We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lisa Bogart. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lisa below.

Lisa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Funny, my most recent project is always the most meaningful to me. I dive in to a creative pursuit and it’s all I think about for weeks or months. Currently I am working on self publishing my illuminated manuscript. This project came into being from my personal preparation for a pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona. The trip is a deeper dive into Celtic Christianity.

My way of being in the world is to create. I draw. I knit. I write. These are the outlets that help me stay grounded and also offer me ways to bring my joy into the world. My writing is devotions and inspirational. My knitting is creative and for charity. And my drawing, I thought, was just for me. I’ve doodled since I was a kiddo. Then I created three adult coloring books back when that trend was hot. Then I knew my drawing and artistic side could be out for more to enjoy.

I’d been going through a time of expanding faith. I was reading new-to-me authors and taking online courses through the Center for Action and Contemplation. I was open to whatever God, The Universe, or The Divine had to offer me. I was not disappointed I discovered all kinds of ways to connect with the Holy.

I went on retreat with John Philip Newell in Colorado and learned he has week long retreats on the Isle of Iona. Oh, to be submerged in the place where the Book of Kells (an illuminated manuscript) was created! I had been taking a 20 week online class learning how to draw Celtic knots! It was a delight to learn there are simple ways to make these intricate drawings. I was hooked. I wanted to continue this expansive period.

So the stage is set, drawing Celtic knots and reading more about Celtic Christianity. The next logical step for me was to actually GO TO IONA. I wanted to experience my expanding faith in a place where it seems faith was on the very surface of the earth. It took two years but I finally got on the list to go. I had a year to anticipate the pilgrimage. I wanted to make the very most of my experience. So besides getting in better shape for the long walks I started collecting poems, quotes, and verses about travel, pilgrimage, and faith. I opened a new journal and out came all these original illuminated pages filled with the words I’d collected.

It was the only thing I wanted to do, illustrate another page. In six months I’d filled volume one of 75 pages and there was no stopping me. When friends asked what I was up to I’d show them my journal. They were impressed. You should publish this. Yeah, right. Not everyone is taking a pilgrimage to Iona. But my supporters had planned the seed. And now I am taking a year to do it right. Designing the book, laying out the pages, drawing more pages, and writing the story of this expansion of faith.

Lisa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a spreader of joy. It’s taken me a while to figure out that is my bottom line. I encourage and spread joy. I’ve done this through my writing for years. I wrote piles of devotions about nature as I walked every morning in the hills near my home in San Rafael. Thoughts of God and how I am held in love by the Divine in me. I kept writing. Publishing is a business and so I acquired an agent and went to conferences to meet editor and publishers.

This lead to six books getting published over the years; one on hospitality, two about knitting as a meditative practice, and three adult coloring books I drew as well as wrote. The coloring books were my favorite. They put my graphic art skills to use and I loved pairing a drawing with an insight someone could ponder while coloring.

My own growth as an artist, author continued. I was looking for ways to connect with my readers and fans online and launched my Joy Comes In The Mailbox newsletter in August 2020. It has become my main way of sharing the joys of life. It’s such a pleasure to produce. It comes out every other Saturday. I’ve never missed an issue, probably because I never lack for ideas. The discipline of having an email to send keeps me on the look out for joy in my life. It’s everywhere, and I share even in the times when life looks bleak and it seems harder to find joy.

It is my gift to have a positive outlook on life. And I consider my work in the world to share the positive, joyful, amazeballs parts of life as an encouragement to others that we are not alone. There is much to celebrate. I offer joy through book recommendations, recipe ideas, knitting projects, and whatever the heck I’m up to, be it a good online class I’m taking, a hike I’ve discovered, or a treat I want to offer. I make sure readers are encouraged and most anyone can find a smile with what I have to offer.

Finding joy is refreshing and fills us for the work we want to accomplish in the world.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In my creative life I’ve had a lot of different ways of producing work. I’ve written books and had to wait for them to be published. I’ve planned events and had to learn all kinds of details I didn’t know were important. I’ve had to discover that there are many ways for me to offer the world my joy. Not one single way is going to work for me long term. I will write and draw and knit and laugh and hike and give all the love I can. I am always changing and so are my creative offerings. But there will always be joy.

Years ago I started a small specialty tee shirt painting business. It was just me filling orders of custom shirts for children. I was in a national catalog and the business was at the tipping point of growth. I decided to take my work to a gift trade show. I used all the money in my business account, $4,000.00 to get into and have a booth at this show. It was five days of hawking my wares. Trouble was no one stopped by my booth; I hawked goods to NO ONE. I left the trade show with zero, no orders and no self esteem. I felt I’d been dropped kicked out of the business. It took me a year to lick my wounds and recover. I took that time to assess. Is this what I really wanted to do? Do I want to take a tee shirt painting business to the next level? Do I even want to paint tee shirts anymore?

I learned a lot about business and how it works from my little venture. I discovered I do not want to try and push my art out into the world in just one form. I knew deep down that what I wanted was to create and share on my terms not on demand. I did not want to have to deal with all the parts of business growth, I wanted a dive deep into creative growth. So I didn’t quit my day job and it’s made all the difference. I create and share for the joy of it not the profit. I no longer paint shirts. Instead I draw, I write, I knit, I read, I debate, I hike. I find joy and share it.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Mmm, being in the zone is the most rewarding part of the creative life. Looking up and seeing the afternoon is gone and it’s time to make dinner (itself another creative pursuit). The biggest reward of the creative life is making stuff! Finishing a sweater and it fits!
Knitting a blanket and giving it away.
Cooking a meal and having guests murmur over the yummy taste.
Making a drawing and loving the way it turns out; then flipping to a clean page and doing it again.
Reading an insightful book and discussing it with a friend.
Taking time to write letters to family and friends knowing they’ll be surprised by snail mail.
Signing up for a class and learning a new art skill, like painting for the first time, or doing mosaic work.
I am lucky to be a creative person I put myself in the creative zone every chance I get. It is THE PLACE to be. Being in the creative zone is when I am most myself and most connected to the Divine. It’s THE BEST part of being a creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: lisabogart.com
• Instagram: lisabogartauthor
• Facebook: lisabogartauthor

Image Credits
Lisa Bogart