Bold Journey: Meet Alcohol Ink Artist and Illustrator, Chiffon Lark

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chiffon Lark. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chiffon below.

Chiffon, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I believe that we are all brought into this life, knowing our purpose. As infants we do not question our worthiness for unconditional love, and we do not inhibit ourselves from giving it. We know that we are deserving of anything we need, all we have to do is simply ask for it. As an older child, I struggled with the phenomenon of being told and believing that I was not deserving of unconditional love.

I carried this belief into my adult life as a heavy burden, and it affected all aspects of my experience (either consciously or subconsciously). Moving in this state is not just counterproductive, it is exhausting. I feel that we all have our own unique heart song, some call it an “inner voice” or “higher self”, but in my culture, we call it wisdom. It was not until I started to honor my own heart song that my life became one of empowerment. I believe that when we dishonor what we know to be true, we are invoking a sense of worthlessness because we are committing self-betrayal.

It is only when we are able to take responsibility for our own role in dishonoring our knowledge and surrender to everything we already know to be true, that is when our purpose is revealed to us. It is very simple, yet due to our conditioning and very human experience, it is not always easy to achieve.

Before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My services as an Artist and Illustrator are based on conveying experience through visual imagery. I use biodegradable, archival materials for all my pieces and I source everything locally to create economic stability for everyone. My intention is to re-awaken, what I believe, lies within us all. That is the connection we share here in this lifetime to all species, to recognize the value and love we all come from. Our planet is alive and we are all her children; plants, crawling insects, water beings, flying ones, four-legged ones, human, and microscopic beings. Our dishonor to Earth has created unjust suffering on all levels and there is a great imbalance that is causing a critical point in our lifetime. One, I believe that can be healed by simply honoring our interspecies relatives. When we see ourselves in the natural environment, we will feel an obligation to protect it for it is the reason we are able to be here in the first place.

Many Artists consider themselves “creators”, and while that may be true for them, I am not sure I consider myself this at all. I was once asked how I “create” the images I do. I told this person that I don’t consider myself responsible for creating anything. I take what already exists – a soul, a vision, an occurrence of my own or another, and I put it together in the form of a painting or drawing that allows others to experience it in a way they may not have had the opportunity to before. By keeping my finished products affordable, I believe these interior design assets are more accessible. Everyone deserves to enjoy the essence of themselves in a way that also allows them to share it with others in the form of visual display.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

This is such a great question. I feel that my ability to develop a symbiotic relationship between the artwork and creating a sustainable business plan took objectivity. I can attribute a lot of my ability to develop successful strategy and profit mapping to my corporate work experience in various leadership positions.

I identify as what can be defined as a “servant leader” meaning I like to lead by example, showing others how to achieve mastery in their skill sets by first mastering my own. I also know now that in order to fully be able to teach you must first recognize that there is always something new to learn, meaning you will always be a student alongside those you are teaching. Embracing this as a strength rather than a weakness was the first step in gaining clarity on my intention to be who I am today, and who I am to become. The intention is truly the source of motivation for me, if I can remind myself why I do what I do then everything else falls into place. I believe we all have something incredibly unique to offer in our lifetimes, none of which is more important than the other. We are all extraordinarily and equally valuable.

Photography Credit to Derrick Cabico, Original Publication BOLD Journey 2023.