Make Art Be Happy

2025 was the hardest year of my life. Breast cancer. Surgery. Infection. Family layoffs. Illness. It felt like wave after wave after wave. There were days I was scared. Days I was exhausted down to my bones. And for a while, my art practice slipped away. But then something quiet happened. I found my brush again. Not from motivation. Not from discipline. Just from a gentle pull inside me that said...

I return shopping carts. Not because I am especially good. But because if I do not, a small voice wakes up. You are careless. You leave things for others. You are doing it wrong. That voice is shame. It does not shout. It whispers in ordinary places. Parking lots. Unfinished paintings. Messy tables. Art hears this voice too. You should be further along. This should look better by now. If you were...

Flow doesn’t arrive fully formed. It shows up after we begin. For me, it comes through writing. I start without knowing where I’m going. That’s when the words begin to move on their own.m and I clear out what blocks me from my creative rhythm. I see the same thing with someone I coach, though her doorway is different. She finds flow through meditation. The effort softens. The practice opens. She i...

Sometimes life just feels heavy. You’re frustrated. You’re tired. You want to cry. And you don’t feel good in your body or your heart. In this live, I talk about how to let those emotions move through you without getting stuck in them and how to stop pulling meaning from the past and instead let the future guide your next step. Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my nex...

This morning I was walking around our pond. Foggy. Christmas lights still up. The sun trying to break through. Yesterday my doctor said I could start moving again. After a year of breast cancer. Four surgeries. A body that needed rest more than discipline. When I was 58, I ran a marathon. I will never do that again. But I am still a runner. Once you run a marathon, that truth doesn’t disappear jus...

I just posted the first session of Start Where You Are, my five part series for creative women who want to return to their art with more ease and confidence. Today we talked about creative problems. Not the dramatic ones, but the quiet thoughts that keep us from starting or finishing. I show you how to turn a low quality problem that shrinks you into a high quality creative problem that grows you....

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe

I was in second grade, walking home with a pickle, when the news broke: President Kennedy had been assassinated. Before that moment, the world felt safe. After that moment—it didn’t. Then came Bobby. Then Martin. A generation was shaken awake, and because of it, women like me could open a credit card without a husband’s signature. I believe we’re at that line again. Hate is loud. Violence is excus...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe

Making art is not always easy. It looks like it should be. Children in kindergarten and certainly my grandsons make art with ease whether with a brush, marker, crayon or even a stick out in the yard. All we must do is grab a brush, press play on that course, make a little something while dinner is in the crockpot. But the moment we try being creative , something deeper starts stirring. It’s not ju...

Ever had one of those days where you're sprinting down a hallway in heels, hoping your pantyhose don't rip, all to rescue a kindergartner stuck in the frame of an overhead projector? In my previous career as a school leader, I had a vision of shaping the future. I wanted to create a world where our children could choose any dream or goal based on their passions, equipped with the education to succ...

I was supposed to be on a podcast this morning talking about perfectionism, but the host wasn’t feeling well, so we had to reschedule. I thought, why not share my thoughts on perfectionism right here? Perfectionism is all about striving for flawlessness and setting super high standards. There’s a good side that drives productivity and a bad side that leads to anxiety and burnout. I've experienced...