Recently I have found myself using the term “creatives” as a label or shortcut term for my people. I am also seeing that term tossed around by others. I thought it might be useful to explore what I mean when I call my tribe creatives.

A creative might not know that they are a creative, they might not feel artistic or musical or whatever. I know that I did not- people had to tell me. It is hard to see from the inside.

So, these are some of the signs:

You have been called passionate- you can dive into an idea with all four feet because you see the ways that it can be so great for the world around you.

You have been called a dreamer- your imagination is always on. If you have ever run into a hypnotherapist, they might have told you that you were already in a trance.

You often have more ideas than you can follow through on, and may bounce from one project to the next – on a good day it is invigorating and affirming, and it can also lead to a feeling of ineptitude when you see all the dropped projects around you.

It can feel hard to trust yourself and your ideas because you know that you have not always been able to stick with one long enough to reap the benefits.

A creative is someone who thinks outside the box and makes links between boxes that others might never have thought of.
​

​​Have you ever felt like you are juggling and all the balls are about to fall down around you? You have multiple projects and types of work going at once. It starts off well- exciting even. But so easily you lose the control, one ball falls and it feels like they are all going down.  

This is common for creatives because you have a lot of ideas that pop up and seem really exciting- it feels great to dream something up and put that starting energy behind it. But the anxiety and low self-esteem can so easily be triggered if you can't get a good rhythm going, and the balls begin to drop.


I know this feeling well- in fact just last week it came up for me again. It can feel deeply undermining- like you are a fool to think you are capable of making your dreams happen. But the fact is that it is a sign- but not one of incompetence. It is a sign that you are stretching!

So what do you do?

Do you have to give up the variety and complexity that seems so endemic to who you are?

 So Life has changed. The career path you were on is ending, the kids are grown and no longer need you all the time, the divorce has done its upheaval. Whatever the reason for the change, you are in a place of having to rethink who you are and what you are "supposed" to be doing with your life, time, creative energy. 

Maybe you have done the counseling work to address some grief and self-doubt that comes with this kind of change. But now what? How do you sort out and reconfigure your life path when that other thing has been the major focus of your identity for so long?

You want to stay true to your life purpose and what you have to offer the world, but everything is confusing in the upheaval.

If you are a creative, you probably have too many ideas. One day you are ready to start your own floral business, the next week that has lost steam and you are looking at following that old vision of teaching in the inner city, or what would happen if you took your art more seriously, could you make a living with it? And if you did focus more on your creative passion, what would it look like, who would it serve?

Whatever the fantasies are they can get technicolor and stunning very quickly, but then kind of disintegrate and leave you feeling like you may never get anywhere.

It can be a roller coaster and not in a good way! I know I took that ride, and honestly it was not easy. If you have been following me for a while you know that I used to be a college professor. As much as I loved teaching and learned an enormous amount from it, I saw the writing on the wall- my career in academia was ending and I needed to find another direction. It was a hard time. And I am deeply grateful to the coach that I had during that time.

The good news is that it is possible to find the new direction that is just as satisfying and true to you, and not only that, all the experience you had doing whatever you were doing for all those years, it matters! It has become part of the mosaic of who you are and what you have to offer the world. You have skills and wisdom and interests and connections that will serve you well.

So what does it take to forge a new path and how do you do it? 
For most of us it is not an overnight turn around.

The first step is to buckle your seat belt- by which I mean take the time to create a place of safety for yourself.

• look at your finances and make adjustments so that you are not going to be panicked about money all the time- you really cannot build a new direction if you are stressed financially.  This may mean a temporary job or downsizing expectations. Get stable financially so that you can work from a place of  confidence.
• consider your support- the people around you.
  • you need folks to play with or hold space with you that is not the major shift- but is a steady on connection that you love being with- a sense of continuity and love.
  • you need at least one person who can listen really well, ask good questions and flow with all the indecision- who has nothing at stake in your decisions and believes in you and wants to see you land where you are going to be happy and fulfill your potential. For me this was a coach because everyone else in my life, as wonderful as they were, had too much at stake- they were panicked for me!
  • You need to continue to give to the world, your friends and family, whoever- you must feel useful. Do not let people say "oh, you have too much to worry about, I am not going to add to your load by sharing my problems". The thing is that you could easily get mired in your own head and it is a great relief to let go of your life for a bit and be with another person. It will give you energy and self worth.
• Self care- yoga, meditation, walking, exercise, play dates, music, art, good books, whatever feels nourishing and restorative to you- make sure you make room for it in your life.  Transitions like this are really challenging and you will need to take good care of yourself through it!

