Seeing Magic Everywhere with Louise Swindells
In this episode, Louise shares her creative journey with us. From fashion blogger to Senior Design Lead at Saje Natural Wellness to finding freedom in freelance.
Louise shares how her high school art class became a haven for her artist self:
“Art class in high school was one of the first places that I felt like I could breathe in a while.”
We talked about Vision Boards, having a partner who is also creative, and the barriers that exist for artist mothers.
I hope you enjoy this conversation with painter, designer and mother, Louise Swindells.
Transcription
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:00:03
This is the Creative Alchemy podcast, and I'm your host, Monique Pantel. Here we explore creativity and life through story, synchronicity and tales of possibilities. This is a place for artists and dreamers to share wisdom, inspiration, and empower you to explore your own creative life. Together, we hold space to speak dreams into reality and share transformative ways of creating and living life. Let's dream, alchemize and create. Thank you for being here. Welcome to Creative Alchemy.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:00:44
Hello, everyone. Welcome back, and thanks for being here. Today, it is my pleasure to welcome Louise Swindells, a Vancouver based artist, designer, and brand strategist. In her art practice, she aims to capture her visual world alongside memories and emotion to create a piece that time stamps a moment, creating meaning through layers of texture and colors and markings that feel like a humble form of poetry. I love that painting is her form of expression, of healing and breathing and finding a way to communicate when words fail. Louise has a decade of experience working in art and design, honing her skills at agencies, in house brand departments, and most recently, being the senior design lead at Sage Natural Wellness. When Louise is not working on design or painting, she's playing with her wildly joyful children, renovating her 100 year old home, or learning how to be more present. Welcome, Louise.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:01:49
Oh, my gosh, Louise. I feel like we've got to go back.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:01:49
I know right?
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:01:49
I read your bio, and it says nothing of fashion blogger. So if we're going to talk about your journey as an artist, I know that it's in there. And that's when you and I had met. You and I had met, we were going to the same university, and we were both very creative women, young women, and you would come over to my apartment or we'd go to Starbucks for coffee because that was the only sort of cute coffee shop in our little town, and you actually- When I look back, I think you were one of the people that really encouraged me and pushed me to start photography and start playing a little bit more. And that would have been what, like 2010, 2011?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:02:48
No, earlier than that, because I moved to Vancouver in 2011. Yeah, we were in the same place probably, like 2009, 2010. Yeah, yeah.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:03:04
Okay.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:03:04
Lifetime.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:03:06
So you had a really sweet, beautiful fashion blog where you were putting together outfits and photographing them, which I thought was really, like, bold and courageous because we lived in a small town where a lot of people had a lot of opinions about one another. So I saw you. I was like, who's this wonderful young lady just doing her thing and not giving a shit? Like, I thought that was so cool. And then you inspired me to start a little, tiny blog. I think I did five posts, and I bought a camera. But that's, I think, what started me to buy my camera I walked into, like, a future shop, and I was like, here's $600. What do I get? Okay. So I'm sure your art journey or creativity journey started before your fashion blogger days. But bring us along through your journey because you are now an established artist. An established painter. And you do creativity and artistry. I'm sure. In a very fun way. But also in a very serious way, where this is, like... This is your job. So I would love to hear where it started and how you sort of evolved.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:04:25
Okay, so I feel like I don't have a classic creativity background story, as in, I was raised in a very academic focused family. And so, like, bless them. They were so sure that I should be a doctor or something in that realm. My creative side wasn't it's not that they pushed it aside. It's just it wasn't nurtured in the way that I remember asking for paints and my mom being like, sure, but not really knowing what to do with that. And so, yeah, I was this very awkward, super sensitive child who was always looking for a creative outlet. I feel like I remember growing up on a farm and running around outside and pretending that there are fairies everywhere and, like, making magic potions, and, like, I was that kid.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:05:36
