MEGAN AUMAN

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in ten years time

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This morning, Tanya Geisler shared a story on Instagram about taking her daughter to summer camp, looking up at an office building she used to work at, and realizing how much her life had changed in ten years.

One thing she said really hit me.

“A lot can change in ten years if you are clear about what you want (and don’t want).”

It seems so obvious, but that’s what makes it so profound.

I promptly made myself the above image to remember it.

There’s something I really like about envisioning what my life will look like in ten years. It actually seems pretty easy. I don’t have to think about what I want the next ten years to look like. I just get to start by imagining one single point ten years in the future.

This is a pretty big relief for me.

In ten years, I’ll be 41. Which is, truthfully, also a pretty big relief for me.

I was one of those people who absolutely freaked out about turning 30. (To be fair, the first year and a half of my thirties involved some pretty major life and emotional upheaval, so my dread feels slightly vindicated.) I think, in the future picture I had of my life, my thirties always seemed a little murky.

But 40. For some reason, I’m already looking forward to that birthday.

I can’t quite explain why, but I’ve always had this sense that 40 is going to be amazing. I just have to get there.

And Tanya made me realize that I can use the picture of what I want 40 (or 41) to look like to help navigate my thirties.

If I get really clear about what I want me life to look like (and not look like) at 41, I will have a guidepost to make decisions from over the next ten years.

This doesn’t mean that I want to skip over or rush through my thirties. Hell no! I intend to enjoy them the best I can.

It just makes what had previously seemed like a pretty confusing decade of my life into an opportunity to springboard myself into the most amazing life I could possibly imagine!

around the web

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I’m beyond thrilled to have been featured on a number of AMAZING websites lately!

First up, you can view my new studio transformation on Design Sponge!

Then I was honored to be profiled as a Success Story on Create & Thrive, run by my awesome Aussie friend Jess Van Den!

And finally, I was thrilled to be included in Abby Kerr’s Voice Notes! I’m a huge fan of Abby’s Voice Values (it’s the new Myers-Briggs, in my book) and loved sharing mine with her audience.

A big thanks to all of these sites! It’s always fun sharing around the web!

continuing the series: paintings 43 – 46

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Here are three more little paintings I started when I was working on painting in series. They didn’t quite get done with the group, but they’re all done now.

“The Neighbors”
Acrylic on canvas
12″ x 12″
Available in my online shop.

“Sidewalk”
Acrylic on canvas
12″ x 12″
Available in my online shop.

“Hiding Behind”
Acrylic on canvas
12″ x 12″
Available in my online shop.

And here’s another painting that I started at the beach and finally finished.

“Florence”
Acrylic on canvas
18″ x 24″
Available in my online shop.

I’ve got a lot of paintings in the works right now. Some just aren’t coming together the way I’d like, and others are part of my next attempt at painting in series. I’m working on trying to find a balance between planning and play when I paint, but more on that later!

on success and magazine covers

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It’s funny that I should be writing about success right after seeing my earrings on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens.

For a long time, I’m fairly certain I had a singular definition of success – to see myself on the cover of a magazine.

I’m not sure why this has been my marker of success, but it always seemed to me that if I was on the cover of a magazine, then I would have “made it.”

A year and a half ago, I turned 30. And as my birthday approached, I had a serious meltdown. As in a hysterically crying in my car on the phone to Tara about how I hadn’t accomplished anything meltdown.

When she asked what I hadn’t accomplished yet, one of the top things on my list was that I hadn’t been on the cover of a magazine.

A few days later, I did a tally of my business numbers and realized that, despite it only being the end of October, I had already reached six figures in sales for the year. Tara reminded me of my meltdown and told me to shut up.

My life has changed a lot (ok, completely) since then, and so has my definition of success.

It shifted from aiming for fame to a focus on freedom, creative play, and financial security. (Truth be told, it looks a lot like this “sweet spot” diagram from Steal this Process.)

Success, to me, means being able to do what I want when I want.

