The Artist Mindset That Transformed My Painting Career

While 2015 was a landmark year in my painting career as a Canadian flower artist, it was 2014 that I will never forget. In that single first week of January, a Vancouver gallery invited me to be part of a group exhibition; Arabella Magazine asked to feature my work in their special Love of Flowers edition; and Canada Post contacted me to submit two paintings for their 2015 Flower Series stamps. Then in May, the Royal Canadian Mint reached out to ask me to design a $20 collector’s coin. In June, I learned I had received both national commissions.

People often ask me what the secret to my success is, and I find myself giving them the “cocktail party” answer: “I worked hard; I got lucky.” It seems this is what most people want to hear. But while working hard has been part of my success, it’s not the whole story. What I’m about to share with you is what I believe to be the true foundation of a successful artist mindset — not something you likely expect. It involves pivotal moments in my life, including one that happened on November 29th, 2004, and changed everything for me and my family. But first, let me start at the beginning.

The Story You Tell Yourself

As a young child, as much as I loved my colouring books, I spent most of my time producing typical crayon line drawings of my family standing beside houses and trees. But one day, when I was seven, I drew a tree that looked like an actual tree — with shading and light and depth. I got a great deal of attention for that drawing — enough that from that day forward, I started to tell myself a story: I am an artist.

My story evolved, and by the time I was eight or nine, it had become: I am a great artist, and I am going to be famous one day.

One of the most important secrets to my success as a professional artist is that I have never doubted the stories I told myself. From what I’ve observed, most people repeat negative narratives to themselves: I’m no good at art. I’m not very lucky. I can’t draw. I’m always tired. I have terrible instincts. I always pick the wrong partners. What stories do you tell yourself about yourself?

Becoming aware of those stories — and shifting them from negative to positive — is a giant leap toward success. Believing your own best story, without apology, is the first and most important element of the artist mindset I have built my career on.

No Longer Seeing the Obstacles

One day when I was fifteen, my mom — who was going through a challenging time in her life — looked at me and asked: “How is it you always get everything you want, Laurie?”

Without hesitation, I answered: “Because I never see the obstacles.”

My response had an enormous impact on my mom, because it was the first time she recognized that she always saw the obstacles. What obstacles are you seeing in your own life right now? What is looming so large that it’s blocking your view of what’s possible?

Not seeing the obstacles is the second key to a successful artist mindset — and to general success in life. This doesn’t mean ignoring reality. It means choosing to focus on where you’re going rather than what might be in the way.

Asking the Universe for What You Want

If you’ve ever seen Jim Carrey’s commencement speech at Maharishi University in 2014, you will be familiar with his message that we don’t ask the Universe enough for what we want. I agree. If you have yet to see it, I recommend finding it online. Tucked inside his humorous moments are deep truths that we can all learn from.

What do you want to cultivate in your own life? And what is holding you back from asking for it outright?

I’ve learned that it’s never too late to begin this way of thinking — so why not start today? Since I can remember, I have never been afraid to ask the Universe for what I wanted. Some of my requests have been rather ambitious over the years. But so far, every single one of them has come true. So, my suggestion to you is to ask.

Giving Up Attachment to How It Plays Out

The fourth key to my success has been releasing attachment to how what I asked for showed up in my life. Sometimes the path I ended up on looked nothing like what I had imagined. Because sometimes life throws a challenge at you that seems, in the moment, not at all like a gift.

This brings us to November 29th, 2004 — the day that reshaped my painting career, my creative mindset, and my life. I was a happily married 42-year-old mother of two pre-teens. I had never given up on my dream of being a well-known artist one day, but I had allowed the busyness of day-to-day life to push my painting career to the side, while I told myself the story that I had plenty of time to return to my easel one day. The Universe, it seems, had a different plan.

The Health Crisis That Changed Everything

When my children left for school that morning, I was their healthy and energetic mother. When they returned home that afternoon, I was unwell and bedridden — a state I would remain in for countless weeks. I had experienced Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss, losing all of my hearing and balance on the left side in an instant. Severe spinning vertigo rendered me incapacitated. It was so debilitating that someone had to carry me to the bathroom for the first weeks. Within days, I developed loud tinnitus in my left ear, which remains with me to this day.