I feel like I'm still that kid.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:05:38
I know, but that's okay. That's, like, the beautiful thing. I feel like I'm in my 30s now, and I'm like, I have these two young children, and I'm like, there is so much magic in the world, and I want them to know that and to be able to like, I'm so excited for the day when they want to make magic potions with me out of Dandelion. Yeah. Crazy how cyclical things are anyway. Yeah. And so I feel like all through school, I have this almost, like, limiting mindset of I am an academic, and that is what I need to focus on, and creativity is like, it's for other people. And I had this beautiful best friend all through elementary school who was just your classic stereotype artist, and I loved her for that. And I think that's why I was so drawn to her. It was just like, she is what an artist is. And I very much put everyone in boxes, and it's like, okay, that's an artist, and that's not me. And so I'm going to be Grade A student, like, all of that kind of stuff on a role. And then it wasn't until I experienced some trauma in high school where I was like, I need this outlet. I need something to get out all of this motion. And so I went and I begged the art teacher in my high school if I could just join late. And he was, like, a very nice guy and took pity on me. I think I was probably, like, a VP 16 year old girl. And so he was like, okay, fine, just stop crying and join the art class. And I just found like, there was so much peace. It was the first time that I felt like I could breathe in a while. And so from that I don't think I had any grand illusions that I'd be able to make a living being an artist at that time. But I knew that I wanted to do something creative, anything. That's where fashion came in. And so I was like, okay, I'm going to be Rachel Green, I'm going to be a buyer, and that's going to be my life.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:07:55
Okay, wait, pause, because I'm terrible with pop culture. I don't know the Bachelor, I don't know TV and stuff, but hang on. Rachel Green is Jennifer Aniston from Friends. Right? And she was like a rough run buyer in New York, right?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:08:13
Yes.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:08:13
Okay. Amazing.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:08:15
Yeah.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:08:16
That's funny. Jennifer Aniston has now come up twice on this podcast, very early beginnings of this podcast.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:08:24
I feel like she was such a cultural movement for women of their age. The early two thousand's, I don't know. Yeah, she just was The It Girl.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:08:40
So you wanted to be Rachel Green. Yeah. You were going to do fashion.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:08:44
Yeah. And so yeah, went and did a year course in fashion marketing and then moved back to Brandon, Manitoba for a boy, as you do. Didn't work out, but you moved back there. And then that's where I met you, where I was just this fish out of water back in my hometown, being like, I have these grand illusions of wanting to walk down the street to Paris and explore what creativity means. But I felt like I was trapped in the city. And looking back now, I'm like, oh my goodness, that is absolutely nothing against that city. It is a wonderful place and so many creative souls that I know still live there. I just felt like, again, it was me putting boxes and limitations on things and I felt like I didn't belong there and so I was trying to find any way to grow out of it.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:09:56
It's so funny because I feel like that's a very common experience when you're really starting to discover yourself as an adult and what kind of life experiences you want. You are drawn, you know, you think in your head, oh, I want to go to Paris, or I want to go to these places. And now that we've lived a little bit, now the idea of actually living in a small town doesn't sound so bad. It sounds actually really lovely. And we think back to living in the small town. There's so many great things about this quaint little town. So that's really funny.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:10:38
Yeah, it's exactly that. I feel like I was putting all of this baggage and limitations and expectations on all of these different things because I think that's what you do in your early twenty's. You're trying to figure out who you are and you're trying to figure out what the world is, and I have so much grace and love for little Louise and how lost she was, and it's just like... yeah, right?
