Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Beth Hansen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Beth thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

My Studio moved from inside Doctor Who’s Tardis to a Victorian house in a small town. No, I was never one of the Doctor’s companions, it wasn’t that easy, although it did involve a good deal of travel. I had been living in Minneapolis for three years, and my art studio was in a very small bedroom. The entrance was a Tardis, because my boyfriend had it installed in the hallway as a door from the dining room. No one would ever guess that it led to a bedroom, bathroom and artist studio. It was cramped, but I managed.

Like many other artists, I dreamed of a large space with plenty of light where I could create while surrounded by trees in a peaceful countryside. Then one day out of the blue, my brother Kent called me up and told me he was looking for a house out on the western plains in Minnesota. He had found a Victorian farmhouse build in 1900 in a tiny town near the Jeffers petroglyphs, it needed some TLC so the price was right. I thought he was crazy to move so far out, but he let me know there would be a room for me there, so I could come and visit.

My brother and I are the last of our family, as my twin sister Jane had passed away from stage four breast cancer the year before. Grief was my constant companion, but she left me her art form: wrapping copper and silver wire around natural stones. I learned from the books she left, and from looking at what she had done. Keeping my hands busy, using the tools and materials she touched was and is part of my grieving process. I also worked part time at the independent book and gift store she had owned with her wife, where I put my newly crafted jewelry on consignment.

Every time I talked with my brother he would say “there’s a room for you here” and I would just say, “yeah, I’ll come visit.” So I went out to look at the place right after he got the keys, and he showed me my bedroom. Then I asked him if there would be a studio for me here as well. And there was.

For a few months I still lived with my boyfriend and commuted the 140 mile journey, spending three days in the city to work, and four days in the country painting and setting up my studio. At the same time, I had just had nine of my Goddess paintings made into greeting cards in a large print run, it was a big expense but it was a good business decision. Expanding into wholesale and getting my art into more hands was an exciting prospect, though it took a chunk out of my savings.

But the indy store I worked at was really struggling, and even though I was family I was losing hours until finally I was laid off. With the loving support of my boyfriend, novelist Steven Brust, I moved the rest of my things out to the the victorian house. For a while I tried working from home full time doing phone customer service, but my art business suffered while I struggled with tech support issues. There wasn’t enough of me left at the end of the day to create.

So I did the scariest thing I could do in the safest place I could be, and ended that corporate job to devote my time to my art and jewelry business. Since that time, I have started getting some more online sales, and I am looking forward to events in the summer and fall. Each day I am creating more than ever, and though I’m a long way from earning what I was when I had a day job, my artwork is landing in more hands than it has in the past two years.

Today I look across my art table and out the bay window to the city park. Our home has beautiful trees, clover growing in the yard and a flourishing vegetable garden on the side of the house. With friends in town and even a little gift store at the next biggest town that carries my greeting cards, I finally have room to grow. And while there isn’t a Tardis doorway going from the dining room into a hidden suite of rooms, there is a bookcase that conceals a walk in closet that my brother Kent put into his music room.

Beth, 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?

Before I created Harmony Goddess, I had been drawing and painting fantasy art for several years. I enjoyed sharing my work at local art fairs, fantasy conventions, and renaissance festivals. When the recession happened in 2008, sales became few and far between, and I became burned out. We were struggling and lost our house to foreclosure, and I had to use my savings to get by until finally it felt like art had become my crazy ex-girlfriend who took all my money and left me an emotional wreck. I began studying Reiki energy healing and received my master teacher certification. I was healing myself and others.

Then one day in 2016 I participated in a ritual workshop lead by another artist. When I realized that art wasn’t about fantasy, but about spirit and inspiration and lifting others up, I found my reason to start painting again. My focus became the divine feminine in nature.

Going from oil painting to watercolor gave me a new set of challenges. Simple design, limited color palettes, and don’t overwork it! Learning to work in mixed media to create goddess cameo necklaces has been a lot of trial and error. It turns out, the path was more difficult than I imagined. Once I got started, I began to doubt that these new Goddess paintings would inspire others the way that they inspired me. I had changed my style, my medium, and my focus. What if nobody liked them?

Yet my greatest challenges were yet to come. In the fall of 2016. I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer, and during the lumpectomy, they also found cancer in my lymph nodes. Twenty rounds of Chemo affected my vision and I couldn’t draw or paint for months. But I could watch YouTube tutorials, and I stayed inspired by watching other artists work. In the Spring of 2017, I started painting again and designing jewelry. My artwork had became my sacred calling, so I put it in and art show called The Third Offering and a spiritual convention called Paganicon in 2017.

There, I presented my work in a Nature Goddess workshop to a small circle of people, and I knew that their response was heartfelt and genuine, and they gave me the courage to continue. I have dedicated myself to painting a total of 100 goddesses. I still practice Reiki as well, blessing all the art and jewelry that goes out of my studio.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Three books have left a mark on me as an artist, entrepreneur, and person. The first is The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer which taught me a lot about mindset. The second is Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, which is a highly enjoyable, revolutionary book about the psychology of how people decide. The Third and final book is Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to move beyond their fear and live a creative life.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I’m on a mission to share the power of the divine feminine through creating watercolor paintings of the goddess as seen in different aspects of nature. Harmony Goddess is not just a business, it’s a calling. Women are sacred and divine beings, with a right to complete sovereignty over themselves; body, mind and soul.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://harmonygoddess.com