Today we’d like to introduce you to Denise McMahon.
Hi Denise, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up, I never really knew where I fit in or who I wanted to be. In my twenties, I spent a lot of time letting the external voices of some I held in high regards carry more weight than my own and not giving enough weight to the people who truly supported me. I didn’t think I was good enough to be a photographer, or an artist of any kind, for that matter. My opinion was never the right one, or could always be improved, or so I led myself to believe. Instead I focused on climbing the IT career ladder, logically assuming that financial stability made for the best career. I thought to myself, after growing up with immigrant parents and seeing how much they fought to carve out a living here in America with 4 kids, that gaining my own financial stability was crucial. But, even though I liked the people I worked with, I didn’t feel fulfilled. I struggled to find my purpose within those, oftentimes windowless, office walls.
Near the end of my IT career (yes spoiler alert, I left my IT job when my son was born), I was burnt out and weighed down by anxiety, personally frustrated and struggling with our fertility journey. I felt lost, and honestly, I wasn’t really being true to myself, to what I wanted.
It felt like I knew I was meant for a different calling but I couldn’t see past my fear of failure and anxiety.
In my late twenties, though, I realized how much I was letting myself down by not being *my own biggest cheerleader* and allowing uncertainty and fears rule my mind. And letting others opinion carry more weight than mine? Phew, it was a lot of burden…living a life like that. It took a lot of heart-to-hearts with my husband, and a lot of looking inward at my life, to see what I wanted out of it. I started to let go of my fertility anxieties, stopped living in the “what ifs” of tomorrow, and finally, finally, start tuning into my own intuition.
In 2017, the year I turned 30, I took the leap of ultimate faith in myself—I said “eff it” and applied for an LLC for Denise Van Photography. I also randomly picked up a paintbrush along the way that summer, where I discovered a new love for watercolors. Fast forward to spring of 2018, I stumbled upon alcohol inks. The holy trifecta? Maybe. But mostly I call it my tipping point, the beginning of everything.
I started saying YES to what made me happy, to my creativity, and to giving my dreams a real shot. The more I embraced my love for photography and art, the more I realized how much I truly lived and breathed it. Ever since 2017, it’s been a wild 8 years of cultivating and growing this beautiful business with a limitless imagination and creativity in mind. Looking back now, it all feels like it was meant to be. Every experience, every heartache, every step, led me right here.
This is my story of creativity and it’s how I got to where I am today. Living this life as a human with limitless creativity and a deep, enduring love for being creative.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
see answer to first question!
But also I don’t think any business owner ever gets to start out with a smooth road paved for them 🙂
Starting a business is like walking into a thick forest with no trailhead or markers in sight, squaring your shoulders and rolling up your sleeves. You spend time pulling the weeds along the way, sowing seeds where you can, and when you look back, you see you created something of a walking path for yourself.
You find yourself with imposter syndrome, something I’m sure we all have felt (still feel sometimes!), you worry when you’re not booked, sometimes working within the margins of life because you’re a full-time mom too still. But along the way, you find resources, fellow business owners walking similar walks to yours, mentors and experienced friends who guide you when you need it. You delegate and allow others to help you. You can’t do it all alone. That’s what I’ve learned.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a multi-passionate creative. My main mediums are photography, watercolor, and alcohol inks. I’ve been known to dabble in embroidery, resin, among other mediums as well and I’m starting to find ways to create mixed media. Across all these mediums is this sense of intuition and creation from my heart. I’m known for art that evokes mood, with a limitless imagination in mind.
And what am I proud of? Well honestly, I’m proud of myself for putting my art out there. It’s a vulnerable place to be, to believe in your art enough to say “hey I think you should buy my art”, to hush the voice inside your head saying “you’re not good enough” or “I’m not at that level, why am I even trying?”. I’m proud of this creative journey I’m on, for keeping my curiosity alive, and to have art in my life.
What were you like growing up?
I was the kind of person who got along with many and I floated around in many groups. Not in the social butterfly way but just as someone with really diverse interests and you just meet many people that way. I worked a part-time job too, which opened my social circles even more.
Ironically, in my mind, art wasn’t really a big part of my childhood. But then when I think back on it, I was but just not in the typical “artist” way, with paints, watercolors, oils, or even photography. Instead, I played the violin but that too is in the arts. I was a violinist for quite a long time, from 5th grade all the way until my sophomore year of college. It was a big part of my childhood and I participated in many musicals in the pit orchestra. I never thought of myself as an artist back then though.
And goodness I loved books, still do to this day. Once summer hit, you’d find me immersed wholly in the fantasy worlds of Tamora Pierce, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and more. My book stacks were as tall as my chest and my nose was always in a book.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.westmeadowcreative.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/westmeadowcreative
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/westmeadowcreativeart
