New Beginnings in September

September has always held a special place in my heart. I used to get so excited to go to the store and pick out my new school supplies and I loved the idea of a new school year starting. No matter what was going on in my young life I knew school would be a fun place to be even if it was only because I loved to chat and talk with my friends. 

When I had kids that same excitement carried on. I would go to the school supply aisles in the store and spend so much time searching for just the right notebook or the best pens while my kids rolled their eyes and wanted to get out of there. 

Now that my kids are older, there isn’t that same kind of beginning school excitement to shop for supplies but the energy is still so new and so fresh that I just love this time of year. In fact, I have decided that I want to model my business around the school schedule because it just makes so much sense to me. 

So here we are at a new beginning…for my kids, for myself and for my business. I am beyond excited to ride this positive energy burst forward and pick up steam to make this year my best and it is my goal to help you do the same. 

I am always using my Freedom Art process to get really clear on what I want and what I need to do to accomplish it. I don’t concern myself with creating a masterpiece, I only want to step into creative flow and allow my truth to come through and lead the way.

How are you beginning this new cycle in your life? Are you clear on what direction you are going in? If not, how do you typically gain clarity? I’d love to know. 

How to Have an Awesome Art Party

What a great night! I could not be happier about the outcome of my first open house at The Creative Healing Studio! So many great people came out and had fun doodling, painting, and drawing. 

 Food was set out and drinks were prepared. 

Everyone had a chance to create a collaboration on a big piece of paper. 

I was so happy to have a great group of kids too.

Hours of doodling and painting left some fantastic art and gave the studio so much great energy.

The doodle table was a favorite of many.

In fact, the fun continued after midnight!

 And I even got some men in on the fun. 

Thank you to everyone who came out. My first Freedom Art Class is this Thursday and I am offering a 50% discount to all first timers who have signed up for my newsletter. You can sign up here and you get my free ebook, Take Back Your Life with Freedom Art™.

5 Ways You Can Use Freedom Art to Release Emotions

Growing up I learned very young how to stuff my emotions. I used all kinds of things to accomplish this task…cigarettes, alcohol, food, and depression. I didn’t really even know that’s what I was doing. I was just going along, living my life and stuffing everything down. 

But once I found myself in the hospital for a few days with no real answers to what was wrong with me I began the long journey to figure my shit out. What I discovered is the world of emotional release which is being with your emotions in the moment no matter what they are and letting them flow through you.

My emotion of choice has always been anger. I hold onto that one for dear life until it blows like a catastrophic volcano. The first time I sat with it and really let it out it felt like my whole body was literally on fire. It was raging through me with incredible power. I felt like one of this old cartoons where the character turned red with smoke blowing out of their ears. Whew!

It felt amazing to get it out. I felt like I lost 50 pounds that day. But emotions are not a one time thing. They come and they go everyday. They like to hide out in the body so sometimes you don’t even know what is going on until it gets so big you can’t ignore it. 

My greatest discovery was understanding how Freedom Art™ can be used to release emotions. Regular time in front of your journal, canvas or even a poster board taped to the wall is one of the greatest ways I have found to get in touch with emotions and just allow them to be. 

It’s like a playdate with all those little emotions hiding out inside you. Have you seen that movie Inside Out? I love that movie. It really gives a concrete example of what is going on in there. And the moral of that story is that every emotion has its place and shouldn’t be ignored. 

Here are 5 ways you can use art to release your emotions:

1. Work in your journal- Your journal is a safe place to let all of your emotions out. You can close the pages and no one has to see what you've done. You can scribble and swear and create the ugliest things you've ever seen and it is only for you. 

2. Choose your materials wisely- Different materials can evoke different feelings. Water colors are fluid and can connect you to your watery emotions like sadness, grief, and love. Crayons and oil pastels can really help you gain access to anger, jealousy and fear. Everyone will have different connections to the materials so tap into how you are feeling and which material will best express that feeling and don't be afraid to switch it up in the middle. 

3. Choose colors without judgement- Each color can represent an emotion and once again, everyone will have different associations with colors. One person might associate green with health and vibrancy and another might think of sickness. It only matters what color you are being nudged to use. Don't ask why, just go with it and see where it leads you. 

4. Use gestures that represent how you feel- Do you feel like moving in long, sweeping vertical lines or are you feeling hard, frantic scribbles? Perhaps you want to move slowly in a horizontal direction or in short stabbing dots. Allow your movement to match your emotions and pay attention to when you feel like changing. 

5. Spend some time in reflection- When you finish your art piece spend some time writing about it. How did it feel to create it? How does it make you feel when you look at it? What messages does it have for you. 

I will be sharing my most recent emotional journey using Freedom Art™ in my next post to give you a greater idea of how it works. Stay tuned!

Product vs. Process Art

So many people think they aren’t artists. They have this idea that art has to look a certain way and that they weren’t trained in visual arts so they can’t possibly be artists. Many people are intimidated by the thought of creating art. I have watched women literally fall into anxiety at the thought of it. 

I think the problem is that they are focused on creating a finished product. They have an idea in their head for something that they want to make and either they don’t have the skills to create it or they think they can and somewhere in the middle of it they realize they cannot do it and they shut down. 

