a visual journey (of the heart)

one of the things i find an absolute joy is when i get to connect with other creatives face to face in their own creative spaces. you can learn a lot about an artist when you take the time to get to know them right where they live (and an artist spends a lot of time in their creative space-regardless of if the artist is a painter, a sculptor, a writer, a film-maker, a musician, a cook, an actor, a dancer, a craftsman, a photographer, -and the list goes on. -and regardless of whether or not the artist is actually "producing" or "selling" any art). the goal is more than getting to experience the art that they make. it's even more than learning about the creative process they go through to make their art. the goal is to connect...to know...to feel...to listen...to understand. yes we can connect an artist's art and be completely inspired...but i find it more satisfying when i'm able to connect with the artist's heart. 

yesterday i had the wonderful experience of spending several hours connecting in conversation with an artist who spends a lot of her time in her studio allowing creativity to be the language of her heart. 

Lisa Cheney is a graphic design artist in Boise, Idaho who utilizes mixed media visual art techniques and life journaling to fuse a unique style and voice to the growing genre of visual journaling. she teaches workshops and classes and her work has been featured in several magazines. 

when Lisa journals she lets herself be real upon the pages. her world is full of joy and pain, color and darkness. the pages of her journals and the texture of her canvases are filled with color, words, emotion, and honesty. her work is both beautiful and raw. and i love it all! 

Lisa and i share a lot more in common than just our first name. we share a love for the story. we both have a drive to do the heart work (no matter how hard) throughout the journey, and we recognize the need for grace to let the story come forth (however it needs to). life has layers...and Lisa's art is full of layers. i learned from Lisa that when we allow ourselves to invite others into the layers, we invite the opportunity for more chapters to be written in our story.  

my time with Lisa was filled with homemade books and journals strewn about displaying colorful imagery and writing that tells her life story through art. our conversation flowed throughout the day like one of those curly straws where you can see the liquid moving down and around and through as you happily await it's arrival. and as i exited her studio i found myself longing for another sip. 

i think it's appropriate to say, that when it comes to inviting you in to the layers of her story, Lisa can explain things better than i can...check out her blog and learn more: a visual journey