Colour Me Happy! - By Brandi Hofer Studios – Details, episodes & analysis

In this inspiring throwback episode, we sit down with the visionary Elli Milan, founder of the Milan Institute and Author of Unemployable. Learn how Elli transformed her dreams into an ever-growing online creative institute that empowers artists worldwide. She shares her journey from an idea to building a thriving business, and how she’s challenging societal views of what it means to be an artist.

Elli also dives into two valuable tips for overcoming societal expectations and embracing your creative dreams. If you’re an artist looking to take your passion to the next level, this is one episode you won’t want to miss!

Here are two tips that Elli Milan might offer for overcoming societal expectations as a creative:

1. Redefine Success on Your Terms: Elli emphasizes that the traditional idea of success—whether in terms of money, fame, or status—doesn’t have to dictate your creative path. Instead, define success by what fulfills you as an artist. Focus on personal growth, expression, and creating art that resonates with you, rather than fitting into societal molds.

2. Own Your Identity as an Artist: Society often undervalues the role of artists, but Elli encourages creatives to embrace their identity fully. Claiming the title of "artist" with confidence allows you to break free from external expectations and open yourself to opportunities. Trust in your creative vision and surround yourself with people who celebrate that.

These tips empower artists to navigate and overcome external pressures, allowing for more freedom in creative expression!

Have you ever wanted to take your creative passion to a full time career? In this Colour Me Happy podcast episode with local photographer Brooke M. Harrison, we dive into her inspiring journey of transitioning from full-time work to pursuing her photography business full-time. Brooke shares the highs and lows, and how she managed to pivot toward a creative career while balancing her day job.We also reference Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, where she talks about the courage needed to embrace creativity. Gilbert explains that creativity and work can coexist, but it takes bravery to unearth the treasures within, despite fear and uncertainty.Tune in to hear Brooke’s two essential tips for sustaining your passion before taking that leap to full-time:

1. Build gradually while maintaining stability: Keep your current job as you develop your creative business.
2. Consistency and patience: Cultivate your craft steadily, and when it's ready, transitioning to full-time will feel more natural and sustainable.

Don't miss this week's episode with Michelle Thevenot! We dive into how to support your creative practice financially by paying attention to the money, diversifying your income, and making it all work. It's so cool to be a creative because you get to see the world through sparkle goggles. Here are the top 3 things that make being an artist amazing:

1. Set Your Own Hours: Enjoy the freedom and flexibility to design your workday around your life, not the other way around.
2. Control Your Business Direction: You're the captain of your creative ship, steering it towards new and exciting horizons.
3. Impact the World with Your Magic: Use your unique talents to make a positive difference and leave a lasting impression on the world.

Tune in for inspiring insights and practical tips to boost your creative journey!

Free Mural Bundle HERE and Marketing tips HERE

Friend! Here is your steaming hot cup of weekend inspiration! This week we sat down with veteran Jodi Miller, a former Aerospace Engineer and Professional Artist from Saskatchewan. You can see how both coincided in her life from the living landscapes and skylines in her work. Her story is an interesting one no doubt! How does one go from army to artist?

Jodi and I connected on so many levels and you will thoroughly enjoy this conversation between two new friends. Grab a tea or coffee and sit down with us for some weekend inspiration!

How do we survive living beyond fear?

Life can be scary, life IS scary. But instead of being caught up in the fear. Being caught up, and having the fear turn into something worse like hatred or blame. The world is hard, the last thing we need is to be hard on ourselves or our loved ones.

So what can we do in the face of the impossible? We can become inspired, we turn to our creativity and we face it head on. Focus on creativity and your ability to adapt, focus on the hope and the desire to imagine something that is beyond yourself, and beyond the fear.

What gets us through the day? What gets us through life? How do we survive? We survive for the beauty in the world, the beauty that IS created, created by you – it is created by us and the way in which we choose to live and move forward each and every day.

We live for our passion and our love.

“The subject matter of art is life, life as it actually is: but the function of art is to make life better.”

– Gertrude Stein

Join our free Colour Me Happy Community here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/774313479902890/

Learn more about Jodi: https://www.jodimillerfineart.com/

Would you like to explore your creativity?! Try our Portrait Class: https://www.brandihofer.ca/portraitclass

Watch now on YouTube: https://youtu.be/K6c3d4eiyTM

Steaming hot cup of weekend inspiration coming at YOU friend!

