Nurture Your Nature
Today for our Creative Pathways Newsletter, I wanted to reconnect with a message I shared back in Issue # 2 of the Studioworks Journal.
Grab a cup of something lovely and have a read…(you can also listen to the audio instead at the bottom of the page.)
NURTURE YOUR NATURE
I want us to focus on effective ways to nurture our creativity. I mean truly nurture. To dig down deep and understand the exquisite beauty of our inner artists. How can we tend to their needs? Their wishes. Their desires. Their fears. Their dreams. How can we hold ever so tenderly that creative being inside us. Some may call it our muse or our inner child or simply our authentic self. Let’s first imagine this. Picture a beautiful garden. Flowers, upon flowers, swaying trees, a trickling stream, crystal clear and pure. In the center of this enchanting place is our connection to self. To our higher self and to our divine creativity. This is a sacred garden and one that needs tending. YOU (and only you) are the caretaker of this place. Without your devotion and love, it will become a dry and barren landscape. The blooms become dormant and the water ceases to flow. But with care, it will grow and flourish and sustain your very being. So you may think, well this all sounds lovely but how the heck do I care for this place? I don’t have time. I have laundry and kids and grocery shopping and I can’t possibly spend hours meditating and connecting to my higher self. Geez… I’m here to tell you that your creative practice is exactly what tends to this garden. Your creative practice is a doorway to this place. You don’t need to be a mystic or a guru. You just have to make time for YOU. 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an entire day. Any amount of time will add to the wellbeing of this special place within you.
By showing up each day with your sketchbook and being open to learning, practicing and trying new things you are watering the blooms and nourishing the soil. You are opening yourself to a deeper connection with your creativity. It is doable and it is necessary to live a creative life. In our last issue, we discussed Discipline and how to become a creative disciple. To choose a path of learning. To commit to a life of openness and a willingness to walk alongside the unknown. Now, we take this further and begin to invite ritual into our practice. Rituals that will feed your creative self, enchant the muse and fill your well. Now, we will fully embrace the nature of what we are. Creative beings. We will hold to the truth that we were created to create. This month we will tend to our creative garden. We will learn about what our creativity needs and yearns for and what we need to protect it from. We will mother our muses and soothe the inner child. We will stand strong against anything that threatens our true self and we will turn away from what is false. We will clear away the old and tend to new, precious growth. We will put our ears to the walls of our hearts and listen.
“We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.”
Sketchbook Prompt
The Inner Garden
Collage a photo of you OR a figure/face you enjoy OR sketch a figure/face to represent you. Create a beautiful garden all around you. It can be realistic or playful and childlike. Smile as you do this. Enjoy surrounding yourself in a glorious flowers. Know you are worthy of the most beautiful blooms in the world. Entangle them in your hair, let the leaves caress your cheeks, let tendrils of root and vine flow into and out of your heart. You are a divine expression of creation. You can create words in your piece that remind you of your role as caretaker to your creativity.
Here is the image I used in my collage:
Community Art Gallery
GORGEOUS ARTWORK FROM OUR STUDIOWORKS COMMUNITY
It’s an absolute delight and honor to witness our art community flourish. Artists from around the globe share their art in our groups - so I thought it would fun to highlight some beautiful creatives this week!
Connie Armitage
Maya Libnan
Karen Huwen
Deborah Thoden
Diana Bradford Fiorilla
Patrice H. Jones
What I'm Reading
You guys know I LOVE books so I thought I would share with you a few titles that are really holding my attention right now!
Make your landscape paintings more adventurous with these mixed-media techniques!
What does it mean to live a life in service to your creativity, and in direct connection to the creative source?
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Each and every month you will be supported in your creative journey through teachings I will be sharing with you in the Studioworks Journal. This specially crafted online magazine is packed with inspiration, guidance, sketchbook explorations, creative prompts and MORE!
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