Welcome To The Not-So-Secret Blog Of Aurelia Nobleia

It’s our wedding anniversary today! 🙂

Yay!

Yes, we did in fact get married on a Labor Day.

But, my how time flies…

9 years comes and goes in a blink. I really need to be careful. Because if I’m not, life will pass by in a flash, and suddenly I’ll be old and realize that I haven’t done anything meaningful at all! 🙁

Today:

We decided to do something meaningful for our anniversary.

We decided to stay at home. And whip up something super special together in the kitchen. Instead of going out. Or ordering a lavish meal delivered to our doorstep via limousine.

We thought it’d be fun. 🙂

And we had something really delicious on our mind. Something we saw on YouTube.

It looked fantastic.

Delicious too.

But most importantly:

Extremely nutritious!

I’m talking about cauliflower pizza! Made without any flour, gluten or processed ingredients. Totally comprised of fresh vegetables, nuts, herbs and spices. And yes, we were trying to make it as vegan as possible.

Thus the adventure began…

But unfortunately…

The adventure ended as fast as it started… because… after a long time of blending up stuff, and getting the pizza sauce and toppings ready, we realized that the cauliflower dough blend we made for the crust just wasn’t forming.

It was on the stove.

Flat as a pizza dough.

But it just wasn’t coming together. No matter how long we cooked it, it was still mushy.

Darn.

I knew we substituted too many ingredients from the original recipe while trying to make it even more nutritious! 🙁

And to make matters worse…

… we were starving.

And the pizza wasn’t ready… yet.

I don’t think it was ever gonna be ready.

Were we really gonna have to order a lavish meal delivered via limousine right to our doorstep?

Fortunately, not.

In a sudden stroke of creative inspiration, my hubby took the cauliflower dough, and made some additions to it… turning it into an amazingly tasty filling.

Next, he then used the filling, and alternated it with the pizza sauce (and some homemade vege crackers we had) and…

… created a uniquely vegan wholefood lasagne! :O

And it was the most incredible lasagne I’ve had in the longest time, vegan or no vegan! :O

I kid you not.

We ate and ate and ate and ate until we were stuffed. Along with all the other goodies we had. It was heavenly.

But looking back at this, I still have to give a little sigh.

*sigh*

Because:

It reminded me how…

… sometimes I focus too much on achieving a specific goal…

… like making cauliflower pizza…

… so much so that I lose sight of the big picture…

… like making an amazing meal.

And this means I’m less flexible. And less creative. And miss out on a lot of opportunities to take what I have and turn it into something even better than what I originally wanted.

I think the saying was:

“When life gives you lemon, turn it into lemonade”?

That’s what I’m talking about…

“When life gives you a useless cauliflower pizza dough that refuses to become a crust, make cauliflower lasagne.”

Sincerely,
Aurelia Nobleia
“I Don’t Have 10 Rings”

P.S. I didn’t create any art today. It’s a holiday for me. *Sigh*. 🙁

But I did fatten up my store by adding this wreath yesterday. 🙂

I hope you like it.

A couple days ago:

My hubby came over to my desk and asked me an interesting question.

“You wanna see something cool?” he said while beaming.

“Sure!” I replied in astonishment.

We then sat down and started watching a documentary. About creating art. Featuring someone the media calls “an art spammer”. And when the media says that, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are one. It just means that the media is looking for someone to paint as a villain so their story gets more views.

Anyway:

The documentary started off with this guy, Anthony, from Adelaide, Australia.

He was a failed musician.

He started a band with his friends. But they failed to make enough money to support themselves.

So they dis-banded.

(pardon the pun)

And he ended up in desperate straits. Because he wanted to create art for a living. But he couldn’t make enough of a living doing it.

So one day…

… he ended up searching the internet for clues on how to make a good living doing the art he loved – making music…

… and his search led him to…

… Matt Farley…

… who is one of the most prolific songwriters of all time. Writing over 22,000 songs to date. And making a decent $65,000 a year just from streaming and downloads of his songs from what I’ve read.

