Are you looking to ignite your creativity? 🎨✨
In this episode of the Painterly Podcast, host Shannon Grissom sits down with artist and author Juliet Blackwell—a true Renaissance woman whose work spans art, writing, anthropology, and the paranormal.
Juliet shares how childhood imagination, boredom, travel, and nature have shaped her creative life. From gardening as a meditative practice to drawing inspiration from different cultures, this conversation explores how creativity shows up in everyday moments. Together, they discuss overcoming creative blocks, the importance of observation, and why embracing the process matters more than chasing the final result.
You’ll also hear about Juliet’s fascination with history and the paranormal, how individual interpretation gives art its power, and the excitement that comes with starting new creative projects.
Whether you’re an artist, writer, or simply craving more creativity in your life, this episode offers insight, encouragement, and inspiration.
Chapters
00:00 Igniting Creativity: An Introduction to Painterly Life
01:14 Juliet Blackwell: The Renaissance Woman
03:59 Childhood Inspirations and the Roots of Creativity
06:53 The Common Thread: Observation
09:00 Living in an Old House: A Labor of Love
10:45 The Paranormal and Creativity: Channeling Spirits
11:43 Weaving Art into Writing: A New Trilogy
14:30 Gardening as Meditation: Nature’s Influence on Creativity
20:03 Traveling as Inspiration: Cultural Exchanges
26:03 Overcoming Creative Blocks: Finding Flow
28:04 Encouraging Creativity: The Importance of Play
32:01 The Beauty of Individual Experience in Art
36:11 Filling the Well: Reprocessing Experiences and Connections
Takeaways
- Juliet Blackwell is a Renaissance woman with diverse talents.
- Childhood experiences shape creativity and imagination.
- Boredom can lead to greater creativity.
- Creativity can stem from observing the world around us.
- Travel enriches cultural understanding and inspires creativity.
- Gardening serves as a meditative practice that fuels creativity.
- Reading other authors can help overcome creative blocks.
- Creativity should be about the process, not just the end result.
- Art is interpreted differently by each individual.
- The excitement of starting new projects opens limitless possibilities.
About Juliet
Juliet Blackwell was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, the youngest child of a jet pilot from New York and an editor from Texas. She graduated with a degree in Latin American Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and went on to earn a Master’s degree in Anthropology and Social Work from the State University of New York, Albany.
While in graduate school, she published several articles based on her research with immigrant families from Mexico and Vietnam, as well as one full-length translation: Miguel León-Portilla’s seminal work, Endangered Cultures. Juliet taught Medical Anthropology at SUNY-Albany, was producer for a BBC documentary about Vietnamese children left behind by US soldiers, and worked as an elementary school social worker in rural New York. Upon her return to California, she became a professional artist and ran her own decorative painting, historical renovation, and domestic design studio for more than a decade.
In addition to mainstream novels, Juliet pens the New York Times Bestselling Witchcraft Mysteries and the Haunted Home Renovation series. As Hailey Lind, she wrote the Agatha Award-nominated Art Lover’s Mystery series. She is a past president of Northern California Sisters in Crime and a former board member of Mystery Writers of America.
Juliet lives in a hundred-year-old house with extensive botanical gardens in Northern California, but spends as much time as possible in Europe and Latin America. She believes in the magic of language, travel, and cultural exchange to open hearts, minds, and souls.
Connect with Juliet:
Website: www.julietblackwell.net
Facebook: facebook.com/JulietBlackwellAuthor
Blue Sky: @julietblackwell.bsky.social
Instagram: julietblackwellauthor
CHECK OUT HER BOOKS: I’m currently reading (and loving) Asylum Hotel CHECK OUT HER BOOKS: I’m currently reading (and loving) Asylum Hotel https://amzn.to/3Ly7Qli Be sure to follow her author page on Amazon for a complete listing. Note: As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
SHE’S ALSO AN ARTIST! Inspired and ready to paint? Check out this link to a great starter set: https://amzn.to/3EkvZrv 149Pcs Deluxe Artist Painting Set with Aluminum and Beech Wood Easel, 48 Colors Acrylic Paints, 24 Colors Oil Paints, 24 Colors Watercolor Paints, Art Paint Supplies for Artists, Beginner & Adults.