The second step is a kind of inventory. What are your deepest values, what do you enjoy doing, where have you felt most at peace and also most productive or useful. There are a lot of questions here that take you from the sense of loss or failure or fear into a sense of being grounded in your self and your positive qualities and potential. Your dreams need this base of self awareness and belief in the self in order to move from fantasy to reality. If you are working with a coach you will likely spend some time in this with various exercises that will help you find your own wisdom, clarity, identity.

Third is the dreams, though honestly they have probably been swimming around the whole time- so make sure you are jotting them down as they come to you. Every one of those fantasies is important not so much because they might be the one to focus on, but because they show you things about what you are drawn towards, what is important to you, what feels fun. So play in the dreams and notice what you notice about them- pay attention to what it is about running a floral shop that sounds great to you.

Fourth is The decision - clarifying the focus- understanding the direction. Don't rush this! I know it is painful to be in the not knowing and it can be tempting to jump into something because you just need an answer right away. But really, you need to know that the direction you are moving in makes sense on many levels- makes sense to who you are, makes sense in terms of being realistic and doable, and makes sense in a time line that keeps you healthy and strong and dare I say, happy. You will need to make sure that all of the parts of you are in alignment on this in order for you to be able to move forward with it with ease.

Fifth is the manifesting- setting goals, breaking down the steps, taking actions. This is going to be really fun if you have done the earlier steps well. If you have not, you may be undermined by self-doubt and slowed in the muck of internal blocks.

My biggest piece of advice in this transition is to get the help you need to move consciously through the steps and build not just your new direction, but also your sense of empowerment and trust, ease and confidence, so that you can take your creative work out into the world where it is most needed. Find a coach who fits well with you, who feels right, who you can feel safe and comfortable talking to.

If you would like to see if I might be the right coach for you, please book a free initial consultation- Lets talk!

I was talking to a couple of good friends last night about new year's resolutions, it being New Year's Eve. They both said that they do not believe in new year's resolutions because it just sets you up to fail. Yup- I get that. We resolve to go to the gym and after two or three weeks, we stop. And feel yet again like a failure. Yuck.

So when I was on my walk this morning, with a beautiful fog ahead of me and delicately naked drippy dark trees all around me- I chewed on this idea. What if... What if there was a different way of looking at this?

The life of a creative is all about curiosity- the big and little "what ifs". Apparently John Grisham started writing his novels while being a full time lawyer and active parent. He wrote one page a day- only 1/2 hour of writing each day- squeezed in. And it was curiosity that helped him stick to it. The basic question was can I do this? But I am sure it also became what is going to happen next? Because this is what happens when you start something creative- it sucks you in with curiosity! 

So what if instead of declaring that you are going to lose 25 lbs or get into the studio every day or whatever you are deciding you want to do- and then gritting your teeth and charging into it, you approached it differently? What if you approached it with curiosity?

There is a lightness and play that comes with the open questions and a pull that is engaging and enticing. It keeps you going, draws you back into the journey.

On the other hand when you declare a goal and try to focus your mind around it, there is a heaviness and density of being- like you are set against the world- it is all opposition and effort. That kind of push can feel good for a while, and make you feel powerful with the effort you are putting in, but it will exhaust you because it is relentless. 

So what does it look like to approach a goal with curiosity? I recently lost 25 lbs with curiosity. I kept asking questions I wonder if I can make this program work for me? What if I did not eat anything after 7? What if I log all my food, what will I discover? Does it help to have an on-line community? etc.
 