This figure doesn’t include what he earns from television and movie films using his music. And it also doesn’t include the income he gets from sponsorships by companies who want him to make music for them.

Anyway:

Anthony decides to contact Matt.

Matt agrees to mentor Anthony in the ways of the middle-class artist.

And the series begins with Anthony flying off to the United States to learn Matt’s prolific ways.

An incredibly interesting documentary series. Really.

I seriously learned a lot.

Some of the things I learned?

Well…

1. Quantity leads to Quality.

As creative professionals, we often censor our own ideas. Because we worry that they aren’t good enough.

We want to create masterpieces.

Amazing hits that everyone will love. And no one will criticize.

But in doing so, we end up limiting ourselves. And our work. With fear. And we end up creating much less than we could.

The result?

We end up not making a lot of stuff that would have been terrible. BUT… we also end up NOT making a lot of stuff that would have been EPIC.

Quantity doesn’t equal quality.

But it often leads to it in the end. If you create 20,000 pieces of art, chances are high that 1% or even 0.5% of that is gonna be a world-changing best-seller.

2. Don’t censor yourself.

The thing I like about Matt’s approach to art is that…

… he doesn’t censor himself.

He doesn’t just put out the art he thinks is great.

He puts out EVERYTHING.

The good. The bad. The ugly.

And this creates a very forgiving environment where… he doesn’t criticize himself… or care about the criticism of others… and allows his creativity to steer the way.

3. All you need is one hit.

Watching the documentary, I kept being reminded of something a famous artist once said:

All you need is one world-changing, chart-topping mega hit…

And voila:

All the lousy work you created in the past becomes Collector’s Items that people everywhere will fight over and auction for millions and millions of dollars.

Were Van Gogh’s first paintings (when he just got started learning) awesome?

Heavens NO!

Just like any beginner paintings, they were trash.

But are they worth millions of dollars today?

You know the answer…

So why would you censor yourself and discard the work you think isn’t good enough?

4. It helps a lot if you niche down.

While Matt did all sorts of songs… ranging from novelty songs where he just sang one person’s name over and over again… to more celebratory songs like those singing about someone’s graduation…

… he didn’t put all those songs together.

He put each category of song under separate Artist Names.

Like:

– The Artist Who Sings People’s Names Over And Over Again
– The Artist Who Sings About Country Names
– The Toilet Cleaners (an artist persona he created to sing about poop)

Why not be all things to all people you ask?

Because… psychologically… people automatically look at someone with a narrow range of expertise and have a better impression of them, treating them like experts.

Think about how much a Brain Surgeon makes compared to your General Practitioner doctor.

So if you have multiple interests?

You might want to put them in a separate business.

5. Double down on what’s working

You know what really got Matt started churning out songs like there’s no tomorrow?

At first:

He just created some songs for fun on Spotify and iTunes.

He checked sometime later and realized he made a whopping whole $2.

But then it hit him…

“Wait. If I can make $2 a year uploading a song or two. What if I created 10,000 songs and uploaded them? Wouldn’t that be $20,000 a year? And what about 20,000 songs?”

Turns out he ended up making way more than that.

Because when you have THAT many songs in your portfolio, some of them are uncontrollably going to end up becoming smash hit singles. Whether by luck or by skill.

But here’s the thing:

Most people do something. And they make a little money doing it. And then they stop.

Not realizing that…

… if they just doubled-down on what was working…

… no matter how small the success was…

… and did it over and over again…

… the money they made would exponentially multiply.

As the late, great John Wooden (who was once named the winningest coach in history) once said:

“Success = Simplicity + Repetition”

I agree.

So:

If you’ve been using my artwork to make your own creative masterpieces, and you’ve been making sales with them, and even hitting bestseller status left and right with all your new products like some of our fans are… why stop there?

Why not get even more of my art and create even more masterpieces and get even more sales?

I know it sounds simple. Too simple to accept.