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TRANSCRIPT
Shannon Grissom (00:05)
Hi, I’m Shannon Grissom. Are you looking to ignite your creativity? Or how about be inspired by a steady stream of muses? Welcome to Painterly Life, the podcast that celebrates those who create, inspire, and innovate. So whether you’re looking to spark your next big idea, reignite your passion, or simply soak in some creative energy,
This is the place for you. Painterly life, where every guest is a new muse, just for you.
Welcome to the Painterly Life podcast. I’m your host, Shannon Grissom. Today, I’m joined by Renaissance woman, Juliet Blackwell. Juliet is an artist, an anthropologist, world traveler, and New York Times bestselling author. Join us as we explore the magic and creativity behind her amazing journey. Welcome, Juliet.
Juliet Blackwell (01:14)
Hi Shannon, thank you so much for having me on and you just gave me I’ve never been called a Renaissance woman before so I’m gonna capture that I like that
Shannon Grissom (01:24)
Well you are! You do everything! And you do it all well!
Juliet Blackwell (01:28)
Well,
thank you. I always feel like I have a bit of a frenetic background, you know, if it’s, I like Renaissance better, that’s nice.
Shannon Grissom (01:39)
Yes. So you, you know, you’ve lived such a wonderfully creative life. What was your childhood like? Were you always doing all sorts of wonderful things? How did it all begin?
Juliet Blackwell (01:41)
Yes.
You know, my mother was a big reader, so I’ve always been a reader. And so I think people who read a lot tend to be into a little bit of the fantasy life and, you know, experiencing different lifetimes through books. I think that was a big part of it for me. And I’ve always, ⁓ I know that you’re a visual artist as well. I’ve been drawing and painting since I was a little kid. So that was very exciting for me. ⁓
To tell you the truth, was a very kind of childhood back in the day. Grew up in the South Bay. My dad was in the military for a while and then worked kind of a regular job after that, but was always in the reserve. So he was gone a lot. My mom stayed home with us for a while and then she went back to work as a proofreader editor. So she’s always been into the book thing. ⁓
But you know, it was a great childhood. was in the South Bay back when there were orchards and we would just kind of, back then, you know, we would run free in the summers. My mom would kind of kick us out of the house and say, you know, come back for dinner and we’d just explore. And it was really fun. I’m the youngest of three girls. So my older sisters would kind of, you know, ⁓ take me on adventures. So it was very, very fun. And we did live in our minds a lot, I think.
you know, we would take a story we had read and sort of act it out and it was fun. It was very fun. It was very imaginative. I wonder now, I don’t want to be one of those old people who’s like, you know, these kids today with their screens. ⁓ But I do wonder about the imagination. I think back then without the screens, we were more in our own imaginations as children ⁓ because we were bored and boredom often leads to creativity, I think.
And so we would make up games and make up plays and, you know, and that I think that really fed the imagination.
Shannon Grissom (03:59)
I think it does. I noticed that you grew up in Cupertino or kids went to Monta Vista. Yes. What a small world. Wow. Yeah, what a great place to.
Juliet Blackwell (04:04)
That’s where I went, yes. ⁓ wow. Exactly. Yeah. To grow
up. You know, it was very suburban, but back then we still had a lot of I mean, there were horses nearby and orchards and it was a beautiful area. Yeah.
Shannon Grissom (04:25)
I think in that area was the best of both worlds because you’re just on the edge of the country. you could go either way. So I’m thinking about your path and I really think you are a true Renaissance woman. Your anthropology background, writing, painting.
Juliet Blackwell (04:31)
Right, exactly, yes.
Shannon Grissom (04:48)
Producing, you’ve done a lot of different things and it seems eclectic, but what’s your common thread with art?
