Each morning, as the sun blasts through our east-facing window, I’m treated to a colorful sunrise over the water, with the silhouettes of palm trees. It’s better than any alarm; it tends to get me up a little earlier than normal, and boosts my dopamine immediately.
Upon waking, I walk out to the deck of our bedroom just to take in the beauty of the morning, marveling over the sun sparkling on the water, the warm breeze, the foggy blue distant islands, and the warm air kissing my skin. I’m feeling inspired.
The Hunt for Inspiration
One of the reasons I travel so much is because I’m always on the hunt for beauty and inspiration. To me there is nothing quite as wonderful as getting out of my comfort zone, walking on cobblestone streets, changing foreign money, eating local and regional foods, and being unable to understand the language fully. It’s not only a vacation, it’s a mental break and a chance to feel invigorated.
Last October, after our annual fall Fine Art Trip, I was totally inspired. Though this is a collectors’ trip, visiting lots of museums behind the scenes, artist studios, and collector homes, in my free time I always sneak away to paint en plein air, even if it’s after dinner and late at night under the streetlights.
Inspired by Artwork
It’s hard to imagine this because so few in the world have ever experienced it, but I’ve been in the Prado, one of the most important and busiest museums in the world, having it all to myself and my small group, and no one else in the building.
I can walk up to important paintings with no crowds and no pressure to move, and study them in depth. In one case, after seeing every painting in the museum, I kept returning to this one painting, over and over again. It captivated me, and I kept seeing more depth in it as I studied it. And after taking dozens of close-up photos, I’ll return home and try to copy parts of it as a learning experience.
I gain tremendous inspiration from gazing at endless artworks by the world’s great masters in top museums.
The Gift of Travel
I feel extremely blessed that I get to travel as much as I do. In just a couple of weeks, I’m leading a group to paint cherry blossoms in Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo, Japan. Then in May I’ll be painting at the Plein Air Convention in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and in June at my painters’ retreat in the Adirondacks of upstate New York, where I’ll spend my summer. Then I’ll host another Fine Art Trip in Europe (to be announced soon), and my Fall Color Week retreat in Monterey and Carmel this year.
Gasping for Air
An important lesson was bestowed upon me by living the life of an entrepreneur, never able to come up for air, spending months on end working from sunrise till midnight, and then experiencing levels of burnout, depression, and lost relationships. Something had to change.
Sometimes it takes a kick in the teeth to stop bad behavior and reinvent yourself. The new me, I told myself, was not going to work weekends again, was going to travel to Europe at least once a year, and travel to paint with friends.
The life of a workaholic is a dead end street, no matter what the books tell you. Life isn’t about working, it’s about living. Work becomes about providing enough fun tickets to live the life you dream of. It took me a couple of decades to shed my bad habits, my bad moods, and my work addiction to start living life.
Are You a Living Zombie?
Sometimes we feel like the walking dead … commuting to work, putting in the required hours or late nights, being workaholics, involved in endless projects and mind-numbing meetings that seem like Groundhog Day.
Are You Burning Out?
Burnout and being stuck happens across all jobs and industries. It seems like we’re working hard to support our families, yet our families wish they could see us more, even if it means having less. It’s a trap too many of us fall into, convincing ourselves we’re “doing it for the family.” One friend recently said his wife told him, “If you think you’re doing this for the family, think again. If this continues, there will be no family for you to come home to.”
So how do we break out?
Start with what you hate. While most people tell you to focus on goals, goals are of no value if you have to do things that make you miserable. Make a list of the non-negotiables, then start building a plan to unwind all the things you no longer want to do.
Instead of goals, make your dream list. “If I had all the money and time in the world, and no restrictions, what would I do?”
Do that.
Even if it takes 10 years to figure out how. If you don’t do it, you’ll continue to burn out. But if you have a plan and know you’re working your way to freedom from the things you hate and toward the things you love, you’ll have hope. Hope with an action plan removes burnout.
Near Death
A near-death experience gave me instant clarity, from which I made my list, set my dreams in motion, and found a way to do them.
Be There
Science has a lot of recent research that says when you imagine yourself IN something, you find a way to become it. If you constantly tell yourself you’re miserable … you’re IN misery. If your brain is living your dream, it will find a way.
