341: Inspiration can take a back seat (w/ Danielle Clough)

Danielle Clough is a multi-disciplinary artist from Cape Town, South Africa who specializes in the mediums of embroidery, photography, graphic design and video art.

She has been profiled by Instagram, Colossal, CNN, Vogue and The New York Times and had her work and in various exhibitions in South Africa, The USA and Russia.

Her new Skillshare class shows the basics of how she creates so that you can give embroidery a try for the first time.

In this episode, Danielle discusses:

-Her mindset when she made the decision to quit school and also to change career paths.

-Learning to trust our heart and our instincts when they tell us that things aren’t right.

-How we sometimes think too far into the future and put too much pressure on ourselves before, during and after the creation process.

-Her biggest takeaways from Red & Yellow School of Logic & Magic.

-Seeing herself as a brand instead of an artist and her work as a product as opposed to statements.

-Keeping her personal life out of her social media presence.

-Her perfect formula for defeating imposter syndrome (and also cultivating it).

-Her mental state while creating pieces that take longer than a month.

-How she often feels like she is the sum of the last thing that she created, for better or worse.

-Why she doesn’t like the word, “inspiration.”

-Her advice for anyone who wants to get started with embroidery.

Danielle’s Final Push will inspire you to find the part of the creative process that brings you joy and build your work and your life around that!

Quotes:

“I stumbled into embroidery through a sequence of opportunities and mistakes.”

“As soon as you say you’re going to ‘stick something out,’ that’s probably an indication that it’s not right for you.”

“I always feel like I am the sum of the last thing I put together.”

“That motivation to actually turn something into something tangible is so much more important to focus on than those neurons firing for three seconds.”

“Trust yourself and trust what you love.”