Try this new art journaling prompt: make something bad on purpose. I mean, make truly BAD art to silence that inner critic and enjoy your inner child (or for the children reading this, being a child). I will go out of my way to explore mixed-media with a fun new challenge every week with the pure intention of making it BAD. It is a freedom we seldom allow ourselves and I believe hinders our ability as creators to explore our full potential. I even have journals dedicated to j

It is so warm, too warm for just past the winter’s solstice. I know what it means, this unseasonable weather. Yet, I am so grateful for it. After such a difficult year of cold, hunger and illness, a bout of spring is such a gift. The lady bugs have hatched, little spotted red beetles are on everything, generally thought to bring tidings of luck and fortune.  I want to believe in good omens, of a blessed new year, of things finally looking up. As I sit here, in an isolated cab

Have you always wanted to go on one of those uber expensive art retreats where you get to escape from it all into an idyllic setting and learn from a master? Personally, I haven’t had the time or budget for this. BUT, there is no reason why we must spend heaps of dough not to create one, especially on a weekend! Surely, there is no guilt for doting on yourself on a Sunday. Plus, we are saving money that we might otherwise spend on a vacation.  I have heard of other artists wh

Dear Artists, Art for me is playtime. I feel like my best work is also when I am being my most child-like. And when kids are involved, I get to be even more playful. Here is an example of how I get to revert back to my childhood while also being a practical adult: I once had a baby shower to attend for a lovely lady at a day job. I was living in the mountains of Colorado and chose to make something given I had no funds to buy much. I decided to make something with found art.

Dear Artists, Every now and again I meet people who have a special connection to a fur person. This connection always inspires me because I too have my own. And when I hear of one of these inter-species friendships, I have a desperate need to capture it in a way that suits me or the person.  I dare you to capture your pet and try to recreate them in an artistic expression.  Portraits are always fun whatever your choice of artistic medium. I recommend using a picture as refere

In my search for understanding, a wise woman once said to me, “Your true purpose is in your wounding. What hurt you and what was denied from you, what you craved in childhood and what you lost, this is what you were here to heal, accomplish, teach, and do for the world.” Like many people, perhaps most people, I went through a life-changing crisis during COVID. I say this because I’m not special in this regard. But I am discovering my own coping strategies, which is also the w

My intention for this website blog is to help people see beauty and enjoy nature. As an environmentalist who has been battling with apathy constantly in my work, I find it necessary to enjoy the very thing that I have been dedicating my career to save. There are so many reasons to be depressed so many reasons to be angry or feel helplessness. Media is this omnipresence that I feel beholden to like a daily duty. I really should know what is going on in Gaza or the Ukraine toda

I have discovered something precious about my creative process and mostly I want to be alone with it, isolated in my own private bubble....