The Art Of Letting Go

Remember when learning something new felt so hard? Think back, think back to learning to tie your shoes or learning to ride a bike for the very first time. They seemed so impossible, but other people could do it, why couldn’t you?! SO FRUSTRATING! It took so much time, trials, and confusion to get it right. But once you did everything just clicked. Oh the freedom, oh the independence, the power in nailing something you’ve been working so hard on! Those things no longer held a world of frustration for you. The frustration fell away, the memory of how hard they were, fell away. Now tying your shoes is just something you do, now riding a bike is another skill you have and you can hop right back on any time you choose. Taking comfort in the fact that you have already mastered riding a bike!

So why when it comes to making money do we have all these roadblocks getting in our way? We see other people do it, we want to do it, we know how to do it, then why the eff am I not rolling in it?

Manifesting dreams, and living your abundant life will just be something you do. It will be a muscle that you continually work on, but once you have it, well, you just have it!

In this episode we delve into some work that you can do for yourself when it comes to manifesting the life you desire. Leah Guzman takes you through some exercises and tips to uncover your money monster. We discuss what manifesting means, how affirmations work and creating a mantra for yourself.

Create a few affirmations below for yourself:

Example:

1. I am open to change
2. I trust that I can adapt to any situation I find myself in
3. I know that the path I am on is taking me where I am meant to be

Join Leah's FREE 3 Day Workshop  on November 11th for stepping into your creative flow - healing and manifesting abundance: https://leahguzman.com/creative-flow

Listen Here: https://www.brandihofer.ca/colourmehappypodcast

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XSu3f4juGFM

Here is your fresh steaming cup of Weekend Inspiration - Where do you see yourself and how will you get there?

This week we sat down with Artist, Creative Healer and Mentor Juliana Naufel who I just had the pleasure of meeting in NYC. Did she manifest it or did I, I am not sure, but I know that we will cross paths again one day soon!

Juliana Naufel is a Brazilian-based artist who uses affection as her primary subject. Her artworks are strongly influenced by the healing aspect of embroidering photographs as a way of making amends with the past. Naufel earned her MA Degree in Art Therapy from Universidade Cândido Mendes and her BA in Visual Arts from São Paulo’s State University and is represented by PxP Contemporary and Showfields.

Manifesting your dreams! For some reason when I would see all these women standing at art fairs representing their, brand, artwork, or magazine, I just thought one day I will be standing with them. It wasn't jealousy is was just something I would do, one day at least. I wasn't sure when, I didn't put it on a vision board, or focus on it at all. I just saw myself there, I cannot explain fully how it happened but I am pretty sure I manifested it! If you would of pulled me to the side 3 years ago and told me that all I had to do was make an unwavering decision that I was capable and worthy of accomplishing anything I set my mind to I would not have believed you. A decision? And all I have to do is see it happening, and trust that it will come to me? No friggin way!

Years later, and a whole lotta living it up in the self help world of podcasts, books, and audiobooks. There I was on the streets of New York with a hankering for italian, saying it out loud to my manifesting boss of a friend, and us walking forward to find the Italian Market just around the corner. I mean I have a lot of these stories that are more shocking than access to a pizza in NYC. Like really BIG life changing things that I could not just explain. It took a lot longer than I thought, and definitely in a way that I was't expecting but it all happened! IT ALL HAPPENED! How did I do it you ask? Well friend, I believed I could, I didn't know exactly how I would, but I trusted that something or someone had my back and community.COMMUNITY, the big one! Really, really, really big, whether you want to start writing a book, make trolls sculptures out of wood, or climb a mountain you can find people who are doing it or have done it! They won't have done it in the same way you're going to, but I am sure they could offer up some guidance, friendship and support!

Where do you see yourself and how will you get there:

What are some goals or visions you have for yourself?

In a week:

A Month:

A year:

2 years:

5 years

10 years:

Find your community and a coach or mentor, or people as Juliana explains it as: "meeting your vibrational energy", whatever that looks like for you. Don't force it, just imagine what they would be and it will come to you when you are ready, so be open and ready!

Visualize and meditate on these as much as possible, because all I know is this shit works! It worked for me and it can work for you too!

