Painting from the Wild Heart
Weekly Classes

It is truly not an exaggeration to say that Chris has magical super-hero qualities. A rare mix of authenticity and playfulness. And an ability to empower you to show up however you are — good, bad, ugly, repetitious, even with a big, self-critic over your shoulder. She simply welcomes your whole you with patience and whole-hearted acceptance. And not just me, I’ve seen her do this with a wide range of folks over the years.

Since this testimonial is going all magical anyway, I’ll also say that Chris is an untraditional muse of sorts. Instead of inspiring, she acts more as a midwife, a lantern in the unknown lands of creativity.

She has at her disposal a unique type of detector, stronger than a dog’s nose. She can detect with precision that tiny path to that dot of juicy, creative matter that we all have. And she can gently guide you to it like a well of water you didn’t realize you thirsted for.

And in all her workshops and weekly painting nights I’ve attended, she creates a womb-like space that feels awesomely sacred.

So I’ve given much deserving credit to Chris. Just as vital at Creative Juices Arts, however, is the space co-created by like-minded painters, with all of our variety of painting styles and life differences. We are a uniquely supportive circle of sisters that makes you want to use the term “sisters” even if you don’t normally.

This process and experience with Chris and my sisters is life-changing every week. It’s my reset button. It’s my safe place to explore my edges. Which is really the doorway back to wholeness, guided from the inside-out by intuition.

This painting class has helped me to let go of my verbal, analytical, critical self. I feel like a new part of me is blooming, expressing itself without words. Colors, images and shapes flow out onto the paper continually surprising me. It’s like I’m coming to know myself in a whole new way.

there was to be no talking while in the studio, no comparing (including admiring) each others work, and we were to stay in the process of painting from intuition versus the ego mindset.

with huge blank paper and lots of different color choices to choose from ~ i was super excited to indulge. my initial experience was joy and fun as i loved the sensual feeling of making big strokes with a large brush. at first, my judging mind liked what i was creating until it did not. quickly, i felt my perfectionistic tendencies arise as the colors didn’t match and i disliked that i had no symmetry in what i was in front of me.

the facilitator lovingly circulated the space and personally connected with each artist as we individually played with resistance and acceptance. in a supportive space, i was able to easily shift and let go of needing my art to be “good.” i leaned in to my struggle of feeling “bad” and went deeper. i used my non-dominant hand to paint and began to accept the ugliness of my art. in fact, i grew to love it!

and … just like that, my inner artist healed.

First, Chris Zydel’s Painting from the Wild Heart class helped put me in touch with the sometimes delightful, sometimes difficult (read, tortured o:)) flow of the brush against the canvas. What a bold feeling! — Paint dripping off your brush, moving your body any way to get the flow of what is uppermost in your mind that day, the shapes and colors, out on the canvas.

Then, when I would get stuck, Chris’ refrain, “What happens next? What would like to happen next? Name three things.” Which mantra I have been using in my writing life. It helped ground and keep me in the moment, moving forward, taking small bites instead of huge world-sized-ego bites. Chris taught me to recognize the voice of the censor when it raises its ugly head and how to laugh at and then banish the beast.

Chris trusted and allowed me to listen to my own heart, my own inner guidance, my own wild intuitions, hunches, dreams — and to trust myself in those places, in both my artistic and personal lives. What a hugely alive gift!

I’ve discovered a poetic, moody, cartoon-like, amusing, amused, whimsical, ultra-fun side to myself. Who is this? I used to think in my early days of the Wild Heart classes, moving my brush or pen or pastels across the canvas. Is this really who I am? Now I think, How wonderful a journey, what a wonderful kid/girl/woman/soul I am!

Under Chris’ gentle and accepting eye, I have come to love the flow of my own moods, my extravagances, pet peeves and follies, the ebb and flow of being a woman. Chris taught me to go into the dark blues and greys and black, colors whose heaviness I had long been afraid of and shunned. Once I came to embrace those wild, deep parts of myself — “That’s where the aliveness is, the juice,” Chris reminded us — then I could fall in love with myself and take steps in both my artistic/public life and my personal life with confidence.

Sometimes, often, overhearing her counsel to my classmates, I felt as if her calm words to others were meant for my ears as well; the synergy and camaraderie and friendship/support in the room is terrific. Who would know that I would come to love our sharing at the beginning of class so much?

The limitlessness of this painting life is amazing and awe-inspiring. I always wish classes were just an hour longer.

Thank you, Chris, for being such a grand teacher & first-rate muse!