Perfecting Body, Mind, and Soul; “Skate Blossom” Herself Danielle Caron
When the Left and Right Brain Work Together
When I’m being ambitious I try to set daily goals for my body, mind, and soul. It can be hard to accomplish all three in one day or on a regular basis at all, it comes back to that balance aspect discussed in previous pieces.
Danielle Caron, an artist I recently met with, has found a way to balance all of the above in unique ways which she had shared with me.
Danielle is actually the first person I have personally met that is incredibly passionate about both art and numbers.
I feel like most of the time people pick one or the other of the two but Danielle breaks the mold by being a mechanical engineering major who is also incredibly artistic.
She says that her boss was surprised to find out she created art which was funny to me because I was surprised to find out what she was majoring in and that she worked so much with numbers. (Complete Hannah Montana moment here)
Body
Another unique aspect that makes Danielle who she is, is that she is a phenomenal long boarder and has actually found a way to combine her love of long boarding with her art career.
On her Instagram @Sk8blossom you can see not only her painted boards but her impressive skating ventures through the videos she captures.
She recalls that her first night ever long boarding she attempted to travel down a large hill which she said was both scary but a successful moment for her; a moment in which she realized she wanted to learn more.
“The first thing I learned was to costa, similar to grape vining. I realized, I can do this, this is not just pushing my board along, this is something cool, I wanna learn more, all of it.”
Mind
The idea of learning is actually one of the things that Danielle says makes her happiest. When asked what makes her happy she said and I quote, “Learning and studying.”
Studying??
“I like the idea of school, learning new things.”
“New things don’t scare me, they excite me,” Says the 20 year old who moved all the way to AZ from Tennessee without knowing a single soul here.
Danielle has applied this challenge of constant learning to so many areas of her life but one in particular that we of course discussed was her art.
Soul
“I always knew I was the teacher’s favorite in art class but it wasn’t until I got older that I could see why.”
“I was so focused on getting everything right and perfecting the skills that now I have them down and can use them freely to create whatever I want.”
“That’s part of being an adult, I have the freedom to do whatever I want. If I wanted to go to Michaels and spend a ton of money on markers I could, and I do.”
This one Time…At Art Camp…
Danielle spoke of how she is at the point now where she is making commissions and being paid for her art for the first time which is exciting for her but she spoke of a few other accomplishments that she remembers.
She said that a few of her treasured memories of her art center around the art camps she attended growing up, one in particular when she was a sophomore in high school.
She not only got to work with well known artist Charles Clary in creating an art piece of Chloe Grace Meret through layering paper but spoke of another piece that made her proud:
“In drawing class, I learned how to shade things with colors, one layer, then the next, and then next. I created this drawing of three big fish, they’re just sweeping, bold, and colorful. I think it was the best thing that came out of art camp.”
Re-Sparking a Past Interest
Danielle spoke of how she continues to learn and perfect her art by consistently referencing past pieces she’s created.
“I’ll look at something I did a while back and ask myself how I can improve that and then it re-sparks my interest all over.”
“In high school for example, I was really into drawing faces. I’ll look back and say hm, these are kind of rough. What can I do to change the shape? To shade them better?”
“I realized I hadn’t drawn a portrait in a while, and then I did one and felt like, wow, I want to do this more, I’m good at this. I realized how far I’ve come and feel pretty proud of that.”
Creative Coping
Danielle says she uses both art and long boarding to escape her stresses but tends to lean towards long boarding especially during the school year.
“I’ll come home from a long day at school where my brain is tired, grab my board, and go out until my body is tired and my brain is refreshed so I can get homework done.”