And what I want is to create and teach and to take time for myself and my family whenever I need or want to.

What I want is to see my work out in the world, making other people feel confident and happy and inspired.

What I want is the ability to change my mind about what I want and the flexibility to shift my business to meet my current desires, whatever they are.

What I want right now is to paint. And to travel. And to teach (on my own terms). And to finish remodeling and decorating our house exactly the way I want. And to leave my mark on the world. And to bring in enough money to support us so that my husband can have everything he wants.

By that definition, it looks like I’m hovering somewhere in the area of “successful.” There are certainly days when it feels closer and other days when it feels farther away. And, if we’re being totally honest, I don’t really know that I believe that success is something you can actually achieve. It might always be a moving target.

I never really thought of myself as someone who was shooting for success. I’ve always been goal oriented, but I didn’t consider those goals as a way to become “successful.” I just considered those goals to be the pathway to having the life I want.

It’s really easy to get caught up in the successes that we don’t have (a magazine cover) and to ignore the successes we do have (a thriving business that supports me and an employee, time to follow my creative dreams, helping other creatives make their dreams a reality).

Because I believe success is a moving target, I don’t know that I’ll ever consider myself “successful”. I’m an overachiever and there’s always more that I’ll want to do.

By not focusing on success, and instead focusing on creating the life I want day by day, I may not have my magazine cover. But I do have a life I love, and the ability to do what I want, day in and day out, while making my mark on the world and making money at the same time.

And while I’d be lying if I said I’m not still dreaming of seeing myself on the cover of a magazine, I’m no longer letting that be a marker of my success. Instead, I’ll let it be a byproduct of doing work I love and making an impact on the world.

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This post is part of The Declaration of You’s BlogLovin’ Tour, which I’m thrilled to be a part of alongside over 100 other creative bloggers. Learn more — and join us! — by clicking here. The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, with readers getting all the permission they’ve craved to step passionately into their lives, discover how they and their gifts are unique, and uncover what they are meant to do!

2013, halfway to go!

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I can’t believe we’re at the mid-point of 2013 already! It feels like the year is flying by! (Though when I look back at the year, it does seem like a lot has happened.)

Since we’re halfway through the year, it seems like a good time to take a look at the goals I set in 2013.

Goal: Create a hundred paintings.
Status: 46 down, 54 to go!

I’m just about halfway through my hundred paintings, so I’m feeling right on track. Painting has definitely been my favorite way to spend my time this year, and I love having this goal to make me feel good about doing so. I’ve also taken a big step towards my bigger goal around painting and opened my online painting shop! I won’t go into more detail here, since I’ve been logging all my paintings here on the blog.

Goal: Hit $200k in my business.
Status: Almost halfway there!

After crunching my numbers last week, I learned that I’m just shy of being halfway to $200k, which feels about right. Anyone who makes a product knows that the last part of the year tends to be the busiest, and I’ve also got lots of launches in the works for the end of the year. Despite this being a goal, making money hasn’t been a consistent focus for me this year. Fortunately, I’ve built my business as a strong engine that keeps on churning, which allows me to focus on work that I love (and ideally just let the money follow).

Goal: Visit four new countries.
Status: DONE!

This goal was by far the easiest to check off my list (or perhaps just the fastest) thanks to my trip to Europe in March. I flew into Milan, took the overnight train to Vienna, headed to Munich (by way of Salzburg), and then took the train up to Prague before flying home. That’s my first time in Italy, Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic, for those keeping score. It was an incredible trip, far beyond just checking countries off my list. I got to see some things I’ve always dreamed about (like Da Vinci’s Last Supper) and fell in love with Austria in general and Vienna in particular.

If I can manage it, I’d still like to add one more country to my list this year, but that remains to be seen. For now, I’m savoring the memories of an incredible trip earlier in the year.

Goal: Bike a century.
Status: Not so much.

