Paint your wild spirit!
“My FREE Painting Party Sessions are HERE!
Party starts April 2 and is delivered right to your inbox!
I am sooooo excited to be sharing this with you, inviting you deeper into my world of creativity. It can feel edgy af to reveal my behind the scenes art making and experiences, and yet I am following the impulse, step by the step….the same way I do when making my art, whether painting or creating with glass, or writing or sewing.
CLICK HERE to learn ALL about it!
Enrollment will only happen once a year so check it out if you’re feeling even a little curious.
Step by step….or, Bird by Bird as Anne Lamott says in her essential book about writing.
When I read her book years ago, I felt so much permission in all my creative work, since it applies to everything, not just writing. The “shitty first draft” can be true in paintings too.
Wow, what a relief! In this way, I can express, make a mess, learn about colour, texture, shape, value in the shitty first, second and maybe third or more drafts/paintings. Eventually a painting will reveal itself that can stand on it’s own.
Impulse by impulse a painting is born.
The way you tell your story with paint can feel very rewarding and satisfying.
We all have stories to tell, with words, with imagery, with paint, with feelings…..how do we get out of the way so that we can bring these stories to life on the canvas?
Yes, we don’t only have to use words to tell stories, we can paint our stories metaphorically with colour, texture, shape, layers, mark-making and imagery.
You can be a modern day cave painter, exploring and expressing your inner and outer worlds with paint and mixed media onto any type of surface so that you can consistently find freedom and JOY in your creative expression.
(and give ourselves a freakin' break)
Think you don’t have a story to tell or paint? 100% not true
Think your story is uninteresting or not worth telling/painting? 100% not true.
Do you think you're too old? it's too late? this won't work for you? NOT TRUE! not true, not true!
(I used to believe all of these things)
Your soul and spirit have a story, underneath the layers of conditioning and judgement there’s a story waiting to unfold....
High Speed Art Making!
Tell me wild one, what is your soul calling for?
is paint your wild spirit calling YOU?
Untethered, the art show
Untethered, the ART Show! Opens June 9th!
Coming soon……! Show opens Friday, JUNE 9, 2023!
origin story of bird women
After much reflection and deep self inquiry, I want to share the origin of my bird women series of art I’ve been working and playing with for the past 3 years.
It all began in India, as we were stranded there at the beginning of the world wide covid pandemic.
Covid
Corvid
Corvid
Covid
We were in India, stranded, with canceled flights and no way home.
This created stress and anxiety as everyday the situation felt more and more dire. What would we do? How would we get home?
We made homemade masks and used “Thieves Oil” on the inside of the mask as some layer of protection, if only to soothe our nerves. “Thieves Oil” is a blend of different herbal ingredients that Doctors who treated the plague victims used. They put the herbal infusion on their hands, ears, temples & feet, and wore beak-like masks stuffed with cloths containing this special blend.
I was seeing this image from the Thieves Oil bottle floating around the internet and it intrigued me, these men with bird heads and long gowns. In my art journal, using collage papers I wanted to subvert/amplify the idea a little by changing the man in a gown to a woman in a mutlicoloured, patchwork dress, with a bird-like head/mask. Having just traveled to Rajasthan, India, my mind was filled with imagery of patterned and multicolored clothing and textiles of all kinds.
And the series began.
This first messy and wild mixed media paper piece became my Priestess of Protection. She hung on the wall in our rented room while we scrambled online trying to secure a way home from our travels.
On her I wrote the words:
“I am safe and protected”
See pix and READ the rest of the story BELOW.
Eventually we made it home, safe, sound and incredibly grateful to land here on beloved Gabriola Island, on the unceded traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.
I arrived home to ravens in the trees all around this land, calling and playing. Beginning their spring ritual of nesting and raising young ones.
The idea that had hatched in India stayed with me, and I continued playing and exploring with this bird woman image on everything from beach wood, to full size sheets of plywood to teeny tiny canvases.
Eventually they found their way into my glass art too, because that’s how creativity flows, right?
I created 2 stuffed raven women dolls out of patchworked fabric with brown corduroy heads. These bird women want to be seen in every medium I work in.
I’m obsessed with them! We’re having a seriously playful relationship!
They want to be seen, they insist on being created, they insist on BEING.
