Creative Genius 16 - Lynn Whipple: Learning to Trust Your Instincts Through Creative Play
Lynn Whipple is a multi-media artist who paints with joy and passion, great and small flowers, all full of expression and life. She teaches art workshops and she has authored a book called “Expressive Flower Painting: Simple Mixed Media Techniques for Bold Beautiful Blooms” that really was part of my own unfolding and blossoming when I got back into painting.
Lynn and her husband both formerly worked at Nickelodeon in props, set decor, and art direction. She recalls Nickelodeon as being a fun wonderful time, yet she left that job because ultimately she was still creating someone else’s ideas. What she craved was the expression of her own ideas. Lynn left her dream job as a Creative Director at Nickelodeon to pursue her passion of painting colourful, wild and joyful flowers even though it meant she’d be broke - because painting the art that was inside of her brought her so much joy. In the end she realized that saying no to that was really saying yes to herself.
Lynn talks about the joy of painting; the enjoyment of the entire creative process and act of, as she calls it, “moving my hands”. She emphasizes the fun that should accompany art and creativity. She understands the fear that people have and, in addressing that, she encourages following our instincts and being brave about just jumping into expression. Fear is a sense that something isn’t right or that we’ve been told we’re doing something poorly so we avoid it, but creativity requires boldness and embracing our own instincts. Just start doing, for ourselves, for fun.
She shares her beautiful, vibrant descriptions of what creativity is and what being present in a flow state feels like for her that many of us can relate to. And she reminds us over and over again of the importance of play in the creative process
We investigate which artist archetype we each might be, developing an idea I have about archetypes, and this list will grow as the podcast continues. Lynn is a self-described rebel archetype who doesn’t like being told what to do. She knows what creativity feels like, how to embrace that marvelous energetic feeling and let it flow, and how vital the ability to start saying yes to things can be to our expression.
My son had ask me to ask Lynn why she loves painting flowers so much and what her favorite flowers were (sunflowers) and she asked me what my son Cosmo’s favorite flower was. (Cosmos)
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About Lynn Whipple:
Lynn Whipple is a multi-media artist who paints wildly in small to large formats with a combination of acrylic paint, charcoal, and colorful soft pastel. She shares a studio with her artist husband, John, and twenty other artists at McRae Art Studios in Central Florida. Lynn enjoys teaching, traveling, and sharing ways of working that encourage fun, joy, and freedom in the art making process.
Lynn is author of a book entitled “Expressive Flower Painting: Simple Mixed Media Techniques for Bold Beautiful Blooms”.
Resources discussed in this episode:
- David Passalacqua
- Amanda Evanston
- “Expressive Flower Painting: Simple Mixed Media Techniques for Bold Beautiful Blooms” by Lynn Whipple
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