The Practice

with Lynn Hardin

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Create the life and art you want, that's what this is about. Some of us stopped. Some of us never stopped but lost our voice. Some of us want to figure out what is next. I'm Lynn Hardin. Artist. Life Coach. Every week is a chat with an artist, a story, what gets in the way, lots of solutions, and one small practice. lynnhardin.substack.com

30 août

When Creativity Talks Back: Art, Intuition, and Creative Spirit

What if making art is not only about creating something beautiful? What if the things we make can speak back to us? In this conversation, I’m joined by artist, teacher, and intuitive guide Stacey Vajta of The Feisty Crone. Stacey creates spirit dolls and magical creatures that hold stories, emotions, and wisdom. Together, we explore the difference between simply producing art and feeling creatively alive. We talk about the rules artists carry, the pressure to make something “good,” and what becomes possible when we approach art with curiosity, play, and no predetermined outcome. Stacey shares how her dolls become storytellers, teachers, and companions. I share how contour drawing and watercolor help me enter the creative flow and discover the marks, shapes, and visual language that are already mine. We also talk about allowing grief, sadness, joy, and wonder into the making process. Art does not have to eliminate difficult emotions. It can give them somewhere to go. In this conversation: * The difference between little “c” creativity and big “C” creative energy * Why you can make a lot of art and still feel creatively stuck * How external rules and comparison disconnect us from our own expression * Why your creative practice does not have to happen every day * How keeping materials accessible makes it easier to follow creative energy * What spirit dolls can reveal through imagination and story * How art can help us experience and process grief * Why play sometimes offers answers that seriousness cannot * How intuition can arrive through art, nature, children, movement, or ordinary moments * Why your style is already present, much like your handwriting * What happens when you stop asking whether you made an insight up and begin listening to it One of my favorite reminders from this conversation is that the pressure can come off. You do not have to make art for Instagram, create a finished masterpiece, or know where the work is going. You can make something because the energy is there. You can follow it, play with it, and ask: Where else could this take me? About Stacey Vajta Stacey is an artist, teacher, and intuitive guide who creates spirit dolls and other magical creatures. Her work explores what happens underneath the things we make, where imagination, energy, intuition, and story enter the creative process. Find Stacey on Substack at The Feisty Crone, on Instagram, or through her website, Sacred Art and Story. She also offers dollmaking classes for anyone ready to discover the stories their hands want to tell. Feeling Art On September 15, I’m teaching Feeling Art, a 90-minute live masterclass about using feeling to guide the marks you make. We will choose a feeling or quality and explore how it can influence color, line, pressure, shape, space, and movement. We are not painting pictures of feelings. We are allowing feeling to guide our artistic choices so the work carries more of our energy, voice, and aliveness. Find out more here : https://lynnhardin.com/the-feeling-art Thank you for listening. I hope this conversation encourages you to take the pressure off, follow what has energy, and let your art surprise you. Until next time, keep making, keep listening, and trust where your creativity wants to take you. With love,Lynn This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe
27 août

The Art of Just Doing It with James O’Boyle, The Doodler

What if the secret to making more art is lowering your expectations and using the time you actually have? In this episode, I talk with artist and Substack writer James O’Boyle, creator of The Doodler. James works full time, yet he has built a consistent sketching practice by keeping his materials simple, using small pockets of time, and letting go of the need for every drawing to be perfect. We talk about why consistency matters more than technique, how constraints can make creating easier, and why your artistic style is not something you have to find. It is already there, and it emerges as you keep making. James also shares how a ten-second blind contour drawing changed the direction of his art, why buying a course is not the same as practicing, and how calling himself “The Doodler” helps protect the joy in his work. In this conversation, we explore: * How to make art when you only have five or ten minutes * Why adjusting your expectations helps you create more * What makes every drawing a success * How consistency builds both skill and confidence * The difference between taking a course and using what you learn * Why simple tools and constraints can prevent overwhelm * How your artistic style develops naturally through practice * James’s upcoming nine-day hike on the Northville-Placid Trail * Why the point of making art is to do it, not to make every piece perfect My favorite takeaway from James: Your style is like your handwriting. You already have it. The more you practice, the more clearly it emerges. Connect with James: * Substack: The Doodler * Instagram: @jamesjohnoboyle If you have been waiting for more time, better supplies, greater confidence, or the perfect idea, let this episode remind you that you can begin with one pen, one page, and the few minutes you have today. If you would like to make art that resonates then join me September 15, 2026 for an online experience. By the end of 90 minutes, you’ll have created a piece that feels more personal, expressive, and unmistakably yours. Make the inconvenient mark — it may be the one that leads you back to yourself. Lynn, The Practice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe
26 août