I choose to L I S T E N….
They arrived in all forms: tall, short, thin, wide, colourful, plain, friendly, distant, warm, cool.
Their names changed from Priestess of Protection to Raven Priestess to Raven Goddess to Raven Women to Bird Women….they morphed and grew and shifted and changed.
Gradually over time they came to symbolize more than protection.
I began to inquire of them:
Are you a bird or are you a woman? Or both? Are you stuffed in your dress or are your wings gracefully hidden? Are there even wings under there? Are you captive or are you free? Or both? Are you real or are you mythical? Or both? Do you love to adorn yourself with your patchwork, multicoloured and textured dress or do you feel stifled by it? Or both?
Maybe like me, YOU feel and resonate with them too.
We have a mutually nourishing and enriching relationship, these bird women and me.
They’re maiden, mother, crone. Sister, auntie, cousin, friend, acolyte, lover.
They’re wild women, witches, priestesses, queens, goddesses, healers, dancers, singers, drummers, young, old, tiny and larger than life.
They travel solo, or in groups each to their own preference.
They are sovereign unto themselves, their own self appointed queens.
There are hundreds of influences at play in this series, maybe lifetimes of influences, from the most obvious ones I’ve already shared and more.
My own love of colour, adornment, patchwork, mismatched prints, checks and polka dots in my clothing, to the Hutterite women’s clothing that I saw all the time where I grew up on the prairies, to the house dress and apron my Gramma wore. Balinese shadow puppets, Venetian masked balls, textiles from Guatemala and India and on and on all have an influence.
My love of the feminine, my love of sovereignty, freedom and authentic expression.
These bird women are badass!
They’re Sovereign Bird Women, feminine, fierce, tender, wild, strong, vulnerable, playful, serious, messy and gloriously, gloriously ALIVE!
With conviction I claim them, and in return they claim me.
Goddesses and deities
Creating a custom installation art is challenging!
In the best possible way.
When the request came for me to create a fused glass window install with the Hindu deity Goddess Lakshmi as the inspiration, well let’s say I was excited but also thought uh uh….NO WAY.
Why no way? Because this is extra potent sacred art, number one and number two, because most depictions of Lakshmi are very refined, intricate, highly detailed, REALISTIC!
I know this because I have stickers and postcards with her imagery all around in my life. I know her, I honour her.
However, while talking with the client I remembered Madhubani folk art from India. I love this style of art and I even have some of these kinds of paintings in my own collection.
And I thought, if we can use that as the starting point I can be a full juicy YES for this project.
Still, it was daunting, sooooooo many things to consider, making all the colours and patterns, and using 14k gold on her jewelry and coins.
Plus, knowing it had to fit into the size of the clients space exactly! Ugh, my least favourite part.
Happily Ode's Alchemy Shop (Ode Howard) did the calculations, created the amazing metal framework and did most of the install on his own. Whew!
So I took a risk, I said yes to a commission that was edgy for me, but I think that also helps me to stretch into a more expanded version of myself and my art.
These pix here show a tiny glimpse of the many layers of process, some of the install (stressful much?) and the end result. It really helps to have the best possible clients for my work!
The client said “Ohhhhhh, I LOVE IT!! It’s even better than I imagined!”
P.s. she told me she’d waited several years to have this piece! If you’ve been dreaming of super special art for your home, why wait? Send me an email and let’s chat!
Just click HERE to start a conversation about your dream project!
off grid, off line is liberation
As I sit in a rustic sea side cabin on a tiny island I’m very aware of the weather. It shifts and changes so rapidly at times, a squall moving through and frothing up the sea and sky, waves crashing wildly onshore. It looks and feels like the storm might stay tumultuous forever.
Sometimes the winds settle in for days at a time and I wonder if it will ever be calm again.
And then…...a clearing, a settling and all is calm.
I’ve noticed similar patterns over the the 20+ years I’ve been actively creating and selling my art. There are times of immense flowing creativity and huge waves of output…wondering if and when this flow will end, wondering if my work is any good, what creations will be here to see when the storm is over. Then, a lull in the action. A calming, a time for reflection, critiques and refinement of the work.
The weather feels exactly like my creative process.
Creator and critic. Calm and storm. Asserting and retreating. A time and place for all of it.