Juliet Blackwell (04:56)
You know, I think, it’s funny, I didn’t really think about it until I was speaking with a number of writers at a writer conference and a number of people had had a background in anthropology, ⁓ as I do. And I thought to myself, that’s really interesting, but it makes sense to me that an anthropologist would become a writer because I think as anthropologists, we’re trained to observe people and behavior and
culture and the clash of cultures and all of these sorts of things that really, ⁓ when you’re writing, I think it becomes, ⁓ that’s how you kind of create your characters with this sense of what’s unique about somebody, what is special about someone. ⁓ And then I was also a social worker, and I think social workers are also trained to observe human behavior, right? And to, when people speak, they don’t always… ⁓
speak the truth per se. You try to read things into what people are telling you ⁓ with the context that you’re given. ⁓ And then, yeah, and then I went on to ⁓ be a painter and to work in a, I had my own decorative painting studio and did a lot of murals. I love doing portraiture personally, but for the work I was doing more ⁓ architectural painting.
So restoring old houses and painting, doing decorative painting and that kind of stuff. And again, it’s all about seeing the world, right? And that’s what painting is to me, is seeing the world and interpreting it through my own eyes. So yeah, so it was, think I’m probably naturally an observer. I really, love watching people. I love watching nature.
I’m the person at a party who might well be standing in the corner and not talking with anyone and I’m not bored. I’m just really interested in watching everybody. So I hope that’s not creepy ever. But yeah, I just really enjoy, enjoy kind of watching how people interact and ⁓ getting a sense of who they are through their actions more than their words. So yeah, so I think that there is a thread there. I’m very, I’m very interested in.
and people and culture and language and also in old houses, which is also how I wound up ⁓ working in so many old houses.
Shannon Grissom (07:34)
So you do have an old house, so tell us about.
Juliet Blackwell (07:36)
It’s
I mean for California standards, it’s an old house. It’s it was built in in 1911. So yeah, had its 100 year anniversary a little while ago. We had a little party for it. It’s it’s. Love that it’s a beautiful, beautiful house. It was something of a wreck when I moved in. It had been abandoned for a couple of years. No heat, no hot water. Things falling apart the way they do.
on old houses. At that time I was working though with a lot of contractors because I was working at that time as the decorative painter. So I knew a lot of people on renovation projects. So I was able to trade a lot, do a lot of bartering to get things done. as you know, it’s a fortune to try to redo a house. So it’s been little by little. It’s not like I didn’t have…
a few hundred thousand dollars to come in and fix things. So I sort of have been doing it bit by bit. Yeah, it’s definitely a labor of love, but it’s a beautiful old, old house. And it’s a real, to me, it’s it’s very much a work of art. And I and I love being able to live in a in a beautiful space that has, I think, a few ghosts, perhaps a few spirits. So ⁓ it feels good. It’s really a lovely place.
Shannon Grissom (09:00)
Do your spirits, are they characters in your books too?
Juliet Blackwell (09:06)
You know, it’s
funny because when I speak about this, I do write often about paranormal themes with paranormal themes. And so people often ask me, you know, do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe in spirits? And I frankly don’t know exactly what I believe. I do believe that there’s more to this life than we see with our scientific minds. I think that there’s something that is not
that we have not been able to detect or understand, but there are vibrations, I believe, ⁓ especially, and I think it’s one reason I like history so much and historical structures, because I feel that. I can feel the sense of people who’ve come before, ⁓ of the spirits that may or may not live in the walls, but I feel something, and I respect that. think it’s, and I’m…
I think I’m to the point now where I don’t necessarily need an answer to whether they’re there, whether it’s a ghost per se or just some sort of electromagnetic ⁓ feeling. Whatever it is, think it’s a part of what we live with and I do think it’s part of creativity. I think there are feelings that are kind of floating around that we can channel.
through our art or writing. yeah, so I try to respect it even if I don’t understand it, if that makes sense.
