Hey everyone! I just finished putting together the "Getting Oily" course for you all and I'm fluttering around, puffing up cushions, making sure the shaggy circular rainbow 🌈 rug is in the right spot, hoping I've got the right mix of bean bags and sofas 🛋 so that I've created a fun, colourful, comfortable community space for everyone. Tomorrow I'll start venturing out to the vast, strange fields of Social Media, sending invites and promoting this community, in eager anticipation of the art curious and confident creatives that might hear the call of "Art from the Heart❤️" and come along, contribute to this space and build a vibrant community! Out in real life, when I run my art workshops, I include a meditation based on the work of Dr Dianne Divett (called 'Refocusing Therapy'). Back when I did this therapy and trained to run Refocussing Therapy sessions, what really spoke to me was the first part of the technique. Dr Divett called it "God Spaces" (she's written up an amazing PHD paper on all this for those who are interested). In this part of the therapy, mediation, visualisation and art are explored in really beautiful ways. As not everyone has a spiritual side, I've adapted the technique to a 'Safe Space' mediation. I don't include the second part of Dr Divett's therapy in my workshops (the Refcoussing Therapy) as this tends to suite one on one work and goes a lot deeper than what I can offer in a group setting (or online). So my question to all of you warmly welcomed new lovelies to this community, would you like the Safe Space Meditation: 1. As a one off recording (with new mediations offered in each course level). 2. As part of regular live catch ups. 3. Both. Looking forward to what the polls show!

Creativity is a beautiful part of the human experience. Whether it is through gardening, music, dance, collecting objects, interior design, story telling, baking, sculpture or even making a cup of tea to soothe ourselves late at night, whenever we use our imagination, our bodies and the materials around us to create something-anything- that wasn't there previously, we are exercising a fundamental aspect of our being. It's something everyone can do- to create- yet when it comes to art, many of us have been told the art we have made is not good enough. Sometimes it happens when we are just little children, at school, a critical teacher has told us our master piece is ugly or stupid. That we'll never be good at art! A dear friend of mine, who has a beautiful unique art style of her own, and has sold many pieces and had exhibitions, still remembers being told, at age 15, that she didn't have what it takes to be a successful artist! Those words still haunt her- even though she makes new art pieces regularly, has a big collection of her works showing growth in her ability, a range of subjects and topics she enjoys exploring through her work and a group of people who love her art whenever she shares a piece on social media. Others lose their inner artist by comparing their ability to draw with others. They lose faith in their creativity because they want to be at a standard they haven't achieved with their own natural talent. Somewhere along their journey, they came to believe that being an artist is something you're born with, either you have the skills or you don't. While it is true there are those with an inborn talent for drawing or painting, they would still have had to go through the basics of how to draw and many hours of practise and study to become the brilliant artists we see throughout history and today. And just like they had to learn the basics of how to draw, you too can be shown the basics of how to draw and how to make different typea of art. I happen to know an artist who can step your way through these essentials! And hopefully, not only will you reconnect with your creativity, but also have some fun a long the way!

Hey, I'm Andrea and I'm an author and artist. Creating Art has been a life long passion for me, but one of the things that breaks my heart is hearing people say "I wish I could be an artist like you!" Which is why I'm offering 'Art from the Heart', a series of art workshops where anyone, with any skill level, can join in the exercise and create a beautiful piece of art for themselves! Not only can you discover your inner artist, but hopefully you will enjoy yourself by using your creative talents in a few different art mediums! Making art has also been a big part of my healing journey. In my younger years, I experienced a lot of trauma and struggled with mental illness and drug addiction in my 20s. While I still have difficult days with my mental health, I have been clean of drugs for nearly 22 years! Creating art has helped my healing in many ways: 1. It enabled me to express hurts, emotions, memories and ideas when I couldn't use words to get those things out. 2. I learnt different art exercises that I could intentionally adapt into a healing practise for myself to process some of my inner pain. By using art as a healing tool, I could move towards a life free of past emotional burdens. And know when things do get difficult, I can use these tools to express and explore what I'm going through. 3. I discovered ways I could use art to visualise future goals, dream for better outcomes and shape the healing I wanted in my life. I'm not an art therapist but I do have lived experience with trauma and as an artist, have used art and the exercises I'm offering here as part of my own healing journey. That's why with every exercise, I'll give you the instructions on how to make art just for fun, followed by the option to 'go deeper', that gives you the choice to look at some of your hurts and use the art exercise as a healing tool. Sometimes you might want to make art just for fun, that's great! But there might be times when you feel ready to go deeper. You have the freedom to choose what's best for you.