There are a ton of little questions and you tested them out. It is very much like making a sculpture- I start with the bigger question of what if I set up these parameters- what will I find? And then as I move through it, the questions become minute design decisions and I do not even notice that many ideas fail because I continue to be curious and try anther idea. And eventually the whole thing is miraculously working together and I back up from it and notice that I have made something that looks really interesting to me and then I get curious about what it is saying... and that is another round of questions.

So try it for yourself right now. What is the goal that you would like to set for yourself, and that you are afraid will fail if you set it as a resolution? Now make it into a question- something like What would it feel like if I ... or I wonder if I can... or what if I...  How does it feel in your body and your psyche to reframe it? Can you feel the lightness and play coming in as you engage the curiosity? Then break it down to a smaller doable test- try it for a week or a month and see how it feels and make adjustments so that it is always about curiosity. Have fun!

If have creative urges that you want to move into this year, I want to encourage you to go for it! Your creative work is essential to you and to the world you are in! I also want to encourage you to get help with it. There are many good coaches and classes and communities that you can engage so that you do not have to feel isolated and suffer for the art. 

And if you are curious about whether I might be the right coach for you, please check out my quiz for creatives by clicking the link below. 

​Implements of the interior
These implements are the tools and weapons of the interior. By falling in love with them- feeling tenderness and compassion even there- you can let go of holding them against yourself.  I offer these bronze objects as a totem of loving kindness to that part of yourself that needs it most.
Hold the implement that calls to you as you meditate and feel the power of deep compassion.
The bronze material offers both heft and presence and also an intimate relationship. As you hold it, it will take on your body temperature, and over time the patina will change in response to your hands. Welcome this change as it is part of what makes it your own.
Val Gilman

A few pieces in this series are available at Salmon Falls Gallery in Shelburne Falls 

Upcoming Show • December 6-29, 2018

small wonders
​Holiday Show & Sale
small • fun • affordable
  ​
OPENING / Amherst Arts Night Plus: 
First Thursday, December 6, 5-8 pm
 Gallery A3 in Amherst MA

The work that I will be showing is from The Cup series- this is the artist statement
The Cup
This cup sits with the landscape of the unseen body. It is awareness and presence to that which is in our lives and our history without needing to fully understand it; enjoying the mystery and allowing the unfolding. It is an invitation to tea, a moment of reflection, a place of calm in the turbulence of life. It is choosing gratitude for the empty cup- for being open to that which comes. We weave paths through this landscape- leaving marks and discovering relationships.
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Care and feeding: these pieces are made of clay with an encaustic (wax and pigment) surface. The cup is attached with museum wax- so it is flexible and removable and will not break fall off. Because the surface is wax, it needs to be treated delicately. You can dust the piece with a dry or damp cloth- do not use soap or chemicals and be careful not to scratch the surface. Do not leave it in a place where it could get heated such as in the direct sun or near a heater.
Val Gilman
2018

I am so excited to announce that my work is now represented at Salmon Falls Gallery in Shelburne Falls, MA!

If you have never been there, it is worth the trip. The gallery is beautiful and rich in great art. I was so pleased that when Donna came out to my studio, she chose work of mine that is abstract and my more serious work, including Janus- shown below. 

I am completely inspired by the affirmation. I hope to get some new work to the foundry before my Paradise City show in the spring.

If you happen to be going to Maine before then end of November, my work is there too! Check out the Green Heron Gallery in Ogunquit. They have more of my figurative bronze work including the Head of Man, shown below

​Why is it essential that you are making your art now?
And why it is so darned hard to do it now?

Have you noticed that there is a lot of crap going on in national politics right now? And that it causes fear and anger and that it is easy to feel dis-empowered and disheartened?

​There is so much that can be overwhelming and cause us to stick our heads in the sand. Better than pacing around the kitchen fuming and not knowing what to do.

I don’t know about you, but I have been carrying a lot of extra tension and anxiety feeling like I am not doing enough and I have no idea how to take it all in. I do not want to live a life of anger. I did that in my 20’s and I made a conscious choice not to live that way. So now what?

