Episode 184 featuring the return of Lauren Beck! She’s back with a new version of herself NOW with 100% more business.
We’ll discuss where Bloomery came from, as well as, what it is, plus building a community, teaching, sharing, learning, curiosity, people pleasing and much much more…
Mentioned and Helpful Links from This Episode
The Story of a Creative Entrepreneur with Lauren Beck
Other Links
Fifty years later, All the President’s Men is still the ultimate true crime book
Long-term shelf commitment or One Read Stand?
An Avid Reader’s Guide to a Methodical Book Purge
Music created and provided by Henno Heitur of Monkey Tongue Productions.
–End Show Notes Transmission–
–Begin Transcription–
00:00:00:01 – 00:00:21:57
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent Palmer. 50 years later, All the President’s Men is still the ultimate true crime book. Long term shelf commitment or one read stand. And during or after last episode, did you watch Alice’s scariest travel moment? This is The Palmer Files episode 185, featuring the return of Lauren Beck. She’s back with a new version of herself, now with 100% more business.
00:00:22:04 – 00:00:34:51
Agent Palmer
We’ll discuss where bloomery came from as well as what it is. Plus, building a community, teaching, sharing, learning, curiosity, people pleasing, and much, much more. Are you ready? Let’s do the show.
00:00:34:56 – 00:01:05:38
Lauren Beck
Whittling down exactly what I would like to do with the things that I feel like are my talents. I love calling it a studio because there’s a lot of work being done in there. A bloomery is actually like a furnace from steelmaking. If you have a little spark of something, it’s worth following because it just adds to your life and to your curiosity and to your just.
00:01:05:51 – 00:01:13:01
Lauren Beck
You never know where it’s going to take you. Well, I love to teach.
00:01:13:06 – 00:01:37:02
Agent Palmer
Hello, and welcome to the Polymer Files. I’m your host, Jason Stern, also known as Agent Palmer. And on this 185th episode is The Return of Lauren Beck. After more than five years, Lauren is still an artist, teacher, creator, and entrepreneur, but she returns with a new business and new ambitions. Let’s start with the big one. Bloomery Art company sparking joy through creativity and celebrating the beauty of learning, making and connecting.
00:01:37:09 – 00:01:59:20
Agent Palmer
Lauren’s been added a year and you’ll hear where it came from and how it’s going. We also discussed being present, building community, following curiosity, needing to understand things, teaching and well, all of that and much more is coming your way shortly. But first, remember that if you want to discuss this episode as you listen or afterward, you can find all related ways to contact Lauren and myself in the show notes.
00:01:59:25 – 00:02:21:26
Agent Palmer
For more information on bloomery, visit bloomery Art Deco, which is conveniently also how you can contact Lauren. Don’t forget, you can see all of my writings and ratings on Agent palmer.com. And of course, email can be sent to the Palmer files@gmail.com. So without further ado, let’s get into it.
00:02:21:31 – 00:02:32:23
Agent Palmer
Lauren, you’re back. Because, since we last spoke, a lot of things have changed. But for you, you started a new business.
00:02:32:28 – 00:02:34:01
Lauren Beck
That’s right. Sure did.
00:02:34:08 – 00:02:48:56
Agent Palmer
And it’s been. What I can only assume from afar is a success for one year, which seems like a good enough time to have you on to go. Hey, what’s it like?
00:02:49:01 – 00:02:50:12
Lauren Beck
Yeah, yeah.
00:02:50:19 – 00:02:50:34
Lauren Beck
Well.
00:02:50:34 – 00:02:50:55
Lauren Beck
Thanks.
00:02:50:55 – 00:02:53:00
Lauren Beck
For setting this up. This is really.
00:02:53:00 – 00:02:55:07
Lauren Beck
Cool to talk to you about, like, this.
00:02:55:07 – 00:03:07:13
Lauren Beck
New version of myself, essentially. It’s, kind of crazy, but it’s been brewing for a long time, so I’m really happy at where we’re at right now.
00:03:07:21 – 00:03:21:34
Agent Palmer
So how how long? Like, obviously, it’s not like you just woke up one morning and decided, well, maybe you did wake up and decide to do it, but if it’s been brewing for a long time, like how how long has it been brewing for?
00:03:21:37 – 00:03:57:37
Lauren Beck
Well, so when I say it’s been brewing, meaning like, kind of whittling down exactly what I would like to do with the things that I feel like are my talents. Okay. So I feel like I’ve always been pulled towards a creative job or a creative career in many ways. But it was actually during Covid, like many folks, during Covid was a tough time and a lot of like really, deciding what was important to people, right.
00:03:57:39 – 00:04:20:04
Lauren Beck
So, I remember I was very upset during Covid and obviously everyone was, but I was being like kind of a little selfish because I was so upset. I was losing all my clients at the time. I was doing calligraphy and lots of weddings and lots of client work. And, I was I would have these, like, tantrums where I’d be like, what?
00:04:20:04 – 00:04:44:36
Lauren Beck
What am I going to do? And I look at, look back and like, how stupid. But I remember having a tantrum and my husband was like, listening. Like he always does. He’s a good guy. And he said to me, well, like what? Like, what do you what’s your favorite thing that you do? Like? Out of all the things I had been teaching workshops, I had been doing client work, I’ve been playing around with my own art.
00:04:44:46 – 00:05:07:45
Lauren Beck
And I said, well, I love to teach. And he was like, well, then I think you should make moves towards having your own space because you’re not happy working for all these other people. I mean, I was it was great making connections, but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. It was always missing the mark.
00:05:07:47 – 00:05:39:07
Agent Palmer
Well, and it’s there’s always the grind of the next client like, and I know you still technically have that with your space and we’ll get into that. But when you’re just client to client, there is no such thing as walk in business necessarily. You have to more or less enter the hustle culture and go after the next one, which means that’s less time for you to sit down and create something or teach something or whatever it is.
00:05:39:07 – 00:05:54:47
Agent Palmer
So like, yeah, that that a minimum would be part of the missing piece. And it’s also not yours. Right. Because it’s it in the end, at the end of the day, it’s something that you’re creating a product that you’re giving to someone else. It’s no longer yours anymore.
00:05:54:51 – 00:06:21:14
Lauren Beck
100%. Yeah. The client work was not for me. Such a people pleaser. I still am that I just would give everything. And I never felt good enough. Ever. It was. I didn’t know how to price. I didn’t, you know, it just felt like I was so worried all the time. And I liked working, like I had great clients.
00:06:21:14 – 00:06:28:35
Lauren Beck
Nothing went wrong, but I just. It wasn’t for me. And it was. It was more so. It was very lonely work.
00:06:28:42 – 00:06:29:11
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:06:29:13 – 00:06:55:31
Lauren Beck
Working for a client, you have to be really good at being by yourself and doing your work in a bubble and and not sharing it until it’s it’s the end of the work and then it’s not even yours anymore. Right? So you’re right, there wasn’t like a build to anything I was doing. It was more like I was a floater always hopping around in the world.
00:06:55:36 – 00:07:06:28
Lauren Beck
And I couldn’t even if I was doing my own work. It’s still in the film. Me and I got to teach a little here and there, but I think that I wanted to build something now.
00:07:06:40 – 00:07:34:14
Agent Palmer
What bloomery is now. How long does it take you to? And maybe you’re still in the process of. But how long does it take you to come up with what that is? Because obviously, hey, you’re going to make your own space to do stuff is wide open, that there’s still a lot of questions and that need answers, as well as concepts and philosophies that you’re just starting out on.
00:07:34:14 – 00:07:44:57
Agent Palmer
So like from that Covid discussion, obviously it’s not something that happened right away. Are you still figuring it out or have you narrowed it down? It’s been a year.
00:07:45:02 – 00:07:53:16
Lauren Beck
Yeah. I mean, I think if anyone says after a year that they have it all figured out there totally lying.
00:07:53:20 – 00:07:54:37
Lauren Beck
I’m getting warmer.
00:07:54:42 – 00:07:55:51
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:07:55:56 – 00:08:26:16
Lauren Beck
I okay, so what bloomery is, is, it’s my studio, first and foremost. It’s my space. Which I love calling it a studio because there’s a lot of work being done in there. Right. And it is in this very, like, nondescript office building, very random spot across from Dorney Park. And I kind of love that it’s in this random spot because it’s an unexpected little hub of creativity.
00:08:26:21 – 00:08:51:34
Lauren Beck
Just dropped in this weird spot, right? Has a great parking lot too. Anyway, bloomery is a teaching studio and so I teach there all the things that I love, but I also invite other artists to come in and teach as well. So the things that they love and they do as professionals, I invite them in to be teachers as well, which is not a new concept, right?
00:08:51:36 – 00:09:24:10
Lauren Beck
Not a new concept. But what I really wanted to do with bloomery is invite the folks that are afraid of art to come in, that think that they would like to be creative, that they would like to have some sort of outlet or, some sort of mindful practice, but they don’t even know where to start. They may have watched a YouTube video, they may have bought some supplies, but there is a huge fear that happens, especially with adults, to just start.
00:09:24:15 – 00:09:55:18
Lauren Beck
Okay. And that makes me very sad for people. But I’ve also been there in my story. Right? So I understand it. And so bloomery is access to not only learning but materials. It’s access to community, it’s access to products and resources. And it really becomes this like this hub of activity, like a living and breathing studio. So it becomes more than than me.
00:09:55:23 – 00:10:09:34
Lauren Beck
Yeah, right. So that’s what my dream is, to have this be this invigorating space. And I realize this sounds very low, but I think I’m getting warmer. I think I’m getting closer to my vision for.
00:10:09:34 – 00:10:43:24
Agent Palmer
It, but I don’t I don’t think it sounds woo woo woo, only because I feel like it is an actual community as opposed to a online community. Yeah. And so having a space, having a studio where people can gather, whether it’s to teach or just to gather for, for, you know, hanging out sake. Right. Like, like I, I mean, genuinely, you and I are about the same age we grew up before the internet.
00:10:43:34 – 00:11:05:30
Agent Palmer
We remember, I don’t want to say Revere, but we remember hanging out like, no objective. No, no, no, no, we have to do this. We have to do that. We’re just going to hang out. And if you are around creative people, maybe something would be done. If you were around music people, maybe a jam, maybe you wouldn’t like, but you would just.
00:11:05:42 – 00:11:27:24
Agent Palmer
Or you just sit around and talk for a couple hours. Right? And yeah, having a space allows something maybe not exactly like it, but something akin to that to coalesce and happen, which is not. I think it’s a place that, especially for our generation, desperate. Maybe two dramatic of a word, but it’s the only word I have right now.
00:11:27:27 – 00:11:30:48
Agent Palmer
We’re desperately trying to get back to that because.
00:11:30:58 – 00:11:31:31
Lauren Beck
I think so.
00:11:31:36 – 00:11:54:27
Agent Palmer
I have a kid now, and I try and keep devices away from the kid. Right. And it’s it’s it’s a part of letting them grow up the way we did, more or less. We had a TV and the TV didn’t leave the room. So if you wanted to watch it, you stayed in the room and there were usually other people in the room.
00:11:54:27 – 00:12:19:07
Agent Palmer
And if you left, the TV didn’t go with you. And as a you know, I know that’s a simplification of what the phone or the tablet is, but that’s what I look at it as. And to know that that could exist in the world in any capacity, whether you’re building it around art like you are or somebody building your around anything else just to know that these places exist.
00:12:19:12 – 00:12:38:44
Agent Palmer
Like that’s I think that’s everything to me because I’m like, I, I want that like, I, I want you to come over and just listen to music and talk like I, I, I don’t mind if you get out of pen and doodle. I don’t care if I get out my guitar and noodle like I. But I want to be present.
00:12:38:51 – 00:13:12:40
Lauren Beck
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that it energizes anyone to hear it described, to hear like, oh, it’s going to be this engaging community. It’s going to be like chatting with each other and just real good vibes and whatever. Like in theory, I think most people desire that in their life. Yeah, but what I’m also finding that is my challenge is there is a lot of fear surrounding that, putting yourself out there.
00:13:12:42 – 00:13:48:40
Agent Palmer
Well, okay. So how much so so so for people our age, right. It’s a fear of I. I forget what this like I forget what this is like. I don’t know how to do this anymore. That’s one for people younger than us that kind of grew up with phones, with mobile devices. They’ve never had that. So putting themselves out there is especially in a room like I, I, I know people quote unquote put themselves out there on the internet, but like there’s an amenity that exists that you don’t get when you’re hanging out in a room with six other people.
00:13:48:49 – 00:14:12:53
Agent Palmer
And so there’s that. And then there’s also the, you know, and I think this happens in spaces like you’ve created. There is no such thing as a wallflower like there can be and you can be on the periphery for a month, but after six weeks you, you will, you, it will be hard for you to keep your mouth shut like you cannot stay.
00:14:13:00 – 00:14:27:42
Agent Palmer
The wallflower in communities like this for very long. And whether you’re forcing their hand or they just get comfortable enough after coming back. Not everybody remains a wallflower. This is the this is.
00:14:27:45 – 00:14:55:19
Lauren Beck
It’s true. Yeah, yeah. And and what I’m finding after a year of doing this, you know, the wild card, part of what I’m doing with bloomery is that I am adding people to it, and I’m relying on people to get it. Yeah. And to, like, be open to turning to their neighbor and asking them their name and being interested in what they’re saying.
00:14:55:21 – 00:15:17:49
Lauren Beck
Like, I’m kind of banking on that to happen. I can make a lovely space and I can make a lovely art project, and I can give you the best supplies and the best warm, cozy feeling. I can fix you a cup of tea or whatever it is that you know makes you feel at ease. But I cannot ask you to engage with the people around you.
00:15:17:58 – 00:15:52:56
Lauren Beck
And that’s the wild card I’m seeing. It’s like inserting people into it and having to, like, trust that that’s going to work. I don’t think I knew how much of a risk that is, you know, at first. But now that I’m seeing, like, the reward of this happening over and over again, every time I have a space filled with whether it’s up to 20 people or it’s a small group of like four people, depending on what it is like, there is connection being made and I might be providing the space and I’m very like honored to do that.
00:15:53:01 – 00:16:14:02
Lauren Beck
But really what’s happening is neighbors are talking to neighbors, and people in the community are putting themselves out there enough to speak to someone that might look different or a different age, or look like they might have a different experience than themselves. And what’s happening is real connections are being made, and it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.
00:16:14:05 – 00:16:39:51
Agent Palmer
So I want to make this personal for a second. Yeah. If you were walking in the door. Yeah. How comfortable would you be turning to your neighbor? Like where have you, have you always been like able to be outgoing and go, hi, I’m Lauren, who are you or are you seeing yourself and some of the people that are a little trepidatious or whatever?
00:16:39:54 – 00:16:49:55
Lauren Beck
That’s a great question. I’ve done a lot of like, deep thinking on that. I think I’ve always been an extrovert. I get really energized by chatting with people, and I think you do too well.
00:16:49:58 – 00:16:54:24
Agent Palmer
But I’m an introvert, though, because I need it to be in small groups.
00:16:54:29 – 00:16:54:53
Lauren Beck
Okay.
00:16:54:55 – 00:17:18:03
Agent Palmer
Like this is great. This will energize me. It will take me a while to come down from this whether it was recorded or not. But if, if and maybe if we added 1 or 2 other people it’d be fine. Like if we did a double date with our spouses. But when we start getting to five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten or beyond ten, that’s when I’m less comfortable.
