Post Residency + Zodiac Giftbox Coming October 29th
Press Play to Listen. Highlights are Below.
A few excerpts of the blog this week are below. Note that they have been cleaned up for readability. For the full experience, please click above or take a listen on Spotify. To get updated every time a blog is posted, please Click Here to Subscribe to Blog Updates, or subscribe via Spotify.
0:00
“Welcome to the AO blog cast. I am Aramis the artist. This is a snippet of the conversation that I had with the Patrons over there on patreon.com, but I wanted to dive in and also give everybody who's a part of my community the tube team, the Gram-fam, the e-fam the, the blog cast boos, like, what? What are we gonna call y'all over here? Let me know in the comments, what y'all want to be called if you listen to the blog cast episode. All right, let's go ahead and dive in.”
0:28
“First up, y'all the AO residency. If you aren't familiar, a few blog cast episodes a while ago, I talked about creating my own art residency where I was going to set aside some time and just create; not not worry about anybody else; not wait on permission to create; to be 100% real. During that time, I didn't do much creation. But what I did do was work a lot on the house, work in the studio, getting it organized; and honestly, I think that that was more important than anything. I am going to always be able to create. I'm going to always have ideas flowing freely for me. I think what was really important for me during his time was getting even more clarity on what my systems, structures and goals are. I've been a little hard on myself, and I've tried to be giving myself grace; just with the house, it's been a lot. And I'm like. 'Aramis, you are a new homeowner. That's a big deal.' We have officially reached our one year anniversary of being homeowners, we got the backyard semi together.. If there's any homeowners in the chat, let me know because y'all understand, the house is forever going process. We got so many things worked out; super grateful for our 1963 fixer upper -- but the bitch needs fixin'. She really needs to be fixed up. I think that's true. So, I spent the time to really figure out in my mind. I feel like if you know, you know.”
2:07
“I did a poll over on the YouTube channel, and it was over like 125 votes, and over a third of the Tube team is air signs. I think last time I looked at it 37% of the Tube team who voted on the poll are air signs. If you're a Gemini, Libra or Aquarius; an Air sign; fam, you know. You know how our minds get to racing and we have like 1000 thoughts a day. Sometimes you've just got to quiet your mind before you can even move forward. So, part of the residency for me was just quieting my mind, so that I can get true clarity and develop a strategy for how I want to move forward. But even before I develop the strategy, to get clear on what the destination is.”
2:58
“And here's the destination: She still don't know. But that's all right! See, this is the thing. Sometimes when you just throw your hands up, and you say, "I don't know," and release and let go. That's when you allow space for source, the universe, God, whatever you want to define as the higher divinity that is really holding your hands of this universe; then, that's when you can really open up space to allow things to flow in Divine Alignment with your goals, but knowing that at the end of the day, there's still only so much you have control over. Now I know, I truly believe that I'm a creator of my own reality. But, I also know that there are higher powers at play that ain't got nothing to do with me. That no matter how hard I work, how much I sleep, how much I beg somebody, how much I ignored them, there's just some things that are gonna move and shake on their own, but there's also some things that take a lot of intentionality. It takes a lot of strategy, focus and planning -- that's what I'm realizing too. I feel like in the spiritual manifestation, world -- y'all I be deep on that on YouTube. That'd be my watch list. Let me know in the comments if that's what y'all be watching too -- there's this whole thing of like, just sit back; just don't do nothing; just script it; just manifest; it's gonna happen. Nah, ya'll. I've noticed even in the yard the land is constantly showing us the laws of the universe, and the law of the universe is that the plant ain't gonna grow until you actually put the seed in the ground. I can sit. I can manifest. I can pray. I can script. I can do all things. But, if I don't get my ass up, put them gardening gloves on, dig a hole and plant that seed, I'm gonna never see it sprout when springtime comes.”
4:51
“Don't get souped up on the no action type manifestation videos y'all because it does take work. What I'm learning is that it takes aligned work; it takes strategic work; it takes focus work. That's when you start from just spinning your wheels; that's when you actually get traction; and that's when you can actually start to start moving forward, when you get clarity. So, however long it takes for me to get clarity, I'm going to do that. What I've learned is that I get clarity in the action. That's what this art residency has felt for me. So was it a success? Yes. Did I create as much as I wanted to? No, but it was still a success. During that time, I was able to create some of the auction paintings that y'all got during the Sacred Circle Celebration. I truly appreciate y'all for that.”
5:54
“Let me just put something else on your calendar, pin it for yourself, okay, October 28, that Friday is when I'm doing a live stream of virtual artists talk. It will be a virtual closing reception for the Sacred Circle event. If you live in Seattle, then you can attend the location in-person. The space is going to be open just for people who want to go and see the paintings in-person from 3pm to 8pm. If you live in Seattle, go up there, check it out. I'm not going to be there, but my art is going to be there and you can see the pieces in person. If anybody is interested in some more originals, I think we have we have four left. If you're interested in any of the originals, and you want to see them in person, go up to the gallery and you can check them out. The Liink Project recently changed their name. They are now @MadeSpaceSeattle on Instagram. We can talk about that another day, but I'm super proud of Stephanie for collaborating with me on sacred space and getting clarity on her vision for what she wants to do with Made Space Seattle. The gallery is going to have open doors from 3pm to 8pm on Thursday October 28th. There will be some candles and some more smaller art pieces that you all can collect as well. Now for my people who are abroad, for my jet-life fam, we are doing a live stream October 28 6pm PST.”