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:11:05
I think back to baby Mo, like, when I was 21, 22, 23. Oh my gosh. Oh, I could say so much.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:11:19
I know.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:11:19
Wow. But those are really years of growth, and I'm so grateful for all of the hard, challenging moments and then all the really fun, untethered moments of the early 20s. That's so nice. So you're in Brandon, you've moved back. Where were you living? Where's the contrast?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:11:47
So I had gone to Calgary for a year to study fashion marketing.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:11:53
Okay, so you got a little taste in the big city of Calgary. Yep. And then you came back to Brandon.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:12:00
And yeah, that's where I met you and a few other creatives, and I was just like, yeah, I think I love creating by myself. I find I don't even listen to music when I'm painting, which I feel is weird. It's such a me time, I guess. However, I find, like, I can actually think better when I'm actually around other people. And so other creatives, I find, like, I'm a verbal processor. I love hearing other people's ideas and getting inspired by other people. And I think, like, you and a few other creatives and Brandon were just, like, heaven sent at the right time just to be like, no, continue on this little path. Exactly. It was like, little nudges. And so I honestly don't even remember. I think I was just, like, bored one night and was like, okay, I can't stay in Brandon. I need to go somewhere. And so I made a list of five places I could see myself living, and four of them didn't work out for various reasons, and Vancouver did work out. So I packed up my tiny little Honda Civic and drove west and then did graphic design. Got a degree in design when I moved out here, which was amazing. It was such a wonderful program. And I've always struggled with this dichotomy in my brain of having this academic background and loving that and loving order and lists and planning and coming up with strategies, and yet always having the yin to my yang, where I really love the chaos and the mess and the inspiration that can come through creative pursuits. And so I found that in graphic design, I can go full type A and just, like, get everything down and meticulous and then balance that by being this pseudo free spirit artist who just creates out of emotions. Yeah, I think I struggled with that for a while because I was like, no, it needs to make sense. I need to be one or the other. And I'm really coming into this place where I'm like, why can't it be both?
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:14:44
Yeah, you can have both. You can absolutely have both. So when did you decide, I'm going to be a painter. I'm going to sell my paintings. I'm going to be a legit painter. My name is Louise Swindells and I am a painting artist who paints for a living. When did you decide that?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:15:03
Mat leave. Because aren't the best decisions when you're postpartum? I was very blessed by having this amazing full time job at Saje. The natural wellness company, canadian, Vancouver based.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:15:32
They're a very cool company. They're in the malls. It's where you buy the diffusers and you've got the beautiful blended essential oils. I also like their scent. They're scent is called yoga, but it's really lovely and I still have a little bit. I got it two and a half years ago and I'm portioning it out. Yeah, but the writing like the script from Saje, those are some of the things that you've created, right?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:16:08
Yeah. Their branding, either in their stores or on their shoppers, that's all my hand. And yeah, I was lucky enough to land a position there shortly after graduating from my design program and was there for six years. Seven years. Yeah. And it was amazing. It was this kickass little startup run mostly by 30 year old females and it was just like this hub of motivation and inspiration and yeah, I met some truly amazing friends there and have nothing but good things to say about my experience there. But then when I went on that lead the first time, coming back to that, I was coming back as the senior lead for the packaging and such an amazing position. But I felt like it was so hard to leave my one year old and I barely see him when you take into account a commute. And then I was really only there for six months and then the pandemic hit and so that was kind of like error on the side of caution by ever calling the pandemic a blessing. However, it meant that I could work from home full time and so I got to see my baby more, which was awesome. And then shortly later we found out we were pregnant again and I was pregnant again and we were like, oh my goodness, okay. And so then I think knowing that we would be having two children or two young kids going back after that second that leave just it didn't make sense in terms of just- also Vancouver is a ridiculous city to try and find daycare in, and so all of the pieces and we're like. Okay. Let's actually- I think I've always wanted to try and go freelance and to follow more of my own creative pursuits and I'm quite security focused and responsible. I really have to shut out that side of my brain sometimes and just be like, no, I am worth taking a risk on and I'm worth at least trying this and seeing what comes of it and giving myself the grace and the freedom to fail. And if I fail, that's okay. And I think I would regret more never trying. Here I am calling myself an artist and showing that.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:19:10
And you are. You are so talented. Your art is emotive. Like, when I see it, I feel like I have my feet in an ocean. I feel like my feet are at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and that's how it feels. Not the hot Pacific Ocean, but the cold Pacific Ocean. That's what your art yeah, yeah. It feels like nature infused and really emotive. It's so beautiful. You had put something you're welcome. It's true. And I can't wait. One day I will get one of your originals for the space that I build. But right now we're in, like, in between house right now, we're renting so it doesn't really make sense to have-
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:20:04
I'm so excited seeing your build coming along, like the little snippets.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:20:09
Thank you. Thanks. Yeah, no, we're excited. Little by little, we're just sort of working away because we live in Panama, we have to do everything in cash. So it makes things a little bit trickier. We're trying to noodle around solutions for building and that sort of thing, but little by little and it'll all come along. But you had put something out on your instagram story of what is your dream- I can't remember how you worded it. What is your dream, like, two to three day vacation or two to three week vacation? And I don't remember what you said, what your two to three day vacation was. But it was like an art date. If you could choose any sort of art or creativity date for yourself. And one was like a weekend, and then the other one was two to three weeks. And your two to three week response was so different than what I would have ever imagined for myself, that I was like, I want to talk about this. This is such a good question because okay, so whoever is listening, I think, like, you know, artists, creatives, what would a weekend art date or creativity date solo look like for you, and what would it look like for a two to three week solo? Creativity.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:21:31
Can you imagine?