Shannon Grissom (10:45)
⁓ it totally makes sense. Now I’m one of those people that when the lights blink, I’m, I’m, I’m asking who’s around rather than an electrical issue. So it totally makes sense. and, ⁓ yeah. So I feel like, know, create. Creativity comes from all kinds of places and it’s not, I’m, I’m not an isolated. It’s not just me.
Juliet Blackwell (10:55)
Yes, yes.
Shannon Grissom (11:14)
painting or writing or doing whatever I’m doing, you’re interacting with the environment around you. So some of it’s obvious and present and some of it’s not. yeah, I totally get that. You do incorporate your art in your writing. So I love that you weave all these various aspects of what goes on. So tell me about how you do that. Or are you working on a particular series right now?
Juliet Blackwell (11:43)
You know, I’m
actually working on a not a series per se. I see it as a trilogy. I’m not sure how it will end up, but it’s a little bit different for me. It’s probably ⁓ in my it’s in my wheelhouse in that it does have to do with some paranormal aspects and a really old mansion. But I’m setting it in the in the Angels, Angels Creek area.
Is it angels? Sorry, Angels Camp Angels Camp area of California. That’s an area that I find really interesting with just the gold rush background and the copper rush. And ⁓ now it’s kind of become a touristy area. It’s just an interesting area to me. So I’m setting I’m setting a hopefully a trilogy there. But the last the book that’s in the pipeline right now that will come out this summer ⁓ is set in Monterey.
And it does have to do also, it has to do with a, well, the main character is a history professor who writes about the history of witchcraft and the occult, but she doesn’t actually believe ⁓ in it. She sees it as a historical ⁓ theme. And then of course she sees something she can’t explain. she has to look into it and it has to do with a murder as well. There’s a murder.
So there’s always a murder. Yes, yes. But I do love I do love to bring in ⁓ obviously my love of old houses. And yeah, and I think that the painterly part of me is always in there somewhere, too, because I love the colors. And I really when I when I write, I really see the story as a movie in my mind. It’s very visual for me.
So a big part of my job is trying to bring, you know, bring those, put those visuals onto the page, which is not always easy. ⁓ It’s rarely easy as a matter of fact. But that’s, to me, I’m seeing it very vividly in my mind, which again, until I started speaking with other writers and realizing that not everybody sees it, sees their story that way. But to me, it’s very cinematic in my mind.
Shannon Grissom (14:05)
You know, you know, that makes sense when you think about there are people who are visual learners, auditory learners, depending on what, dominant sensory input is. And so that totally makes sense as far as how, how you see it and how you work with it. I’m, very auditory for, for a visual artist. That’s kind of, I don’t know where that came from, but, ⁓
So I hear things a lot. so I’ve got that visual auditory thing going. I just went to the Monet immersive experience and then, that got to me thinking about in your gardens and how you’re, and, so do you paint with plants or I mean, you’ve got a sense of, you know, you’re really into your garden.
Juliet Blackwell (14:51)
The garden for me is a meditation. definitely a… It’s being out, feeling the earth, smelling the smells. It’s ⁓ very much for me kind of when I’m not…
when I’m not sitting and writing, which is, know, I do a lot of sitting, unfortunately. So I’m like, I’m going to get out in the sunshine and garden. as you know, we’re, you know, we’re lucky in California. We can be outside most of the year. ⁓
with the exception of very few days really. So it just feels good to me to be outside. I’m not like a master gardener or anything. I do have a nice, very nice vegetable garden and we try to do a lot of California native plants and a lot of fruit trees and try to eat as much as we can from our garden, which is again, very lucky to do in California.
But yeah, there’s just something about it for me. just get out and it’s very in my head and it’s very meditative. And I often come up with storylines or hear voices in my head ⁓ talking, dialogue. ⁓ Often dialogue comes to me when I’m gardening. So I think again, if there ⁓ is such a thing as spirits, I think there’s some spirits around in the land, in the garden that speak to you. And I love that, you know,
in a garden, ⁓ as I said, this house had been abandoned for a couple of years and it was pretty trashed, and the garden was as well. There were actually people living in the garden. was kind of wild. one thing I love about an old garden is that once you start watering it and taking care of it, the old plants start coming back.
