THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Christa Forrest:
To be honest, because people always ask me, “Well, how do you do that? How do you leave a steady paycheck?” I didn’t notice that we weren’t making that money anymore. We had saved money, but not significant. I didn’t notice. We still went out to dinner, we still vacationed, we still did things. We cut corners, but we were both happy.
Speaker 2:
It’s the Inspiration Place podcast with artist Miriam Schulman. Welcome to the Inspiration Place podcast. An art world insider podcast, for artists by an artist, where each week we go behind the scenes. To uncover the perspiration and inspiration behind the arts. And now your host, Miriam Schulman.
Miriam Schulman:
Well hello, passion maker. This is Miriam Schulman, your curator of inspiration. And you’re listening to episode number 187 of the Inspiration Place podcast. I’m so grateful that you’re here. Today we’re talking to a portrait artist who left behind a lucrative job in finance to follow her dreams, to become a full time artist. You’re going to absolutely love this episode. But before we get into today and I bring on today’s guest, I wanted to make sure you knew that I curated a podcast playlist just for you if you’re into portraits. To get your hands on that binge-worthy playlist of all my favorite episodes that focus on portraits, head on over to Schulmanart.com/playlist and you’ll be able to get that complete binge listen worthy playlist today for all of your walks and your studio time. Okay, once again, that’s Schulmanart.com/playlist. And now on with the show.
Today’s guest is a full-time artist specializing in pastel oil acrylic and mixed media art. After spending 20 years in a finance career, she decided to follow her true passion and become a full time artist and spend her time sharing her passion with others, teaching others to be creative and exploring the world’s landscape recreating into canvas. Her work is a mixture of realism, exploration, experimentation, and pure fun. To help others achieve their creative success and provide guidance, this artist developed Creative Souls Art, and also the Creative Souls Art Facebook group. This is the journey that includes instructional online classes, eBooks, live events and workshops that guide creators along throughout the process. Her goal is to help creatives learn to nourish their soul using Creative Souls Art as the process. This path explores creating from within, approaching the process intuitively, without the fear and the pressure of perfection and judgment. Please welcome to the Inspiration Place, Christa Forrest. Well, hi there, Christa, welcome to the show.
Christa Forrest:
Thank you for having me.
Miriam Schulman:
I’m so excited to talk to you, fellow former finance person, you. Except I escaped it much faster than you did. 20 years is a long time. Where did you work?
Christa Forrest:
My last stint was Merrill Lynch. So I was in sales in Merrill Lynch and that was it for me after that.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. So I was working in finance 20 years ago, actually it’s more than 20 years ago. How old are my kids? I left 21 years ago, yeah. And I was working for Salomon Brothers, which is now something else and then became something else. And then I was working for hedge fund. No one else cares about this part of this conversation but me, by the way. What part of finance were you in?
Christa Forrest:
At the end, I was on the retail end of it.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay, so you were in sales?
Christa Forrest:
For the better part of my career, I was in the whole sale in annuity and mutual fund sales.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. All right, everyone else is by this conversation.
Christa Forrest:
I know.
Miriam Schulman:
Let’s move into art. Okay, so what brought you to the moment that you walked away from it? And how long ago was that?
Christa Forrest:
I think it was 2007, was my last… Was it? No, that’s when I got married. 2017, I’m sorry. After the market crashed a few times, and my husband was in finance too, he was actually at Bear Stearns for a little while. So if you’re in finance, you know. And it was stressful and I couldn’t… My husband left, he lost his job before I left and he became a yoga instructor. And then I just had enough, it was just too much anxiety, too much stress, and we saved up some money and I decided that was it for me. And that was it. And I haven’t looked back. I gave up all my educational, my licenses, everything, because I just couldn’t take it anymore.
Miriam Schulman:
Your series seven?
Christa Forrest:
I gave it all up.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, I did that too. Yeah. So I was in the center of the blow up of 98. Are you old enough to remember that or you were still in college?
