Episode #059: Tap Into Art To Ignite Blogging Creativity With Josi Opolentisima

Blog Title: Yellow Glass Dish

Social Media:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/yellowglassdish/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/yellowglassdish/

About: My husband and I lost a tremendous amount of weight by switching to a lower-carb lifestyle. As a result, people were constantly asking for recipes of what I was making. I set out to learn how to blog in early 2019 and launched in March 2019. As a watercolor artist and self-taught cook, I wanted to incorporate my watercolor abilities into my blog and so I did. Honestly, I’m a new blogger but I want to encourage others to cultivate creativity and expression in their life to help them in their business.

Notes from Episode #059:  Tap into Art to Ignite Blogging Creativity.

• Fun fact: Spent 4 years living in northern China and has traveled to 23 countries 

• Why we should have creative outlets in our lives:

  • We all didn’t know how to blog when we started our journey’s, but we learned. You can do things! But then there’s so much to do and some of it is technical and not fun so it gets hard because we have to learn it.

  • This can create burn out and you have to reignite the passion for your work. Do this with a hobby or creative art! 

• There’s tough times that Josi has gone through, when she was stressed and needed a break. But she has to remind herself that she has to push through, keep focused on the goal.

• Josi thought about food blogging for a year before she actually started. She also enjoyed coloring with water colors a skill she’d picked up in the past few years (self-taught). So she wanted to incorporate her stress-reducing and creative outlet hobby with her food blog. She was able to create right on her blog and keep up with both creative outlets and grow them both. 

• Josi hadn’t seen people do this (with using watercolors skills or another art form) but she decided to do it anyway. It inspires her blog and she hopes others enjoy it. 

  • You can incorporate creativity and other creative expressions into your food blog to give you a natural outlet. 

  • Youtube has great tutorials on how to do different things like drawings, calligraphy, hand lettering, etc

  • Incorporate it into your brand, adding to your style is fun and satisfying

  • There’s no blog police so just give it a shot! 

• Where to start if you don’t have a traditional skill already that you’re aware of. 

  • Creativity is not cut and dry. It’s something that comes with time. Every person has some creative element inside them. 

  • Figure out the tools that you need to try any given art form. Then give it a shot.

  • Find a local store to start with trying it by picking up a few supplies. 

  • Find online tutorials.

• Break away from the idea that you “don’t have these skills” and so you can’t do it.

• Foster these skills! 

• Some things worked out for Josi, some looked awful.

• Pinterest is a great resource for ideas. 

• Art begets art. 

• These are building blocks to our whole overall journey. Use your creativity to set your style apart.

• Using a different part of your brain and forcing a different pace will ignite creativity in your blogging journey. 

• Just like you schedule meetings with someone you want to see, you have to schedule time to try a new outlet for creativity. 

  • Plan out time in your week to do something creative that will spark that. Different from cooking, different from recipe creations. Set those things aside. 

  • In the back of your mind, you might think it’s not valuable because it’s not pushing the needle forward for the blog.

  • But just like when you take a vacation, when you do something out of the ordinary that changes your pace, you come back fresh and more productive. 

  • There are perks to switching up your routine. Be intentional. Take 30 minutes, 1 hour. 

• Adult coloring books became popular in the last few years because people want to zone out and enjoy a creative outlet. We know kids need creative outlets so why as adults do we avoid it?

• If you see something that you want to try, make sure you don’t skip it, but try it out. It doesn’t have to be what Josi is into or Megan is into. It can be something that can relate to food (not necessary though!) but stretch your creative side.

  • Walk the aisles of Michael’s or run through Pinterest and get inspired. 

  • Poetry? Haiku? 

  • Marker? Painting? 

  • Hand lettering? Encouraging posters? 

  • Handmade gifts? Jewelry Making?

  • DIY? Soap, spices? 

  • Try something. 

  • Check out Skillshare online.

• Digitize your own artwork – scan then use photoshop.

• Batch work to make pieces for several posts or uses (similar to batch working on the blog)

• You could monetize this aspect (Josi hasn’t) She actually GIVES her art away on her email list on her food blog!

• Fave quotes: “Done is better than perfect” (not sure who said that)

• Fave quotes: “What must be done is best done cheerfully” – Laura Ingalls Wilder

Helpful references from the episode:

• Inspired by so many watercolor artists: especially @dearannart on Instagram (she’s got easy tutorials).

• Lucilles Kitchen is also very inspiring for watercolor recipes https://lucileskitchen.com/

Samples of Josi’s watercolor art: