The Spark & The Art

I’m your host Tucker and this week is an interview with me for another podcast called Every Speaker Has A Story. It’s a podcast made, and hosted, by Dr. Steven Vrooman. Steve is a professor Texas Lutheran University where is chair of the Department of English and Communication Studies and director of General Education. He’s also done a TEDx talk and published the Zombie Guide to Public Speaking. Steve’s a smart guy. 

Guest casts was a concept I was playing with where other people would do an insight and inspiration episode. I wasn’t sure if they were going to be a regular thing or perhaps a Patreon subscriber bonus. I asked a few people to do some as an experiment and you are going to hear two of them today.  Ready? Here we go … Thanks, David, I appreciate the time you took to put together an episode. I was reminded of the interview with David B. Goldstein TheSparkAndTheArt.com/74. David Goldstein’s book is about using your personality type to be your best creative self you can be.  Next up is recent guest Melissa Dinwiddie. I’ll be back on the other side to give a wrap this all up. So, here’s Melissa … My wife just finished a garden path in the front of our house. She’s been planning it for the 11 years since we moved in. Just about an hour ago she got it done. She worked on it all day just to get the project out of her way. She posted it to Facebook and said “it’s not perfectly how I envisioned it but I still like it and more importantly it’s DONE” without even listening to this episode she practiced Intentional Imperfectionism and it made her feel fantastic.  Visit MelissaDinwiddie.com for more insightful episodes and a podcast. If you are a musician and are hoping to make a living with your music you should head to David’s website MusicianEtrepreneurHQ.com for great articles and a podcast and of course, sign up to find out when his new book comes out.  Thanks again to David and Melissa for putting together these episodes for the show and thank you for listening. And remember: You won’t get the art without the work and you won’t do the work without the spark. 

Hello and welcome to the The Spark & The Art creativity podcast. Thank you for subscribing to our weekly podcast, where we alternate between interviews with creative folks from all different career levels and insight and inspiration episodes. All with the intention you’ll get what you need to get your creative projects started and, more importantly, finished. I’m your host Tucker and this week is an interview with Crystal Salamon. Crystal is an artist who took a leap of faith a few years ago and did a print run of 2000 colouring books. The story she tells of what happened when she checked her sales the next day is filled with emotion.  Before Crystal started making colouring books she started off in University to be a doctor. During pre-med she took a single art class to, as she puts it “Get it out of my system”. I think you can guess how the story goes from there. Well, you can guess the ending at least. There is more school and ‘A boy’ and teaching and finding her self.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy today’s chat with Crystal Salamon  Get me on twitter @sparkartpodcast or by email Tucker@thesparkandtheart.com Thanks for listening and remember: you won’t get the art without the work and you won’t do the work without the spark.  

http://TheSparkAndTheArt.com/152 - The end is beginning

In today’s chat Melissa talks about her 15 year break from making art and how she came back to art because she was procrastinating while working at becoming a writer. 

http://TheSparkAndTheArt.com/150 - I've been listening to the book This is Your Brain on Music - Dr. Daniel J. Levitin. It's about the science behind what happens to your brain when you listen to music and what makes it such a powerful thing in the lives of humans.

http://TheSparkAndTheArt.com/149 - Troy is a songwriter but as you’ll learn he does more than just write songs. Recording demos and working as a producer for other artists and more. Works well with our episode about Streams of Income. **- Links for this episode -**<br/> Troy Kokol - https://www.troykokol.com/<br/>Jim Unger’s Herman - http://www.gocomics.com/herman<br/>Sylvester Stallone’s Dog - http://www.snopes.com/stallone-sold-his-dog/<br/>Colin James - http://www.colinjames.com/<br/>MTV Cribs - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV_Cribs<br/>Socan - http://www.socan.ca/<br/>Tom Cochrane - http://www.tomcochrane.com/<br/>Tom Cochrane Life is a highway - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3sMjm9Eloo<br/>Finger 11 - http://www.fingereleven.com/<br/>Finger 11 Paralyzer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJk6gZuPKRE<br/>Pickup Truck - Shane Yellowbird - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqcKbGC4T1s 

http://TheSparkAndTheArt.com/148 – The fact is I’d have to do all everything. My question was more or less "what should I do first?”

http://www.TheSparkAndTheArt.com/147 - I’m taking away the piece on how to reframe my concerns about what others think of either me or my actions. My biggest struggle isn’t always finding the time to do something it’s when my brain justifies the reasons I shouldn’t do something based on what I think others might think. Thanks Jerusha.  ** Links for today's episode **<br/><br/>Jerusha and her Studio - http://www.yogadown.ca/teachers--staff.html<br/>Big Rock Singers Okotoks - http://www.bigrocksingers.com/

http://www.TheSparkAndTheArt.com/146 - You can sell anything you want. The secret is to sell what other people want. I’m not going to get into the difference between selling what people want and what people need I’ll cover that in another episode one day.  

http://thesparkandtheart.com/145 – This week we talk with Improviser, Actress, Producer and professional breath recording artist Rebecca Northan. In today’s chat Rebecca reflects on a yearbook quote and how it relates to her life now and the interesting work that actors do that you didn't even know were jobs. **- Links for this episode -**<br/><br/>Rebecca Northan - http://www.spontaneoustheatre.ca/<br/>Rebecca Northan Twitter - https://twitter.com/RebeccaNorthan<br/>Rebecca Northan IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1720123/<br/>Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457419/<br/>Kathleen Foreman - http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/september5-2013/drama-community-mourns-passing-of-respected-professor<br/>Spiegeltent - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegeltent<br/>Blind Date Play - http://www.spontaneoustheatre.ca/blind-date.html<br/>Kevin McCollum - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McCollum<br/>HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonized_sales_tax<br/>Vertigo Theatre - http://www.vertigotheatre.com/ 

http://TheSparkAndTheArt.com/144 - I got laid-off and I don't know how to feel about it. 