Christa Forrest:
Yes. No, I was a grown adult in 1998.
Miriam Schulman:
You were a grown adult. All right. So I worked for Long-Term Capital Management that blew up everybody. Okay, so you were the only person I’ve had on this podcast, who knows about that place. Everyone else is like, “let’s just talk about art and painting please.” So yeah, that was my fault. I blew up the financial markets in 1998. All right, it’s okay. So you decided to finally walk away. I had a similar thing. So my hedge fund blew up. I walked away after it blew up. I was invited to stay, so I stayed for a little while, and then when I was pregnant, I walked away and I was thinking about going back when 9/11 happened. And so for me, I didn’t go back because 9/11 happened. I said, “Okay, that’s my sign from the universe. Don’t come back here.” This is a bad place.
Christa Forrest:
So you were there when the first world trade center-
Miriam Schulman:
Correct, I was.
Christa Forrest:
Yeah, that was stressful.
Miriam Schulman:
Yes. Were you there too?
Christa Forrest:
I was back, but I can’t even remember what year that was, but-
Miriam Schulman:
’93.
Christa Forrest:
’93. I was actually working in New York city in the fashion industry on uptown, on Seventh Avenue, so I was not in finance then.
Miriam Schulman:
Well, I was across the street when that happened. I was in 7 World Trade Center, I could see it happening. And everyone around me was working.
Christa Forrest:
Yeah. On my way home to Grand Central, it was a normal… It was a weird, weird [crosstalk].
Miriam Schulman:
So weird. Which is why when 9/11 happened, I remembered what the first bombing was like, and I was like, “Oh, I’d be dead now if I…” Because they didn’t evacuate those towers right away. People wonder why didn’t everybody leave? Because they’re assholes, they’re still working.
Christa Forrest:
Yeah. And I mean, even that word, ‘still working’ that’s the stress that, having kids, sick days, all that, the stress of constantly having to be there, people putting in trades at 4:20, and I’m stressing out or… It was just stressful and [crosstalk]-
Miriam Schulman:
Yes, and that end of day thing.
Christa Forrest:
Sometimes I’d just go in the bathroom and have to cry. And I was in private wealth management at Merrill Lynch, which means very exclusive, rich, wealthy individuals. So, that’s a whole other way of dealing with human beings, and they weren’t the nicest of people. So I started painting again. I had stopped painting through that whole… All those years. And I started painting again and it was kind of like… It was like I was malnourished all this time, or I was dehydrated. I finally had that drop of water, that first. And it was just like, I need to be doing this. This is what I want to be doing. I don’t care if it doesn’t make money, I don’t care. At that point I just, this is what I need to be doing. And I did it.
Miriam Schulman:
You didn’t just fall from the sky as an artist. How did you learn how to paint?
Christa Forrest:
I mean, I’ve always been creative, and then in high school I was more… I wanted to be a fashion designer and so after high school, I went to Fashion Institute of Technology. I worked in the garment industry in the city for a while.
Miriam Schulman:
Do you watch project runway?
Christa Forrest:
Not anymore.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, you don’t? I still watch it. It’s not as good as the Tim Gunn days, but I still am the sucker for that [crosstalk]-
Christa Forrest:
And then I realized the garment industry wasn’t what I thought it was.
Miriam Schulman:
Well, nothing is ever what we think it is.
Christa Forrest:
Yes. It was pretty cutthroat. In New York city, 18 years old, New York city and being from Fairfield County, living and being in New York city, it was a different experience for me that I wasn’t used to. So that didn’t last very long and I came back home and somehow got into finance. I think it was a temporary job and they hired me, and somehow I just ended up there and then I kept getting licensed. And then after, you’re just stuck, I was making good money. And that was-
Miriam Schulman:
I know. I call that the golden handcuffs.
Christa Forrest:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
I mean, I didn’t make up that phrase, but-
Christa Forrest:
True. No, it’s true.
Miriam Schulman:
I act like I did. But it’s true because it’s like you’re tied to this lifestyle and this job, and then you start buying things like furniture and houses that make you more tied to that lifestyle and expensive things. And then you live in a place like we do, where everything is very expensive. So it’s hard to give it up once you have it. But we did.
Christa Forrest:
I did.
Miriam Schulman:
We did, yes. You did, this is about you, I keep forgetting that.
Christa Forrest:
We both, my husband and I. So we went from [crosstalk].
Miriam Schulman:
He did too. Right, he does yoga. That’s so amazing. Okay.
Christa Forrest:
So we went from making this much money to making, I’m not even going to show it, this much money.
Miriam Schulman:
And for our podcast listeners who cannot see you, her hand went from the ceiling to below her desk.
Christa Forrest:
And to be honest, because people always ask me, “Well, how do you do that? How do you leave a steady paycheck?” I didn’t notice that we weren’t making that money anymore. We had saved money, but not significant. I didn’t notice. We still went out to dinner, we still vacationed, we still did things. We cut corners, but we were both happy. And I didn’t think about all the stress of, I got to pay the bills, I got to pay the mortgage, I got to do all this. It was just this shift and I didn’t even notice. Even my kids were like, “It doesn’t even feel like you guys quit your jobs.”
Miriam Schulman:
That’s awesome.
Christa Forrest:
And see even now, we moved all the way across the United States to California and lived in [crosstalk]-
Miriam Schulman:
Okay, so you’re not in New York anymore?
Christa Forrest:
I am not in New York anymore, no.
Miriam Schulman:
So we can’t hang together?
Christa Forrest:
No.
Miriam Schulman:
I’m so disappointed. Up until now, I had visions of us going to museums and hanging.
Christa Forrest:
I am in San Diego.
Miriam Schulman:
Busted my fantasy. San Diego? I love San Diego. I love it.
Christa Forrest:
So, yeah during COVID we were like, “Hey, let’s just move.”
Miriam Schulman:
Do you go to lofty coffee.
Christa Forrest:
I’ve never heard of that.
Miriam Schulman:
Really? Oh, it’s so good. They have this spicy…. Oh, it’s so good. Anyway. Where is it, near little Italy, maybe.
Christa Forrest:
Oh, I am about 40 minutes from little-
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, so San Diego is big, okay.
Christa Forrest:
It’s pretty big, yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
Are you even in San Diego? Maybe you’re not even in San Diego, you’re in Carlsbad, or.
Christa Forrest:
I’m not as far as Carlsbad, I’m still considered San Diego. Close to Delmar. I’m North Cal, North San Diego, I guess.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. So when I decided I wanted to quit my job, I had to present my husband with a whole PowerPoint and spreadsheet about how we were going to manage. No, I’m not kidding. Like, “Okay, this is what’s going to happen. We’re going to sell the minivan. I don’t need to buy panty hose anymore.” It was like that was going to make a big difference, which it did. I don’t need this fancy wardrobe anymore, I don’t need these shoes anymore. Like you said, all of a sudden you don’t need them. The expense of supporting, being that person.
Christa Forrest:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
Yes, okay. Let’s switch to painting because I feel like no one is listening to us any more. We’re having the best time ever. All right, so you have an amazing painting behind you. What is the medium of that? And tell us about the person.
Christa Forrest:
This is acrylic and there is some paper for the clothing there.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, really?
Christa Forrest:
Yeah. And this was a recent demo that I did for my loyal followers.
Miriam Schulman:
The Facebook group, the Creative Souls Art?
Christa Forrest:
My Facebook group, my private face group. Yes, Creative Souls Art. So I’ve decided this year that I was going to be more visual. Usually I do a lot of online courses, you don’t see my face. I don’t go live, I don’t… So I decided, I’m going to get the technology, I’m going to be more visual. I’m going to go live, people-
Miriam Schulman:
Visible.
Christa Forrest:
Visible. People like seeing your face, even though I don’t like seeing my face. And so every other month, I decided I’m going to do a retreat. Everybody needs a retreat. Even though we can’t leave our house.
Miriam Schulman:
So virtual, it’s virtual.
Christa Forrest:
A virtual retreat where you can just get in your little corner and just create with me. And it’s been successful. My second one I did was a few weekends ago, and people just… Either they’ll pay to learn or they’ll watch. I took her a little bit more realistic, but the stuff that people created, I’m pretty like, “Wow.”
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. So let’s talk about this person here. Now this is a real person you painted, is this from a photo?
Christa Forrest:
It’s from a photo reference in a royalty free site.
Miriam Schulman:
Love those sites. So for people who don’t know what we’re talking about, you can’t just take a picture from the internet and paint it.
Christa Forrest:
Correct.
Miriam Schulman:
You may think you can, but you can’t. Okay, would you like to explain why, my guest?
Christa Forrest:
Well, I mean, there are photographers, they’re artists too, and if we’re painting another photographer’s work, that’s their artwork we’re actually using… It’s like someone stealing my artwork and painting it. And so there are sites, there’s a number of them that I use-
Miriam Schulman:
Which is your favorite?
Christa Forrest:
I use Unsplash.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. I thought that was one of the free ones though.
Christa Forrest:
That’s a free one. Well, no. No, that is a free one.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, that’s a free one.
Christa Forrest:
I’m thinking of my… Yeah, that’s a free one.
Miriam Schulman:
Which is the one [crosstalk] that you pay for images, since that’s what we’re talking about.
Christa Forrest:
I’ve had the Adobe because I paid for that every month. The Adobe stock.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. I think I’m using that one.
Christa Forrest:
But I don’t use it that much.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay, so I use that one and what I do is, it used to be Fotolia. I don’t know how to say it, Fotolia. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Christa Forrest:
I’ve heard of it, yes.
Miriam Schulman:
It’s F-O-T-O-L-I-A, and they were purchased by Adobe Stock. So when it was the old site, I just bought credits and you actually still can buy credits. And that’s actually what I do. And I probably spend as much on credits as if I was a subscriber, but it makes me feel better not to be subscribed. But let’s explain to people what you do there, because they still don’t know what we’re talking about. So explain what you do when you go on Adobe stock and you want to-
Christa Forrest:
The last time I used it, I bought credits.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, you did the same thing, you bought credits.
Christa Forrest:
I haven’t actually used Adobe Stock in a while. The reason why I use Unsplash is, everyone can access it. So if I tell my students, “Hey, you can go to this site and get…” It’s just easier for everybody else to access the photos [crosstalk]-
Miriam Schulman:
They actually have really good photos. So I was paying for a lot of photography sites, not just the ones we’re talking about. So let me just explain what this is, because I feel like we assuming they know and they don’t. So the stock photography sites that Christa and I are talking about, if you want to paint an Eagle, or a woman, or a cat, or a landscape, and you can go into these sites and you can search for whatever it is you want to paint, they have all kinds of photographs. They also have other kinds of images that you can purchase.
But if you’re looking for a photograph, you just let the search engine know you want to photograph, you want it either horizontal, vertical, or you don’t care, you say what you want in it, and then you can pay. And I forget what it is. Maybe it’s $10 an image, depending how large you feel you need it, like $6, $10. I don’t know because they trick me into buying it, because that’s why they do it as credit so you’re not really sure how much you’re paying. I usually end up spending like 50 bucks before I’m… Yeah. Okay, if you get a couple of images. So once you’ve purchased, you’ve basically purchasing the right to use their photograph. And you do have to be careful because there are some sites where you are not allowed to create derivative artwork, meaning you’re not allowed to paint the photograph. Is that correct, Christa?
Christa Forrest:
I think so. It’s the same, like with music. You have to read what the individual creator wants.