I’ve learned a lot about the cycles of creativity, indeed of life itself. The fears, doubts and pain AND the joys and feelings of aliveness in my creative process.
It’s taken time and intentional work for me to learn to trust the flow.
I wonder:
Do you understand and notice the cycles of your own creativity so that you can relax and embrace all of the stages of the process?
Would you like to understand, accept and enjoy all the “weather” patterns of your creative path so that you can create whatever and however you want?
Do you want to get to know AND befriend your inner critics (yes there’s usually more than one) so that you can feel free to create whatever the heck you want?
Do you want to feel safe to fail so that you can ultimately succeed and create art that brings you alive?
I’d love to show you what I've learned over many years and what I intimately understand about exploring the edges, trying new things and adventuring forth with an open mind about the creative process.
When to push further and when to let things rest, how to dance with it so that you can learn to trust yourself to take risks, going “beyond the edge” of your own creative comfort zones. In this way you can also make your own art that frees your soul and spirit, so that you can feel empowered to create paintings that really speak to you, and that feel like an authentic expression of you and no one else.
So that your paintings and journal pages have the colours, textures, imagery that you love, even if you don’t totally understand it. So that your art is a reflection of you, your experiences, your preferences, your beliefs. So that you feel authentically aligned with your creations.
Wanna know more? Click the button below for a FREE taster of my Creative Sovereignty Visual Journaling course! Created just for YOU!
on being a creative guide
Mixed media art journaling is SO FUN!
Why learn from me? That’s a good question and here are a few of my answers.
I’m a successful self taught artist with over 20 years of experience creating and selling art. I know this stuff because I live this stuff - aka,, the highs and the lows, the joy and the pain of art making!
I’m wildly creative and I believe creative blocks are a myth we can leave behind so that we can feel free to make whatever we want, whenever we want.
I know the exuberant joy of painting, mark making and playing with a free and wild abandon and my #1 goal is to encourage others to give themselves permission to create and feel this too!
I have a compassionate approach to the tender vulnerable parts of ourselves that can be revealed when we paint, make art and express ourselves.
I know first hand the pain of feeling stuck and frustrated with my journaling practice, and I’ve created my own uber- effective method for finding my way through so that I can really love all the pieces of my art and journaling experience.
I know how to transform the negative energy of the inner critic voices so that I feel free to create whatever the f^&* I want.
I LOVE creating, and I love to inspire people to make creativity a BIG part of their lives without feeling held back by self-doubt.
More and more I truly live my life as art.
And so can YOU!
Are you ready to have creative exploration with a visual journal a regular part of your day to day experience so that you can feel a new, invigorating sparkle in your life?
Join me in my free training and let’s get going!!
Whale report
Whale sculpture in situ
Whale sightings happen often on this island where I live. Whales are majestic mammals that show up regularly in my work. These pix show one whale sculpture in a collector’s home nearby and another whale sculpture that I shipped down south in the U.S.A.
Art is an EXPERIENCE!
I believe collecting and living with art that you LOVE, art that resonates with you and activates your own vision for who you really are and how you want to live IS A LIFE AFFIRMING EXPERIENCE!
This is what’s true for these collectors!
If you’re desiring a certain special art piece for your home or garden, contact me! I always have lots of art that never gets to my website, so getting directly in touch with me by email is a great way to go!
Click HERE to send me a message about creating your special art piece!
Check out this FUN whale in motion on my instagram! Click HERE to watch!
ravenlandia
Ravenlandia Art Show Statement
“When a Raven totem has flown into your life, it signifies that magic is at play. Raven ignites the energies of magic allowing it to become one with our intentions and will. Great changes can be achieved at this time and dreams can become a reality.” (Oracle reading)
I began the unexpected journey of creating these raven women and the Ravenlandia series when I was filming one of my online courses “Paint Your Wild Spirit”. I was creating spontaneous videos that would demonstrate my approach to painting when the very first Raven Priestess emerged. Many of her kin soon followed, with paint, collage and mixed media. Soon after, they arrived in the form of fused glass. Some of the Raven Priestess pieces are as tall as me, they now enhance the entry into my studio.
