How Doing It Messy Can Spark the Magic (and Transformation) ✨

Join Zarah, host of Watercolor Wizardry, as she shares her candid creative journey in building the new Watercolor Wizardry Academy. In this episode, Zarah offers an authentic behind-the-scenes look at transforming her online art business, focusing on hyper-realistic watercolor painting. Discover why she chose to rebuild from scratch, the value of going all-in on her original artistic vision, and how she’s inviting beta testers to help shape a brand-new online learning community.

You’ll get insights into using Kajabi for online course creation, tips for running engaging workshops, and honest takes on overcoming the learning curve with tools like GoBrunch. Zarah also opens up about the importance of daily practice—both in art and content creation—and how staying consistent leads to unstoppable growth. Plus, hear about her adventures photographing flowers, the beauty of combining storytelling with email updates, and her dream of launching a video podcast.

If you’re an artist, aspiring creative, or entrepreneur looking for encouragement, practical tips, and a peek at the realities of building an authentic online brand, this episode is for you!

Keywords:
watercolor, hyper-realistic watercolor, online art academy, Watercolor Wizardry, online art course, Kajabi, GoBrunch, artist community, creative business, artistic growth, beta testers, watercolor workshops, daily art practice, email marketing, video podcast, online business journey, creative entrepreneurs, flower photography, Zarah McIntosh, art coaching, authentic branding

Subscribe to Watercolor Wizardry for more inspiring episodes, actionable advice, and to join Zarah’s creative adventure. Sign up at watercolorwizardry.com to receive daily email updates and get notified about upcoming workshops!

Zarah [00:00:01]:
Hey, everybody. So if you're new to me, I'm Zara with Watercolor Wizardry, where currently we're focused on hyper realistic style watercolor, building Watercolor Wizardry Academy, which is actually accepting beta testers members right now. And you might wonder why join right now since it's pretty bare. Well, one, it's limited spots. Two, it's limited time because eventually, it'll relaunch. And right now, it's the lowest price that it'll, be at, and you'll be grandfathered into that price as long as you stay an active member. So, you know, lots of benefits. Plus right now too, it's the time where I'm most accessible because I'm in there as much as possible to build it.

Zarah [00:00:51]:
So it just makes sense. I wanna ask people, you know, where I can improve, what's working best, and, yeah, like, learning how to do the onboarding for different things because I'm using Kajabi, but I'm also using GoBrunch for the meetings. And, you know, there's a little bit of a learning curve. It's not as easy as Zoom where you just well, I don't know. I think it's the same. You still have to set up Zoom. So it's the same thing. It's just different.

Zarah [00:01:21]:
I just really love GoBrunch more because it's more creative. And it's, I don't know. It's beautiful. The setup that I did is I love it. So, anyway, I'm learning how to do these daily updates, daily emails, daily content much better. Today's the third so I'm still really new. But today I was thinking, you know, this would be kind of cool as a video blog, video podcast. I think that would be pretty fun.

Zarah [00:01:54]:
Each time each day that I do it, it gets I get better, I feel like. I feel more comfortable anyway. And then my creative mind just kind of, you know, starts thinking of different ways to make it more fun for me. So, yeah, so my brain right now is working on how, you know, how would it work as a video podcast? Like, what gear would I have? You know, how do I deal with the wind? Because I learned that trying to do footage with the boat, you know, while we are going, I don't know, however fast we're going. The wind really interferes with the mic on my phone. So, you know, little things like that. You just start getting better at each little thing that you do. So each time that you do it.

Zarah [00:02:38]:
So when you become consistent in anything and this is actually a lesson for watercolor too. The more you do it, the better you get at the timing of the water control. So it is important to be doing it, except that even if you take a break, you will remember you know, it's like riding a bike. You get back on the bike. You you once you know it, you get pretty quick at getting back on your feet. So it all works out. So what else? Upcoming plans for watercolor wizardry. So I'm working on the workshops.

Zarah [00:03:13]:
And like I mentioned in the previous well, yesterday, I'm entering, Faith's best summer ever bundle because I think I can make that deadline. So watch out for that because, that'll when you enter the bundle, you should be able to enter the workshop for free because I'm gonna give it free. And then what I'm hoping for is to get some feedback on, you know, how to improve. Was it good? Did it help you? You know, stuff like that just so I can improve myself. So I'm looking forward to that. Yeah. I don't know. I just wanted to keep this short.

Zarah [00:03:54]:
I hope I touched on everything. I did spend the day today taking photographs of the flowers around the house. They're so pretty. I even took a picture of a pine cone. I'll share that too. And, oh, and I caught pictures of a bumblebee and the, rhododendrons. Oh my god. So cute.

Zarah [00:04:16]:
But not super clear because it was my phone and, you know, I'm just holding it. But still still nice pictures. So I'll share that on the email. And if I do a blog, I'll share a couple on the blog. Obviously, on the podcast, you won't be able to see it. Although, I think I can upload images in the show notes. So if you get to the show notes part but then YouTube doesn't have that. So the YouTube podcast doesn't work that way.

Zarah [00:04:45]:
Anyway, like I'm saying, they're all the little things. Every day that you do something, you get better and better at it. So if I stay consistent with this daily thing, I'll get better at it, and I'm so excited about that. So, yeah, there's so much. There's so many things. But yeah. So okay. So if you wanna keep in touch, sign up at watercolorwizardry.com.

Zarah [00:05:10]:
You'll see it on the heading. If you're on a desktop, you'll see at the top, workshop wait list. If you sign up for that, you'll get my emails, and you'll see pictures, basically, that way. Because I know for sure I'll be emailing. Like, that's the whole goal is the email. And then if I get time, I do a blog. I also upload it as a podcast, but the podcast really doesn't have images. So there's that.

Zarah [00:05:38]:
But, yeah, maybe someday, this will become a video blog. That's what I was thinking about today. And I actually tried to do it. Right? I started out I was doing well until mosquitoes started attacking me. So before taking the photographs today of all the flowers, I doused myself in mosquito repellent, and that made things better. I was still being attacked, but not as bad. Or at least I maybe it's a mental thing. Maybe I felt like it was better, but it was the same.

Zarah [00:06:09]:
I don't know. But yeah. So, anyway, I will let you go. This is just a quick update, basically, daily. It's just a quick check-in update. Yeah. So I will talk to you guys tomorrow. And, yeah, see you on a video maybe.

Zarah [00:06:26]:
Okay. Bye.