00:17:18:10 – 00:17:48:06
Agent Palmer
Like that’s when I’m like, that’s when I’m my immediate gut reaction in in ten plus is to find you and talk to you and ignore the other nine plus people, or eight plus people in the room. So I am energized by the conversation. But my problem is opening up to the room, so to speak, as opposed to just, hey, I know Lauren, so like I’m going to like and and when I’m at events, that’s what that’s my that’s my thing.
00:17:48:18 – 00:17:57:40
Agent Palmer
It’s an opportunity to have a one on one conversation with a bunch of different people. But I need to look at it that way. Otherwise it gets overwhelming.
00:17:57:45 – 00:18:21:28
Lauren Beck
Yeah, yeah. For me, I, I hear you and I respect that. And I know I’m like my like, I have a lot of people in my life that are similar. I think even my husband is a lot like that and I respect it. And I get I get that, but I don’t think that I am that way. I don’t think I’m wired that way, which is kind of cool to realize that, like, it really doesn’t bother me talking to a bunch of people in a room.
00:18:21:31 – 00:18:40:27
Lauren Beck
Yeah, like, I really like I do get nervous if I maybe up front and I have to represent something or, say the exact right thing. Sure, I get nervous, but the act of okay, okay, so this is how I see it. And maybe this will help anyone with like, fear of being in a group and maybe even walking into blueberry.
00:18:40:29 – 00:18:45:46
Lauren Beck
Who knows? I see it as an opportunity to be curious about other people.
00:18:45:51 – 00:18:46:15
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:18:46:17 – 00:19:09:11
Lauren Beck
Or to be curious in general. So I even, like separate myself. I’m not even conscious of like, what I’m doing, what I’m saying. I might have a booger or my nose, whatever. But like, I look, I’m not even conscious of myself. I am so curious about what is happening in the room. Who is there? I try not to overwhelm people with my curiosity, but I’m conscious of that.
00:19:09:11 – 00:19:32:58
Lauren Beck
It can be a lot, but I’m like a really curious person, so engaging in that way to me is really natural, and it actually makes me feel better as a person. Like it energizes me. Okay, so I guess that is a little, maybe a little different than like the average person. But I encourage everyone, like who’s who’s nervous about being in a room of 20 people or whatever it is, you know, come in with curiosity.
00:19:33:07 – 00:19:54:15
Lauren Beck
Yeah. And the other thing that I find with bloomery specifically that not break them down, but like, brings out something special in folks is that when you’re doing art, it engages another part of your brain. Right? And you’re you’re sort of in it, whether you’re sketching in your sketchbook or maybe you’re you’re like listening to the teacher and following along, right?
00:19:54:20 – 00:20:15:09
Lauren Beck
You’re doing something that you’re not face to face with the person next to you. You’re more so enjoying this engaging act together and natural conversation will happen. Right? So it’s just it’s just like a really different experience and sitting across the table from someone and having expectations put on you. Right.
00:20:15:14 – 00:20:44:53
Agent Palmer
So you’ve you’ve taught before. Yeah. And I think this is important to say you’re a mom of two. I know obviously you’ve taught them it. You know as a as a parent as I’m learning. So how much of having taught before and having, you know, been a parent has helped you with bloomery because it feels like some of these things all like, you know, this was the perfect time and place for this to happen.
00:20:44:56 – 00:20:56:48
Agent Palmer
And without having taught before or without having the experience of teaching or raising kids, like maybe this is slightly different. Is that is that fair?
00:20:56:52 – 00:21:13:13
Lauren Beck
Yeah. Well, I think with the teaching thing. So I have a background in art education. I went to Cookstown and I got my degree in art education, and I thought I was going to be in an art classroom the rest of my life, you know, retire in the same district and just be loyal like I was taught by my parents.
00:21:13:16 – 00:21:23:41
Lauren Beck
Right? That’s a whole other conversation. And like, they’re great. My parents are fantastic people. I don’t want to, you know, poo poo. All the things that they were saying.
00:21:23:44 – 00:21:25:17
Agent Palmer
It’s not the world anymore.
00:21:25:20 – 00:21:26:22
Lauren Beck
It’s not the world.
00:21:26:27 – 00:21:48:13
Lauren Beck
It’s exactly right. They were setting me up for the world that it was. Yeah, yeah. Anyway. But, I didn’t land that perfect job. And here we are. But, I would teaching. I’ve always loved teaching. I think because I have that curiosity again. Like, I have curiosity in most things. Like I even if I don’t fully understand something, I want to know more.
00:21:48:18 – 00:22:12:53
Lauren Beck
Okay. And then what happens in my brain is like once I find something that excites me and then I really find engaging and and cool, I just want to share it with people, okay? I just want to be like one step ahead of you in the process. I don’t want to be like this. A lead artist speaking down to you about all this, you know, high, high brow kind of speak.
00:22:12:53 – 00:22:56:48
Lauren Beck
I just, I want to teach you processes with, like, what I have learned along my journey. And let me show you the way. So that’s how I teach, you know, of course, that comes with knowledge, with technique and materials, but I never try to make it seem like they can’t meet me there. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So with my art background, I do have, like the knowledge in that, but I try to speak to the, the very beginner and, you know, really support that because that I feel is the essence of like, creativity is like that spark within yourself and bloomery the name is sounds like it’s flowers and and I love
00:22:56:48 – 00:23:18:13
Lauren Beck
flowers so much. I am an artist who paints and draws flowers. I’m known for it. But a bloomery is actually like a furnace from steelmaking. Okay? It is a furnace that melts iron into steel. So, when I was researching names and trying to come up with something, I found out what a bloomery is. And I thought of it as like this kiln.
00:23:18:18 – 00:23:37:31
Lauren Beck
Something to spark, like a night, some kind of creativity. And that just, like, really fits. So, Yeah, truly, that’s how I teach is is showing them the way. And I think as a parent you do that too. You’re like, hey, this thing is really cool. You want to learn how to do it? Yeah, you do like, you know, so it’s a similar thread.
00:23:37:36 – 00:23:42:57
Lauren Beck
It’s just that curiosity and excitement and I hope to pass it on to others through art now. Yeah.
00:23:43:02 – 00:23:44:40
Agent Palmer
Are you a reader?
00:23:44:45 – 00:24:02:20
Lauren Beck
I yes, I read, I have not read. I was just admitting to my book club that I have not read a book in quite some time, which I’m quite embarrassed by. I love to read. I order book as much as I can because I have very limited time. And so.
00:24:02:34 – 00:24:02:58
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:24:03:05 – 00:24:05:15
Lauren Beck
Is it reading? I think it is, but.
00:24:05:24 – 00:24:33:51
Agent Palmer
Well, I mean it’s, it’s, I mean, I, I, I don’t know, like, I, I don’t begrudge people because I feel like it’s all storytelling. I do think in the same way art does something to your brain. I think the written word instead of the spoken word changes some, some chemistry there. But yeah, I only ask because if you’re that curious, you must be consuming, whether in audio or text form.
00:24:34:03 – 00:24:59:12
Agent Palmer
So many different, vastly different kinds of and whatever. And so like if things excite you and you get that one step ahead and you can suggest a book to somebody else or, or a or a, a process or a technique, do you then move on or do you keep going with that one? Like do you follow the thread all the way down or do you find a new one?
00:24:59:26 – 00:25:02:19
Lauren Beck
Meaning, do I invest a lot of time into like one?
00:25:02:23 – 00:25:04:47
Agent Palmer
Yeah, like one thing? Or are you just or you spread.
00:25:04:47 – 00:25:05:54
Lauren Beck
Out or do I walk around?
00:25:05:57 – 00:25:07:42
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:25:07:47 – 00:25:26:36
Lauren Beck
That’s a great question. I think I follow the thread as far as I. That’s great. That’s a great question. I think that also is sort of like asking me if, like, I’m a master of anything, right? Like, or if I bop around and I gather knowledge on many different things.