7:24
“I'm doing a virtual live stream at that time on YouTube. It will be available to the public. Y'all hop in chat when we ask for your questions, and let's vibe out. I'm going to do an artist talk and a presentation talking about the inspiration behind behind those specific paintings. I recently shared on YouTube, the inspiration video behind the Zodiac paintings, and all of the influences that brought that collection to life. During this artist talk, I'm gonna talk about the paintings that are specifically up at the Sacred Circle Celebration. I'm going to be doing just a regular artist talk as well as answering your questions during the Q&A, and sharing more about my journey as a full time artists and how I got to where I am here today. So if you're interested in that story, or if you got questions, please join me October 28. I think we are going to have a whole lot of fun.”
8:24
“Y'all like my wall? If you are listening to this on the audio recording on the blog cast, then the video is available for the patrons so co-creators, make sure you head on over to Patreon so that you can see it. Right behind me is the pegboard wall that Andy installed, I'm going to [link a vlog to that] which is coming out very, very soon where I share. I've actually had a blast editing that video. Andy watches all of our videos, so I like kind of teasing him and playing with him in the videos and my editing process so that when he watches it back, he could be like, really, really? You know what I mean? So yeah, so I had a lot of fun with that video. Make sure you check that blog out.”
9:09
“Next up, what I had wanted to share was in getting clear, there's a balance between clarity and dogma. Sometimes I can be so dogmatic. I can be like, 'I gotta get clear. I'm only doing this.' Or like, 'I'm not shipping another thing out of the studio.' And it's like, okay, but who does that serve? For me, it's about not having rigidity. It's also about -- let's take a moment. Let's talk about shipping real quick because I feel like this is going to serve the artists and small business owners who's trying to sell their work. Shipping, actually, is not fun. Let me let me not even sugarcoat it. The response from people receiving their art is satisfying. So, it's like kind of when you when you want to have a six pack abs - you love seeing your six pack in the mirror, but you don't like doing the crunches. But you got to do the ab workout in order to get to the abs. It's kind of like that, you know what I mean? Shipping is a necessary part of this process. But it honestly doesn't have to be though. I've been doing a lot of print on demand stuff, which has been great and which has been really well received. And so I'm really grateful that we live in a time where there are so many different companies helping artists out so that we can really focus on the main work that we want to do, which is putting putting paint to canvas or digital work or watercolors or whatever your creative process is. I'm so grateful for that.”
10:46
“I saw it this Holiday Market was coming out. Y'all, I'm like a born and bred festival vendor. That's what really helped get me where I am today. It wasn't Instagram. It wasn't YouTube. It wasn't nothing. It was like just straight up, get out in the streets, go see people face to face, look them in the eye, sell your product hand in hand. So it was hand to hand combat and out there, and just with the pandemic and all the things, Thank God that before the pandemic started, I was already shifting my energy online. I was like, 'You know what, in order to really make this scalable for myself, like where I'm not like literally physically hauling my artwork to all these different places and being out in the sun and he didn't like just it was like a lot. It's definitely physically, emotionally and socially exhausting. Just like meeting that many people in a weekend. Like you meet 1000s of people at one time and like, you're clearly I'm an extrovert clearly I can talk to people and it's fun, and I can do it. But even for me, for somebody who was like a super, like, super duper social butterfly. Even this little social butterfly was getting exhausted. Her little butterfly flaps weren't flapping that much, she would stutter, it was a struggle for her. So, I was like, 'We gonna have to figure something else out here, because this This ain't the life. You know, I can't do this for years.' I mean, of course. I didn't do it for years. When I have kids, when I get older, what's the future like? I'm always looking - is this this sustainable for me? I don't like doing stuff if it is not gonna be sustainable. So, I started building up our online thing started really driving traffic towards my website in 2018; built the YouTube channel in 2019. We actually uploaded my first video, it was like Christmas Day, December 2019. I was like, uploading the video thinking to myself, "I don't care about that. I've been wanting to start a channel for like, years. I'm doing it. I don't care it's Christmas." That's a whole nother rant. I actually just got back from Ghana, Andy was in Chicago, and I was meeting him in Chicago. I was home alone. I had some time to kind of get on the computer real quick. Anywho. So yeah, that's how I uploaded my first YouTube video. Y'all should check. (Don't check it out. Actually, it's actually pretty shitty.) But anywho, that's when I really dedicated some time to this online digital space, because I really saw this being a move. I was like, 'this is the future'. I mean, it wasn't even a future at that point. It was the present; we were all online, nowhere near to how much we're online now. I really saw that being a way where I could be in a studio painting and still having orders coming in. And I remember the moment I was taking a bath - you're girl loves baths a lot. My phone was on the counter, and there is a there is a sound that the app makes on your phone when a sale will come in. I remember I got out the tub, looked at my phone, and an order had came in. And I was like, 'Hold on. Somebody just bought something on my website. Like, I didn't have to be out in the streets? Like I didn't have to meet them and say hello, do all the things and spin all this energy?' They just bought it, you know? Transformative for me. I was like, 'We bout to double down. We got to double down if I'm able to do this. Wow. Still relaxing, like literally pretty much like making money in your sleep, making money where you are resting.' That was that was the way for me.”