As I reflected later on this imagery I could see that the source of the patterned, patchwork dresses was from my prairie homesteading herstory/history and lineage. I imagined the hardworking farm women who came before me; strong, powerful women...and also likely held back not only by the culture but also maybe by their dresses. Some things are harder to do in a dress or gown.
I imagine these women, all women…. as powerful and free as birds, as ravens….with their own language, highly communicative, with strong family ties, deep connection to spirit, always gathering and circling.
As much as they love their dresses and enjoy the shiny objects they love to gather, my story envisions these beings easily shedding their vibrant patchwork dresses and taking flight, to make full use of their outstretched wings. Being unencumbered by their clothing/conditioning they are fully free to be the sovereign badass woman/birds that they are.
Wild, free and badass, like the ravens that gather around the highlands where I live.
Women akin to the ravens, birds that are so intelligent, connected, spirited and NOT AFRAID TO BE THEMSELVES, not concerning themselves with whatever anyone thinks of them. Ravens are unaffected about being “too much” or “too loud”, “too wise” or “too wild” and so it goes with my Raven Women. This idea, this work, feels empowering to me.
“The Raven will show you how to walk into the dark corners of your inner conflicts buried deep within, opening the doors to the deepest power of healing to be within your grasp.”
As with much of my work, there are always many valued supporting characters. Some of these include the magical dreamland of winter time bears, a free flying unicorn, a trusty mare or 2, and always a hummingbird to bring in even more regenerative energy from the spirit world that surrounds us.
For me, this colourful, inclusive mix gives rise to a magical, enchanted mystery land where we’re all given equal ground and privilege from which to live our most expanded, deeply authentic lives!
What do i mean by creative sovereignty?
What is Creative Sovereignty?
What is Creative Sovereignty?
What exactly do I mean when I use the words Creative Sovereignty?
Definition: Creative~creative or able to create; inventive; stimulating the imagination
Definition: Sovereignty~supreme and independent authority
What does it mean to BE a Creative Sovereign?
Being sovereign with my creativity means that I trust myself to express whatever I want to at that moment. Being sovereign means that I decide what I do and don’t want to create, how I create it and what it looks like in the end. I can learn all kinds of art techniques and then be sovereign in what and how I express with this information.
For example I can decide to paint animal faces on metal with the same techniques I’ve acquired for painting on canvas. Or I make something in glass with painterly techniques.
However, it wasn’t always like this for me. I used to believe I wasn’t creative AT ALL, let alone consider myself a creative sovereign!!
I’m NOT kidding! I wrote and created a luscious art filled book, “Tender Brave Spirit” about my unexpected creative journey that led me into a career in art. Believe me when I tell you, I would have been voted “least likely to succeed” at any occupation in high school.
As a result of my own experiences of feeling unworthy of being creative, and truly believing that creativity is only for special, talented people I deeply understand the pain of being creatively unfulfilled.
I’ve had many conversations about creativity with people over my 2 decades of creating and selling my art. I know it’s not uncommon for people to feel disempowered with their creativity. I’ve been encouraging and inspiring people all along, because if I can find a creative well inside of me, I totally know you can too!
We are all creative, it’s a built in part of being human. It’s wired into us, do you get that? Isn’t this wonderful?
If you’re already creating and feel the yumminess of creative flow, then next level might be to fully claim your sovereignty by creating what YOU want, when YOU want, how YOU want. Being a creative sovereign means you’ll stay true to your creative preferences, even when you’re not totally sure what they are yet, even if they aren’t meeting your desired outcome yet, whether your partner, teacher, best friend, mother or gallery owner likes them or not.
Take a look inside yourself when you’re creating and see who’s with you, in your mind, giving you their opinion. Do you hear your teacher, your mother, your partner? There’s no shame in the btw, it’s natural to want to have love and approval for all the things, it’s wired into us since our days living in the cave way back when, when approval meant safety and life, as opposed to certain death as an outcast. Yes, it’s that deep and basic.
However being sovereign means giving yourself permission to experiment and play, whatever the outcome. To give yourself permission to make what you want, even when you may hear other people’s opinions that you may not like or appreciate. To give yourself permission to have others like or dislike your creations and be able to be neutral about it, acknowledging that these are simply opinions. Not good, not bad.