But hey…

… why knock what’s working?

He he. 🙂

Sincerely,
Aurelia Nobleia
“Art Spammer In Training”

P.S. One last thing I learned from Matt:

Were all his songs life-changing, world-shattering hits?

Heavens no.

And he got criticized by a lot of people for that.

But did his songs make people laugh?

Heavens yeah they did.

(Especially his poop songs which became some of his top pieces.)

And what type of person would begrudge another person for making others laugh and have some cheer in their day?

No matter what you’re doing, make sure you have fun.

100 years from now, we’ll all be 6 feet underground anyway.

So don’t take things too seriously. 🙂

Cheers.

And happy designing.

(Inspired by Matt, I did create a fun new piece too recently, so do feel free to check it out in my store when you have time…)

Turnip-lover, Sara B., sends me some heart-filled praise:

“Hello!! I stumbled across your shop while looking for SVG files for possible future signs I could make for my shop. I just HAD To tell you that I fell in LOVE with your shop. I want to buy everything!! I will defiantly be buying in the near future! I’ve never done this before, I just really felt the need to tell you! Haha”

And while this is Sara’s first time sending out a message like this, it’s definitely not my first time receiving one. 🙂

(I never get tired of them though. So thank you so much for taking the time! It really means a lot!)

But:

It reminds me of something that world-famous Dilbert cartoonist, Scott Adams, once said about discovering hidden hits.

Most people spend tons of time creating artwork.

And after that, they spend tons more time promoting their artwork. To get more customers, sales, and to build their creative businesses so they don’t starve on the streets like Van Gogh and every other starving-artist out there.

But the problem with this approach?

It doesn’t matter how much time you spend marketing and promoting it… a piece that wasn’t destined to be a hit, will almost never be a hit.

Better start with something that’s destined to be a hit in the first place.

And then promote the daylights out of it.

But then comes another question:

How do you know whether the art you create is destined for world-wide fame and the oh-so-elusive bestseller status or not before you start the hard work of marketing and promoting it?

As Scott Adams says…

… you expose people to it and…

… you measure their PHYSICAL reactions to your work.

If something is destined to be a bestseller, it will almost always cause people to have some sort of physical reaction.

Whether that reaction is:

• clicking the like button
• telling their friends all about it
• leaving a comment
• sending a message about it

And the more physical effort required for a particular reaction, the more likely your work is gonna be a bestseller. Sending someone a message telling them you love their work and want to buy everything they create is WAY more effort than clicking a little blue ‘Like’ button.

And:

That’s also how I knew very early on that my artwork was gonna be a hit sooner or later.

I just had to get it out there.

And in front of more eyeballs.

And…

… you know the rest of the story.

But it wasn’t an easy ride, mind you.

It took a lot of hard work, effort, patience, diligence (and almost every other Biblical virtue out there) for me to improve my drawings and experiment with my illustrations until they got to a level where they created a huge physical response in almost everyone that saw them.

In short:

I don’t recommend doing it from scratch.

Unless you love doing stuff like that, of course.

But otherwise…

… if you want the fastest and easiest way to create bestselling works of art for your crafting projects and your business that people love and drool over…

… just piggyback on top of mine and…

… use them as a base for your creative greatness.

I’ve already proven it works.

All you need to do is click here and grab what you need.

Sincerely,
Aurelia Nobleia
“Body Mover Extraordinaire”

P.S. I’ve been doing a new experiment on Instagram, where I’m featuring customer’s artwork if you’re using our designs.

Wanna see how much of a physical response you can get from people?

Let me feature your artwork on our page, and let’s see. 🙂

Just use the tag #turnipco

I’ll feature you here.

It’s scary.

Not being able to breathe…

A couple days ago, I was down in my mini home-laboratory, trying to mix up a new herbal concoction that could be used as both a natural cleaning agent, a bug killer and repellent, and a home air freshener and detoxifier… all at the same time!

You probably already know this, but…

… in addition to being an artist…

… I’m also a herbalist.

