Living in the Moment

“I used to be an obsessive planner. Though I got a lot done, it soon seemed like a prison based on clock time. Now, my focus is to stay 100% in the present and let presence guide my work. It works!”

When looking at Naveena Vijayan’s art on Instagram, one thing is clear: she knows exactly how to capture life at any given moment and express emotion through watercolor and ink alone. As an artist, Naveena is expressive, deep, and torn between people and places as her focal points. However, as a handmade seller, her focus has never been more clear. Why? Because Naveena, as many successful sellers have before her, learned to focus on the present and let her overthinking subside. 

A ‘Colorful Career’

They say when you do what you love, you never truly work a day in your life. For Naveena Vijayan, her career has always been in the arts—and it’s something she prides herself on. “Journaling through words and sketches has been a part of my life for years now. I worked as a general assignment reporter in daily news publications in India, with little time to indulge in painting. A large part of my assignments included interviewing artists and reviewing art shows. Seriously, I couldn’t have gotten a better job. Art, back then, was something I wrote about and created to amp up the walls of my own house. I never thought I would plan to make a business out of it, until a few months ago. The process of making art is joyful, but knowing that someone else is enjoying the end product is thrilling and gratifying.”

While her background may have revolved around other artists in the past, it’s now become her own art she proudly shares with the world. The ability to share her art and become a handmade seller all began when she transitioned from her home in India to America and went from full-time reporting to freelance writing. As she puts it, “In late 2017, I got the best gift of all: time. After getting married, I moved to the United States and transitioned from a full-time reporter to a freelance writer. I finally got to slot a lion’s share of my time towards what I had always pushed to the bottom of my priority list: making art.”

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