Being creatively sovereign means you’ll be able to pick up any art supply at the drop of a hat and feel empowered, to get messy (or neat!) with paint and crayons, to make your mark, without worrying about what other people think, and letting yourself play and experiment as a child would. Always trusting that it’s in allowing yourself to play that leads you onward into your fullest self expression.
You’ll learn to trust yourself as a creative being. To trust that it’s safe and actually highly beneficial to make mistakes, and to play and that by becoming familiar with the hands-on practice of using art supplies and energy and mind set practices you'll experience the feeling of creative fire flowing through you, lighting up your life.
Being creatively sovereign means you’ll know how to move through so called “creative blocks”. (I don’t really believe in creative blocks btw.)
You’ll no longer agonize over how to begin, what art supply to use, what to write. You’ll no longer procrastinate until you’ve drained the life out of your creative impulses.
You’ll be inspired to follow your creative impulses, wherever they may lead. You’ll feel empowered to take action when you get the ideas and you’ll know how to keep your own creative well flowing with vitality.
You’ll feel FREE and alive, excited to get to your journal to PLAY! And you’ll finally step into your power as a creative being!
Want some expert guidance? Check out my FREE 3 part video training to get going with simple art supplies and a visual journal! It’s easy and you will LOVE it!
So you say you like colour?
Did you know when you collect art, you’re not just buying art, you’re also buying self care and self love?
There are times when a piece of art totally speaks to you, and you know you need it ( yes, need is the right word) and yet you try to justify it from your rational mind and it doesn’t work! Do ya get me?
I believe this happens because our soul speaks quietly and our mind wants to quash this down with all the so called “rational” and much louder mind chatter. It’s how many of us are conditioned to live, listening to only the rational. I totally get it!
But ya know, my art is not just art, it’s not a piece of furniture, it’s a whole mood, a whole vibe.
Owning art that speaks to you, speaks of mystery, delight, joy and spirit enhances you own sense of discovery and self discovery.
A piece of art you resonate with is ongoing soul nourishment…..all day, every day. Imagine that!
Below is a video of my summer art show, Forest Delight. Take a look and maybe you’ll find your own special treasure!
Send me message if you’re ready to up-level your home with and life with feelings of spirit and vitality!
Take a look at this homegrown video clip for a preview of my Forest Delight Art show!
forest delight art show!
Saturday AUGUST 14, 11-4!
My studio @ 1790 Seymour Rd
Gabriola Island (on unceded Snuneymuwx territory)
A showing of new, vibrant glass art and paintings, an art show in the luscious forest! There will be spaciousness and freedom for my wild art AND for ALL of us!
The show will be held outside in the forest around my sacred studio space, in the forest on this land where I am blessed to live, love and create. So you’ll get to indulge in some forest bathing while enJOYing being immersed in colour energy.
Your cells will be tingling with DELIGHT as you browse amongst the creatures and critters that adorn my highly collected art!
You’ll feel so good you’ll want to take some HOME with YOU, so that you can feel vibrantly connected to life and love all the time!
I’D LOVE TO SEE YOU!!
love or fear?
Am I working from a place of love or a place of fear?
I used to work ALL the time. I was equally proud and ashamed of this. Isn’t that strange? How could I possibly live a fulfilling, healthy abundant life when I had those demons living with me every day?
I worked a lot partly because I really do LOVE my work AND….I worked a lot because I was hustling to prove my worthiness, in essence to prove I was worthy of love. (BTW, I share a lot about this in my book Tender Brave Spirit, check it out!).
This same dynamic was at play when I first began teaching myself how to paint. I absolutely loved painting, and yet I had this push/pull love/hate kind of relationship with it.
I rarely allowed myself TIME to paint, my work with glass art AND everything else in my life ALWAYS came before painting, this thing I was literally YEARNING and longing for…… I would squeeze in a few minutes of painting when I was finished everything else and super tired at the end of the day.
I used to think I needed unending stretches of time to really get into and improve my skills. But even when I finally allowed myself more time, it turns out that wasn’t the answer to feeling fulfilled either. It helped, giving myself PERMISSION was critical, but I was still floundering with too many frustrations in the process. Do you get this? Have you been there?
I was spending all my “spare” time painting, I was trying so hard… and still feeling frustrated.
