On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business as a mixed media artist with my guest Mou Saha.
Mou Saha is a mixed media artist and teacher. She has been published over 700 times in print media, appeared on PBS TV shows and created several coloring books of her own. Her academic background in clinical psychology fuels her ongoing quest for wellness through creativity. Mou is a mom of three and lives in New Jersey with her family.
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We begin this interview with Mou talking about her childhood in India. She was an only child and she always loved to draw. Her mother used to take her to local drawing competitions and she eventually was accepted into a competitive art school as a teenager, although she says her work was the worst in the class. Mou went on to pursue a degree in clinical psychology and was nearing the completion of her Ph.D. when she entered into an arranged marriage. Her new husband lived in Florida so she moved to the US.
When she arrived in the US, Mou soon realized that her dream of completing her Ph.D. wasn’t going to come true. It was at this point in her life that Mou realized, “Nothing is everything.” Soon, she was pregnant with her first child and began creating scrapbooking layouts to document her family life. She enjoyed tapping back into her love of art and, by happenstance, she discovered layout competitions in a scrapbooking magazine. She entered and won! That started her on the path to submitting her work to magazines over the next many years and pivoting her career from psychology to art.
Mou has seven classes on Creativebug and we talk about what that experience was like and what she learned from it. She’s also had a longtime collaborative relationship with Faber-Castell.
Mou feels that art saved her, giving her purpose and meaning. She has a lot of wisdom to share about how the daily process of making art can increase your quality of life. “I love it and that is enough,” is one of Mou’s mottos.
I found Mou’s story to be incredibly inspiring and I think you will, too!
And, of course, I ask Mou to recommend great stuff she’s loving right now. Mou recommends:
- #the100DayProject
- working with air-dry and oven-bake clay with your kids
- The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Sean Covey and Chris
Keep up with Mou on her website and follow along with what’s she’s making on Instagram.