Miriam Schulman:
Yes, you have to understand what you’re doing. For Adobe, most of the photos though, you can create derivative artworks from it and you have permission to do that, as long as you purchase it. So I purchase it. Not a big investment to A, like you said, feel good about supporting other artists, photographers who are other artists, and B, also be on the right side of the law, because you don’t want to be sued for copyright infringement especially… You just don’t want that to happen. So there’s that, then the other thing that we’re talking about, the Unsplash is, so a lot of times I need stock imagery, not because I’m painting it, but just because I’m putting it in a webinar or a slide deck or something like that, and I want to show artists working and I don’t want to just show me, I want to show diversity of people. We have found that Unsplash actually has better images for that purpose.
Christa Forrest:
Yes, they do.
Miriam Schulman:
They have better diversity. Like some of the stock photo sites, I feel like it’s all white blonde girls. It’s not-
Christa Forrest:
Yeah. But yes, they do have some really good stock photos in there. Better than Adobe stock.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, yeah.
Christa Forrest:
So I like Unsplash.
Miriam Schulman:
I do too.
Christa Forrest:
The thing is though, and I try to teach my students is, a lot of times I use the photo reference rather loosely, it doesn’t end up looking like the photo. So my goal is never really to copy the photo, because these photos are available to thousands of artists. They’re available to whoever goes on to the site. And so you can paint that photo image and someone else can, and 20 other people can, and then you’ve got the same. So I try to change it. I try to change it up a little bit, make it a little different so it looks more like I created it or I took of the photo or so forth. So like with her, I totally changed the hair or the body or the skin tone or whatever. So my goal isn’t to make it look exactly like the photo because I don’t want to post something on Instagram and everybody else is doing the same artwork.
Miriam Schulman:
I know. Well, also that happened to me because I’m an art teacher. I taught them how to do it, so of course there’s going to be a bunch of… And even though I say, “You can do it your own way, and here are five different ways you can do it.” It’s like, I don’t know why I’m surprised when people do it exactly the way I taught them to. I showed them how.
One thing I want people though, to understand who are listening, if you are doing any of those American watercolor society type juried shows, they also have rules. They don’t want you using as your photo reference, any stock photography. If you have a photograph as your photo reference, it has to be one that you took yourself. So they’ve pretty strict rules about that. I mean, I remember some… This is going back maybe 15 years, there was a woman who did a very realistic painting of a bearded man. And they were like, they found the photograph that she used and they were not happy with her. I think she got her medal stripped.
Christa Forrest:
Wow.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. I don’t even know if there might have been even some gossip that it wasn’t hand painted. Like it was… But I don’t remember. Anyway, I don’t even know the person, so it doesn’t matter. We’re not [inaudible] commit liable right now, so. All right, so Christa, tell us about these workshops because I’m super curious. So before we hit record, I was interrogating Christa about it because I was just really impressed with what you’re doing. You do these retreats you’re talking about. They’re actually three?
Christa Forrest:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
Holy cow, okay. All right. So tell us about the last retreat. So before we hit record, you told me it was Saturday and Sunday. How many hours are you painting for the camera?
Christa Forrest:
So it’s two hours a day. We work on one project, this was our last one. I go step by step. I even provided for this past one, some pre-retreat videos on how to get your image onto your canvas, how to… We were using a specific color palette, so I gave some color on that. And then I ask everyone to join my private Facebook group, one to share, because I like sharing and I like to see what everyone’s doing, and also to get information about stuff coming up. So my Facebook group has become… It’s been one of my focuses. Because a lot of people like sharing and sharing with others and getting feedback from other people. And so I’m finding it a really cool supportive community. I don’t necessarily run the retreat through Facebook because I can’t trust Facebook.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. So how do they access these videos? They have to join your email list, do they register, what does that look like?
Christa Forrest:
So usually I’ll have people join my email list and I’ll provide an RSVP in there, and then you get hooked onto getting… And I create a classroom, and as long as you’re on my email list, getting the updates, you will get the link every day to that day’s retreat.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. So now let’s pretend I’m on your email list, which everyone should do. So what’s your website, Christa?