Yes yes, there were some super great moments and deeply satisfying paintings and experiences all along the way.
That’s what kept me going, there was fulfillment. My desire and my strong will and vision kept me returning over and over again despite the ongoing unease in my system at times.
AND….it was also exhausting to me.
I was still striving and pushing, believing if only I had more time, if only I had more skills, if only I was in more galleries then it would all magically FEEL better and be more rewarding, the process and the outcome both.
Ugh ugh ugh….sounds pretty yucky doesn’t it? And so effin’ exhausting…..whew….I’m so grateful I made it through that time to see and live a much brighter, lighter and far more satisfying way to create, and way to live.
I now know so much more about myself and the creative process. I know the ways to help myself when I’m stuck, when I think it’s all shit and I’ll never make “good” painting. I know how to start big and stay big through the whole process! I feel a steadier happiness when I’m painting now than I ever have. .
I can hardly believe I lived that old tired way for so long. Does this resonate? Do tell….I’d love hear.
I’d love to share what I’ve learned over 2 decades of working and playing as a full time, self supporting artist so that you too can feel more alive, excited and dare I say even exhilarated about your own paintings and the whole process of creating them!
Sign up for my free live “Paint Your Wild Spirit” painting demo HERE
OR
Buy my book Tender Brave Spirit HERE
You’ll be happy you did!
xo
Paint your wild spirit!
“Paint Your Wild Spirit” online course experience IS HERE! I am sooooo excited to be sharing this with you, inviting you deeper into my world of creativity. It can feel edgy af to reveal my behind the scenes art making and experiences, and yet I am following the impulse, step by the step….the same way I do when making my art, whether painting or creating with glass, or writing or sewing.
CLICK HERE to learn ALL about it!
Enrollment will only happen once a year so check it out if you’re feeling even a little curious.
Step by step….or, Bird by Bird as Anne Lamott says in her essential book about writing.
When I read her book years ago, I felt so much permission in all my creative work, since it applies to everything, not just writing. The “shitty first draft” can be true in paintings too.
Wow, what a relief! In this way, I can express, make a mess, learn about colour, texture, shape, value in the shitty first, second and maybe third or more drafts/paintings. Eventually a painting will reveal itself that can stand on it’s own.
Impulse by impulse a painting is born.
The way you tell your story with paint can feel very rewarding and satisfying.
We all have stories to tell, with words, with imagery, with paint, with feelings…..how do we get out of the way so that we can bring these stories to life on the canvas?
Yes, we don’t only have to use words to tell stories, we can paint our stories metaphorically with colour, texture, shape, layers, mark-making and imagery.
You can be a modern day cave painter, exploring and expressing your inner and outer worlds with paint and mixed media onto any type of surface so that you can consistently find freedom and JOY in your creative expression.
(and give ourselves a freakin' break)
Think you don’t have a story to tell or paint? 100% not true
Think your story is uninteresting or not worth telling/painting? 100% not true.
Do you think you're too old? it's too late? this won't work for you? NOT TRUE! not true, not true!
(I used to believe all of these things)
Your soul and spirit have a story, underneath the layers of conditioning and judgement there’s a story waiting to unfold....
High Speed Art Making!
Tell me wild one, what is your soul calling for?
is paint your wild spirit calling YOU?
Wild spirit painting
how my painting imagery chooses me
When I began to paint I was drawn to painting scenes from my imagination, stories in my mind, in my heart, in my body.
I was surprised by the imagery that wanted to be painted. Images of me as a little girl, with messy splotches of colour, mostly pink, with heavy doses of black. So many scribbles, and scribbles upon scribbles, heavy handed with pencils, crayons and oil pastels.
I would often break the lead in the pencil, or break the crayon in half with the intensity of my grip. I still do.
I made a stencil from a picture of myself at about age 4….this little girl, standing timidly, no smile, in a little pink dress. l wanted HER to be in every single painting.
And so I let her.
BE there.
I had the good fortune of having excellent support, enCOURAGEment from artist mentors.
One of them said to me, “don’t resist”.......
I want to tell you, this is some of the best advice I’ve ever been given and I’m grateful beyond words that I was able to “hear” it. Sheila Norgate was the artist who said it.
I love the mystery of it all and I continue to follow these threads as they weave their way in, out and through my creations.
