Today we’d like to introduce you to Esther Loopstra.

Hi Esther, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Southern California but moved to the Midwest in high school. I received an AA in Counseling and later, a BFA in illustration. For 15 years I had a successful career as a commercial artist and was an adjunct professor for 10 years. After taking an intuitive painting class in 2011, I discovered that I was able to tap into my intuition and I began painting regularly in this new way. I also began researching the flow state, neuroscience, creativity, and intuition. I now use these concepts in my work as I shifted to being a fine artist, creative coach, writer, and speaker.

This balance of science and intuition makes its way into all of my life and creative practice. Being neurodivergent and having a disability, I have a complex relationship with my body and mind that informs my work. My most recent painting/writing series is reflective of the connection I found with the ocean and seaweed while going through depression and breast cancer.

I’ve been a part of many group and solo shows in galleries and I most recently have been curating art exhibits around Seattle. My hope is to continue to explore both science and our connection to nature through various biospheres and healing practices around the world.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I have had a love-hate relationship with painting since I was very young. Whenever I began a painting, my little inner rule follower would come out. I would gather all of my supplies and references, make a plan for the painting, and swear that this time the process would feel different. But, as soon as I got a third of the way into the painting, the shoulds in my mind would take over, and I felt like there was a formula that I needed to follow to make my paintings work. Just like five-year-old me play-ironing, I was terrified to make a mistake. Somehow, my paintings never turned out how I wanted them to. They always felt stale or stagnant.

In 2011 I tried an online intuitive painting class. From the very first class, I was outside of my comfort zone. There was no planning or sketching to lean on like I was used to with my creative projects for clients. We danced, listened to music, fingerpainted on the canvas, and felt the sensations of our bodies. The instructor taught us how to listen to our intuition, which apparently was in our body and would guide us to the next step in the painting. We splattered paint, explored creating texture, and turned the canvas upside down. We practiced changing our minds over and over again and making mistakes. We created ugly paintings so that our bodies could just relax and overcome the need to make perfect decisions.

For the first time in a painting class, I felt motivated and free. Time flew by, and I didn’t have a sense of stuckness or a need to control my work out of fear. I was learning and growing as an artist, and it felt natural and easy the more I let myself follow the lead of my curiosity, my body, and my intuition. I was focused on the outcome of creating a painting, but I was also learning to listen. I was learning to lean into what the painting wanted to become.

Not only was the process of creating more fun and easy than ever before, but the outcome shocked me. When I was finished with my first painting, I wanted to cry with happiness. That painting felt more like me than anything I’d ever created. I had been painting for what felt like my entire life but for the first time maybe ever, these paintings I created during this class felt like me. They felt authentic. Since this time, I’ve used an intuitive approach to my art making, writing and teaching.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
When I was very young I watched a movie called The Fantastic Voyage. A Science fiction story about a group of scientists who were shrunk down to microscopic size and implanted into a human body. Along the journey, they encountered the biological ecosystem in a whole new way. Since then, I’ve been fascinated by the unseen networks all around us, how we relate to them, and how they support us.

As someone who has experienced trauma, and struggled with chronic illness and mental health, I recognize how simply relating to our bodies, others, and our environment in a profound way can bring co-regulation and healing. Science is learning more and more about how interconnected and dependent we are on each other and I am continually inspired by the living structures that support us on a biological and energetic level such as our nervous system, the ocean, mycelium, quantum field, dark matter, and even the internet.

My work takes the viewer on a passage, revealing the abstract essences of these systems and blurring the lines between our human internal systems and the nature around us. Many times the work depicts what looks like living organs or organisms, viewing them from the vantage point of a landscape you could navigate and engage with.

My mixed media paintings unfold like a journey, and I flow with my intuition, developing layers, and working back into them, allowing the paintings to change and grow. When painting on canvas, I use acrylic and latex paint but add surprising materials like joint compound, collage, liquid latex, and acrylic mediums, along with markers, crayons, and pencils. When I create on paper, I use a more simple approach with fluid acrylic, masking fluid, acrylic ink, and pencil. I also create stream-of-consciousness poems that I incorporate into the work.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I research all things consciousness, flow, neuroscience, and intuition. I like to explore biology and the systems that support us in our bodies and in nature.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.estherloopstra.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherloopstrastudio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/estherloopstraart
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/estherloopstra
• Other: https://www.flowintoauthenticity.com/podcast

Image Credits
Sung Park Photography Judy Lee Photography Rant Casey Photography