00:25:26:41 – 00:25:57:46
Agent Palmer
I mean, I, I guess that’s I guess that’s a, I mean, I don’t, I don’t know, I mean, I read a lot of different stuff, I wouldn’t. Yeah. Although in fairness and in full disclosure, I don’t know many creative people who would consider themselves masters of anything because I feel like one of the reasons we are creative people is that we find ourselves unfinished in some way, and no matter what, we are all Sisyphus.
00:25:57:51 – 00:26:29:13
Agent Palmer
And your next piece, my next blog post, my next podcast, your next class. It will never fully complete you because you’ve already changed in the process of making that thing. And so we’re always pushing the boulder up the hill so it doesn’t really matter. So I think that that’s just a creative thing. I don’t know that that’s I was just thinking in terms of like, you’re not all you, you know, you follow something as far as you can go, but you’re not trying to go like, all right, how far back can I take this?
00:26:29:13 – 00:26:55:17
Agent Palmer
Like, you’re not going as deep as possible because you do want a wide swath because you’re interested and curious in multiple things. So by the time you follow point X back, however far something else in a conversation, in a song, in a book, in an article has piqued your interest, and you’re already raring to go off in that other direction, right?
00:26:55:17 – 00:27:12:47
Agent Palmer
So I don’t, but I don’t know that that means you’re not a master of anything you can be a master of. So I’m just saying, like, we’re always as a creative, we’re always searching, right? Like, that’s, that’s what makes us keep doing the thing. Whatever it is.
00:27:12:47 – 00:27:14:08
Lauren Beck
Yeah, yeah.
00:27:14:13 – 00:27:42:07
Lauren Beck
I think I’m just a really open person to understanding. At least, at least getting a grasp of a concept or a medium or, I’m just a very like like I, I definitely have my favorites as far as our practices and mediums I feel comfortable in, simply because of how my brain acts or how my hand does something.
00:27:42:11 – 00:27:59:06
Lauren Beck
But I find that, yeah, I definitely am one of those creatives that wants to know it all and wants to bop around a lot. But I am really finding as I get older, I am finding that a lot of the things I thought didn’t connect in my brain actually do.
00:27:59:20 – 00:27:59:49
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:27:59:49 – 00:28:11:29
Lauren Beck
So I’m really seeing those connective threads throughout the the work that I do or the things that interest me are drive me. Yeah. So that’s really cool to see. And I think that only comes with age.
00:28:11:34 – 00:28:12:36
Agent Palmer
Well, yeah.
00:28:12:41 – 00:28:38:37
Lauren Beck
Probably the only good not the only good thing about getting older, but like it is one of the benefits to perspective. So a lot of young people I find like are panicked about finding their style and art or the exact right medium they’re supposed to work in or, you know, learning exactly the right techniques. But it’s not I don’t think it’s about that.
00:28:38:37 – 00:29:04:04
Lauren Beck
I think it’s about that personal connection you have with it, trying anything that interests you and then just connecting it in your own brain and really becoming this, like, this wealth of knowledge just by those connections you make. And I think that’s important for a teacher to do. Yeah. Right. Is like this whole concept of these are all the little facets I’ve learned.
00:29:04:04 – 00:29:12:42
Lauren Beck
And let me connect them to you. Let me, let me show you how they connect and come at it in different ways to teach you. So I hope that answers your question.
00:29:12:44 – 00:29:13:42
Agent Palmer
Well it does.
00:29:13:49 – 00:29:25:12
Lauren Beck
Yeah. It’s a multi-dimensional isn’t it? Like the things we’re interested in, what our passions are, what excites us. I think it always changes and it always grows. Right. It’s pretty exciting.
00:29:25:15 – 00:29:46:02
Agent Palmer
So I, I am the common thread on this podcast, right? Like I’m the I’m, I’m the host and the guest is I’ve had your back. I’ve had other people back on but and I and I, you know, I, I bring this up because it’s important like I try and work ahead. So I’m always going back to work on what the next episode is.
00:29:46:02 – 00:30:31:20
Agent Palmer
But I’m also working ahead and it’s amazing. I know I am the thread, but I can’t keep everything in my head. And I’m trying very much to be present with you now. So I have not as much knowledge about the last episode and the last episode and the last episode and the last episode, maybe that released versus the last episode I recorded, which are not necessarily the same as we sit here and I bring it up because you and I are having this conversation and whenever I and often from this recording to going back to whatever my next release is in publication, I find similarities from whether it’s been recorded six weeks or six days
00:30:31:20 – 00:31:04:04
Agent Palmer
apart that I just, I like, and it’s not for me. It’s from you. It’s from the guests that it’s like, all right, there must be. And this is, this is where I come from. It must be something in the universe. Which is why these two different people that I met that are vastly different and are talking to me, but I didn’t prompt them to come up with, I don’t know, to talk about the weather, but they’re both talking about whether unprompted or whatever it is.
00:31:04:06 – 00:31:24:44
Agent Palmer
And I don’t know why those things connect. And sometimes it’s six weeks, sometimes it’s six days, sometimes it’s even longer or shorter, and it’s just like, I, I see those connections now because I get to again, I’m bouncing around from different things, but I’m not. I’m not like, I’m not forcing it and I’m not trying to find it.
00:31:24:46 – 00:31:55:11
Agent Palmer
I just go like there’s just occasionally a thing where it’s like, oh, wait, what? Well, those two people like, and they, you know, you’re in different fields or you’re different ages or you’re different life experiences or whatever. And it’s there are these connections that exist. And I mean, perhaps I’m starting to like, actually figure out after hundreds of episodes, like what more and more the human condition is, I don’t know, but those connections are to me at this time.
00:31:55:11 – 00:32:05:03
Agent Palmer
They still feel random. Yeah, but I see them and I go, I don’t know, there’s a part of your brain that always tries to make sense of it. So like, you see that connection.
00:32:05:17 – 00:32:05:44
Lauren Beck
Yeah.
00:32:05:46 – 00:32:23:04
Agent Palmer
And you go, does it relate to anything else? Like, how can I make this fit? Not everything fits. We’re not like the the like. The world isn’t puzzle pieces, right? Like some things just aren’t gonna fit together. But your brain, that doesn’t stop your brain from going. How does this fit together?
00:32:23:09 – 00:32:23:44
Lauren Beck
Right?
00:32:23:46 – 00:32:31:47
Lauren Beck
Right. I think as a younger person, I was very much worried that, like, I needed to know why it all made sense.
00:32:31:49 – 00:32:32:30
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:32:32:35 – 00:32:34:51
Lauren Beck
You know. Did you ever feel that,
00:32:34:56 – 00:32:45:44
Agent Palmer
Well, so it’s interesting because I, I mean, not to put a very fine point on it, but my curiosity ebbs and flows with my reading.
00:32:45:56 – 00:32:46:36
Lauren Beck
How cool.
00:32:46:39 – 00:33:10:44
Agent Palmer
I’m. I’m always a curious person, but the more I read, the more curious I become. So when I was when you. When you and I first met, when I was working a lot, I wasn’t reading that much. By comparison to now where I’m reading, you know, books a month, even with, you know, a young child, I’m still making the time to read.
00:33:10:49 – 00:33:36:05
Agent Palmer
And I find myself more curious as I read more. But like when I was not reading, I didn’t I wasn’t searching things out necessarily in that way. Whereas now I feel like I do more research on like a random thing I read in a book that has like, that’s just an off, like it’s just a throwaway line that I have to look up because it feels like there’s something more there.
00:33:36:09 – 00:33:55:44
Agent Palmer
Or, you know, as we record this, one of my recent blog posts was about the Incredible edible egg campaign that I didn’t realize started in the 70s and then was in the 80s and the 90s and the arts and stuff. And so that took me down a rabbit hole, by the way. I don’t remember where that came from.