14:54
“And so this is all coming back to this Holiday Market that I wanted to do that is coming holiday, right? I got on the phone, she's telling me all the details and stuff, and I was thinking to myself, 'Do I even want to do this?' I was going back and forth. It's still good to get out there. In the midst of this digital space, it's reminding me when you actually do meet people face to face, there's a beautiful synergy that takes place. So I'm like, 'Okay, let me still get back out there. It's super close to the house - we can do it!' But then, 'You don't even have enough inventory, to do a full four day festival.' Okay, just buy inventory. But I was like, that's the thing. I don't want to buy more inventory. I don't want to stock these walls with more stuff. We've taken all this time to clean the studio and get it clear, and now I'm about to buy more inventory? Sure, it will sell. It will make me money. It'll be good. It would all work out. But, what's the goal? Are you still putting energy towards something that you don't want to do? So, I have to get out of this repetitive loop of trying to do the same thing. It's just recommitting to my vision of being; putting my foot in the soil right here, in the studio, so that I can paint and create more work. It takes a level of courage, discipline, and faith in source to know that I'm going to be provided for no matter what.”
16:56
“I thought on it, and this is not what I want to do. It doesn't feel in alignment, and it doesn't feel like the highest value for myself. Not that they aren't worthy of me like that, just that it doesn't feel like something that I want to do with my time. It was coming from a place of, 'How are we gonna have the funds to come in for this holiday season? How can I really go hard? How can we really go ham for Q4.' And I'm like, you don't need to do all that. You honestly don't and not from a place of laziness, but just from a place of clarity. Double down on like what you're doing.”
17:46
“The question that I asked myself, and I encourage you to ask yourself this too, because in the midst of me ranting and raving, I hope that this still inspires you and your journey. No matter what chapter of life that you are in, hopefully, this can still inspire you. So the question that I asked myself is, "If you gave yourself full permission to live the life that you want to live, what would that look like?" When I thought about that, I get excited when I'm prompted to think about an experience of how I will want my life to be because I know that's where it starts. It starts in the mind. It starts crafting this vision. And even like, when I look around, at my space - I've created this space. I've created these paintings. We got it organized, we got it clear. This is stuff that I've thought about in my mind first, and now I've seen it in my physical realm. I get excited when I think about stuff like this. So, if I gave myself full permission, like fully showing up in a courageous embodiment, who I want to be - I would be showing up like this. I honestly would. I will be sharing and empowering y'all, inspiring you, sharing content, painting more, creating more colorful cosmic queens to just inspire the world. I will leave a legacy for my family, for my kids, for the next generation of artists behind me to see what is possible in this newfound digital space. It doesn't have to be anything that's negative, toxic or harmful. All these things are tools and we get to define how we get to use them. I want to use these tools to share as much light as I can! I get fueled up. I get excited about it because I'm living in the highest version of myself and I don't have to live from the scarcity mindset like, 'How many shows can I do? How many gift boxes can I sell? How much do I have to do in order to make it?' I'm already bound to make it. I'm already making it. I'm already here.”
20:06
“Part of my mission to be here is to remind people that you have everything within you that the source infinite has within itself that brought you into manifestation. Now, our work is to create a ramp for ourselves, to create an experience for ourselves, to have fun and play and really just thrive in this world - especially when they try to tell you that you can. That's when the game get really fun - when you go to the next level, and you're like, 'I got this. It's show time. It's go time. You trying to bring me down? I'm stronger than you ever thought possible.' ”
20:54
“With all that being said, I'm giving myself full permission to be the content creator that I want to be; to be the artist that I want to be; to be the gardener that I want to be; to be the wife that I want to be; and eventually to be the mother that I want to be. I'm not pregnant yet. We're not there yet. Gimme a little bit, okay? We get some foundational things in place, and we're getting clear on what we want to do. Everything ain't gotta be for everybody. I don't have to make everything available for everybody at all times.”
22:00
“I just want to say thank you. Okay, let me put a pin in here. Let me know how y'all like these rants. Where do y'all listen to these, too? I know Heather listened to me when she had her morning coffee. I so appreciate having a morning brew with you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for coming. And thank you for letting me know that you see this. Your feedback is really important to me. Mark your date for October 28 when I'm live streaming on YouTube and doing an artist talk and Q&A. Thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart for being here and I will see you all next week. Peace out.”