Shannon Grissom (16:34)
⁓
Juliet Blackwell (16:44)
you know, plants that have been dormant underground, they return often. And you’ll be like, where, where did that Dahlia came from? And it just kind of emerges from the earth. ⁓ Not always, of course, a lot of plants die. But ⁓ there’s something to me truly magical about that, about seeing kind of history coming back up. Something that was there a long time ago, coming back to life, old rose bushes, old, you know, I…
I read The Secret Garden when I was a girl, ⁓ as a lot of people did, I’m sure, and there’s something really beautiful about bringing a garden back to life. It’s really lovely.
Shannon Grissom (17:24)
Well, you know, that’s a great parallel for creativity. You know, a lot of people have put their creative lives on hold to do whatever they need to do. And but I love that it could be abandoned, it could be gone, but if you just water it, it’ll come back. parts of parts of it that die off is burned. And you know what’s working. I love.
Juliet Blackwell (17:48)
Hey.
that.
Shannon Grissom (17:54)
So your garden is sounds like a great way of getting grounded and filling your room.
Juliet Blackwell (18:01)
⁓
I mean, is obviously it’s a little exercise and it’s being out outdoors again. I mean, I think the thing that I least like about Writing is that it’s so sedentary. It’s ⁓ I have friends who do the like the walking, know They do a standing desk and they have the walking thing and I just can’t do it. I have to sit down and write And it so it is very sedentary. So I have I really need to build in
Not just for my body, but I think for my mental health, I need to build in some exercise time. So I also usually take a really long walk every day. ⁓ And that also, it’s funny, I’ll be walking for half an hour and just thinking silly things, grocery lists and this and that. And then often I’ll start to hear my characters talking to me after half an hour or so of walking. So I think there’s a…
Shannon Grissom (18:55)
Love it.
Juliet Blackwell (18:55)
As humans, think that there’s more of a mind-body connection than we think there is, ⁓ or that we, that a lot of us tend to, tend to think there is. And, know, as again, back to anthropology, we’re, we are animals. mean, we’re, humans are animals and animals have…
instinctual paths that they follow. They, you know, they, they respond to their body in a certain way. And I think that we’ve kind of trained ourselves away from that scientifically. So it’s, like, you have to get some exercise because it’s good for your blood pressure. And it’s like, it is, but I also think it’s really, it does something mentally to us as well, I think. Yeah.
Shannon Grissom (19:35)
I know it clears my head. I walk every day too and I have the same thing either song lyrics will come or an idea for a painting or whatever. And some of it’s just walking around but then all of a sudden praying and I think that just… Because I can run amok. I was thinking you do a lot of traveling so that…
Juliet Blackwell (19:52)
Yes, exactly.
Shannon Grissom (20:03)
that obviously enriches your cultural exchange. Tell me about how travel works in with your…
Juliet Blackwell (20:12)
writing, know, it’s all your crazy.
The writing per se, I do best when I’m here at home, ⁓ at my at my at my desk in my office, ⁓ in my house, with my neighbor’s cat visiting who’s staring at me right now through the window. But but what the travel does, I think for me, I mean, just just in for most people who travel, I think it’s it’s
⁓ You come up against things that do not feel every day, you know, that are different than what you’re used to. ⁓ It’s exciting. It’s a lot of sensations coming at you all the time. What I do when I travel is I take a lot of notes. have journals. I always bring a journal with me and I take a lot of notes. And the notes can be about…
about history, can be about the way the clouds look that day, it can be, I also sketch in my journal. And yeah, I think it’s the interaction with different kinds of people who have different kinds of expectations, that’s a big part of it, just in different lives that they live. We usually spend time, my boyfriend is French, so we spend a lot of time in France, but we also spend a lot of time in Spain, which is one of my,
favorite places. And I speak Spanish very fluently. So it’s it’s fun because we have we’ve made friends and we get to get to know people who have, again, just very different experiences. I also find that Europe in general is much more ⁓ artistically inclined than the US. You know, there’s just a lot of art everywhere, a lot of street art, a lot of ⁓ galleries, a lot of there’s there just seems to be
It might just be my impression, but there seems to be a lot more ⁓ embracing of the art forms, of lots of different art forms, music and dance. there’s just a lot, it seems to me to be much more present than it does here. And the same is for history. You can’t go very far before you’re stumbling across some.