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:21:33
What would that look like? Well, do you know, that's actually how my life in Panama started. I was gifting myself. It was right before busy season for myself. I had a whole year's schedule sort of lined up, but I had about a month, two months of quieter time. And normally I would be running workshops and teaching photography, but I had some time, and I had been going through a lot of shifts and changes in my personal life. So I was like, you know what? I'm just going to gift myself the time and a beautiful place.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:22:15
Yeah.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:22:16
So I came to Panama just to, like, allow myself to fall in love entirely and on the most romantic, sensual adventure of my life. It was so amazing. And that's what I did. So that's what when you said two to three weeks, mine was like, a six week plan vacation that's turned into about two and a half years. It's amazing. It's the most beautiful, blessed unfolding of my whole entire life. But when you put that out on Instagram, I was like, in my head, I said, oh, that was what I did in Panama. But your answer, tell me about your answer, because- just share what you said because it's so different from what I would have ever imagined.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:23:03
It's the polar opposite, yeah. My husband and I, we went to Iceland in 2019 with our then, like, eight month old baby who thankfully wasn't walking yet, and we just popped him in the carrier and we explored as much as an eight month old will let you. And I have never been so struck by landscape. I love being in nature. That's like a very normal thing for me. Like, whilst you move to the Pacific Northwest, it's a rainforest, but it was sand on the beach, but it doesn't look like the sand that you know. And you see trees, but they don't look like trees that you know. And so every single thing I felt like I couldn't it was just a sensory overload, almost, of like, everything is different. And it made it so that I was looking at things that you know, but in a completely different light. And so I found it so inspiring. When I was there, I think we were only there for a week, and with an eight month old. And so my husband, who is a composer, we've always joked that one day we would go and rent a beautiful black house in Iceland in the middle of nowhere on the coast, and just paint and make music and just be total bohemians for two, three weeks. That would be a dream. And so we've got it written down in our vision board, and we will kinda see-
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:25:00
Wait, you guys vision board together?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:25:05
We've only just started. We're both quite practical and realistic. So this is a big step for us, right?
