actually as clean cut as I just made it out to be, lol) — and THIS week we are going to talk about MOTHERHOOD + Creativity (can the two coexist?). The episode drops on Wednesday! ⁣ I want to know this: ARTISTS who are parents, when did you come into your creative practice. Before or after babe? How has motherhood / fatherhood effective your creativity? 📷: @juliamaddensears

Yesterday I did something (launched the #doitfortheprocesspodcast 😁) and you guys were SO generous and gracious in return. THANK YOU. ⁣ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁣ There are some thoughts I want to bring up here because I know not everyone is into podcasts - totally fine - but, darn it, I really want to soak the whole (creative) world in them because they’re goooood. // I can say that because they’re not 100% my own. ☺️⁣ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁣ — Art making is, at its root, is the process of becoming a fuller, more honest version of yourself.⁣ It is the bravery to make marks that reveal your thoughts and feelings.⁣ It is the vulnerable GIFT of offering those marks, images, and messages to the world.⁣ ⁣ THIS is the process. YOU are the process. Are making is secretly about becoming a better, richer version of yourself. ⁣ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁣ YOU are the artwork and your efforts are meaningful

It is official!! The Do It For The Process PODCAST is live and in the world and you can listen to the first THREE episodes right now on apple podcasts or on Spotify! ⁣ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁣ I told you last week that I was feeling a lot of vulnerability around this process — and that is totally true still — but the nerves are slipping into excitement which is a sure sign that this is GOOD (or at least that it will be good as I practice 😬). ⁣ ⁣ So, I am taking my own advice, turning off the critic, celebration the act of STARTING (knowing I will improve at this) and DOING IT for the process. 🙌🏽

I could spend my days baking. Or coding or adding or sorting or knitting... and my life would be wonderful, meaningful, and very, very good —as I expect yours is doing whatever it is that you do.⁣ ⁣ But I paint. ⁣ ⁣ I paint to expose things that long to see light but have no form or shape of their own. I paint to bring these things — feelings and spirits — to you as a gift. It is a privilege to be able to turn work into a gift for others. Without question. It’s an honor. ⁣ ⁣ ...But can I speak honestly for a minute? Sometimes artists get stuck up on a high horse. We create ART. Untouchable, unrelateable, lofty, expensive, formal... you get the vibe. But nooooo..... not to me. ⁣ ⁣ The act of making art is as human as eating or washing clothes or struggling through a piano lesson. In fact, painting the most HUMAN thing I do. ⁣ ⁣ When I say #doitfortheprocess I am aiming to wash away all that pomp and formality and get back to the root of it —the dirt and oil and clay and graphite... To come back to the struggle and the physical space where your ideas crash into your humanity on the canvas. THIS is art. THIS. Being an artist is being willing to get dirty and honest with yourself, to make it through this tiny war, somehow loving it the whole way.

WELL it’s happening! ⁣ After nearly 100 tries I finally recorded a podcasts preview that has some heart and soul (and a little less sleepy-robot) behind it. ☺️ Soooooo excited for this work and for ALL the upcoming ways in which I hope you will feel fed, restored, and ENCOURAGE by this community. ⁣ ⁣ But my gosh, vulnerability and self-criticism are strong emotions. I want to push publish and then duck behind a curtain like a bashful toddler! — but if I’ve learned one thing over the past decade of this journey it’s that my BEST WORK comes out of this place and that nothing. NOTHING. Beneficial happens when I stay quiet knowing I should speak. ⁣ ⁣ So here we are. Me crouching behind the curtain, just about to click “launch” and you patiently seeing me through this mental and emotional ordeal. 😂 ⁣ ⁣ — and now we wait on iTunes. When the first episode is available you will be the first to know!

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