00:33:55:59 – 00:34:08:15
Agent Palmer
Like it just popped into my head. Right. So like, now that I’m reading more and like I am getting more, I don’t think I was always this way though. Like, I feel like it’s ebbed and flowed with other things.
00:34:08:19 – 00:34:10:05
Lauren Beck
Well, okay, so.
00:34:10:10 – 00:34:23:08
Lauren Beck
You’re reading more, but I think what’s happening is it’s not even about what you’re reading. It’s more so about your reaction to what that reading was.
00:34:23:13 – 00:34:23:21
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:34:23:33 – 00:34:26:42
Lauren Beck
And like following your curiosity, it almost seems like.
00:34:26:57 – 00:34:58:26
Agent Palmer
There’s there’s definitely an amount of that. Yeah. Because it’s also like, it’s not just the books I’m reading, but like, I find myself, I’ll see a random like there are some I look, I’ll be the first to admit, LinkedIn is not what it used to be. But that’s a different conversation. But occasionally on LinkedIn, I will see somebody dissect a history of something and I’ll be like, but there’s got to be more to the story than the five paragraphs that guy put on LinkedIn.
00:34:58:31 – 00:35:28:12
Agent Palmer
And so I have to like I it, it goes on a list. And then when I get a free 15 minutes, you know, into the Internet Archive to see like what I can find about that thing. Right. Yeah. And I, I find myself digging further in, I think, on any random thing. Or as is the case with the incredible edit, it became a blog post, but I think it became a blog post because I started doing research because it popped into my head.
00:35:28:17 – 00:35:31:05
Agent Palmer
I don’t think I set out to do that.
00:35:31:17 – 00:35:31:38
Lauren Beck
Okay.
00:35:31:41 – 00:35:42:40
Agent Palmer
I just happened to have a platform and I was like, okay, this is interesting. I would like to share this. So now I’m going to write it down. But originally it just popped into my head and I went looking for.
00:35:42:40 – 00:36:09:19
Lauren Beck
Stuff I see. I think that’s cool. And I think people do that with art too. And creative things like music or, you know, any sort of like creativity. People do that also like they’ll see something that will be like a little glimmer of like, I could probably do that if I tried. Yeah. You know, and what’s cool about you is like, you take that knowledge and you run with it.
00:36:09:24 – 00:36:34:25
Lauren Beck
You do the research, you read more about it, you make your own conclusions. I think that’s rare, I really do. I think that’s a rare quality to have. I think a lot of people tend to get frustrated or nervous or fearful that, like they have this interest, they don’t know what to do with it. It’s almost too much work to figure it out.
00:36:34:30 – 00:36:38:32
Lauren Beck
So it kind of fizzles. Like, I think that’s pretty common. Unfortunately.
00:36:38:34 – 00:36:38:57
Agent Palmer
You think.
00:36:39:01 – 00:36:39:21
Agent Palmer
I think.
00:36:39:34 – 00:36:51:47
Agent Palmer
Even with art, like even with art, like even because it feels like like because to me, it feels like when I, when I talk to artists like they’re similar, I feel like they all know.
00:36:51:58 – 00:36:53:36
Lauren Beck
Artists are. Oh for sure.
00:36:53:41 – 00:36:54:00
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:36:54:02 – 00:36:58:16
Lauren Beck
I’m talking about, like, the average people walking around the world.
00:36:58:19 – 00:37:00:16
Agent Palmer
I’m not. Yeah, we know I’m not.
00:37:00:21 – 00:37:25:03
Lauren Beck
Grocery store. I talk about this a lot with friends. Like I think the average person and I see this with all the love. It is not meant to shame anyone. What I’m trying to like, maybe push up against is like, for people is like, if you have a little spark of something, it’s worth following because it just adds to your life and to your curiosity and to your just.
00:37:25:17 – 00:37:48:33
Lauren Beck
You never know where it’s going to take you. You might not become a fine artist at your soul and your work at whatever gallery, but like, it takes you somewhere and it gives you an experience to connect it to another thing, to let you process what’s happening in your world, to then lead like with a little thread, a little like tug towards something else.
00:37:48:37 – 00:38:03:53
Lauren Beck
You know, as humans, I think that’s just you’re having a personal reaction to it. And what I try to do at my studio is someone will say like, oh yeah, I used to, I like I see watercolor paintings and I think they’re really pretty. I think I could probably do that, but I don’t even know where to start.
00:38:04:03 – 00:38:28:30
Lauren Beck
And that’s where I’m like, hey, you guys like, let’s all come together and you know, in the name of art, try something together, have our own experiences with a guide, with the right materials, the right tools, and see where it leads you. And that’s like it seems like a simple ask, but I do find it’s tough for folks to walk in the door.
00:38:28:33 – 00:38:46:53
Agent Palmer
But so I, I would argue that you and I come from the wrong side of the tracks for this, right? Because we were always those people like, I mean, I mean, you know, like, I don’t know, even when I wasn’t reading in my curiosity wasn’t quite what it is now. I still took the time to start a business.
00:38:46:53 – 00:39:14:39
Agent Palmer
I still took the time to start a blog. I still took the time to start a podcast. I, I didn’t have to. I, you know, before all that stuff, I was helping other people with their things. Yeah. Most people don’t like most people. Don’t. They come home from their 9 to 5 and they stop. They, you know, I, I and I think you and I more or less over the years, you know, we’re both parents of varying ages.
00:39:14:39 – 00:39:40:21
Agent Palmer
So it’s it’s very, you know, we’re on we’re on opposite sides of that. But we still found time to do the other thing. Maybe not as often, maybe not as involved as owning a business or having a podcast and a blog. Right. Like they were maybe smaller projects or one off products. But I think you and I have always had that, and that’s been a through line on this podcast.
00:39:40:21 – 00:40:02:44
Agent Palmer
I have a lot of people on, and I come in for my outro and I say, everybody who’s listening, you should do your thing. And, you know, genuinely a part of that is because I guess, selfishly, you and I want more colleagues. Selfishly, you and I want to know more people that are trying things. You know, it doesn’t have to be.
00:40:02:49 – 00:40:21:23
Agent Palmer
It doesn’t have to be a blog. It doesn’t have to be a podcast. It doesn’t have to be bloomery. It doesn’t have to be when you were doing your, you know, your client work. But we want more people who are trying things because all of the look we’re we’re not we’re you. And I never started out assuming that this stuff would work.
00:40:21:28 – 00:40:51:53
Agent Palmer
That’s nice. Right. But we we tried it. And I think part of the benefit of, hey, you should try that watercolor or you should start that blog, maybe it won’t work out. Maybe it’ll go back to whatever medium you were in before or just not create, not writing. But but it might work. And I think in that regard, you and I are just looking for more colleagues so that people know, like, all right, like on this side.
00:40:51:53 – 00:41:16:58
Agent Palmer
Yes, it’s busy and sometimes it’s frustrating, but it is genuinely like the but when it works, even just getting one person in that room to to to be like, oh, watercolors my thing or can be my thing or, you know, just, oh, I had a really good time on your podcast. It’s like, yeah, I mean, I’m not I’m not trying to make it scary, right?
00:41:16:58 – 00:41:41:57
Agent Palmer
Like it’s, you know, I’m not trying to get you. We’re just looking for that and hopefully I’m not. I’m you know, I’m not saying you’re going to start a podcast now or that person’s going to do watercolor and be in galleries, but these people now have an option for another outlet that they didn’t have before. And meanwhile you and I are like, yeah, where can we find another outlet?
00:41:42:04 – 00:41:44:38
Agent Palmer
Like we’re clearly not busy enough.
00:41:44:42 – 00:42:23:28
Lauren Beck
You know, you really hit on something because I think the more I open myself to new opportunities like this and it’s it’s hard. Like starting this space was hard. It was the hardest journey I’d ever been on. And it’s still hard. You know, every day I struggle. But it’s asking yourself, what reward am I expecting if it is so hard or if it is hard to get into a watercolor class, for instance, and sit down and try it out, like what is at the other side there?