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:25:18
This is a stretch.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:25:20
This is a stretch. But we're trying it out because if nothing else, it's just I love hearing what he's inspired by and what his goals are. And so we're testing it out and we sat down the other day on the couch and we wrote out what our goals are and what our visions are for the future. And yes, we will see. Iceland's in there.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:25:45
I love that. My partner and I do that, too. Well, we're on Skype right now, but it's recording the audio. But on my wall here, there's two side by sides. It's his and then it's mine. And then I'm looking above my computer screen and it's also it's my vision board. Get ready to have your world rocked because this stuff works. It sounds good.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:26:10
Well, honestly, you are the catalyst for this because I think you posted in your stories a little while ago or something, you were looking back on an old vision board or something. And it was, oh gosh, I'm going to get this wrong, so you'll have to correct me, but something to do with, like, you were like, I'm looking at this old vision board and I cannot believe how much of this has come true. And I was like, no, this is just... no. This is voodoo.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:26:44
I've been doing it since I was 18. And that was 18 years ago.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:26:48
Oh my goodness.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:26:49
I was 18 18 years ago. So I've been doing this a long time. This is like before the Internet was too much of the Internet. And I can't even remember how I came upon the idea of a vision board. But one of the first big things that I did, I had it above. It might have been through Dr. Wayne Dyer, who I love so much. I love his books. The book Inspiration one was one of the first sort of like books that really opened myself up to this world of, I don't know, like, spirituality and possibility. And I did this vision board, and the first thing, I think it was like study graphic design. And one of the big ones was go to New York Fashion Week. And guess who got to go to New York Fashion Week in Bryant Park in 2000? Can't remember. 2000 something. And it was such an interesting experience because I didn't like it at all. But it was a compass in the direction that I was guided and the fact that I didn't like my experience at New York Fashion Week, which I really thought that I was going to, pointed me in an entirely different direction. So that was one of my first vision board experiences. But the one that you're talking about was vision board. So I had started this practice every New Year's Eve. I would sit down and I would be like, okay, let's do this. What's this year going to look like? What do I really want to call in in my life? And the 2019 one is wild. It's like jungle vehicle, SUV, amazing partner who I just love so much. Who's the best ever. There's like a baby in there. There's yoga and wellness. There's like Sisterhood Cacao circles, like medical under the Stars art. I want to say there's maybe a podcast on there, but for sure I started writing my book. I have to look back at the photo because there's so many aspects to me writing this. And yeah. So I'm just so excited for you and your wonderful husband to cheers champagne in like a year or two, looking at each other in this beautiful black house on the coast of Iceland, being like, what did you create today?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:29:19
Well, and that's the thing. Again, just going back to it, I feel like so much of my life is becoming quite cyclical. And so a few years ago, I think I was too cynical and realistic to even save a word vision board without rolling my eyes. Whereas now I'm like, no, I feel like seven year old Louise would have eaten this up, and I love that. And so I'm trying to really honor who I was and almost, like, call that back and be just a bit more playful with myself and try and see a bit more magic in the world around. Yeah. I cannot explain how all of those things came to be for you other than just, like, divining convention magic. That's huge.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:30:32
So tell me one thing that you wrote on your vision board that sort of surprised you and then one thing that your partner wrote that surprised you that you didn't know.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:30:48
So I think I've been waffling back and forth of how to balance doing both design and art, and so I was surprised how easily it came to me of what my goals were with both. And the goal for art would be, I would love to do an Immersive gallery experience where it's just I would love to team up with I'm so blessed to know some amazing, I would say, floral artists in this city. They create beautiful works that are not just, like, bouquets, and there's nothing wrong with bouquets, but these are, like, installations. Yeah. Like lilac clouds and such. And I would love to take over a space. I would love to have a solo show where you walk in and it's like, maybe a solo show in terms of my paintings, but then a collaborative show in terms of music and floral sculptures and bringing in all of these different sensory explorations so that it's an Immersive experience.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:32:04
And what would your dream location be?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:32:09