About Juliana: https://www.naufss.com/

Listen Here: https://www.brandihofer.ca/colourmehappypodcast

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/milMdK-ub9U

Join our free community here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/774313479902890/

In this episode we speak with best selling author Jeff Hilderman about pivotal moments in life. We speak about the choice to either sink or swim, you will leave this episode on fire because of the simple fact that you are simply alive in this very moment. 

Jealousy is not a bad word, and at one point of was definitely jealous of Jeff and we chat all about why it can be a good thing in this episode! 

I recently had an awesome coffee date with my bestselling author friend Jeff Hilderman. We talked for hours, but it felt like minutes. Sometimes we don’t know our neighbours, but Jeff happens to be one of mine!

There are no absolutes in life and we should probably just roll with it right? I tried the other way, and take it from me it stunk! And as soon as I started to believe that there was something at play that I just couldn't see or understand, the more wonderful things started to happen! I want you to know just how unique and special you really are. Did you know it takes a star’s light more than 100 years to reach our night sky? By the time a star burns out, we wouldn’t know until years and years later, and each star is its own solar system? And our Milky Way galaxy is just one of a billion galaxies in our system? I read that in one of my children's books. Those are just things we know. What about what we don’t know yet? That alone lights my brain on fire! There are things around us that we can feel, but we cannot fully fathom, and that does not scare me . . . it excites me, as it should you!

The universe, or your version of the way we are all connected, made you. You! Out of infinite possibilities! You were meant to be here right now, in the form you are in, for a spectacular reason. The world, the universe, the cosmos wants to see you shine your brightest! Believe—believe that you were made with purpose, because you were. You were not only made with purpose, but you came into a world filled with endless possibilities. There are stars dancing around you filled with ideas, choices, and opportunities. Look around, behold them, observe them in wonder. You are a gift, and the world is on your side; listen to it, feel it, and bask in all its glory that you simply exist.

Trust me, I used to think this was all some weird magic hippie talk; however, my life shifted. With that shift I came to realize that the universe and the world did, after all, have my back. The more I put myself out there, the more the proof was there, simply by the decision to accept there is something magical happening all around me.

Flow in the river of life, lay back, feel the water around your body, and wonder in amazement how you got here and glory in the miracle that this river is holding you up because you trust the way in which it connects with every part of your body.

Learn more about our special guest Jeff Hilderman here: https://jeffhilderman.com/

Join our FREE Colour Me Happy Community: https://m.facebook.com/groups/774313479902890/

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pDoKnRQbwKk

Music by Swear by the Moon: https://www.swearbythemoon.com/

What if, what if we just flipped everything upside down and shook it all out? Like all the change in your pocket falling to the ground that was weighing you down. What if you stopped being a victim of your circumstance and began believing that the world has your back?

AND one thing that everyone LOVES to complain about is the social algorithm! What if we make friends with it? After all social media is all about connection and hey let’s face it, it’s free! It is a tool, a tool that is your friend! Your friend who has introduced you to all your buddies! What would you rather have a mass amount of random people not connecting to anything you’re saying or people who resonate with you and that you can become lifelong friends with? As soon as I flicked that switch out of being a victim and whining that it was against me is when everything started to shift. I have found my people, that is in itself one pretty extraordinary thing, one of my friends is just sitting in NY right now chatting with me like we are out for a coffee, and that IS all thanks to social media. So let’s just stop for a moment and say thank you! Thank you for connecting me to my people and continuing to do so! Enjoy this fun episode with quirky social media mastermind and amazing Artist Angie!

Learn more about Angie: https://www.angietherose.com/

Join Our Free Colour Me Happy! Community: https://m.facebook.com/groups/774313479902890/

Watch Video of this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MTo3b0JgnQo

Music by Swear by the Moon: https://www.swearbythemoon.com/

Find our New Portrait Class HERE: https://www.brandihofer.ca/portraitclass

We sat with Guest Terri Broughton Artist and Educator this week. Hearing of her hardships in this life, it was hard to know what to say or how to react. Because the simple fact that she sat before me seemed like a miracle in itself. This woman. This resilient brilliant woman. Power. Love. Hope. Is what Terri represents. All that she has witnessed and been victim to played a vital role in how she has impacted the world around her.

As I sit out here watching the crisp fall leaves drift and dance whimsically from the tree tops I am reminded that time is always turning. The tree is honouring the season and shedding itself to sit dormant and still for the vast winter days ahead – trusting that in spring it will birth a new set of leaves and buds to blossom into its full potential. The tree trusts in its seasonal cycle and journey, all elements of its transformation are vital to its purpose on this earth.