When you create art for product you find yourself in a world of rules; rules of composition, color, and line. These are the terms of art school and they are important in the world of design. They can help you create things that are pleasing to the eye but is that only aspect of art? I don’t think so. 

The field of product art is established around critiques and fitting your art into these rigid rules. There is so much time spent focusing on what is wrong with your creation that your soul can be deflated at best and crushed at worst. 

Process art throws all the rules out the window. It is the thing that sets you free from rules and critiques. There is no one there to tell you what you “should” have done or even what you “could” have done. You do not start with a preconceived idea about what you are making. You start with curiosity and experimentation. 

Process art is about following your intuition and doing what feels good in the moment no matter what it ends up looking like. It’s about playing with color, line and movement and seeing what emerges on the paper. Red feels exciting? Use it! You have an urge to add some dots? Go for it!

This is the foundation of Freedom Art™. Pure joy in the process of creativity, the way a child explores and plays with art supplies. It’s an opportunity to let go of rules and expectations and let your creativity flow no matter what the finished product looks like. This is the place where everyone is an artist. 

What are your experiences with art? Have you experienced either ends of this spectrum? I'd love to know!

Art is Powerful

I believe art is powerful! I don’t mean just looking at a piece of art. I mean the process of creating art for just for the sake of the process. When you let go of all the rules and expectations of creating art and tune into the creative flow that is there for everyone you tap into an amazing power like you’ve never known. 

Sometimes I use art just to get my energy flowing, to step into creative flow, to play and have fun. Yesterday I was feeling like I was in a bit of a funk. I felt blah and crabby and I decided to use art to help shift my mood. 

I taped up a sheet of paper onto the wall and turned on an album I have of chakra music. I used the corresponding color as each song played and I just expressed myself in those colors. No rules. No expectations. Just energy on a page. 

When I finished, I felt better. I knew I had tapped into something but yet I still felt like something was missing. I wasn't complete. 

I got out my notebook and started writing. I wrote about how I was feeling and what I wanted and got out some more junky junk and then I set my intention. I was drawn to a dark black oil pastel and I just slowly started making lines and shapes. I had no idea what I was doing, I only did what felt right in the moment.

I knew I had to get out the white paint  so I did. I started playing with blocking out some of those shapes. I added some other colors and kept playing. I found it so interesting how different the energy was at this point than it had been earlier. 

I continued on adding lines, dots and other colors. I love the way the bright chakra colors shine through and move across the page. It seems raw, pure and full of joy.

When the painting itself felt complete I got out my trusty notebook and once again spent some time writing and getting insight about the process, the art and how I was feeling. 

In the past I might never want to share such an "unfinished" piece of art because I was focused on the idea of creating art that had to look a certain way but I now fully embrace Freedom Art™ which is all about throwing away the rules and following your intuition. It is about using art as a tool to get in touch with your inner wisdom, healing your soul and creating a life that makes you shine. 

If you would like to try out Freedom Art™ head over to my website. You can sign up for a free ebook called, Take Back Your Life with Freedom Art™ which will also get you on the mailing list for updates on new classes that are offered in my studio. 

Volunteers Needed

Hello friends,
I am looking for a few volunteers for my upcoming Freedom Art™ 7 Day Gratitude Challenge. Anyone and everyone is welcome to apply. No art experience is necessary. Only simple and basic art supplies are needed (yes, you can even use crayons). You will be guided through a simple Freedom Art™ process to tap into different aspects of gratitude in your life.

The challenge will run June 6th through June 12th and will be done completely on the internet. You will receive an email with links to a video to watch each day. The process should take about 20 minutes each day to complete.

This is for you if you are:

• open to new experiences
• curious about Freedom Art™
• interested in exploring gratitude
• ready to have fun playing with art materials like a kid 
• willing to spend 20 min each day of the challenge
• committed to completing the full challenge
• willing to write an overview of your experience and allow me to use it on my website
• willing to fill out a questionnaire when you complete the challenge 

Comment below to let me know you're interested!

Thanks so much.

**UPDATE**

I want to thank all of you wonderful women for agreeing to take part in this challenge. We have a full group this time but stay tuned for more! 

Creative Framing for Process Art

When making process art the idea is not to be concerned with making a finished art piece. The idea is to get lost in the process of making something, to dive into the creative process with wild abandon, choosing colors that are calling you, making lines and shapes that want to be made. 

You can see that this drawing would be difficult to frame. It is uneven and strangely shaped with tears in the paper. 

Not every piece you make is going to be frame worthy and yet there is emotion and energy that was poured into the piece and you want to be able to save it. 

Of course you can crop it down to make it fit into a nice frame while keeping the image intact. 

How about a nice rectangle?

Or a Square

Another easy way to do it is to cut it up and frame parts of it. All you have to do is purchase a mat and move it around while looking for interesting parts that will make impactful art on their own.

I'm digging the beard

 I love how this part of the nose makes such a great abstract

The leaf really makes a statement

You can hang them in a series for maximum impact.

These would look amazing together 

So don't despair if your amazing process art experience leaves you with something you aren't happy with. 

Remember that the goal isn't to 

make "something." 

The goal is to 

"make" something. 

And with a little Creative Framing you can do both! 

;o)