This is the thing, as artists and creatives, we have two essential roles to play:

We nourish the soul- our work nourishes the soul. Our souls individually, but also the souls of the people who connect with our work, and by doing that we are nourishing the soul of our culture.

And we speak the truth- the difficult, unclear, complex truth that underlies all of the words that are being flung around.

When we do our work honestly, we are giving voice to the very real but inarticulate places in our being, the places of complex and challenging paradoxes that need growth and healing. By falling in love with those places- caressing them into visual form, we are bringing compassion to them and it is compassion that is the beginning of healing. And boy does our culture need healing right now!

We are in a time of fear and anger. There is massive distrust happening and being fueled by certain politicians. We are losing sight of our shared humanity.

Fear is not a healthy place to live, nor is it a wise place to base our actions and words. When we are in fear we can only see the surface of things, the simplistic versions of us and them, right and wrong, perpetrator and victim. When we are in fear we are not able to move with compassion and love, and we make the divisions deeper. We aim at retribution and punishment. Is that really what we want?

In order to live in a culture of compassion and healing we need to do our art work. We need to speak the truth with concern for the well being of the entire community. We must let ourselves tap into the creative unconscious, muck around in the unknown, unclear stuff of our collective unconscious, and draw out those most needful truths. It is essential that we bring all of our love and patience to this work. And that we do the work of getting it out into the public sphere.

Let me just say that I understand that this is vulnerable work. When the whole world wants us to act now, when fear and anger are pushing on us, to take the time to dwell in the not-knowing seems like inaction. It seems selfish. It seems too darned slow.

And yet we need to do it. We need to nourish our souls by being present with our very particular sense of what is compelling, and we need to allow time for the discovery of truth. Our very particular truth.

The hardest part of this is trusting that you have something of value to offer. When you allow yourself into that place of not knowing, are you really going to be able to find something in there that is worth it? Do you have anything to say? We doubt ourselves. Of course we do.
 
In order to do this work well, you have to let go of the surface knowing. And when you are in fear and anger you cling to what you think you know- clear, simple, didactic things that other people are telling us is the truth. It is the nature of fear and anger.

Our job as artists is to put those things that we think we know off to the side, and tap into a place of deeper knowing- a place that has no words and speaks in the subtle language of color, shape, texture, rhythm and line.

You will know it when you are getting there. You have been there before. You will recognize that place of quickening, of deep connection, of oh my god did this come out of me? It is a humble feeling even as it brings more confidence and clarity of self.

We do not need to make overt political art work in order for it to be of value to the culture. We need to make work that brings us back to our shared humanity. Maybe it is overt political work, and maybe it is a reminder of the beauty that we live in- a respite from the anxiety and fear- a place of gratitude and nourishment that helps ground our audience in the love and compassion that is so essential to healing.

Or maybe it is playful and light, another way to open the heart. Maybe it articulates the pain or disquiet of the inner being, and brings a sense of awareness and compassion to it.

Art functions in so many different ways, and you really do not need to know ahead of time what your intention is. All you need to do is let yourself be in the process.

It may be that on Monday you need to nourishment of yummy beauty and on Tuesday or later that afternoon, or a month from now, you are ready to let that anger and frustration come out with clarity and purpose. We are complex human beings- we have a full range of emotions and they are all real. We need to express all of it in various ways.

And others, (think of all those people who do not know how to access that deep creative place) need to be moved and challenged and held and nourished by your work. You need to find a way to let it be seen. When you are ready.

So please, Keep making art! 

If this speaks to you and you would like to know more, please check out my web site, Taproot Arts and Insight.  (https://taprootartsinsight.com) I am a coach for artists who want to make work that matters and I work with individuals and with groups. I am also available for speaking engagements.

And please help me spread the word by liking and commenting and sharing!!

​There is still time to register for Taproot Studio Group!
There is a limit of 8 participants- so reserve your spot now!

Tuesdays 9:30- 12:30 in Hadley

(I may open an evening section if there is enough interest- so please let me know!)