some remnant of a Roman bath or something. And it’s astonishing to me to see those remnants. And I know that we have history here as well, but again, it does not feel as present to me ⁓ as it does when I’m in Europe. And then I did write several books that are based in France, and that was just fun, because we would be in a different area of France, and I’d be like, wow, this is sort of interesting. This would be a fun place to locate a book. ⁓
And I’ve been wanting to do the same for Spain, but the publisher hasn’t been keen on it for some reason. So who knows why? Yeah, but yeah, the traveling is definitely when you talk about refilling the well, it definitely does for me. And it’s just nice, I think, to be taken out of your everyday life for a little while and encounter something different. I went to Japan a couple of years ago and that was really fascinating because it was so different from
I am able to go to Europe every year and it’s not that it becomes ⁓ humdrum or anything, but it’s more familiar, the Europe, because I do speak some French and Spanish. ⁓ And in Japan, I went with my 10 words that I learned from Duolingo and just a lot of crossing of fingers. ⁓ The people were incredibly kind ⁓ and polite and helpful.
And, but it was very different. It was just a very different culture. And it’s, it’s really fascinating to be dropped, dropped in there. And even just, just, you know, morphologically, I look very different, right? So now I’m, suddenly in all these rooms of people that, that don’t look like me and sticking out like a sore thumb and, know, probably weighing twice, twice what most people weigh there in Japan. So it’s just that, it’s just a different, ⁓ that was very, very fun.
Very fun. Another thing I love about travel about just another comment is to me it proves kind of the relativity of time because you know if you’re in Japan for 10 days and it looms large in my imagination as if I had lived there for six months you know whereas here 10 days can slip by without me noticing really and to me when I travel it’s I think it’s because there’s so much
sensation and so much that you’re saying and so much you’re learning constantly that it’s, ⁓ you know, just fills you up and kind of stretches time out. ⁓ And I find that really fascinating.
Shannon Grissom (25:09)
Wow. So my little mind is being blown here. was thinking about how a song can help you time travel. I had never thought about time away and how that does. I can identify if you go on a trip and you, you know, OK, we did this, this, this, and it’s all in your mind and it’s…
Juliet Blackwell (25:38)
Right
there.
Shannon Grissom (25:40)
Right.
can’t tell you what I did last week. Here. Here. that’s, I hadn’t thought about that. Wow. Wow. Now I’m going to trip on that after we’re through. So, so with all that you’re doing, do you ever have either periods where you’re stuck or times when you’re stuck and how do you, how do you get past that?
Juliet Blackwell (26:03)
Yeah,
no, I do. I do get stuck for sure. Definitely. ⁓
And what I usually do is spend more time in my garden or walk more. And I read a lot. That’s usually when I give myself a lot of permission to sort of stop and spend the whole day reading ⁓ someone else’s novel instead of concentrating on my own. ⁓ Usually that will do it in terms of the writing. Usually if I read other people for a few days, then I get back into my own writing. ⁓
And that was a trick I learned from Stephen King, actually. He wrote about, ⁓ he wrote a great book on writing, which I believe is called On Writing, although I’m not positive. But it’s a very slim book, but about ⁓ his approach to writing. And it was very, I don’t really read many books about writing, but I read his and it was very good. And one of the things he said is to always read other people. ⁓ That it.
the other voices and the way they describe things and you’ll, you know, you’ll stop as an, as an author, think, ⁓ I’ll stop and I think, wow, they, that’s how they describe that apple tree or whatever it was, you know, that’s how they look at that description or how, did they encapsulate this person’s character in so few words? And I, and I’ll stop and I, know, it just, it’s, it’s almost like a form of studying, but it’s also, it also tends to sort of ignite the
creative spark for me.