Two Painters, One Question - The Paintings You Never Show Anyone

What happens when two artists pull out the work they usually keep hidden? Mariel and I recently went Live on Substack to share the art we might never show anyone. The pieces that felt ugly. The ones that did not turn out the way we imagined. The experiments we abandoned and the paintings we simply never finished. And we laughed. A lot. Because once we brought those pieces into the light, they did not feel quite so terrible anymore. They became evidence of curiosity, courage, learning, and being willing to make something without knowing exactly where it would lead. Watch our conversation if you have ever hidden a piece because it was not “good enough,” felt disappointed when your art did not match the picture in your head, or believed unfinished work did not count. You may discover that the art you are judging most harshly has something to teach you. Meet My Co-host, Mariel I was delighted to share this Live with Mariel Barahona , the watercolor artist and elementary school teacher behind My Watercolour Journal. Mariel shares her art, her process, and quiet reflections on creativity, one brushstroke at a time. During our conversation, she brought such warmth, honesty, and humor as we showed the paintings we usually keep hidden. She helped make this conversation feel like two artist friends laughing, sharing, and reminding each other that every painting does not have to be beautiful or finished to be valuable. If you enjoy watercolor, thoughtful reflections, and a calm place to appreciate creativity and simple beauty, you will love Mariel’s work. Please follow Mariel on Instagram and subscribe to My Watercolour Journal on Substack. She is a lovely artist and human, and I am so grateful she joined me for this Live. And if you are ready to loosen your grip on getting it right and make choices that feel more like you, join me for Feeling Art, a live 90-minute masterclass. You will make one piece differently than you normally would, follow an impulse instead of immediately correcting it, and learn how to translate a feeling into color, line, movement, pressure, and space. Learn more and save your seat for Feeling Art. Thank you Faye Scofield, Mona Cattan, and many others for tuning into my live video with My Watercolour Journal! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe
20 août

You Don’t Need Confidence. You Need Willingness.

What if confidence isn’t something you need before you begin? So many of us wait until we feel confident enough to make the painting, send the email, have the conversation, apply for the job, share our work, or try something new. But confidence may have the whole thing backwards. In this episode of The Art Coach, I’m talking about something I learned from watching my grandson learn to walk. He didn’t need to believe he was a good walker before he took the next step. He fell. He got back up. He tried again. He wasn’t proving anything about himself. He was learning. And somewhere along the way, many of us stopped doing that. A painting we don’t like becomes Maybe I’m not a good artist. An offer that doesn’t sell becomes Maybe nobody wants what I have to offer. A post that gets little response becomes Maybe nobody cares what I have to say. The event happens, and then we make the event mean something about us. In this episode, I’ll show you another way. Instead of asking: How can I feel more confident? Try asking: Am I willing? Am I willing to make the mark without knowing whether I’ll like it? Am I willing to try something while feeling uncertain? Am I willing to be seen learning? Am I willing to find out what happens next? I’ll also introduce you to my LEARN process: L — LaunchDo something. Make the mark. Send the email. Take the step. E — ExamineWhat actually happened? Not What’s wrong with me? Just: What happened? A — AskWhat did I learn? R — ReviseWhat do I want to change, adjust, or try differently? N — NextTake the next step. Because learning is very different from proving. When you’re proving, every result feels personal. When you’re learning, every result becomes useful. And maybe the confidence we really want isn’t: I know this is going to work. Maybe it’s: I trust myself even if it doesn’t. I trust myself to be disappointed. I trust myself to learn. I trust myself to decide what comes next. I trust myself to stay with myself. A question to take with you What would you try if you didn’t need to feel confident first? Pick one thing this week. One mark.One email.One conversation.One invitation.One decision. And see what happens when you stop waiting for confidence and practice willingness instead. Want some help? If something is getting in the way of what you want for your life or your art, I’d love to help you look at it. You can book a complimentary Life + Art Check-In with me. We’ll talk about where you are, what you want, and what may be standing between the two. Book your complimentary Life + Art Check-In: Thanks for listening. Lynn HardinThe Art Coach This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe
7 août

Turn a feeling into line, shape, color, and composition.

