Do What You Love

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Today’s *shared stories* come from artists Judit Laboria and Katie Clemons. Judit lives in El Perelló, in southern Catalunya, Spain. Katie divides her time between Berlin, Germany and a hangar in rural Montana, USA.

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Judit Laboria

I live in a town called My journey through art began in December 2008. I was looking for information on mandalas, and casually stumbled upon Lindy’s blog, Serpentmandalas. It only took me a couple of minutes before I started to feel something changing inside. Lindy’s enchanting art absorbed me in delightful bliss; the explosion of colour, tenderness, and magic found in her paintings awoke strong emotions in me: now I wanted to paint as well, I needed to.

Please do not ask me how I thought it was possible for me to paint.  All I can tell you is that something inside of me seemed to scream out loud “You can do it, you have to!” As soon as the morning after, I bought some paint and brushes, and started to paint. In those moments I was still unable to tell that such a leap in my heart was due to my newfound passion: art.

As I took my first steps in painting, old forgotten ways came knocking at my door. With great surprise and after way too long, I found perseverance and constancy again. Almost without noticing it, my life was changing. I was changing.

I spent much time on the computer, researching on the internet and learning about techniques, paint, brushes, canvases, and paper; knowing the world of blogs, its uses and resources. At that time, in the middle of my obsession for learning evermore about my greatest passion, I discovered a wonderful online artistic community.  I started to dream on and on. I dreamt about sharing my paintings with the world, dreamt about running my own blog, dreamt about being part of the artistic community I had just discovered.

I always need a boost so encouraged by my mother, my sister, my friends Ceci and Franc, but most of all by Josep (my friend, my love, a great creative soul), and with lots of doubts but an equal share of enthusiasm, I gave birth to my blog Pilgrim of the Moon in April, 2010; some months after that, my online Etsy store opened its doors.

My dream turned into a reality, and it has been so much better than I ever thought. Throughout all this time, I have come to realize an important lesson: If we do what we love to do, overcome our fears, and persevere in our dreams, the universe will open the door of opportunity for us. Overcoming fear has been the hardest task so far. Fear of being ridiculed for sharing my art and fear of expressing myself because of my poor English skills. But let me tell you something, the artistic community has welcomed and supported me, and with my heart filled with gratitude I can say without a doubt that I have always found a hand willing to help me out. THANK YOU.

During this time I have become a true fan of that line uttered by Doctor Norman Vincent Peale: “If you believe you can, you can”. I already knew that, but had to learn how to remember. I still do not make a living out of what I love, but I continue banishing my fears, persevering, working with great love and thinking to myself: I can.

My goal is to spread peace, tenderness, hope and love by means of my art. A couple of months ago, a lovely lady customer of mine who has sadly had health problems recently sent me this message: “You inspire me and fill me every day with renewed hope and peace”.  My eyes filled with tears. It was the first time that I actually realized my purpose is being fulfilled.

[All images courtesy of Judit Laboria. To find out more about Judit and her gorgeous paintings visit her website Pilgrim of the Moon or her Etsy shop]

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Katie Clemons

You’re not going to jump up every morning and say, “This is awesome!” Every minute of every day just isn’t like that, right?

A journal with writing prompts can really demonstrate how you’re feeling. Like I look at this page of a home minibook called “Love Where We Live”, and I think, “YES! This is me doing what I love, being where I love to be.”

My grandma and I were sitting in a recording studio for NPR’s StoryCorp. It was her 90th birthday, and I was interviewing her about her life and what she loved to do.

She looked at me with sad blue eyes and said, “I don’t remember. I wish I did.”

There was nothing she could do. But I knew there was something that I could do.

When we lose our stories, there is no turning back. I began a deep study of memory keeping, essay writing, and journaling. I started keeping successful journals (no more of those half-written books or pages that go on and on about nothing). Then I started taking my techniques and creating journals of writing prompts to help other celebrate their stories. This has become a business – Gadanke.

I decided to create my first personal journals two weeks before I took my private pilot’s test. It was one week before my husband and I had to get out of our rental and three weeks before we were moving from rural Montana, USA to Berlin, Germany.

I knew in my gut: I had to go for it.

Sometimes, when you are challenging yourself with big, scary steps (like flying an airplane solo!), other things don’t scare you as much. You find courage and bravery. You do the seemingly impossible. And you succeed.

Sometimes, our parents have HUGE dreams for us in things like law and medicine. I loved what I was doing with Gadanke, but there was this whisper in the back of my head saying, “It’s not good enough. Your parents expected more.”

The day I accepted the EcoStar Award for my green business practices by the governor, my parents stood and cheered in the Capitol rotunda.

I kicked those little whisperers out of my head forever.

Success doesn’t have to start with the word “doctor”. You don’t need a series of letters behind your name and fancy diplomas on the wall.

Now my husband and I are remodelling an old airplane hangar. We want to build a little loft home in the back. We also want to give Gadanke its very own home in an underutilized storage space in the facility. It’s exciting!  It’s exhausting. I’m blogging the progress at Making This Home.

[Images courtesy of Katie Clemons. Katie helps people capture memories and express their thoughts creatively with her eco-friendly journals. Her award-winning business, Gadanke, offers handmade journals filled with writing prompts and fun embellishments. Find out more about Katie on her blog Making This Home or in her shop, connect on Twitter (@MakingThisHome) or Facebook]

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See here for more inspiring *shared stories*

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