Daily Inspiration: Meet Ryan Stover

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Stover.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
It was a cold February when I had just been fired from my software company. The one I had founded and nurtured for 10 years.

Soon after, my marriage to Kayla went off the rails.

It felt like every piece of my identity had been stripped away, leaving me lost and hollow. I never thought I could believe in myself, or anything, ever again.

But instead of caving in, I dove head first into deep inner work. Therapy, men’s groups, and surprise mentors that challenged me to let go of the past. I began peeling back layers of despair to find something brighter underneath.

I started painting. And I started giving my paintings away.

I would sit in a coffee shop or public square, and I would experiment with a little watercolor set I had picked up. I had no idea what I was doing. And I didn’t think my art was valuable – but when I gave it away, I witnessed the power of my gifts. People were so delighted, surprised and honored to receive a piece of art.

I decided to stop judging my own art, and my life. Clearly it.. and “I” had value to other people.

And doors started to open up all around me.

I gave a painting to a friend who owned a coffee shop, and he asked me to hang and sell my art there.

I gave a painting to the principal of my wife’s school, and she asked me to be an art teacher there.

I was contacted by the owner of a local art collective and invited to join as a vendor, and eventually as a studio artist.

I found myself in the middle of an unexpected unfolding that led me to become deeply involved in my local art community, and my art got bigger and more expressive of the person I truly was – not meek and broken, but bold and full of inspiration… with the message that everyone has the power to create beautiful art – and a beautiful life – when they let go of self judgment and trust the flow of their own creative spirit.

Now, my relationship with Kayla is stronger than ever. I am a full time artist, exhibiting and selling all over the state. I facilitate art integration sessions for psychedelic therapists and run creativity workshops for groups in my community.

Most recently, I started a new community, “ReFound” – with the goal of helping other founders, entrepreneurs and creatives find clarity, recover their spark, and act boldly toward manifesting the life they want.

I’m incredibly grateful to all the teachers, mentors and the invisible helping hands that continue to support me on this journey, and I am excited to pay it all forward, helping unblock other creators at this critical cultural moment.

Thanks for your interest in my story : )

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Struggles? Oh my. Yes. Often my biggest struggle is getting out of my own way and trusting life to do what it’s doing without trying to fix or control it. I have gone through an enormous amount of introspection, facing shadows and welcoming huge emotions that used to invisibly direct me out of fear.

I’ve also learned a lot about my nuro-atypical brain, forming a new relationship with myself and developing habits and practices that help me stay focused.

The core challenge I get to play with every day is maintaining this lifestyle as a full time creator, making it work financially, and being able to do that from a place of highest excitement and surrendered acceptance.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a visual artist specializing in dynamic, expressive paintings using watercolors, acrylics, and other media. I am known for my live-artwork (painting in front of crowds at shows and events) and hosting workshops that help others tap into states of creative flow.

I have also been developing a body of erotic work that is helping me channel the flow of sexual energy I used to repress into firey images that are full of life self acceptance.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I have lived in and around Denver my entire life (40+ years) – and have seen the city change a lot in that time. What it maintains is a focus on embodied living – prioritizing joy and outward engagement. Culturally, it is both quirky and inviting – people can show up from anywhere and try on any version of themselves they’d like. There is a feeling of tolerance and acceptance that I value.

The challenge is what it’s always been: We broadcast the lifestyle and casual pace of life, and over time – more people get the message and move here from elsewhere – bringing their own cultures with them and sometimes eroding the very culture they were initially enticed by. I always grew up with a distaste for “texans and Californians” who would show up and tear down little old houses to build giant new ones… driving out the service workers and the ethnic groups that formed the back bone of these communities for generations. Keeping the Colorado spirit alive gets exponentially harder as we see the best small businesses driven out by ever raising rents only affordable to chains that take dollars out of our communities. The Colorado I grew up in offered a very high quality of life for a very low cost of living… but that equation might flip on us very soon.

Still, there’s nowhere I’d rather be, and I love that my focus is on keeping the Colorado spirit alive through art and culture. There is so much beauty here, inside and out.

Pricing:

• Original Artwork $500-$15,000+
• Art Prints / Small Runs $20-100
• Creativity Workshops $500+
• 1:1 / Clarity Coaching $230

Contact Info:

• Website: https://RyanStoverArt.com
• Instagram: @thinayr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RyanStoverArtist
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/uncomplication
• Other: http://www.refounder.io