Tap into yourself with visual art! Inspiration, community and freedom  for artists and creatives. Nourish your soul and come back to a solid sense of self by investing in your creative work.  Find that you can move in the  world with more confidence and ease because you  are taking the time to listen deeply to yourself through your creative explorations. Experience the sense of generosity and compassion returning as you feel fed, heard and valued on a deep level. 


​This is a group designed specifically for people who have some experience with visual arts, who remember how nourishing it once was and yearn to get back into it. ​You care about people, our culture, the environment and you are finding yourself disheartened. You have made a life or career that is about others, teaching, alternative healing practices, therapy, social work- and it is good work, built on your passion to serve-  but it has drained you and now you find that you hardly know yourself. Life has become hard and your motivation and direction does not seem intact. Maybe you have a hard time speaking your mind. 

It is time to come back home to yourself. Come to the Taproot Studio group, and give yourself permission to nourish your soul with your own creative practice. Bring your own materials- and an openness to play and find new doorways into your creative unconscious. I will provide inspiration for exploration in a very open ended way- developed to help you open up to your own creative source. I will bring my training as a life coach for artists, my experience as an artist and as a college professor to create a safe space for risk taking and open exploration.

You art work matters. It is essential to your own well being and to your ability to offer the world your gifts. 

Register for Taproot Studio Group

Warmly,
Val Gilman
​P.S.- please contact me if you have questions! ​

​
 Creative Rhythms

Fall is in the air, I can feel the quickening and excitement as if I too am going back to school. It has got me thinking about this question of creative rhythm and the assumptions we have about what we “should” be doing.

Do you have those nagging internal voices that say you should be in the studio every day, or that you are not a real artist if you are not making stuff all the time?

Ernest Hemingway famously wrote every morning first thing for a few hours. This is a model that gets held over our heads a lot, and I am sure it works well for a lot of people. But not everyone.

The question is, what works best for you? It is painful and demoralizing, not to mention unproductive to try to fit yourself into someone else's concept of the right work rhythm. 

And let me just say that if you have not been working in the studio for a long time for whatever (usually very good) reason, I have another blog coming soon to address this issue. 

If you are feeling cranky and irritable for no good reason- and everything seems hard, like there is added friction- it may be your need to tap into your creative work that is making itself known. Don't beat yourself up, just listen to the need and see what you can do to make space, without too much pressure, for your creative work to come alive again.

I am deeply aware that there are rhythms to my work, and that it is not static. It is like time, there are seasons with their varied qualities and foci, and there are phases of the moon, and times of day, and the filling and releasing of breath- that is there are cycles within cycles within cycles, and they all breath in and out.

This all seems obvious, but the point is that rather than berate yourself for not being in the studio all the time on schedule, maybe there is a way to become aware of what part of the cycle are you in right now and what feels right to support your creative needs in this moment?

You notice the beauty of the leaves changing and you relish the air becoming crisp even as you mourn the passing of the glorious garden, or note what you would like to do with it next spring. 

Similarly, there is a way to bring a grateful awareness to the fallow times in your creative life, a time of taking in or resting, as well as the productive times when you are focused and dedicated and on a roll.

Try this: Look at your past- think about the art that you have made over the years. Now name the times that you have created a body of work- or completed the body of work and shown it. You might even make a time time line with events marked with strong verticals along the time line.  Now use one color to denote  when it felt like you were really productive, another when you felt like you were just poking at it, and  a third when it felt like you were not doing anything. See if you notice a pattern. Are there other kinds of flow that you want to denote?

I have to admit that often when I finish a body of work and have a show, I realize that all that time that I had been thinking I was just poking at it, I was actually making work that ended up being essential to the show. And usually after a big event, I have to take some time off to regroup and re-calibrate

Recently, as I rushed toward a craft show with new pottery in production, and I was loving the sense of productivity and energy. Now I am breathing out- re- calibrating, and I am aware that soon I get to settle into a quieter kind of internal work, making sculpture with a sense of meandering and enjoying the not knowing. And I am aware that having just accomplished the craft show, I need to rest and take care of my nest. I love the variation.