All I was capable of was to lie in bed motionless — even the smallest movement sent the room spinning. I had no quality of life, and no one knew if I would ever improve. The doctors gave me a one-in-three chance of a full recovery. If I had known that in time that I would be fine, it would have been an easier load to bear. But no one could promise me that.

At about the three-week mark, I reached a low point. As I lay in bed upstairs listening to my family have dinner — I could hear them laughing and talking — I longed desperately to be with them, but I was too unwell to leave my bed. The idea that a warm bath might help enticed me to inch my way to the bathroom. With each careful step and gradual movement, the vertigo threatened. But twenty minutes later, I lowered myself into the water, as tears trailed down my face. This is not a life.

“I can’t do this anymore,” I said into the echoey room. I snuffled and sobbed, wanting my former life back. What if I never improve?

And then I heard a clear and confident voice say, “There is no need to worry. Everything will be okay.”

It startled me, and I sat up. The vertigo hit hard. But I had heard that voice, and it had offered me the one thing no doctor had been able provide: hope. And I chose to believe it, whatever its origin. Was it the Universe, God, the Holy Spirit, Love? I didn’t know. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that I believed and trusted it.

Connecting to Something Greater Than Yourself

I climbed out of the bath, found a tiny scrap of paper, and wrote it down: There is no need to worry. Everything will be okay.

I kept that piece of paper with me for the next eighteen months, which was how long it took until the good days in a week started to outnumber the bad ones. In time, I healed. My hearing never returned, but I regained most of my balance. I learned how to ride a bike again. To ski again. To paint again. To live again.

About six weeks into my recovery, my mother had been sitting across the room from me. With my eyes closed and my head resting against a pillow, I heard her say: “Laurie, I really think that in the long run, this experience will be good for you.” Without moving or opening my eyes, I folded in all my fingers except the middle one. She and I still laugh about that to this day.

But Mom was right. What my time in that sickbed gave me was something I hadn’t been seeking but no doubt needed: stillness, and through it, connection. Once I was able to read again, I pursued a spiritual path and learned something that has served me in my painting career ever since. Every emotion we experience is rooted in either love or fear. Doubting yourself, not trusting, obsessing over obstacles, worry, regret — these are all fear. Believing in yourself, trusting, letting go, accepting, giving, kindness — these are all love. We have free will. We can choose. And the most powerful creative mindset shift I know is this: learn to choose love.

I also made a promise from my sickbed: When I recover, I will return to painting, and I will take my work to a gallery. I would stop waiting for “one day.”

Over my career, I have been represented by several galleries and have sold hundreds of paintings. I have been part of countless exhibitions and have had a successful solo show. And, through my art, I have raised thousands of dollars, which I donated to research. All of this began in that quiet, challenging, transformational year.

The Five Quotes on My Studio Chalkboard

Every time I sit down to paint, I read five quotes I have written on a chalkboard in my studio. They remind me to move aside and let something greater flow through:

“Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing.” — Marc Chagall

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” — Marc Chagall

“The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.” — Piet Mondrian

“Painting is a means of self-enlightenment.” — John Olsen

“Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does, the better.” — André Gide

I turn it over, make that connection, and I trust.

The Real Secret to a Successful Artist Mindset

That “cocktail party” answer — that my painting career was built on hard work and luck alone — was never the full story. The artist mindset I have cultivated over decades comes down to this: I tell myself a positive story, and I believe it so fully that I refuse to see the obstacles. I am not afraid to ask the Universe for what I want. I show up and do the work, but I release attachment to how it unfolds. I accept the challenges as part of the plan. I make a genuine connection to my Higher Power — and above all, I choose love instead of fear.

I’ll leave you with the words of Jim Carrey — words I return to on a regular basis:

“You are ready and able to do beautiful things in this world… you will only ever have two choices: love or fear. Choose love, and don’t ever let fear turn you against your playful heart.”

If this story resonated with you, I’d love for you to explore my original flower paintings — each one painted with exactly this intention. If you’re interested in bringing a one-of-a-kind piece into your space, you’re welcome to learn more about my commission process. And if you’d like to explore a more affordable way to bring my work into your home, my limited edition prints are a great place to start. Additionally, if you would like to know more about my life journey, it’s all in my memoir, Lessons Learned (From the Short Stories of My Life).