00:42:23:33 – 00:43:00:00
Lauren Beck
And is it worth it? You know, is it worth it? And I think it is. I, I know every day I even flow about this like about, you know, is it worth it? Should I have a physical space? There’s a lot of overhead to it. I’m always marketing like there are like painful parts about it. But truly, what I really want from the space is to connect with others and to do what I find beautiful in the world and share that with others and have them have a reaction like you’re talking about that.
00:43:00:02 – 00:43:21:37
Lauren Beck
Oh, this feels really good when someone looks up from what they’re doing. I have this happen a lot and it cracks me up. People will be working quietly and like, you know, doing their thing. And they look up and they go, oh my God, this is really fun. And I’m like, yeah, yeah, you’re getting it. That’s right. It is fun.
00:43:21:41 – 00:43:45:21
Lauren Beck
It feels really good. And that I think, is the heart of like living, right? It’s just finding that spark of like, damn, I’m having fun or like, oh, man, I haven’t thought about my laundry in the past hour, you know? And, like, how do we slug through our lives? We like we try to have these joyful experiences, but we got to be open to it.
00:43:45:23 – 00:43:46:35
Lauren Beck
We got to be curious.
00:43:46:38 – 00:43:54:20
Agent Palmer
Well, and it’s not all fun, right? Like, there is an amount of.
00:43:54:25 – 00:44:15:36
Agent Palmer
And maybe it’s because I have a kid who’s walking now and I’ve seen like the frustration of, well, I see you do that. Why can’t I just do that? Like, I, I go up the stairs one step at a time and the kid wants to go up the stairs. One it’s like, you can’t like you. You don’t. Your legs aren’t big enough or whatever and ever.
00:44:15:41 – 00:44:39:49
Agent Palmer
And there is a frustration. But for my kid that’s walking. But for somebody who’s never done watercolor, it’s the first like, wait, where do I put this on? And maybe the first one is bad, maybe the first five or bad. But if you keep doing it, you will get better. Like there. You just will get better. We all didn’t know how to walk at some point, right?
00:44:39:51 – 00:45:05:02
Agent Palmer
Like and we all you know so there is an amount of that where like I love writing. It’s never all it’s like I would say I shouldn’t say it’s never, but it’s rarely easy. There are moments when it flows, but there are also moments when you go, I just lost it. I don’t know what comes next. And that’s not the end of whatever I’m writing.
00:45:05:06 – 00:45:31:43
Agent Palmer
And and there’s a panic and there’s a frustration and I. But to the repetition point, I’ve done it before, I know I can do it. Yeah, it might be hard. It might be the hardest thing I’ve written in the last few years. I don’t know, but you’ll get through it. And I think your space for helping people just start different things.
00:45:31:48 – 00:45:43:54
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I like what else is there? You’re you need. I think this is the one instance where peer pressure is is a benefit for you.
00:45:43:59 – 00:45:44:45
Lauren Beck
That’s interesting.
00:45:44:54 – 00:45:55:27
Agent Palmer
One person who’s like yeah I don’t know is going to look around at the five other people for other people, even three other people that are like yeah I’ll try it.
00:45:55:30 – 00:46:18:40
Lauren Beck
Oh my gosh. That reminds me of what my kids were in daycare. So, you’re you’re a little you’re a little one is like, not at this level yet. Probably. But you’re going to have this experience. Okay. So we you know, the kids both. We’re very we’re picky eaters. And we, you know, they would try different things. They would only like certain things.
00:46:18:40 – 00:46:36:23
Lauren Beck
And we’d have to like, pick out the pasta and like, you know, do all the things to make them happy at home. But they would go to daycare and at daycare they cooked them lunch. It was always some sort of casserole with all the things thrown in like this, you know, a big mush of everything.
00:46:36:30 – 00:46:36:58
Agent Palmer
Yep.
00:46:37:10 – 00:46:57:12
Lauren Beck
And they would scoop them out, a big lump of it. And the kids would look around and they would look at the kid next to them. They’re eating it. They look over to the kid across the table eating it, and they’re like, all right, well, I guess I’m going to try it. Those kids would come home and they would tell me how delicious the food was at school.
00:46:57:21 – 00:47:10:16
Lauren Beck
And I’m thinking to myself, like, you can have this year. Why? Why don’t you? So it’s just you’re right. There’s this. I love how you said peer pressure, because I never thought of it that way. And I don’t want it to be like angry peer pressure.
00:47:10:18 – 00:47:11:30
Agent Palmer
No, it’s not.
00:47:11:35 – 00:47:16:11
Lauren Beck
Nervous, but like, there is this. Have you ever heard of body doubling before?
00:47:16:23 – 00:47:16:56
Agent Palmer
No.
00:47:17:01 – 00:47:37:45
Lauren Beck
Okay. So it’s something that I sometimes bring up within the class. It’s this idea of I believe it’s a technique. I could be wrong about this. Someone out there is like, this is incorrect, but I believe it’s a technique. When someone has a like an HD brain or like, has a neurodivergent brain and they want to sit and focus on something.
00:47:38:00 – 00:47:54:06
Lauren Beck
But being at home is like, you know, there’s things all over the place to, to distract me from it. And I get like this too. But you might go to a coffee shop and or a library and you might sit down. And because other people around you or doing stuff.
00:47:54:11 – 00:47:54:35
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:47:54:35 – 00:48:15:33
Lauren Beck
Then you do it too. You almost feel like they’re watching you or like, this is my time to do this because other people around me are doing it. That’s body doubling. You’re you’re taking the surroundings around you and you’re mimicking it, and you’re not doing the same exact thing, but you’re, you know, it’s just beneficial to a human to mimic the things around them.
00:48:15:33 – 00:48:32:18
Lauren Beck
And that that tends to happen within the space. I notice when we’re at work, we’re doing our sketch booking, we’re painting a picture, we’re on our iPads doing digital art. Whatever it is, it tends to like really bring out this work in others. And it’s a cool thing to experience.
00:48:32:25 – 00:48:53:12
Agent Palmer
So I want to I want to go back to one thing you said, which when you were working for clients, you were a people pleaser. Yeah. How does that ties in to bloomery? Like are you still or have you is it toned down? Are you still a people pleaser now that people are coming into your space as it changed?
00:48:53:26 – 00:49:01:43
Lauren Beck
That’s a good question. I wish I could ask that of like my studio regulars, my people pleaser. They’d probably be like, yeah.
00:49:01:47 – 00:49:17:56
Lauren Beck
Okay, so I’d love to make people feel comfortable. We have a snack station, we got a coffee pot, we got good tunes, right? So I’m always like checking in with people and make sure they’re comfortable. But that to me is like natural. That’s not.
00:49:18:01 – 00:49:18:39
Agent Palmer
Really no.
00:49:18:42 – 00:49:20:39
Lauren Beck
That is people pleasing.
00:49:20:41 – 00:49:46:49
Agent Palmer
That’s not it’s not, it’s not because when I so so Steph and I have started actually we did start like before kid. We started hosting dinners, because I, I have anxiety and because of the way it manifests, going out to dinner is a is a bit of a process, but hosting a dinner in my space super easy.
00:49:46:52 – 00:50:15:02
Agent Palmer
Or maybe not easy, but easier. And so we’ve been hosting dinners. And so I will, you know, I and I don’t I it’s not strangers right. Like I, I it’s people we know but like I’m like you know the standard things when you’re hosting guests for dinner. What would you like to drink? Whatever. Whatever. And a lot of people, because they’re close to me, blow me off because, of course, like, it’s like, all right, you know, I, you know, whatever.
00:50:15:05 – 00:50:33:27
Agent Palmer
Like, but you still go through those motions. But I don’t think that just I don’t think that makes me a people pleaser. I’m just being a good host. And I think because it’s your space, I don’t know that that counts as people pleasing because you’re just being a good host.