Shannon Grissom (27:37)
Yeah, that makes sense. I look at other people’s paintings. Yeah, I look at other Oracle. How are they doing this? And then it that inspires me. Yeah. So what advice would you give somebody starting out or somebody who wants to get started? They might be my age and have not
Juliet Blackwell (28:04)
You know,
that’s a great question. I think, and people often, you know, authors, I think more than they ask visual artists, where do you get your ideas? That’s one of those standard questions. And I think what they’re really asking is what sparked you to do this, to actually write. I think that’s what they’re actually asking is, you know, what made you sit down and write?
And the fact is for me, when I talk about what inspires me, what gave me the idea, it can be anything from the daily newspaper to the squirrels in the yard. It can be anything really. ⁓ But I think my mind works that way and I don’t think everybody’s mind works that way. And I do think it’s a matter of giving yourself permission to sort of ⁓
Let your mind take a flight of fancy. It’s something that we do as children quite naturally. And I believe that it’s trained out of us. So, so by a very young age, I think we’re either identified as, you’re good at dancing or you’re good at baseball or you’re good at art, whatever it is. And if you’re not good at it at a very young age, then you pretty much stop. Right? Like almost all children want to draw.
And then, but by the age of what, maybe fourth grade, fifth grade, they no longer draw. They only take art class if they’re good at art. And I think that people are not, they’re not encouraged to keep that sort of ⁓ flight of fancy open. And I think for a lot of adults, it becomes sort of crafts. We become more, make like cards, people will make cards or something like that that’s more.
perhaps slightly more tangible or has like a use at the end of it, that it becomes a product as opposed to just something fun that they do. And so that the whole ⁓ goal is the end result as opposed to the doing of it. And I think the doing of it is really where the creativity is and where the…
you know, it feels good. It’s something that feels good to, I think, the human brain is that we’re creating something new and we’re having fun. And that’s what I feel like people miss out on a lot.
Shannon Grissom (30:40)
Right. Well, you know, when I first started out, I wanted every painting to be a masterpiece and I was so results driven. And now. You know, I can totally separate the painting experience from what I’m creating, because there are days when I have the most amazing experience and what’s on the canvas isn’t really, you know, but it was.
damn, that was good, right? sometimes it depends. mean, sometimes they merge together and sometimes they don’t. So yeah. ⁓ and, the older I get, the more I’m able to just really enjoy the experience. So I like what you’re saying about, you know, people allowing themselves, ⁓ to create just to create. And, and when you feel the urge, just run for it.
Juliet Blackwell (31:34)
Right, no, exactly, exactly. I think we are way too results-driven in this culture. That’s one thing I would say. And as adults, think we, you know, people, a lot of people say that they don’t read or they don’t whatever because they don’t have time. And I understand. it’s, you know, our time is taken up by having a job and taking care of kids and all of these things.
But you can incorporate creativity in some of that as well. And I think that people do naturally incorporate anybody who’s raised children, that you spend a lot of time coming up with games or helping them draw. And I think a lot of people kind of rediscover some of their creativity through raising children or being around children. ⁓ But yeah, it’s interesting how we do that, how we put so much emphasis on the end result at times.
You know, one of my favorite quotes, do you know that quote from Martha Graham about creativity? Do you know Martha Graham? She was a choreographer, ⁓ very famous choreographer, and she has a wonderful, it’s kind of a long quote ⁓ about, basically, I think what she’s saying basically is don’t get in your own way. She says that artists always have,
have a sensation of divine dissatisfaction that we’re never quite pleased with where we get because it’s always the next thing, right? We always want the next thing. But she also says that it’s not any of our business to assess how good our work is. That what we need to do is produce because she says ⁓ if you don’t put it out there, it is lost to the world.
because there’s only one of you. And so there’s only one of your creative spirit. And if you don’t give it to the world, it’s gone. And there’s just something I just love. I just love that quote. If you look up Martha Graham with divine dissatisfaction, it will come up. It’s a nice long quote about just doing it, just letting the creativity channel through you.