To me, it would have to be quite, like, a blank space. And so either a warehouse that's been painted white and has really good light, something like that, I want it to feel quite airy and open so that there is space for all of these other elements to play. But then, even as I'm saying that, I'm like, oh, my goodness, find me, like, a moody, dark cottage somewhere, like, in the middle of nowhere. I'm like, I would love that. Makes it harder for people to come to it, though.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:32:41
Yeah, totally. But I'm even thinking, like, somewhere in North Fan, like Deep Cove, like, a little cottage that you have to hike to.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:32:52
Like, a 200 year old cottage on the coast that's just been taken over by art, and every room is slightly different. Like, sign me up. Yeah.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:33:03
Okay. Well or like Alianu Island or something. Oooh.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:33:08
Well, my parents live on Salt Spring now, and so we actually-
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:33:08
No way, cool.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:33:08
So we get to go out there quite often. Just lovely.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:33:15
Wow. Well, maybe it's their house.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:33:22
It doesn't have quite the vibe I'm going for. It's lovely but it's... Yeah.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:33:26
But that's cool. I'm excited for you. Well, I'm sure there's lots of possibilities in putting together something like that.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:33:33
Yeah.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:33:35
Wow. I'm excited. And what about your partner?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:33:41
Oh gosh, I'm trying to remember... this is me being an awful partner. I'm trying to remember what he said. I think his is- So he does composing for film as his full time work, which is amazing. He's so talented at that. But then he also has a side project similar to me, I guess, because we apparently like having a ton of balls up in the air just juggling all of them. And his side project is neighborhood libraries. And he creates neoclassical ambient music, which honestly is like, I'm biased, but I'm pretty sure he's made it just for me to work, too, because it's the only kind of music that I can actually listen to.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:34:27
So this is me kind of going off. I'm like so excited by this. Is there something that exists- This is something that I want to create. A women's artist residency that supports mother artists. Because I don't think that necessarily something exists where it's like, yeah, and you can bring your kids.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:34:49
No, there isn't, and that's actually a big pain point. And even just beyond that, like, sorry. This is me getting on my soapbox.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:34:55
It's a barrier.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:34:59
I have many soapboxes, and this is one of them. But there's so many things about the arts which are beautiful when you become a mother or a parent, but are also really challenging. Gallery openings are usually right during the 5:00 to 07:00 p.m. window. And I'm so sorry that my children, they want their food, they need their bath, they need to get to bed, and there's no wiggle room with them. And so you can't go to gallery openings. Trying to plan out child care is ridiculously hard. There's so many- being an artist is already hard. And then you add in all of these barriers of being a parent and especially a mother. I don't want to discount the fathers, but there's- My baby never took, my second child, she never took a bottle. And so I love how determined she is and it's going to suit her well. But I haven't been away from her for more than a couple hours her entire life. And that's beautiful. But there's also this weight that comes with it. Anyway.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:36:16
No, I'm totally with you. And I think that it's something that's really an opportunity, I think, to create something really amazing, regardless of what your family dynamic is, to be able to support an entire family if someone is a creator and artist, to give them the space to create. How cool.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:36:16
I love you for this.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:36:16
Let's see. We're working on funding.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:36:39
I feel like I need to do like a collaborative print or something. And then all the proceeds can go to this fund so that you can actually get it up and going.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:36:54
Yeah, it's exciting when it finally sort of starts to- what do you call it? I really can't wait because in the town that I live in, it's very small and there aren't a lot of work opportunities. And so one of the things that it would be, it would be like job creation to have childcare for the families, the parents who are artists. And so yeah, that- we totally went off on whatever, a rant there. But so your partner's dream was to be able to take a little bit of time and make a full, what did you call it? Album?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:37:37
Yeah, he's got an EP out right now, which is like, I've had to learn all of these musical terms. I do not have a musical bone in my body.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:37:49
