Today we’d like to introduce you to Lorien Eck.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born in Los Angeles and raised in sunny Laguna Niguel, California where I have again returned to live and work. One of the best things for me about growing up in Southern California is the outdoor lifestyle and for me much of my childhood was spent playing outdoors and at the beach. It has been a joy growing up near the ocean and I spent a lot of time playing at the beach and playing on sports teams, like soccer and then tennis through my high school years.
This lifestyle and appreciation of the natural world has informed my work and has been a huge inspiration to me throughout my life.
Another early and lasting influence is travel. As a young person, I traveled frequently to New York City, Hawaii and as a teen to Paris, France with my family. After college, I began to travel extensively, starting to a multi-month trip to Brazil. I have since traveled to study/teach art in France, Italy, England, Ghana, West Africa, Guatemala, India several times, Thailand, Canada, China and other international destinations. These travel experiences informed my young life with a strong combination of exposure to sophisticated cultural influences and the simplicity of raw beauty through the extremely diverse natural environments.
I was about three years old when I first picked up a paintbrush and still have those abstract paintings from that time! I was exposed to artists and the creative lifestyles artists lead through my artist dad. My dad was in the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach, CA and every summer, I would spend every day there with him playing with my friends, creating art and making hand-made jewelry; I loved making things and inventing new creations to express myself and was very much encouraged to be an original and be me!
I attended and graduated from San Francisco State University (B.A. Studio Art), St. Lawrence University, New York (M.Ed.). And my journey and interest in making a positive impact in peoples’ lives delivered me to work in the field of education as a coach and eventual art teacher in both rural and inner-city classroom settings for over 15 years. I realized my passion for art making when I took a leap of faith and voluntarily took a sabbatical from my career as a public school teacher in the inner city of Los Angeles. Now I am a creative entrepreneur who maintains a thriving art studio where I create art and teach art online to kids.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In all career paths (as in life overall), there are a variety of obstacles and challenges to help us along the journey of “gently moving forward”. In my experience, sometimes these are internal challenges for example, limiting core beliefs, negative thought patterns or lack of self-confidence. Sometimes, outer challenges, some in our control, some out of our control. Between these two areas of obstacles, I have realized that life will always present opportunities for growth through problems and challenges, it’s just part of living and being human- as they say, as part of the “human condition”.
With that understanding in mind, what I have discovered along the way, is that how I deal with obstacles is the key to overcoming them. Over the course of my life, I have learned from many sages and teachers, each providing me with the wisdom and knowledge and tools to support me in getting untangled and in setting me free. The main thing is to remember, slow down and use the tools.
My top 10 go-to tools right now are:
1. Go outside and feel my feet on the earth
2. Take a walk in nature every day + some fun daily exercise too.
3. Writing in my gratitude journal in the morning before I start my work day
4. Daily meditation practice
5. Stop and take four deep breaths.
6. Maintain a low-sugar, vegan diet with plenty of pure water and eating the rainbow!
7. Practice self-compassion
8. Live from a learner mindset – making thoughtful choices, solution-based and relating in a win-win manner.
9. Do my inner work of forgiveness through the practice of ho’oponopono (Hawai’ian practice of making amends)
10. Covey’s circles of influence.
I also believe in the art of finding a balance of following our instinct, self-trust as well as surrendering and giving up control. These are some of the ways I overcome the small and larger obstacles and challenges in my life as an artist and as a human being.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am an artist, always have been and always will be. I am guided by a strong impulse to create, inspired by the natural world in all of her diverse expressions, from the sea to the stars.
In my art studio, I create original paintings created with the intention for deep healing, meditation and for the elevation of individual and collective consciousness. My signature style is vibrant, textured abstract colors and forms which delight and illuminate the surface in a magical and mystical way.
Many of my mixed-media paintings are inspired by our environment, water preservation and the cosmos. Capturing a sense of the planet’s majestic beauty with vivid colors and bold brushwork, I create a powerful combination of inner and outer landscapes that guide the viewer into a deep reflection. A long-time advocate for environmental justice, my work is more vital than ever before with the current challenges that threaten our Earth.
My latest work, completed in the Summer 2022 and featured here, is a series of mixed media on canvas paintings entitled Blue Gold: Basic Goodness. The inspiration and the story behind this series of artwork is two-fold. Firstly, the idea of water as “blue gold”. This summer I have been deeply contemplating our water situation here in the golden state of California. I care deeply about and value water in all of its forms, much of my art is inspired by nature and the elements – especially water.
I am curious and hopeful about how we can conserve and solve this problem together. I am interested in and committed to clean water to drink, to irrigate our crops in CA- and to supporting innovative and ingenious ways to secure our most precious natural resource of water. What are your thoughts about this vital issue we are facing?
The other source of inspiration for this new art series is based on the story of the Golden a Buddha and the reference to our own “inner gold” or basic goodness as human beings. Do visit my YouTube channel to watch two short videos where you can learn more about the inspiration of this new art series.
I am also an art educator and follow my joy by supporting kiddos in discovering their Divine inner artist and living a whole-hearted life through the creative process. I teach online classes for kids through my Art with Lórien education program.
I very much enjoy helping kids of all ages to awaken the artist within and to spread their own wings of creativity and develop their capacity for self-compassion and healing.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Risk-taking is a core element in any creative entrepreneur’s journey, it is core to being on the leading edge and living life from a growth mindset. Risk-taking is a natural and necessary aspect of the journey of realizing our potential in this life, no matter what field of work we are in, it’s part of being human. It’s important however, to prepare for risk-taking and there’s homework to be done before taking any risk. What do I mean by my homework? You can simply start by asking yourself some important questions before jumping into the risk.
Three questions you can start the research step with are:
What mental strategies and exercises do you have in place to help you prepare for taking the risk, experiencing the process of taking it? Do you feel this enough or could you strengthen your approach?
2. What support options and strategies do you have in place to help you take the risk as well as catch you should you be unsuccessful?
3. Do you have enough knowledge to tip you in favor of success in taking the risk?
This is just a sampling of possible questions to start with. There are many tools and resources available to support the endeavor of taking risks. For instance, online resources, talking to people you admire who are “risk-takers”, books, teachers, and on. Reach out to me to inquire what some of my favorite resources are.
I must emphasize to enjoy the journey and with the mindset of curiosity with the perspective that every experience and step on the journey is about progress, not perfection. In April 2020, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission. This mission is referred to as the ‘successful failure’ with the crew returning safely to Earth despite an explosion that foiled their aim to land on the moon. Did the mission require some risk-taking? You bet ya! Their homework stage was robust, however, as the story goes, the mission did not land on the moon- but with the learner mindset, it was framed as a ‘success’ as the mission provided valuable lessons for the next mission.
Being willing to take even a small risk is nudging ourselves out of our “comfort zone” and this always leads to something new, even if it’s a new insight into ourselves. How do you know if it’s a risk? Does the idea “scare” you?
So, do your homework and give yourself all of the supportive time, tools and use technology to help you moving forward in business and life by taking small, but mighty risks! Good luck and know that you are not alone, I am here cheering you on as I too am risk-taking toward my self-realization.
Pricing:
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Contact Info:
- Website: http://lorieneck.com/index.html
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorieneck/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lorieneckartdesign/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lorieneck
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/artwithlorien
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/l-rien-eck?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Image Credits
Personal Photo Credit: Aryadne Woodbridge: https://www.theheadshothouse.com/ All other photos credit: Lórien Eck