And it can be challenging to start up again after a fallow time, and how do you know if you are ready to start again. That is the stuff of another article. For this one, just remember to be kind to yourself and allow yourself to notice where you are right now in your rhythms. Breathing in and out, sleeping and waking, and having a cup of tea.

I am very curious about what you notice in how your rhythms work.

If you feel inspired to reply- I invite you to add your voice to my blog!

As artists, we often need to write and speak about our work. I get it that it is hard. And vulnerable. And it usually feels like we have nothing to say and we have no idea why we are drawn to do the things we are doing. And let’s be honest- this culture of ours does not appreciate mucking around in the not knowing (i.e. creative work).

We live in a culture that believes in logical linear thinking, step by step plans that get to goals and clear minded projects. Yes of course… and under all of that is the mucking around in the not-knowing for a while. Creativity is messy- and writing about our work is scary because we don’t like to appear so messy.

But here is a story about writing to inspire you.
​
I just wrote an artist statement for a piece that I am submitting to a competition. It took a few days of letting it stew in the back of my head while the front of my head said I have nothing to say. And then early one morning, with my first cup of tea, before I could get in my own way, I let it flow.

And it turns out I did have something to say. It also turns out that this thing that I made really does have something to do with what I think and feel about what is going on in this culture. Infact it turns out that it would be a good thing if this idea can get out there in the form of a piece in the show that I am submitting it for- it matters more than just another notch on my stick, line on my resume. (Nothing like feeling that I am working toward those lines to slow me down with a sense of drudgery and resentment, but that is for another article)

It wasn’t until I wrote the statement that I realized what I had been doing in my work and that it feels important to get the idea out into the public discourse. Yes, my work matters! (so hard to believe most of the time!)

The funny thing about this one is that I thought I was just doing a portrait commission- a bust of a man because his wife wanted it, but as I did the piece and connected to the woman, who I like a lot, and her appreciation of her husband, I was tapping into something deeper. Something in me about what is important in a man, and how challenging it is to be a man of integrity right now. This is something in our culture that needs to be attended. And I want to add my voice to the conversation.

We are not separate from our culture, as artists we are part of the culture and all of what we think, feel, want for our culture will come through when we do our work. Our culture needs us to tap in to ourselves and find those difficult truths and articulate them. It’s our job.

We need to not only make the work (without necessarily knowing what it is about as we make it), but we also need to write and speak about it. The act of bringing words to the work is an act of taking what we have been creating below the surface of our conscious thought- and bringing it to the clarity and focus of consciousness. It helps us to see the value of what we do, and it helps us to deepen our understanding of our convictions. And it is our job as artists in our culture to provide this deeper insight both in the form of the art work and in the form of our words.

If you are an artist or creative and could use some help believing in the importance of your work, finding your rhythm, getting the work out there, just making time and space to make work, please take this quiz to see if I might be the right person to help.

You can find the artist statement I am referring to on the portraits page of my web site.
 

​It was a thrill to be exhibiting at Paradise City Arts Festival in Northampton last weekend- October 7,8, and 9 - Columbus Day Weekend, and a huge part of that was being able to talk to so many folks about my work and how it relates to their own lives. I loved hearing reflections on those tiny cups that I have everywhere, that they seem like a sacred space for the human element in the swirl and confusion of life, and how nice it is to have that reminder to take a moment of stillness and reflection, to nourish yourself. I loved knowing the very individual ways that people related to the organic abstract forms that I have been making- in a basic way it is the connection between the body and the psyche, but that only touches the surface as they are really expressions of parts of us, that have no words.

I also loved hearing how people connect to my figurative sculpture. I was deeply moved to be present for the very careful consideration of how my sculpture could or will fit into your home. It made me reflect on how the home is an extension and expression of the self, and if there is more than one person creating the home, then it is also an expression of the relationship. I am honored to have my sculpture be a part of that. I have always felt that the viewer serves to complete the piece- bringing your own life and perspectives to bear on the meaning of the piece. I felt like I got a good dose of that last weekend and it is beautifully humbling, and inspiring to keep me going with making work!

I will be back at Paradise City, Northampton in May, and I am still deciding about Marlboro in March.

