Creative Juices Arts Blog

  One of the biggest lies around the creative process is that we have to be in a magical state of inspiration in order to create. This fantasy state is some combination of bright eyed and bushy tailed excitement, uber confidence and feeling an unbroken connection...

  I recently returned from an incredibly transformative week with my newest group of teacher training students. And was once again struck by the power of this work to make significant changes in people's lives. Through this Wild Heart Expressive Arts Process...

  I just returned from spending a mind bending and heart opening week facilitating the Wild Heart Expressive Arts Intuitive Painting Process with a bunch of amazing creative folks in a GORGEOUS natural environment. And I am reminded once again about the...

I just came back from a ten day journey to my beloved Southwest, where I got replenished and re nourished from spending time BATHING in the energy of that ancient red rock universe.  One of the things that feeds me so deeply in that landscape is the incredibly...

I am a person who has spent her life trying to heal the hurting places in women. Starting with myself. I want women to feel powerful. To have agency in their lives.To be full of their own light and shining goodness. To bring that goodness out in the world where it can...

  I have a confession to make. In writing this blog I talk a lot about the creative process which makes it sound like it’s something that’s kind of abstract. Or at least part of the workings of my own mind. Which isn’t exactly the truth. I’ve been avoiding telling the...

When I told my husband that I had decided to write an article about the positive aspects of women and aging he said, only half jokingly: “That’s going to be a very short post.” He made that statement with love, based on witnessing me struggling with a whole multitude...

When people talk to me about why they hesitate to come to a wild heart intuitive painting class I hear two concerns voiced over and over again. The first one is the fear that they will stand in front of a blank sheet of paper for the duration of the class and NOTHING...

I am a total fantasy, magic and science fiction movie and television buff. Some of my favorite TV shows are Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly and The Magicians, and the films I tend to watch over and over again are things like The Matrix, Star Wars, the Harry Potter...

Holidays are always such a mixed bag for folks. Especially this one where we’re supposed to be all merry and cheery. And if you ARE genuinely feeling merry and cheery I party with you joyfully! But maybe today is no big deal and if that’s the case, rock on! Maybe...

As any of you know who have been following me for awhile... and to catch up those of you who are new to my world... I have been on a journey into the underworld these past few months. That journey was precipitated by the loss of two of the major retreat centers where...

To say that these past few months have been a whirlwind of transformation in my life is more than an understatement. In September, because of some major policy changes on their end, I decided to end my 18 year relationship with the Ghost Ranch Conference Center where...

The Guest House    This being human is a guest house.  Every morning a new arrival.    A joy, a depression, a meanness,  some momentary awareness comes  as an unexpected visitor.    Welcome and entertain them all!  Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,  who violently...

It’s been more than three weeks and I’ve still been dealing with the aftermath of the devastating Sonoma County fires and the loss of my beloved Mountain Home Ranch retreat center where I’ve held so many of my Wild Heart Painting workshops over the past seventeen...

I was sincerely hoping that the month of October would be a little calmer after the intensity of September, but apparently that was not meant to be. I held my 4th Inner Art Of Goddess Creation retreat at my Oakland studio beginning Friday of last week. And the work we...

I know that a lot of people would love to paint with me and experience the healing soul magic of this Wild Heart Expressive Arts Intuitive Painting process directly. But since most of my offerings are in-person events it’s not always possible to get yourself to where...

‌I've been on my annual pilgrimage to the Southwest for the past three weeks and as always had many wondrous adventures in the high desert landscapes that I love so much. This pilgrimage has been part of my personal yearly cycle for the past 18 years. Every September...

There is an issue that comes up again and again and again in my many painting circles, which is the idea that happiness and joy and ease and pleasure are not REAL spiritual and emotional work. And not to be taken seriously. Because of this belief, there’s an impulse...

Transformation is one of those things that sounds really good in theory.   And that’s because what people are focused on is what happens on the other side of a change they are envisioning. They get excited thinking about how fabulous it’s going to feel to be at...

Early on in my Wild Heart Expressive Arts Teacher Training program I had a magical experience through one of my students.   During this five day intensive each student took a three hour block of time and presented and facilitated an expressive arts class that...

Just recently I shared on FaceBook about how I had just coughed up a HUGE spiritual hairball of ancient psychological gunk that had been clogging up my emotional and spiritual energy for a LONG time. And someone asked me to share about how I approach that process of...

I’ve been having an interesting discussion with myself about the desire to take a sabbatical. And how important it is to set aside periodic big chunks of time out of your life to recharge, and rejuvenate. But the problem with sabbaticals is that wherever you go, there...

That thing that is right in front of you That issue or situation that keeps bringing you to your knees That you seemingly can’t escape Desperately wanting to avoid Hoping it will stop or go away The one where you tell yourself If only I could be rid of this hell Then...

I search for the wildness still living in me Listening for my wild kin calling out With joyful memories of being clothed in fur and scales and feathers Reminding me of what it means to be deeply a part of this earth We are brothers and sisters of blood and bone and...

Real is gutsy. Real is vulnerable. Real is raw. And bodacious. Real is at the core of everything. Real is something that you can feel. It resides in the heart and the belly much more so than in the mind. Real is authentic power. Real is where you draw the line. Real...

I have a friend who is a musician. And more than anything else he wants to write his own songs and eventually put them together on a CD. But it’s not really happening. So he is in that particular type of artists hell where the creative longing is terribly insistent...

I got into this line of work… i.e. helping people heal … because I wanted to make things better. I saw a lot of suffering in my family and community during my early years here on the planet. And I wanted to alleviate that suffering. And I still want that. And still...