Big thank you to Oscar Santolalla for featuring me on his fantastic podcast ‘Time to Shine’ - a work of art in itself for inspiring speakers! Had so much fun sharing ideas and inspiration!
Link to listen
Time to Shine Podcast
Interview Summary
Deb Chaney is a Contemporary Abstract Artist, Author, and Speaker. Her life’s work is to inspire people. She does this in a variety of ways: she gives talks, writes books, and she facilitates workshops. She also passionately paints contemporary abstract paintings which add beauty and healing energy to people’s work and living spaces. What Deb deeply believes in, is that we are all artists, and that each of us is in the process of creating our own masterpiece – our life. With the work she does, she inspires and empowers people on that creative journey.
Illuminate the artist within
Deb attended a workshop held by Tony Robbins. Her main dream at that time was to have a big art opening for her own artwork. During the workshop she got inspired by Robbins’ life of contribution. She had a visualization of contributing to other artists, and she made the decision to share how she found inspiration and stayed inspired. That is how “Illuminate the Artist Within” started.
Masterpieces and speeches
Deb admires Taylor Swift, who has written every song on each of her albums. Through her songs Taylor articulates with words what she is feeling, especially with storytelling. Deb considers the song “Back to December” a masterpiece.
Deb also finds three similarities between paintings and speeches:
- A good speech has voice variation. A good painting has variation in colors and hues.
- In a speech, the speaker uses the stage, hand gestures, to bring energy. In paintings, artists also want to add gestures and energies.
- A good painting tells a story. The same happens with a speech.
Empowering people in their creative journey
Deb empowers and inspires people in their own creative process in three ways:
- She lives her own journey. She does art with passion, and that inspires people.
- Deb wrote “68 Secrets of an Illuminated Artist“, in which each card has an idea to support people’s own creative process. This is the product of 10 years’ Deb journaling on her artwork.
- Based on Robert Maurer’s book, “One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way,” if you have an idea, take a really small step. If instead you try to do too much, you overwhelm your brain, and your idea never gets to the creative center of your brain.
Related: Speaking to Promote Your Art
Favorite quotation
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill
Recommended book
MONEY Master the Game by Tony Robbins
Routine to Shine
Begin with the end in mind. A really good talk is like a train, you must know well where you are headed and how you’re going to finish.
Links
DebChaney.com
IlluminateTheArtistWithin.com