I could not afford to go to Europe once a year. My brain found a way once I started making that part of who I am.
BE where you want to be. Don’t tell yourself, “Someday I’m gonna.” Tell yourself you are there.
Sometimes being delusional is the best thing to motivate your brain to find a way to climb out of a bad hole.
Eric Rhoads
PS: Tonight I’ll board a big bird and fly home to Austin, where I’ll be hosting PleinAir Live all week. It is one of my favorite weeks of the year because I see so many lives transformed. You are joining me, right? Be a DO IT NOW person, and you’ll move closer to your dreams.
So, what was the painting in the Prado that you kept returning to – now you have me so curious I can hardly stand it?!
Yes. And more yesses. You provide great templates!! Thank you, Eric. See you this week at PAL 24. It’s going to be a blast!!
Great advice for me. Thank you. I’m 82, paint almost every day, We no longer travel due my husband’s health, so it’s another phase. Have two art groups, extremely important for me for critique, community, and encouragement. Keep posting!
I am an artist who has been struggling to find my “style” since the beginning. I worked for years as a graphics illustrator and designer until computers made me obsolete. I reinvented myself as a marketing director and events planner which was challenging yet fun. Now retired and widowed with my sons grown and on their own, I have more time for indulging my true artistic side. Graphic design is a very technical and detail oriented art. I’ve worked in acrylic which I like okay. I’ve taken watercolor classes and found I am fairly competent with that medium. However, I recently discovered pure pigment pastels and LOVE that medium. I’m a “clean freak” and like things well organized (almost OCD) so pastels fit well with that neurosis. I am plugging away at “loosening up” and not being so precise in my art, which is a struggle. I have attempted plein air painting but I am rather slow in my execution so I don’t get very far before having to packup and go. I would like to take a seminar but I live on a brutally tight fiscal budget and can’t afford any that you offer. That said, I get a lot of information and inspiration from your email blasts and especially enjoy your Sunday columns. I have begun to watch some tutorials on YouTube and they are somewhat helpful. Anyway, I’m glad I discovered your publications and thank you for keeping me inspired to plug away.
Hello Eric, these last 7 months I have found myself once again in a difficult situation, a result of a poor choice and unfortunate circumstances. But I’m steadfastly working to dig myself out of it, returning to work full time at 67, working every day–working ‘joyfully’ instead of ‘hard’–and still attempting to paint. You’ve been an inspiration for that. When I’m tired, weary, I remember that if Eric does this, then so can I. Now I’m at a crossroads deciding HOW I want to continue in my efforts and as is usually the case, your Sunday Morning Coffee offers wisdom. Better, more considered choices is my new mantra! I’m so glad to be connected here. What you do makes a difference in so many lives.
So important! I was an Information Systems Manager for almost 30 years. I actually loved it (most of the time). Why, it was almost always different & a puzzle figuring out how to make things work, fix them or dig deep & find answers. But when kids came to me out of college for a job because IT is where you make money, I always told them that they were going to be spending more time at their job than they ever will with friends & family, and if they didn’t enjoy what they were doing they would never be very good at it and most likely pretty miserable mot of the time.
In retirement, I sketch & paint a lot, not just on odd weekend or vacation bike hikes, hiking or camping. I even teach water colour painting at our community center & loving it. It feeds my soul. I am truly blessed.
Living the life of an artist is likely one of the most rewarding and risky endeavors possible. The simplicities of business do not even compare. Creating images and concepts into physical form from nothing is no mean feat. Taking no for an answer is not acceptable nor is thinking and acting small. Life is here to be lived not just walked through.
Have made my living as an artist now for 50 years through both failures and success beyond my wildest imaginings of youth. Now through my art i am able to build hospitals and fund ground breaking medical research that can transform lives.
i have had many near death experiences related to a lifetime of medical challenges. Each was the kick in the teeth required for the next step of life, the next vision to formulate and then be created into material form.
Live your vision and become the artform that you create. The physical paintings, sculptures and objects are but a reflection of that which exists within all of us.
Through being willing to live your life as a creative person the world can be transformed and you along with it. richarddixonfineart.com