And as herbalists are wont to do, I like to experiment and create new stuff using Nature’s finest herbs.

Stuff for healing.

Stuff for relaxing.

And even stuff for cleaning. Without all the synthetic chemicals laden on us by Big Industry that do microscopic long-term damage to your health.

(I also majored in chemistry in college for one of my degrees by the way. So maybe that’s also why I have these weird hobbies.)

Anyway, after I was done mixing up my new solution…

… I started pouring it into a special sprayer I had so that I could start testing out my lovely new creation.

The sprayer was supposed to squirt the liquid in a straight line.

But suddenly:

The sprayer started malfunctioning…

And instead of spraying in a straight line like any good water gun does… it started turning the liquid into a mist and diffusing it everywhere! In case you’re wondering… NO it’s NOT supposed to do that!

And even worse:

I hadn’t finished diluting the solution yet!

*sigh*

(This is the last time I purchase equipment from China. No-offense if you’re from China. I just find that their equipment malfunctions way too often.)

Anyway, I didn’t inhale too much, but I did breathe a little in…

… and I don’t know why…

… but I started finding it hard to breathe.

Well, let me rephrase that.

I could breathe just fine.

But somehow, I felt that I wasn’t getting enough oxygen. And I was starting to get dizzy and faint.

I quickly rushed to the pantry, and grabbed a bottle of extra hot cayenne powder… dumped some of it in water… and gulped it down… to open up my lungs, keep my circulation going and stop myself from fainting.

Next, I quickly whipped together a batch of stuff that’s normally used to combat low oxygen at high altitudes.

Blackstrap molasses.

Gingko Biloba.

A pure and concentrated megadose of Vitamin C powder (which I normally don’t use, but it’s good to have on hand when you need fast recovery of any kind during almost any emergency.)

And I ran to an open window to get more fresh air.

I started feeling better.

But I was still having some issues.

Some dizziness.

Starting to get some numbness.

And I couldn’t really think straight.

So finally, I grabbed a few drops of highly diluted food-grade hydrogen peroxide and used that to infuse oxygen into my body. I won’t go into how I did it, because it’s a bit controversial, but when you can’t think straight, you just instinctively go for what works in the moment.

And work it did…

… for I quickly started going back to normal.

*phew*

That was close.

I’m fine now.

But I really need to be more careful about having all my safety equipment on when running experiments.

Not being able to breathe is scary!

Now I know what it feels like to be a terminally ill Covid patient who can’t breathe.

I do have some health clients who came down with Covid. But, because of how knowledgeable they are right now about taking care of their health and immune system, none of them even got sick. So… this is the closest I’ll get to seeing something like that… I hope…

Anyway, I’m still here.

I’m fine.

And I know what I’ll be thankful for this Thanksgiving! 🙂

Being alive and being able to breathe fresh air.

And, in case you were wondering:

Yes, I do have some lovely stuff you can use this Thanksgiving to express thankfulness to your family, friends and loved ones and to show gratefulness to the world for just being alive.

It’s now up in the store for the coming Autumn season.

So, if you have anyone or anything you’re grateful for, check it out here before Fall ends.

Sincerely,
Aurelia Nobleia
“Too Clumsy For Chemistry”

P.S. Yes, I’m grateful to you too!

Thanks so much for reading this and for supporting all my work! 🙂

Have you ever needed to write or create some artwork but all of a sudden…

… your mind started going blank…

… and your ability to write or draw went *poof*?

Well, it happens to me sometimes too.

In fact, it happened to me a few weeks ago.

Mind you:

This doesn’t happen often.

Normally I have so much to write about (and draw about) that I can’t stop writing. And eventually because I write so much, people start finding me annoying. So I have to consciously limit myself so that I don’t start annoying everyone around me.

However, when I look back on how this week’s writer’s block came about, I realized something interesting…

Inside me are two sides:

My Creator side. And my Consumption side.