Tell me right now, what is an EP? I've always wanted to know.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:37:55
An EP is like, a shorter album, and so a full length album is usually, like, ten plus songs, whereas an EP is usually around, like, four or five.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:38:07
Okay. Do you know, I'm so curious. If someone's listening to this right now and is mind blown about the whole EP thing, let me know too, that I'm the only one. Anytime someone says, oh, this artist and their EP, and in my head, I would say, oh, I put them in a box. I'd be like, you are a music connoisseur. I don't know what an EP is. And in my head, I would say, I'm sure that's a very quick Google search, but I just don't have time for that right now.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:38:33
There's a few things like that. I'm very much a Googler. I will research to the N degree. However, there are some things where I'm just like, I'm okay with not knowing. Yeah, I'm sure I'll find it out at some point. And so there you go. You've learned what an EP is.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:38:48
And here we are. We've come to the point where you've illuminated me to what an EP is. That's great. That's really great. And then a regular album. You just call it an album.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:38:59
I believe so. Oh, gosh. Like, actual music people will probably correct me. Taylor will probably be like, you got that wrong from my what's it called? Like, looking in the wings point of view. It's just a full-length album.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:39:17
Cool. So how cool, you guys, you came from a very academic family, and now you found yourself in an incredibly creative family. Your partner is a composer. You are a graphic designer and painter, and you must instill that into your children. I'm sure they feel it. You have this beautiful room that is so inspirational on your Instagram that I always see that. I'm like, oh, wow, it's just like, a beautiful easel and all of these paintings and these palettes strewn about and all of these blues and whites and details of coral streaming through the oh, it's so beautiful and so inspirational. I hope one day that I get to come to Vancouver and be in your studio space. But I'm so curious. How do you get into the zone? I know it must be tricky when you're a mom and you've only got certain sporadic kind of times. I'm actually struggling with that right now. I really would love to be starting painting, but I need to get into the blackout zone. I need, like, 8 hours of time to sort of like, to and sit and dedicate, but I don't have it right now, unfortunately. So I'm really hoping you have some words of wisdom for me.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:40:44
This might be both words of wisdom and dismay. So, yeah, I was painting quite a lot before my firstborn was- Lowen, before Lowen was born, and that was also back in the heyday of instagram where you could post anything and people would be like, oh, 10,000 likes, and like, this is amazing. Wow. It's like, please, algorithm, please let someone see this. But it was really exciting, and I felt like I was gaining a lot of momentum. And, yeah, it was going really well. And then I had low and had a really tough as many people do, but a really tough postpartum and struggled with a lot of postpartum anxiety and just like a bless his feisty soul, he was a collicky baby, and it was very challenging, and it took me a while to even just feel like I could do the day to day. And then during his mat leave, I was trying to find little pieces where I could paint again, but it wasn't until the end of that matt leave that I actually felt like I could do that. And then going back to work full time, I was like, this is too much. I can feel my mental burnout. I need to just focus on doing my job well and being a good mother and wife and friend and all of that, all of those other relationships. And so I put painting on the back burner, and it ended up going on the back burner for about two years, which really kind of broke my heart, but it felt like I kept waiting for the pieces to fall into place. I kept being like, okay, no, next month, I don't know, my daughter is going to be sleeping better, or I'm going to be able to wake up at 04:00 a.m. and be able to paint, or the sun is going to come up earlier and I'll have a window of time. Like, I kept making all of these excuses, and a lot of them are really valid because I'm sorry, being a parent to a young child is exhausting, and so there are so many very valid excuses, but I got to a point where I was just so tired of selling myself short. I was so tired of feeling like I was getting frustrated with my children for them not allowing me time to paint. And that's not fair. They're children. That's not their burden to take on. And I'm just like, if I'm going to be the mother that I want to be for them, I need to let them know that it is okay for me to have time away from them, and especially having my daughter. Now. I think as women, we are so trained to belittle our own needs and put others in front of us and sacrifice, sacrifice and I do not want her falling into that pattern.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:44:05
Then you just become the worst version of yourself. At least I do. I just give, give, give, give. Open, give, give, give give give. And then I have nothing left. Then I'm reactive. Then I'm anxious.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:44:18
You're giving out of a place of emptiness, and who wants that?