On this fall day surrounded by burnt umber and every shade in between I can only ask myself. What brought me to this beautiful place and moment in my life? Everything that came before. Would I change it? No. I am grateful for my journey. The journey that strengthened my skin and prepared me for the sandstorms of what has happened and what I will walk through on my path through this life. My journey. Your journey. What a gift. What strength lies in those footsteps, one bravely placed in front of the next, not knowing what is to come, trusting that these are the movements and elements vital as are the trees to our purpose here on this earth.

Gratitude is one of the most powerful forces on this earth. Practice it whenever you can. Use it to impact the world. You have the ability and the choice to leave this place a better one than when you arrived.

Close your eyes, feel the breeze gently kiss your face. And know that wherever you are the wind will have your back.

Our challenge to you is to: practice gratitude everyday for 3 minutes for 30 days, you’ll be amazed how it can transform your life. And after you do you do you will never want to stop.

Join our Colour Me Happy! Community:  https://www.brandihofer.ca/community

Learn more about our One-On-One Creative Mentorship Program: https://www.brandihofer.ca/mentorship

Watch this episode on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/jdGMDHRLYkQ

Learn more about Terri: https://terribroughtonart.co.uk/

Hello Friends! 

I’d never thought I would be quoting Wayne Gretzky here, but hey! I was watching Marcel the Shell with shoes and he quoted him (or as he put it Wade Jetsky): “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” 

We are always free to chat email us: art@brandihofer.ca

Believe or not I manifested this NYC adventure. I always saw myself standing next to these women. I never focused on it too much, but I kind of just always knew… and here was my shot!

Well friend, as I sit here on a bustling cab ride on the way to the airport. I watch the sunrise peek over the horizon on the New York city skyline. Tears well in the bottom of my eyes. Goodbye New York, this won’t be the last time.

I met so many new faces who I connected with and they all messaged later saying they would catch me next time I was in the city. And every time I thought: it took all my might to get here, to this point in my life, “a jet setting artist I am not, is that a thing I could be?”. Next time felt like such an absurd concept. Like I just pop over to NYC at the drop of a hat or something… But was it really? Maybe not.

I met women who I have been working with and connecting online with for years, most of which are a part of a group called The Art Queens founded by Ekaterina Popova, a fellow artist and entrepreneur. Julianna Nauffel and her beautiful soul patiently walked me through the bustling streets of the city, vastly different comparatively from the quiet Canadian prairies. Julianna was caring, careful and sensitive as she did. I am not sure what I did to deserve her time, but she made my time in NYC the most memorable experience. She expressed to me the importance of why I was here. I was here not just for myself or my art. I was for all of the women and mother artists. I was here to show them that they too can accomplish anything they desire deep in their hearts, and that they too can pursue their passions in all of their forms. I took a brave leap. But as Glennon Doyle says “there is no map, we are all pioneers”. I am, you are, all our paths overlapping, and paving new.

Alicia Co-Founder of PXP had invited me to be a part of an all-female exhibition for the Affordable Art Fair in NYC. What an honour and privilege to have this opportunity. It did not go unnoticed, PXP was received the honourable mention for curatorial excellence!

Meeting these women was an out of body experience, I was in a constant state of shock, while at the same time felt like I had known them for most of my life and everything just fit. How did I find myself here? I had seen myself prior to this event, me standing with these women, celebrating creativity and abundance. And finally this was it. The precipice of my thoughts, motivation and goals. It was an extraordinarily ordinary moment in time. But all the while this nagging occurred, this cannot be all…

Ekaterina or as most of us call her Kat messaged me later that evening “I am so proud of you. I hope you know how magical you are. And how people admire you and how you light up in the room. Grateful for you and it’s just the beginning.”

A path that I have lit for myself and so many others. It took so much more and all of me to get here. But it is not the end. No.

It really is just the beginning.

You can catch this episode on the podcast where we chat about manifesting dreams and our adventures in NYC.

Sign up for our new Creative one-on-one Mentorship Program: https://www.brandihofer.ca/mentorship

Watch on You Tube: https://youtu.be/_cwickuEdrE

Join our Free Community: https://m.facebook.com/groups/774313479902890/