Sometimes, you just have to let some goals go. At the start of the year, I thought I’d log lots of miles on my bike. But strangely, as the weather warmed up, my desire to bike didn’t follow. So I shifted to running, with thoughts of changing this goal to running a half marathon. (I’m signed up for one in October.) Unfortunately, I’ve been nursing a nagging pain in my hip since this fall, and I aggravated it a few weeks ago and haven’t run much since.

So it looks like an endurance even isn’t in the cards for me this year, and I’m ok with that. I’m letting go of any major fitness goal, and instead, I’m going to just focus on general fitness by getting in a few days of exercise every week. I know that staying in shape and taking care of myself is important, but it’s not my focus this year, which means it’s no longer worthy of a major goal.

Not an official goal, but worth mentioning: Finish the new studio!
Status: Done(ish)!

One major project that I took on this year (but didn’t make into a formal goal) was getting the new studio finished! And for all intents and purposes, it’s done! (I’m still moving and settling in, but we all know that usually takes a little time!) Finishing the studio became a major project for me when I realized that I felt stuck between two studios, and it was dampening my creative energy. I’ve never had a space to work in that I love as much as my new studio, and I have to say it may be my biggest accomplishment this year.

So that’s how 2013 wraps up so far. My plan for the rest of the year is pretty simple – keep painting, launch a series of e-courses (including this one), keep the jewelry biz coming, and hopefully sneak in a little more travel. Oh, and I’ve got a house to renovate, now that the studio is done!

It looks like it’s going to be a busy rest of 2013, and that’s exactly how I like it!

Trisha Yearwood wearing Megan Auman earrings on the July cover of Better Homes and Gardens

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Earlier this week I got an email from one of my stores saying they had spotted my earrings on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens. After some quick googling and a trip to the store, I’d confirmed it.

Trisha Yearwood is wearing my Kathrine earrings on the July cover of Better Homes and Gardens!!! (And, she’s got them on in the entire spread in the magazine too!)

I could not be more thrilled!

my new studio!!!!!!!

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Does that seem like a lot of exclamation points in the post title? Well, I could have easily put more! My new studio is finally finished, and I could not be happier with the way it looks!

If you remember, when we started, it looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

This space is everything I hoped for and more! I’ve got plenty more pictures to share (because I can’t stop marveling at how beautiful the space is) and I want to share a little more of my design inspiration and process in putting the space together, but those will have to wait for another post! Because for now, I’m just going to enjoy being in my studio!

learning to work in series: paintings 33 – 42

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Note: I’m on a mission to create 100 paintings in 2013. You can view all the paintings here!

Whenever I share my painting process on Instagram, I always use the hashtag #paintplay. Because that’s what I’ve been doing, letting myself play. Which has been pretty incredible, but on occasion, very frustrating. I’ll get a result I love in one painting, and the next feels like a big hot mess.

So I’ve challenged myself to try and break my own process down and work a little more in series. Now, it occurs to me that when most people work in series, they might work on one or two or maybe even three or four pieces at one time, but they probably don’t try to tackle more than that. But not me. I decided that the best way to work in series was to work on TEN paintings at once!

When you add that to the approximately half dozen other paintings I had going, that’s a lot of paintings at once!

For my first attempt at a series, I did keep it small. All the the paintings are 12″ x 12″. But it was still a lot to juggle!

One of the things I’ve been trying to figure out is how to develop a cohesive body of paintings without getting too repetitive. It’s an interesting balance, the need to play and the need to have a strong voice. I guess we’ll have to see where it goes…

On a positive note, banging out ten new paintings gets me that much closer to my goal of 100! It makes me feel so much more on track to be at 40+ paintings, considering we’re at the halfway point of 2013.

Paintings, from left to right, top to bottom: At This Moment, Facing East, Escape Plan, Bumper Cars<, Tumbleweeds, Junebug<, The Secret Cavern, Motivated, If Everyone, Time to Spare All paintings are acrylic on canvas, 12" x 12", and available in my online shop!