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:44:23
Yeah. And then you have no energy for yourself for anything. It's hard to even recognize what you need when you're so depleted.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:44:32
That is 100%, like, where I was at before I started. It was last August, where I was like, okay, I need to take this seriously. I need to actually give myself time to paint, and worked it out with my partner how to actually section off parts of our schedules so that I could have painting time. And figure out who I am, and what I create, and what I want to say. Because there's, like, painting or creating art out of a scarcity mindset where you're just like, no, I just need to make anything. Make anything. I don't have enough time to do this. It's that kind of thing. And that's very much, I think, the mindset that I go into naturally, whereas I'm trying to move more to an abundance mindset, where it's like, there is enough time to create what I need to create, and there is enough creativity inside of me and really trying to just reframe how I'm approaching it. And it's hard sometimes, especially, like, in this season that I have right now, I don't have a ton of time to paint, and it is a lot of trying to take, like, five minute chunks and be thankful for them. And that's not easy some days, but also, at least for me, what I found that works best with my practice is painting collections. And so I will plan out and figure out a palette and the sizes and what I want to say, what the theme and the thesis is of this body of work and really go full, bring out my Type A side and plan it all out, and then allow my other side to almost take over. And I find that then when I am painting in, like, 20 minutes, chunks here and there, at least I know what I'm aiming for and I know what I'm going for. So it doesn't really feel like a pause in between each time that I'm picking up a brush as opposed to, like, a full stop and a restart.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:46:59
I love that. So it doesn't feel so chaotic when you're approaching. You're like, yes, I know where I'm returning to.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:47:06
Exactly.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:47:06
Here we are. Because you got a plan. Interesting. I'm sure that will be really helpful for painters who are- because that's even helpful for me. I just want a little bit of time to kind of play and explore. I'm not looking to sell things or anything like that. Well, you never know. That's true. You never know. But I'm just doing it for more like exploring my own creativity and other sort of aspects of my inner artist. Yeah, it feels so nice. Wow, that's so cool. And so what are you working on right now?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:47:42
So right now, actually, right in front of me, have a set of minis that I had been- I cut up just a bunch of raw canvas and was just like, okay, let's just play. I'm so fascinated with your life and curious and really hope that I can also take, I don't know, two weeks sabbatical and come down and visit. It just looks like-
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:48:07
Yes. Oh, my gosh, it's so magical. I can't wait to just have the space and be able to welcome people. I'm used to my life moving really quickly and this has been something that has been such a practice of slowing down and just really leaning into. And I know that it needs real planning and I need, like, a director of the artist residency and there's real planning. There's lots of different sort of wheels that make this concept work, and so it is going to take time and that's like a real lesson for me. So I'm leaning into that. But I really am so excited for the day that we're going to be able to start welcoming residents like artists into the residency. And this place is so inspiring. I had a friend just recently here and she said, your town is an energy vortex. This place is wild. And I said, I know. It's just incredible. The stars almost feel like close to you. Everything is so raw. No one speaks English, like in the town. It's just really incredible. It's like this really interesting bubble of adventure and magic and otherworldliness it almost feels like it's very different. Yeah. Well, Louise, where can people find you? Where can people see your work and interact with your stuff? I'll put the links, I guess, in the show notes, but do you have a website?
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:49:42
Yeah. So LouiseSwindells.com, super easy, although the last name is a mouthful. And then @LouiseSwindells, I think it's like underscore art because I started a personal account to have my children not plastered all over the Internet.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:50:03
Yeah, separate it.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:50:05
Exactly. Yeah. And that's where I can be found.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:50:11
Amazing. Well, I'm so excited for people to get to know you and see how beautiful your art is. I'm really just so grateful for our connection that was made so long ago. It's been so cool to kind of walk together even though we haven't been close over the years. It's just been really neat to kind of see each other's journey. And like I said, I really hope one day that you will come with your partner. And I know it's not Iceland, but maybe you guys can come and sit and create here.
Louise Swindells (Guest) 00:50:44
Yeah, I would be there in a heartbeat. That would be amazing.
Monique Pantel (Host) 00:50:51
Yeah, I know. You too, will have to do this again, I feel like. It was just so nice. So thank you for joining us. Thank you for being a part of the Creative Alchemy podcast. And I can't wait to see your works, all the things that you're working on.
LINKS
Creative Alchemy’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativealchemypodcast/?hl=en
Louise’s Website: https://www.louiseswindells.com/
Louise’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/louiseswindells_art/?hl=en
Monique’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monique_pantel/?hl=en
Monique’s Website: https://www.pantelphoto.com/