Christa Forrest:
My website is, www.creativesoulsart.com.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. So your creative souls are everywhere. Is that your handle on Instagram too?
Christa Forrest:
Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay.
Christa Forrest:
No.
Miriam Schulman:
No, there you’re Christa Forrest.
Christa Forrest:
I couldn’t get that one. It’s Christa Forrest fine arts, sorry.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay, great. By the way, we will have links of all these places in the show notes, which is schulmanart.com/187. Hopefully that’s the right number. Okay, so I’m on your email list, and I’m all excited because I want to learn how to do this, but oh no, that weekend actually, my mom guilt trips me into doing something else for her. I don’t know what it is, but that’s her MO. Okay, so I missed it. So what happens? How can I watch it? Is it recorded? Can I-
Christa Forrest:
I do record it. I offer what I call creative VIP access, which gives you the course. You purchase the course, gives you lifetime access to the replay, plus I do three additional bonus lessons that further talk about and further go into what we learned during the retreat.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. So those bonus lessons, you don’t give during the retreat, that’s only for the VIPs?
Christa Forrest:
Correct, only for the VIPs, yes.
Miriam Schulman:
Okay. And can I purchase the VIP package ahead of time? Like I know ahead of time it’s my sister’s wedding, and… My sister’s married, so I don’t even know I’m making these things up. But I know ahead at a time I can’t do it, I can purchase VIP in advance?
Christa Forrest:
Yes you can.
Miriam Schulman:
And then if I didn’t purchase VIP in advance and now, oh no, it’s something I forgot about this amazing thing. I forgot to go, then you let me buy it or can I only buy it in advance?
Christa Forrest:
You can buy it whenever.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, okay.
Christa Forrest:
It’s always open, yes. It becomes on-demand class afterwards. So you can access it.
Miriam Schulman:
The VIP thing is on demand?
Christa Forrest:
Correct, yes.
Miriam Schulman:
So I can go to your website right now and buy that retreat that you did?
Christa Forrest:
Yes. Yes, you can.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, okay, all right. All right, everyone. So make sure you check all those things out in the show notes, schulmanart.com/187. Christa’s artwork is amazing. You have to check out her Instagram feed, it is so inspiring. Not only does she do the acrylic that you may or may not see behind her if you saw the audiogram on my Instagram feed. I mean, I know this is a podcast. Go look at our Instagrams. But I’ve also seen you procreate these really amazing procreate videos.
Christa Forrest:
I have. I’ve finally figured out how to do it. So yeah, I’ve been doing that too.
Miriam Schulman:
I want to learn how to do that too, actually. All right. So make sure you check out all those things and by the way, don’t forget, if you liked this episode, you have to check out the must listen roundup of all my favorite episodes around portraits. Head on over to schulmanart.com/playlist and grab your binge worthy podcast playlist on portraits today. Again, that’s schulmanart.com/playlist. All righty, Christa, do you have any last words for my listeners before we call this podcast complete?
Christa Forrest:
Ooh, last words. Well, I think let’s go over what we talked about. Follow your passion, don’t be scared to do it. Just make a plan and go for it. Enjoy life and be amazing about what you do.
Miriam Schulman:
And you need a lot less money than you think.
Christa Forrest:
Correct, yes.
Miriam Schulman:
I mean, I’ve worn the same sweater in every podcast episode, so. Actually, I do wear the sweater a lot, but I’m saying that because I recorded three podcast episodes today and they’re going to think, is that all she wears? The answers actually, yes. Same pair of jeans every day, too. All right, this was so much fun, Christa. Thank you so much for being with me here today and thank you.
Christa Forrest:
Thank you.
Miriam Schulman:
And thank you my friend out there, thanks for joining both of us. I’ll see you the same time, same place next week. Stay inspired.
Speaker 2:
Thank you for listening to the Inspiration Place podcast. Connect with us on Facebook, at facebook.com/Schulmanart, on Instagram @schulmanart, and of course, on schulmanart.com.
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