Make Art Be Happy | 22 minutes 37 seconds | Episode description A piece can be skillful. The proportions can work, the color can work, other people can admire it, and you can still look at it and feel strangely absent from it. Nothing is obviously wrong. Something is missing. This week Lynn makes the case that what is missing is not more skill. It is more of you. She tells the story of the drawing she made the day after Belle died. She was not drawing Belle and she was not making a picture about grief. She was drawing a woman’s face in contour line. But the line slowed down, it hesitated, it pressed harder in some places and nearly disappeared in others, and she left most of the face as bare paper. The subject was a face. The grief was in the way she made it. From there, a practical look at how feeling becomes a visual choice, and one small thing to try in your next studio session. In this episode • Why a piece can be skillful, admired, and still leave you feeling absent from it • The drawing Lynn made the day after Belle died, and what changed in her hand without her deciding it • How a feeling enters the work through pressure, speed, space, repetition, and what you leave unfinished • Why the subject is almost never the feeling • Three artists, one pear, and what makes the three pieces different • A better question than what color is sadness • Why your voice is not hidden somewhere waiting to be found • What changes when you stop asking does this look right and start asking does this feel true • How to let feeling into the work without turning your studio into therapy or your art into a confession Timeline 0:00 Looks right versus feels true 0:49 Nothing is wrong, but something is missing 1:04 The day after Belle 3:06 The studio looked the same, the room felt different 4:05 The line moved differently that day 4:58 The watercolor, and what she left unpainted 5:32 The subject is not the feeling 6:56 What we are taught to do first 8:29 A feeling is a visual choice 9:33 Three artists, one pear 11:12 Sadness does not have to be blue 12:11 A better question than what color is the feeling 13:21 Your voice is not hiding from you 14:23 Does this look right, or does this feel true 15:30 The drawing did not have to be a confession 16:18 You are not required to expose yourself 17:39 The line knew before I had the words 19:02 Joy has a visual language too 19:49 The practice for this week 22:02 The closing question The practice for this week • Choose your subject the way you normally would. A face, a flower, a pear, a landscape. • Before you start, ask what you want this to feel like. Quiet, warmth, energy, distance, tenderness, strength. Keep it simple. • Ask how that feeling moves. Does it push or pull. Does it need room. Does it repeat, fade, interrupt, expand. Is it heavy or fragile. Fast or slow. • Make one visual choice from your answer. Just one. Heavier pressure. More space. A repeated mark. Less color. A larger subject. An edge you let disappear. • When you finish, do not decide whether it is good. Ask where you are in it, and where the feeling changed the way you worked. There is no correct picture of quiet. There is no official line for grief. There is no perfect color for joy. There is only you and your response. The closing question When you look at the last piece you made, what feeling is showing, even if you did not put it there on purpose? Comment on the episode, send a text, or send a DM. Lynn reads them all. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe
30 juil.