My Consumption-side is forever wanting to read more books, watch more videos, and look at more artwork.

While my Creator-side is all about making more stuff.

Normally my Consumption-side is holding the steering wheel.

But one day…

… my “Creator” side said to my “Consumption” side:

“Hey, you’ve been reading too much recently. And you haven’t been writing enough! I need you to stop reading and watching videos for a couple of weeks, and sit your fluffy butt down and write and draw… or else people will forget about you forever and you’ll starve!”

“Umm… Ok. I’ll try…” said my Consumption side, reluctantly.

And so I did.

No books.

No videos.

No artwork.

Just sit the fluffy butt down on the chair and try to write and draw as much as I could to please my Creator-side.

And just like that…

… my mind went blank…

… for weeks…

Until:

I stopped trying to force myself to write and create and…

… I went back to reading again.

Reading as many books as I could.

As much as I wanted.

On as many different subjects as I wanted.

And…

Presto!

All of a sudden I have so much inspiration to write and draw that I don’t have enough time to do it all.

And now, Creator Aurelia and Consumption Aurelia are both happy.

This reminded me about about something I once heard Jake Parker, the creator of Inktober, say:

“You need to breathe in first before you can breathe out. If there’s no input, there’s no output”

You would have thought that with all the thousands of books and artistic masterpieces I’ve gone through over the years, my mind would be a literal river of creative ideas that flow out endlessly 24/7.

Looks like it doesn’t work that way.

No new input, no new output.

Speaking of new:

Recently I’ve noticed that a ton of fans have started stocking up on my Christmas Wreath masterpieces in preparation for the upcoming holiday season.

And, yes I know…

I haven’t started releasing my new Christmas pieces yet for this year.

I’ve been so busy working on some amazing illustrations for a contest I’m in. It’s been taking a lot of my time.

Well, I’m enjoying it.

But in case you were waiting for new Christmas masterpieces…

… rest assured, they’re coming! 🙂

But for now, our Christmas masterpiece collection from years past is now available in the store.

Might wanna stock up while you can.

Sincerely,
Aurelia Nobleia
“Crazy About Consumption”

A couple days ago, a fan asked me this:

“Aurelia, how come your emails often sound like they are coming from different people from different walks of life? Sometimes you sound like an old, scholarly sage in the style of Leonardo da Vinci.

At others, you sound like an unhinged teenage girl who is full of energy and bursting at the thought of adventure.

And at yet others, you sound like the typical, peaceful matron. Who is sitting quietly next to the window, and sewing herself something lovely for her family.”

And the answer to that, my friend is because…

… my personality at any given time slightly changes depending on the projects I’m working on.

You see:

My main focus is on honing and mastering my art.

However, while my main art of choice is normally illustration, I dive into lots of different types of art at any given time.

For example…

… sometimes I have this urge come over me…

… and I’ll be into hand-sewing for weeks.

At yet others, I’ll be studying and learning the crafts of movie producing and directing. And thinking about making myself a feature film.

And at yet others, I’ll be doing clay molding and stop motion animation.

But it doesn’t just stop at art.

Sometimes I’ll take a break from art for a while. And I’ll be studying the business and marketing side of art.

At others times, I study the neuroscience and history of art.

And at yet others, I’ll be watching old replays of Mr. Bean and laughing hard.

So whatever I’m immersed in at the moment, it affects my mood.

And perhaps my personality.

And that affects my writing. As well as my art.

But you know…

… in a sense, that’s also what makes my art so special.

And gives my art that extra edge.

When I’m creating art for children, I’ll often be dipping myself into childish pleasures. Like watching classic Ghibli films.

I noticed that it adds a special fairytale-like feel to my artwork that you can’t just explain with words.

When I’m creating art that can be used for weddings, perhaps I’ll grab my hubby and ask him to get married again.

And my latest example:

Recently, I managed to find myself in a country where everyone’s being locked down and longing for freedom.

Including me.

And that helped me create this piece that just screams out with my longing for freedom.