It’s part of the creative path, not just my path but your path too. The beautiful, bountiful, wild creative path.
Having a guide (or guides) on my creative journey has been so important to me, that’s part of why I love to share about this connecting and re-connecting, how we can return to our inner wildness for wholesome nourishment in my art courses Creative Sovereignty and Paint your Wild Spirit.
As creative people we need and want to to express ourselves! Right?
Creativity is essential to our lives, 100% proven.
Do you want to remember more of your authentic creative voice by PLAYING and creating with paint, collage, words, layers, and textures so that can free yourself and re-learn how to play, to deepen into your own creative voice, to get started and feel inspired to create a journal spread or painting?
You’ll want to join me to have sneak peak and experience a little but of my creative process!
It will be a transformative experience.
Franny the guardian angel dog
What’s in a name? Ya know what? I think there’s a lot in a name. I love words, language and reading compelling writing. Perhaps surprisingly then, I don’t always easily arrive at titles for my art pieces. “Franny the Ferocious Guardian Angel Dog”, the piece in this image was one title that came easily.
After many years of working with more refined glass art, and really stretching out within that structure, I began exploring mixed media painting as a medium of self expression so that a new part of me could be expressed.
FYI, I love folk art in all its styles from around the world including Canada. Folk art is the art of the people. “Franny” is my version of folk art.
After a few years of creating paintings for hanging on the wall, I simply had to take that paint off the wall and into a 3d form, big bolts, steel attachments, glass adornments and all.
This feels so freeing for me! Free flowing ideas that want expression are welcome in my world, even if I don’t understand them. Can you relate to this?
I had to “allow” myself the FREEDOM to break out of my own self imposed artistic box in order to follow my instincts and create “Franny” and many other sculptures of a similar style.
Can you relate to this?
I love to share my own personal stories of breaking out of the box with anyone who’s curious and wants to L I S T E N…..I share so that you too might feel more free and alive in your own life and with your art.
I believe it’s important to listen to our own inner voice so that we can learn to trust our own authentic creative instincts and impulses. It’s usually the quietest voice that’s speaking something we need to hear. Our soul’s calling possibly. Critics are often the LOUD ones!
Can you relate to being trapped in a box, maybe even a self imposed, unintentional and under the radar box? Not just with art, maybe with your life and your own creative impulses?
If this resonates type Yes! in the comments. Do tell!
P.s. bye bye “Franny”, may you be happy and free. Franny has found her new home and is happily ensconced!
❤️❤️❤️
Franny the Ferocious Guardian Angel Dog
Franny finds a new home!
Living outside the box….Or FREEdom as a way of life
Freedom as a Way of Life
I’ve spent a lot of my life attempting to fit into prescribed boxes, the boxes that are made by others, the boxes I thought I needed to fit myself into.
My precious life was cruising along while I was stressing and straining to make myself fit into these seemingly preordained boxes. This was anxiety producing and very uncomfortable.
I’m generally a fairly upbeat person, however when I stress and strain to make myself fit into the seemingly preordained boxes it’s anxiety producing and very uncomfortable.
Whew….this waS A PAINFUL WAY TO LIVE!
Can you relate?
When I began playing with my creativity, becoming an artist, I still had preconceived ideas about what an “artist” did or didn’t do, what an artist looked like, how an artist lived.
Again it was another box.
It’s as if my psyche was so used to being boxed up that I was now doing this to myself, even when no one else was present or involved. In my own head all the limiting beliefs were circulating unedited, causing me to second guess and sabotage myself.
This is a super YUCKY way to live! NOW, I know there’s a more nourishing, self compassionate, creative, imaginative and loving way to live.
Part of this for me has been about getting my inner critic under control, or maybe even better it’s about making friends with all of the inner critics. Let’s face it, there’s often more than one right???
Feeling more free, both in my art and in my life is a practice that I build and reaffirm every single day.
For many of us It takes practice.
Does this resonate for you?
There’s no shame in it. I used to feel that way too. It’s called being human.
I say, let’s normalize it.
When I befriend my fear of “not being good enough” I feel more fully alive, playful, engaged, excited and curious about the all the possibilities,, all of which equals freedom to me!