The Mark You Almost Make

Your voice isn't a finished destination, it's the ongoing conversation between you and the work. In this episode I tell the story of one honest mark on a napkin and what it revealed about an artist who, beneath sixty years of beautiful work, was still waiting for permission. It's about the difference between making something beautiful and making something honest, and the mark you almost make but talk yourself out of. The newest round of The Practice is now open if you want to build an art practice that actually feels like you. Timeline 00:00 — Cold open: your voice, and the work, is never a finished destination. It’s an ongoing conversation between you and the practice. 01:30 — The napkin story. One strange, ugly, honest mark made over dinner. Sixty years of beautiful work, and beneath all of it she was still there. Her hand hadn’t forgotten. It was waiting for permission. 04:00 — Who this is for. Maybe you’ve stopped making art altogether, or you’re still making it but the work no longer feels alive. 05:30 — The important clarification: this isn’t about throwing out what sells or what makes your living. What you’re pointing to lives inside the practice, where only you see it. 07:00 — Beautiful versus honest. You know how to make something beautiful. You’ve gotten so good at knowing what works that you’ve forgotten how to be surprised. 08:30 — This week’s homework: notice the mark you almost make. Instead of talking yourself out of it, give it somewhere to live. It doesn’t need to be good. It only needs to be yours. 10:00 — The invitation. If having a practice matters to you but your art no longer feels like you, this is what The Practice is for. A practice you actually live, not one you keep promising to return to someday. 11:30 — Close: make the inconvenient mark, the one that feels a little too honest. It may be the one that leads you back to yourself. Show Notes The Inconvenient Mark Your voice isn’t a finished destination. It’s the ongoing conversation between you and the work, and sometimes it comes back through one strange, honest mark nobody asked for. In this episode I tell the story of a mark made on a napkin over dinner, and what it revealed about an artist with sixty years of beautiful work behind her: that beneath the style, beneath the discipline, her hand hadn’t forgotten. It was waiting for permission. This one is for you if you’ve stopped making art altogether, or if you’re still making it but the work no longer feels alive. It’s not about throwing out what sells or how you make your living. It’s about what happens inside your consistent practice, the part only you see, there for you to do with as you wish. We get into the difference between making something beautiful and making something honest, and why getting so good at knowing what works can quietly cost you the ability to be surprised. This week’s homework: Notice the mark you almost make. Instead of talking yourself out of it, give it somewhere to live. It doesn’t need to be good. It doesn’t need to belong in the finished piece. It only needs to be yours. The newest round of The Practice is now open. If having an art practice matters to you but your art no longer feels like you, I’d love to help you build one that does: loose and purposeful, consistent, spacious, honest, surprising. A practice you actually live, not one you only think about. Make the inconvenient mark, the one that feels a little too honest. It may be the mark that leads you back to yourself. Lynn, Make Art Be Happy This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe
23 juil.

The Quiet Promises You Break to Yourself

You keep your word to everyone. Your kids, your husband, your friends, the people at church who somehow got your number. But that painting you stopped doing, the walk you keep meaning to take, the book with the bookmark stuck on page 12 since spring? This episode is about the promises you only ever make to yourself, and why those became the ones it feels safe to drop. This isn’t about guilt, and it isn’t about discipline. If you follow through for everyone else, you have plenty of discipline. You’ve just spent every last drop of it on other people. What’s really underneath the broken promises is something quieter and a good bit older, and once you see it, the whole thing changes. Timeline 00:00 — A careful hello, and why this one is easy to hear wrong00:40 — The promises you keep for everyone else vs. the quiet ones to yourself01:15 — The pause. “Oh, that one. Yeah, that’s been on the list a while.”01:55 — A woman I worked with: reliable for everyone, sure something was wrong with her02:50 — The list — the painting, the morning walk, the bookmark that never moved03:30 — “I just need more discipline,” and why that isn’t true04:20 — Look at your actual life: you keep the promises that cost you something05:05 — The tank is empty by the time you get to your own list05:45 — “When you were small, what got you loved around here?”06:30 — Good, easy, not needing anything — and how that once kept her safe07:20 — The turn: you’re the one person you decided it’s safe to disappoint08:15 — A different perspective: follow-through isn’t productivity, it’s loyalty09:05 — Putting your own name on the list of people you won’t break your word to09:45 — You don’t get there by blowing up your life on Monday10:20 — One small promise, almost embarrassingly small — and keeping it11:00 — How she started (the walk came first, the painting came later)11:35 — You count. Lower down in your body where it’s true.12:00 — If you’re ready for the deeper work, and how to set up a consult This week’s practice Make one promise to yourself. Make it so small you cannot wriggle out of it. The 10-minute walk, the one page, the paints left out on the table whether or not you touch them. Then keep it. Not because it will change your life by Friday, but because you’re finally someone worth keeping a promise to. Work with Lynn If this is the work you know you need, the real version where we go find where you first learned to go last, that’s what I help women do. It starts with a consult call, just a conversation to see if it’s right for you. Thank you for listening. xo Lynn This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe
15 juil.