I want to travel!

Actually, I even made two versions of the piece. One with and one without borders.

Because I guess, subconsciously, I just want all the borders and restrictions to go away so I can travel again.

Have a look and just tell me that that doesn’t make you long for freedom!

Well:

This is true for me, and…

… as you’re working on different types of crafting and artistic projects…

… it’ll be true for you as well.

If you have a client, who needs a wood art piece for their children’s bedroom, immerse yourself in some childlike pursuits.

Perhaps playing with your kids.

Or take out your dusty, old doll collection and pretend to be a princess for a day.

Or if you’re designing a project for someone who’s getting married…

… get out your old wedding dress and start making some rounds around the house. 😉

I guarantee you that it’ll put an extra special “ooomph” in your artwork that makes it tower over everyone else’s.

And your clients will be so amazed… they won’t be able to explain just why.

Or you could just use mine as a base…

Since I’m already doing that.

Sincerely,
Aurelia Nobleia
“Still Clinically Sane“

P.S. Recently, I created a masterpiece that feels just like this.

It has multiple styles and personalities all blended into one.

Imagine Pixar + Disney + Papercut + Collage + Watercolor Painting

I made it for submission to a contest with the Society of Visual Storytelling. And the judges picked it as a quarter-finalist. They said they couldn’t stop talking about it. Yay!

Unfortunately, I lost in the end.

But it was fun. 🙂

A couple of weeks ago:

One of my fitness mentors (who also happens to be a world champion martial artist) posted a funny photo on Instagram.

In the photo…

… he was squatting while wrapping his hands around a beautiful piece of bamboo growing outside his home, with its leaves scattered on the surrounding grounds.

Someone asked in the comments:

“Who rakes the leaves?”

To which he replied:

“No one does. I pick them up one by one. One squat at a time.”

He uses the leaves as an opportunity to get in his daily squats. And with each squat a leaf is removed. One by one. Until the grounds are clear. Some days there are hundreds of leaves. And that means hundreds of squats.

All this just goes to show that…

… life is full of opportunities… hidden in plain sight.

But as the legendary Ralph Waldo Emerson once said:

“What lies behind us, and what lies before us are but tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

The opportunities we see on the outside pale in comparison to those hidden within us.

Inside you are an uncountable number of hidden talents, strengths and abilities that lie untapped. Most people go through their lives never discovering these buried opportunities. And at the end of your life, they are buried, gone and wasted.

A great teacher helps unlock those undiscovered opportunities inside you.

They see what you really have within. And bring it out to the surface. Where you can polish it and turn it into fine treasure.

But notice that I said… “great teacher”.

I have no qualms about saying that 99% of the teachers I’ve had in my life were terrible. And I hated them.

But the remaining 1%?

They believed in me.

They encouraged me.

They helped me unlock talent that I never knew I had deep within.

And they changed my life by encouraging me to focus on and refine my strengths.

And that’s why… I’m so incredibly amazing now!

Just kidding. Ha ha.

Anyway…

I’m making progress daily too. Just like you. But a few great teachers really made the difference for me.

And I think it would be it would be a shame for such teachers not to receive the recognition they deserve.

Especially considering how rare they are.

Recently:

I’ve been doing a little experiment.

I decided to start creating some ‘themed’ wreaths. Like my recently drawn and illustrated “Teacher’s Wreath“, which makes for an amazing design on any gift for that teacher or teachers who made a difference in your life.

I wasn’t expecting a lot, to be honest.

Didn’t think that many people would like it.

But…

*BOOM*

The Teacher’s Wreath turned into one of our best-sellers right now.

So:

I’ll be making more themed wreaths in the near future. But for now…

I see something special inside you…

… but I don’t know what it is.

Sincerely,
Aurelia Nobleia
“School Hater Extraordinaire”

P.S. The Adventures of Aurelia continues on Instagram and YouTube. If you need some daily laughs, or maybe even some inspiration, then you really should check it out. 🙂