00:50:33:37 – 00:50:55:33
Lauren Beck
Thanks. Yeah, I really like it too. I feel like it’s an extension of my home inviting people in. It’s an extension of who I am by teaching them things that I love. When other instructors come in, I feel like I’m celebrating who they are as people, or I try to as best as I can. And I think that really resonates with folks.
00:50:55:33 – 00:51:12:44
Lauren Beck
So I don’t think it’s necessarily people pleasing. I do it because I want to, and I hope that comes across to people because it is from like a really, you know, genuine place in my heart. But I like that I can put my own stamp on it like that. I can be like, no, no, don’t clean up after yourselves.
00:51:12:44 – 00:51:28:19
Lauren Beck
You leave and you feel good about your experience. You don’t have to clean up all of it. You don’t have to wash your brushes like, I’m not going to make you do that. You’re here as my guest, you know? And I think that adds to it, which maybe very different, like someone who is very like, we’re I could never do this.
00:51:28:19 – 00:51:49:23
Lauren Beck
When I worked for other people, I was on a time crunch. I would bring the the supplies to a place, run a workshop, and I had to be out of there in a half hour or whatever. So I had to shuffle people out. Here we linger, we chat. I have people that, you know, it just feels like such a good energy exchange and I just want more of it.
00:51:49:25 – 00:52:11:02
Lauren Beck
It really energizes me, and I just feel so grateful that I can provide a space that folks feel comfortable in enough to to let loose and let let their guard down a little, you know.
00:52:11:07 – 00:52:35:38
Agent Palmer
If you have a spark, even a little spark, follow it. It may not make you wealthy monetarily, but it might make you happy, and it could lead you somewhere unexpected. And neither of those are bad. Additionally, opening yourself up to opportunities is not easy. Starting a podcast, painting your first watercolor, learning, or experiencing something new. But is it worth it?
00:52:35:39 – 00:52:59:52
Agent Palmer
The answer is always yes. Despite how hard it can be or how momentous that first step may seem, the next step is always easier. That’s part of what Lauren is building at bloomery. That’s why building community is an important part of what she is doing, and it’s why I applaud and support the effort. Community can make the first step easier, not easy.
00:52:59:57 – 00:53:19:44
Agent Palmer
If you’ve been listening for a long time. You may have heard this before from my guests or myself, but if you haven’t, know that I always lament the erosion of community, and I’m talking about what I’m seeing and hearing, not necessarily what I’m experiencing. I’ve built and cultivated my own community. It’s not easy, but it makes life fuller.
00:53:19:51 – 00:53:42:52
Agent Palmer
I also happen to actually know my neighbors. My community is not just online or those people I’ve collected over my years on earth. I actually am part of the physical community in which I reside. Community is no longer a given, which is why I lament for it when I hear people missing out on it. And if you need it, that’s what Lauren is building, and it’s there for you if you need it.
00:53:43:02 – 00:54:04:17
Agent Palmer
And if you’re not local to Lehigh Valley and can’t easily access bloomery, look for programs or other such organizations through your local library or art communities, or start your own. Thanks for listening to The Palmer Files episode 185. And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays. If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion.
00:54:04:20 – 00:55:10:35
Agent Palmer
You can find all related ways to contact Lauren or myself in the show notes. For more information on bloomery, visit bloomery Dot go, which is conveniently also how you can contact Lauren. The music for this episode was provided by Hannah Hater. Email and comments can be sent to this show at The Palmer files@gmail.com. And remember your home for all things Agent Palmer is Agent palmer.com.
00:55:10:40 – 00:55:12:30
Agent Palmer
All right, Lauren, do you have one final question.
00:55:12:30 – 00:55:13:04
Agent Palmer
For me?
00:55:13:13 – 00:55:26:55
Lauren Beck
I do, I came with a question. It is, a question that I was discussing with dev and my husband the other night. And I thought, since you play music. Right? Is it drums or bass?
00:55:27:00 – 00:55:37:33
Agent Palmer
It was bass, but I have, Well, during Covid, I bought myself a drum kit, and I play guitar. Yeah, all of them. All any. Any of it? All of it. You name it.
00:55:37:36 – 00:56:07:24
Lauren Beck
Yeah, yeah. So what are your thoughts on this? Like with music and art in general? We really appreciate it when a musician shows that they can play something really phenomenal, but then also restrain their, like, show restraint in their music. Or an artist shows restraint in visual arts, they hold back in certain areas and add details in others.
00:56:07:29 – 00:56:16:33
Lauren Beck
Like what is your, approach to this with music or like, do you have any reaction to that? Because we had a really cool conversation surrounding this.
00:56:16:36 – 00:56:43:08
Agent Palmer
So I might be currently super overqualified to answer this question. For the last four years, I’ve been going on what I like to call musical journeys, which is I’ll pick like 10 or 15 artists, and I will put together a list of albums of all of their albums, and I will listen to them in chronological order. So the original one was like, how did the Beatles bounce off?
00:56:43:08 – 00:57:04:33
Agent Palmer
The stones bounce off, you know, Zeppelin when they come out and CCR when they come out and all this stuff. So I’ve over the and I’m in my I’m towards the end of what I like to call my third musical journey because I, you know, did like 15 bands and then I did 20 more bands and then and part of it was I wanted to listen to more music, and I’m horrible at making decisions.
00:57:04:33 – 00:57:32:46
Agent Palmer
So like sitting down and making a spreadsheet once with 300 albums covers me for like, well, sometimes I listen to more than one album a day, but like, you know, an amount of days and I, I’ve gotten this appreciation for like artists like one of the great examples of what you just described would be Van Halen. Right? Eddie Van Halen, changed the way guitarists looked at the instrument.
00:57:32:50 – 00:58:06:10
Agent Palmer
But when he plays, you know, when they cover. You really got me by the kinks he doesn’t like. Yeah, he still does some solo stuff, but he’s just playing a cover in the rest of the song. He’s not trying to overdo it for that other part. And, and having gone through many artist progressions, like, you see a lot of them towards the end of their career, if they have lengthy careers, go back to the simplicity of what they started with.
00:58:06:15 – 00:58:23:30
Agent Palmer
And I think a lot of it is because they lose their way. Now, granted, there’s always the musical discussion of why our first album is so amazing because, well, because it took him 20 years to make the first album, and then they did very well and people were like, all right, now, you know, you have a year, do a second album.
00:58:23:35 – 00:58:53:41
Agent Palmer
But I’ve found not all of those things are equal. For an example. Recently I listened to fastballs, first album and fastballs second album. Fastballs first album is completely forgettable 90s rock. You’ve never heard this album, you’ve never heard. And if you have, you don’t remember this album. But their second album includes The Way and yeah, like All.
00:58:53:45 – 00:58:54:24
Lauren Beck
In My Head.
00:58:54:29 – 00:59:22:25
Agent Palmer
Yeah, but all of the songs, you know, from fastball are from the second album, so it’s not always that kind of progression. But but I will say, you know, one of my and this isn’t part of the journey, but it’s just part of me music. I came to really like maybe my 30s, late 20s, early 30s. I came to really enjoy Colin Hay, who was the lead singer for Men at Work.
00:59:22:27 – 00:59:49:42
Agent Palmer
Right. So okay. Down under overkill. In fact, he rerecorded an acoustic version of overkill for one of his solo efforts, and his solo stuff is really good, but his solo stuff is so troubadour ish, where it’s there is a band behind him a lot of the time, but front and center in the mix is just his acoustic guitar and his voice.
00:59:49:47 – 01:00:11:14
Agent Palmer
Yeah, we don’t have to do anything, act like he doesn’t need anything more. I think I would be fine with just that. Right? Like, yeah, there’s some light drums and maybe a a bass that’s not heavy in the mix or whatever he doesn’t need anymore. Yeah, right. You find these examples, but I, I think that you need the stretch though.