The work is fine. And you feel nothing standing in front of it.

There is a kind of stuck that does not look like stuck. It looks like competence. You are making, you are finishing things, the proportions are right and the color is handled, and anyone looking would say it is pretty good. And then you stand in front of it and feel almost nothing, because you know something they do not. It is correct and empty. It looks like art, and it does not feel like yours. This episode is about that flatness, why it is not a skill problem, and the five-minute practice that brings the aliveness back. On purpose. Badly. Here are the show notes for the “bad but lively” flatness episode, matched to that format and drawn from the actual transcript. In This Episode * Why work that is technically “fine” can leave you feeling nothing. * The kind of stuck that looks like competence, not stuckness. * How years of skill can quietly become a trap. * Why safe choices add up to work with no heartbeat. * Where the aliveness actually hides: in the moves you trained yourself to skip. * Why you cannot think your way back to feeling. * The five-minute practice of making something allowed to be bad. * Why five minutes, and not thirty, keeps the inner manager from taking the wheel. Memorable Quotes “It’s correct and empty. It looks like art, and it doesn’t feel like yours.” “I could finish this in my sleep and it would be good, and I would still feel nothing.” “I’d gotten so good at avoiding the bad, I sanded out the alive.” “You cannot think your way back to that. Thinking is what flattened it in the first place.” “I wasn’t practicing skill. I was practicing letting go of the wheel.” “The skill comes back the moment you want it. The aliveness only comes back if you stop managing it out.” “The flatness is not a sign you’re done. It’s a sign you’ve been too careful for too long. And carefulness is curable.” Episode Chapters 00:00 Welcome and the stuck almost nobody names. 01:30 The day I caught it in myself, days into a watercolor. 03:00 The thought that gave it away. 04:00 Why every safe choice added up to no heartbeat. 05:15 The practice: five minutes, make something allowed to be bad. 06:30 Why five minutes, and not thirty. 07:30 The ugly wash, and the flicker I met again. 08:30 Your questions: doesn’t bad work just train bad work? 09:45 What if I feel nothing, no flicker? 10:30 You did not lose the gift. Carefulness is curable. (Times are approximate.) Your Five Minute Bad-On-Purpose Practice When the work is correct but empty... * Set a timer for five minutes. Not thirty. Not a real piece. Just five. * Make something allowed to be really bad. A mark. A color you know is wrong. One line that goes nowhere. Not a painting. Not even a study. * If you catch yourself making it nice, make it worse. Let the wrong move stand. The accident. The ugly color. The risky line. You are not practicing skill. You are letting go of the wheel. Reflection Questions * Where have I been managing the work from the very first mark? * What wrong moves have I been correcting before they even happen? * Have I gotten so good at avoiding the bad that I sanded out the alive? * What would I make if it only had to be alive, and not good? * What small, ugly, five-minute thing could I let stand today? This Week’s Gentle Challenge Practice it one time. Set a timer for five minutes. Make one small thing that is allowed to be bad. When you catch yourself smoothing it out, let it stand. Notice what happens, a flicker, or maybe nothing yet. Both count. It’s a door, and the door gets lighter every time you open it. Then ask yourself: What would I make if it only had to be alive, and not good? Free Resource Download Lynn’s printable Your Bad-On-Purpose Practice guide and keep it inside your sketchbook for the days you need a gentle way back to your creativity. If this episode found you, share it with a creative friend whose work has gotten quietly correct, and who misses the alive. Remember, you did not lose the gift. You only buried it under competence. Make Art. Be Happy. Lynn This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe

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Create the life and art you want, that's what this is about. Some of us stopped. Some of us never stopped but lost our voice. Some of us want to figure out what is next. I'm Lynn Hardin. Artist. Life Coach. Every week is a chat with an artist, a story, what gets in the way, lots of solutions, and one small practice. lynnhardin.substack.com

Création

with Lynn Hardin
Années d’activité

2025 - 2026
Épisodes

33
Classification

Tous publics
Copyright

© Lynn Hardin
Site web de l’émission

The Practice