TheSparkAndTheArt.com/143 - We talk about what led Samantha Duff to start her own theatre company and specifically a family theatre with a mandate to ensure theatre is financially accessible to all.  **- Links for this episode -** <br/>Goodger-Pink Productions - http://www.goodgerpinkproductions.com/<br/>Samantha Duff & Holleay Rohm - http://www.goodgerpinkproductions.com/our-team.html<br/>Mount Royal University - http://www.mtroyal.ca<br/>University of Alberta - https://www.ualberta.ca/drama<br/>The year of The Flood - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Alberta_floods<br/>Dan Gibbons Playwright - http://www.talesfrompartsunknown.com/?page_id=6<br/>Ellen Chorley Playwright - http://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/theatre/nextfest-has-a-new-festival-director-multi-talented-ellen-chorley<br/>Telus Spark Science Centre - http://www.sparkscience.ca/experience-telus-spark/<br/>Jurassic Attack Monster Truck - http://www.jurassicattack.com/trucks.html<br/>The episode where I talk about not understanding kids - http://thesparkandtheart.com/48 

‪http://thesparkandtheart.com/1‪42 – I'm not really sure how to describe this. Super power seems like it would be the main power but what is it when your power isn't the main thing? What if you are a brain scientist who wants to talk about brain donation and your audience starts to get uncomfortable. What if you have a cool role-playing podcast and need incidental music to enhance the mood? **- Links for this episode -**<br/>Griffin McElroy - https://twitter.com/griffinmcelroy<br/>The Adventure Zone - https://t.co/qcmTtbx1BF<br/>Chase Reeves - Chase Reeves thesparkandtheart.com/66 <br/>My Stroke Of Insight TED Talk - https://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight 

http://thesparkandtheart.com/141 – With over 900 audiobooks under his belt Sean Pratt is one of the most sought after book narrators today.  **- Links for this episode -**<br/><br/>Sean Pratt - https://twitter.com/SPPresents<br/>British American Drama Academy - http://www.bada.org.uk/<br/>Cabbages and Kings - O’Henry  - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabbages_and_Kings_(literature)<br/>Cabbages and Kings - Audiobook - http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Cabbages-and-Kings-Audiobook/B002V59Y3Q<br/>Seasteading - Joe Quirk - https://www.seasteading.org/author/joequirk/<br/>Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic - http://amzn.to/2niAk14<br/>Creativity - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - http://amzn.to/2nNQ7ZI 

http://TheSparkAndTheArt.com/140 - This week is another semantic exploration. This time about encouragement and appreciation. 

http://thesparkandtheart.com/139 – Chris Barton is a Chef who’s restaurant creates a new menu each week. Chris recognizes the drain creating a new menu each week would be on him if he had to do it all alone. We talk about how important his team members are to both the creating of the dishes but also the success of the restaurant itself. We talk about the challenges of being in charge charge of this shared creativity and not wanting to say ‘no’ too often. <br/><br/>**- Links for this episode -**<br/>Anew Table Restaurant in Calgary - https://www.anewtable.ca/<br/>Mount Royal University - http://www.mtroyal.ca/<br/>SAIT Culinary Campus - http://culinarycampus.ca/ 

Keep writing. Keep singing. Keep working with others. Keep building relationships. Keep doing it. Because that’s what you can control. You can’t control if you get a song on the radio. You can’t control if an artist decides to record your song. The only thing you can control is how good your skills are and how you nurture your relationships.

http://thesparkandtheart.com/137 – We talked to animator Andrew Ford a couple years ago and the theme of that episode was Reach your goal and keep learning. Andrew’s goal was to work at Disney and now that he’s done it you can hear how his philosophy hasn’t changed. Even after getting to Disney he still want to just get better.  **- Links for this episode -**<br/><br/>Andrew Ford - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/saskatchewan-animator-andrew-ford-disney-1.3936095<br/>Glen Keane - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Keane<br/>Milt Kahl - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milt_Kahl<br/>Eric Goldberg - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Goldberg_(animator)<br/>Mark Henn - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Henn<br/>Randy Haycock - http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Randy_Haycock<br/>John Musker - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Musker<br/>Mari-Mac by Great Big Sea - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AT07v9V4-w<br/>Patio Lanterns by Kim Mitchell - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbSuEQXX2C0 

http://thesparkandtheart.com/136 - Clutter is fine when you are using it all. A messy desk means you are there often and using things. But what about those boxes of old magazines for that collage you are going to make one day or that carton of video tapes for the family film you are going to produce. Not only are they taking up your physical space they are also taking up your mental space.