Shannon Grissom (33:53)
I love that, you you’re, you’re, if you’re not doing it, you’re depriving yourself of the experience and you’re depriving. Yes. Exactly. Exactly. own experience from having relating to your work.
Juliet Blackwell (34:03)
Yes.
Yes, no, exactly, exactly. And as you know, as an artist, you might create a painting with something in mind, right? Or maybe not something in mind. Maybe it’s just pure creativity, whatever it is, or maybe you have a message. But people might take very different messages from that painting. They’re not experiencing it the way you do. They’re having their own experience with it, which is, to me, the beauty of art form is that
the artist had their experience with it and now we have an experience with the painting or with the sculpture or whatever it is. And it’s certainly that way with books. There’s a ⁓ quote, a saying that no one reads the same book because as you read a book, you’re imagining things in your own mind and you’re bringing in things from your own past and you’re finding meaning in your own way.
in those artists’ words. And I love that. It’s amazing. I mean, it’s amazing as a writer to know that I’ve put these words out into the world and people are taking them into their own minds and their own hearts the way they do. ⁓ And each individually. It’s pretty amazing.
Shannon Grissom (35:26)
It is. it’s like you’ve created one story and then.
Juliet Blackwell (35:30)
Exactly,
exactly. Which is one reason it’s so disappointing to watch a movie that’s been made from a favorite book. Because we have, when we read a book, we have our own images and then the movie is the image of the filmmaker. ⁓ And it’s almost never the same. Well, it’s never the same. But every once in a while, perhaps it’s better, but it’s often not as exciting as it was in one’s mind. Because, you know,
We’ve all had our own experience.
Shannon Grissom (36:03)
Yes. ⁓ So what’s currently lightening up your imagination?
Juliet Blackwell (36:11)
got back from Europe. We were in Europe for a couple of months. So that always takes me a while to kind of reprocess all of that, I have to say. And I do go back through my notes and sort of ⁓ glean things from the notes that I had been taking. ⁓ And I’m also catching up with friends, which maybe sounds less creativity based, but I find it’s, I think it’s part of that.
filling up ones well, just meeting with beloved friends and spending time and laughing. We went to dinner with some friends the other day and we just laughed through the entire dinner. I thought, it’s beautiful, right? That’s what’s really, really, really lovely. I’m not like, I don’t love the holidays. So I sort of try to spend the holidays just having like,
dinners with friends and walks with friends and going to the movies with friends. that’s, to me, that’s touching base with those people is really lovely. And then the book that I said that I’m starting on, the trilogy, I’m just starting. So it’s very exciting. It’s always very exciting at the very beginning because the possibilities are limitless, right? It’s like, what am going to do with this? This is very exciting. I’m kind of, if you could see my desk there.
papers everywhere, I’m sort of all over the place. But ⁓ that’s fun.
Shannon Grissom (37:46)
It is. So where can people find more about you?
Juliet Blackwell (37:52)
The
website is julietblackwell.net. So ⁓ yeah, so ⁓ that’s where they can find me. And there’s also, you know, there links to my email and all through the website as well. And the books, the books should be anywhere. ⁓ You know, I ask people if they can’t afford books, which a lot of people can’t, you know, the libraries are amazing. And most libraries have ⁓
have a fund if you ask them to buy particularly books, they usually will if they can. ⁓ So that’s nice. And that’s a nice boon for the author, too, to have libraries buy our books. yeah. And obviously, if you can ask for books at any bookstore, which is always nice, too.
Shannon Grissom (38:41)
Yay! Well, thank you. You’ve been incredibly inspiring. mean, just, yeah, I love your journey.
Juliet Blackwell (38:51)
Thank you so much.
Shannon Grissom (38:53)
Thanks everybody for joining us today. Please be sure to like, subscribe and share so that we can make more inspiring episodes. That’s a wrap. We’ll see you next time.