In the mean time I have an open studio event with the Shutesbury Artists Collective coming up on November 4 that I hope you will come out for!
​
And I have put a few things up on Etsy- more to come!

I wrote up some thoughts about my work for my Artist Information Page on the Paradise City site.

Please come to Paradise City Arts Festival on Columbus Day weekend in Northampton and look me up!
I will be at Booth 327. Get a coupon for $2 off tickets. You can bring that coupon with you and buy tickets at the door- or you can save yourself from standing in line and buy your tickets on-line here.

And check out my artist profile on the Paradise City site.

Where: Val's house- 85 Baker Road, Shutesbury, MA 01072
and
Leslie's house- School House Road, Shutesbury


Its our third time! The Shutesbury Artists Collective is going to have an open studio sale again on November 4, 2017. Look for our fancy new signs- we are getting official and having them printed! 

I will have pottery and sculpture. Hope to see you there!

I just finished my new artist statement for the Paradise City web site- it should go up within the week- and I will put in the link when it does. But I could not help myself from sharing because I am so tickled about it!
​

​
In this workshop we will explore open ended and compassionate creative process inspired by the juncture of the body and psyche. We will visualize, move, create and share.

Wear clothes that are comfortable for moving and bring journals and art materials. I will provide clay and some markers and paper.

This workshop is a preview to the fuller series that I will be offering in the fall. It is perfect for

• therapists and coaches who want to re-energize their practices 
• artists and creatives who want to find fodder to deepen their creative work 
• body workers and alternative healers who love exploring diverse modalities
• activists and environmentalists who want visceral connection to their passions
• anyone who loves to see what happens when you bring the creative arts and the healing arts and psychological arts and environmental arts together!

Scout and I had a great conversation about what is going on now and how the work that we do addresses it. I hope you enjoy it and please let me know what you think!

​I want to talk about the conflict of making art from the heart and trying to sell it. Or the perceived conflict.

If you are reading this, you are probably like me in being an artist who tries to make work that is real to you- that touches you on a deep or tender level. Art that is swimming in your own very particular sense of beauty and may be at the edge of your own discomfort- in the very place of your own growth and healing.

If it is working, it is powerful and beautiful and raw and very vulnerable stuff. And often it feels like you are not sure what you are doing or how to do it. It is not easy and for the most part- you have no clue how to talk about it- especially to someone who might have a wallet with money in it!

How are you ever going to be able to bring that vulnerability out to the world? The very thought is enough to make you go running for cover- blankets and teddy bears and all. And yet somehow there is an urge to share it.

​So you are grumpy- the to-do list is long and boring and never ever done. And you have the "I Want"'s- that nagging feeling that you want something but you can't figure out what. Somehow nothing seems easy- like there is just a lot of resistance going on. You feel pretty distant from your creative practice, and you are eating far too much of the wrong things!

If this is you- or if you have known this feeling- try something for a minute. A quick visualization.

Get yourself seated comfortably and let your eyes gently close while you take a couple of deep breaths.

Have you ever felt that sense that you are a fraud? For creatives this is a normal part of the creative cycle.  And it can be very painful, but it does not have to be.

It is very common after a period of creative activity to feel like a fraud and a dilettante- The voice in your head starts berating you with things like, "All these fabulous ideas are silly and they are going no-where."  "You do not have what it takes."

​This can spiral into  a real morass of self-pity- as you look around and feel completely isolated- you have been so caught up in your own thing that you do not feel your sense of connection with anyone. You start telling yourself that you have been a self-centered egomaniac and everyone has gone off to enjoy each other and ignore you.

Ouch this is painful! Am I going over-board here? I may be stating it rather strongly, but for many creatives, be they small business owners, artists, writers, musicians it does feel like a seriously painful roller coaster.

First of all this is a normal cycle for a creative person, and maybe in-fact for all living beings- it comes with the territory- like the phases of the moon or a woman’s cycle- the tides- the seasons- there are times that are full of growth and potential, times of flowering, and times to drop the leaves and go inside and recoup.