“If you’re craving more FREEDOM AND SPONTANEITY with your creativity so that you can lighten up, play and enjoy the whole process, you’ll want to explore my free Mini Journaling workshop! “
This workshop/playshop is super short, sweet, messy and wild and gives you a tiny FREE taster of my Creative Sovereignty Course.
You’ll learn ART techniqueS AND TIPS ON how to get started on the DREADED blank page, WITH FULL PERMISSION TO GET LOOSE AND MESSY!
Major bonus, you’ll feel more daring and enlivened in all of your life. I hear this over and over again from course participants.
“This course was a gift to that inner child in us that wants permission to play, and Tammy was the perfect companion.”
Tyrrell Clark
CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW ….. You’ll be glad that you did! Creative sovereignty is yours for the claiming!
CLICK HERE!
Creative Fire with Sabrina Ward Harrison!
I had the great pleasure of being a guest on “Room in the Trees” podcast with Sabrina Ward Harrison and Trent Reynolds. We talked art, creativity, free range, book making, my course Creative Sovereignty and Sabrina’s course Liberate!
As you may know, i wrote a book and published a book last year, Tender Brave Spirit.
Spread from my book Tender Brave Spirit
In my book I share my journey of growing into the artist I now am. It has been a deep soul journey, from self loathing to self loving, from NO confidence in myself about anything, to regularly challenging myself to take risks.
My life has been an excruciatingly painful path at times. This was def NOT I story I could have shared any earlier because I was still so IN IT. Too much SHAME.
Random papers that became a spread in my book.
I’ve wanted to create a book from some time now, I thought I would make a book showing the highlights of my creative life. Then I participated in Sabrina’s course “Liberate, make the book you most want to find.” As I was guided through this process, I gained courage and inspiration from Sabrina and the other participants to share a different, more important, more private, more vulnerable story in my first book.
Ahhhhhhhhh…….such a relief to share in this way. And SCARY as heck too!
The idea of “making the book I most want to find”….this is a phrase I had heard much earlier in my creative life, and I have used to help myself when I first started painting, to “make the art I most want to see” ……
L I S T E N
For me, taking Liberate course was the best investment in myself! I highly recommend it. Sabrina is an amazing artist, author, book maker, teacher and guide!
Creating my book has shifted the trajectory of my creative life and career! Making my book has helped me to see myself more clearly, and has defined even more clearly my purpose and my curiosities.
LISTEN to the interview with me, sabrina and trent HERE
Have a listen, leave a comment and let me know if you feel inspired!
See my FREE visual journaling workshop HERE!
xo
Tammy
Creative Sovereignty For you!
I’m happy to say that I am offering my online art journaling course Creative Sovereignty again coming soon! If you’ve been wanting to feel free with art supplies and a blank journal this is the place for you!
Click HERE for my FREE 3 part journaling demo and to find out more!
Here is one of the many testimonials about the course:
"I took part in the maiden voyage of Tammy Hudgeon's course, Creative Sovereignty. What a voyage it was! It was like Noah’s Ark.. A journey filled with animals and colour and adventure into the unknown! We left behind the old world of creating with the mind’s critique of what was acceptable ...and ventured into a place where it was okay to do whatever our spirit wanted! Many of us hadn’t been to that magical place since we were children. This course was a gift to that inner child in us that wants permission to play, and Tammy was the perfect companion. Can you come out and play? Yes please! Each video was an experience that seemed to speak to the “innocent artist” in all of us. But what it also did was give my "mature artist" a chance to breathe in new life. I am very happy I did this course, and I will be revisiting the content because it feels like there is more to learn… and unlearn. Bravo Tammy!"
Tyrrell Clarke
See you there!
A peek into my Artist book!
Click image to watch video!
I haven’t always been creative or made art, did you know this? I wasn’t one of the people who believed they were creative and artistic their whole lives…..have you read my book? Here’s a quote from an early reader:
Thank you for your beautiful book. It is wonderful to learn about you and get a glimpse into your life. I admire your prowress, your ability to be vulnerable and to share.
I also want to thank you for inspiring artists and regaling art appreciators all over the world.
We (I) need you! I had barely put the book down and was inspired to write and visit old wounds and blessings. Being an artis can be so difficult at times, and yet it's the BEST 'JOB' in the world!