01:00:11:26 – 01:00:21:55
Agent Palmer
Like you need to know how good they can be to appreciate when they’re being restrained. Right. Like,
01:00:21:59 – 01:00:24:18
Lauren Beck
That’s a really good point. Yeah.
01:00:24:30 – 01:00:43:10
Agent Palmer
Because otherwise, I don’t know, like, as an example, I’m a very mediocre player of many things. Okay. So if I play anything that remotely sounds like a song. Okay. I’ve done very well.
01:00:43:15 – 01:01:07:30
Agent Palmer
Whether it’s me covering somebody else or not. And that’s just because, you know, I, I do try and pick up the guitar every day, but I’m self-taught. I have horrible posture like my, my, you know, I, I just it’s all bad, but it brings me joy. And that’s the most important part for me. But for like artists out there, I think you need to know like and I, I think it even but it’s not just music.
01:01:07:30 – 01:01:30:22
Agent Palmer
Right. And it’s not just art either. Like I think on a personal level, I needed to write, you know, I don’t remember what it was, but I’ve written very long posts. But I need to allow myself to write really long posts to be able to write really short posts and then whatever. I guess a normal post is I don’t have a, you know, a standard word count I’m going for.
01:01:30:31 – 01:01:55:13
Agent Palmer
I’m trying to get my thoughts out, and when they’re done, they’re done. But by the same token, some of my thoughts take 15,000 words to get to and some of them are done in 500. Yeah, I think that that’s a stretch. That’s probably normal. You know, that’s just like Eddie going nuts on eruption and then going into you really got me, which is just one’s crazy and one’s normal.
01:01:55:18 – 01:02:16:09
Agent Palmer
That’s. Yeah. You know, I, I, I think it’s important. I think it’s, it’s also like, you’re not going to shoot for 100% every time out, regardless of what you’re doing. And part of that’s being an artist because you’re trying new things so you don’t know how it’s going to go.
01:02:16:14 – 01:02:16:45
Lauren Beck
01:02:16:50 – 01:02:40:46
Agent Palmer
You know I can’t speak for like you as a visual artist. But as a blogger I’ve never written the same post twice. So I don’t, I don’t know how I’m doing. How often do you from scratch make the same thing you don’t like. That’s not a thing you do. So there is an amount of stretching that happens at every level.
01:02:40:51 – 01:03:02:57
Agent Palmer
Could all of my 15,000 word posts be 1500 word posts? Perhaps? Could all of my 500 word posts be 5000? Perhaps? I don’t know, but what comes out of me comes out of me. And I think it’s the same thing with the music thing where it’s like, all right, well, hopefully these people figure it out and they’re giving me what they’re giving me.
01:03:02:57 – 01:03:30:19
Agent Palmer
It’s one of the reasons that I went back to the album, because I think that it’s that the album, it may or may not be a lost art, but I think it’s coming back. And I think that people listening through tracks without shuffle is something that’s important. They’re telling a story, and whether it’s the producer that’s telling you the story or the artist because they had control enough to be able to choose, I don’t know.
01:03:30:31 – 01:03:51:25
Agent Palmer
But, you know, I, I and look, should everybody do what I’m doing? Absolutely not. But I do think that everybody should at least once in their life, listen through a discography of your favorite band or bands, like once a day, one album a day, for however long it takes you to get through that band, you know? Career.
01:03:51:32 – 01:03:52:56
Lauren Beck
Because of.
01:03:52:56 – 01:04:11:14
Agent Palmer
That, one of the things I’ve learned about it is everybody’s trajectories. Like, I guess it goes back to curiosity. I now know what the beginning and the end of this band sounds like. Now some of these bands are done, but like more or less, you know, until they put out something new, this is how they started and this is how they finished.
01:04:11:19 – 01:04:14:48
Agent Palmer
And yeah, they’re different. It’s just right.
01:04:14:53 – 01:04:46:00
Lauren Beck
And like appreciating the like the breadth of it, the it it’s an entirety of like their storytelling through their art. And there is like times when they go all out or there’s times when they restrain and it’s that give and take, like Devin and I were really, like, just impressed by a band that we had seen live and we were seeing like, oh, and this one part, we thought it was like going to be kind of boring.
01:04:46:05 – 01:05:23:35
Lauren Beck
But what we realized as it built, how, oh, he was just showing restraint with his guitar. He was just like kind of toying with us a little bit like, you know, like getting into it and letting the build happen. So I was curious how you felt about that with music and just with creativity in general, because I think that might be the magic with exploring your art and your just any, any kind of art form or creative form is like figuring out what it looks like to do the most you can possibly do, and what the least amount can look like to.
01:05:23:39 – 01:05:25:05
Lauren Beck
I just find it really fascinating.
01:05:25:05 – 01:05:55:13
Agent Palmer
So I go back to 1995. The internet is a fledgling thing, but my friend and I are big Aerosmith fans, and Aerosmith’s about to stream one of the first concerts on the internet, and, I believe it was on Real Player. It’s since been uploaded to YouTube because I’ve watched it since then, but not I only watched it recently and I ended up writing a post about it.
01:05:55:18 – 01:06:32:37
Agent Palmer
But one of the things that I remembered for the, let’s say, 15 to 20 years in between when I first watched that concert live streaming on very bad internet to to when I revisited it, is that Aerosmith has a song called Sweet Emotion that has a breakdown in it. And during this very specific live concert that they did stream on the internet, in the breakdown, they launched into LED Zeppelin’s Black Dog and then came out of they didn’t do the whole song, but they did a couple verses and a chorus.
01:06:32:42 – 01:06:56:26
Agent Palmer
Then they came back out of it in perfect sync, back into the breakdown, and went back on with the song. That’s that version of that song even before it got re-uploaded to YouTube. Lived rent free in my head forever, right? They didn’t have to do that. I’ve seen them live other times in person, and they’ve never done that.
01:06:56:31 – 01:07:17:32
Agent Palmer
Just that one time. And I heard it and I’ve never forgotten it. And all of that is to say, you don’t know what people are going to remember, so you don’t know if people are going to remember as you and Devin did, that. Maybe they’re toying with you or that maybe you did some extra solo, or maybe you didn’t.
01:07:17:37 – 01:07:35:17
Agent Palmer
You know, maybe you were at the concert where the band’s like, all right, no solos, you don’t know, and you don’t know what you’re going to remember, because maybe you’ve forgotten more concerts than you’ve been to. Or maybe you’ve forgotten more books than you’ve read. You don’t know what’s going to be the thing that you remember the most.
01:07:35:21 – 01:07:55:08
Agent Palmer
Yeah, it’s just that one thing that I live, you know, when I got to hear it again, I don’t know if it lived up to the mythology of that first time because you’re not expecting it that first time. And that’s a lot of things. It’s like watching our favorite movies over and over again. We still appreciate them. Just it’s not it’s never the, the quite the same.
01:07:55:08 – 01:08:17:12
Agent Palmer
But you don’t know what you’re going to remember. So who knows. Like it. You know, that’s kind of the the magic of art because it again, it’s not done the same way every time unless you’re putting on the same album, live performance or live creativity of writing a thing from creating anything from a blank slate page, whatever, I don’t know.
01:08:17:14 – 01:08:19:45
Agent Palmer
That’s we don’t know what we’re gonna do.
01:08:19:52 – 01:08:24:30
Lauren Beck
Yeah, yeah. So really, it comes back to be curious.
01:08:24:38 – 01:08:27:54
Agent Palmer
You have to, but you also have to take the step.
01:08:28:09 – 01:08:28:54
Lauren Beck
Take the step.
01:08:28:57 – 01:08:29:37
Agent Palmer
You have to.
01:08:29:42 – 01:08:31:23
Lauren Beck
Agreed. Well said.
–End Transcription–
This transcription was processed by PalmerTech 3.1 and may contain errors for HUMINT (human intelligence).