Creative Juices Arts Blog

What I am most excited about is just sharing this process with other women, especially other black women and people who are often left out of wellness and healing practices. This process of reconnecting with self through art has been the greatest gift in my life, and I am just so grateful to get to share it with others. With so much violence and negativity happening in the world, having spaces to just exist with ourselves and be in community with others is more important than ever.

Art making and creativity have always been a part of my life and I give credit to an upbringing amongst artists and activists who encouraged me and rooted a belief and respect of its vital influence on both the individual and the collective.  Alongside my career as a clinical social worker, facilitator and mediator, I am a community artist and deeply value the expressive arts creative process in helping me take risks, pushing the boundaries of what I think is possible. 

Why I LOVED the Wild Heart Teachers Training. Chris is amazing! She shares generously her abundant wealth of experience, knowledge and guidance. Chris has a big givin’ heart. She held my hand and made me laugh, when I was worried that I would fail… The women that were part of my teachers training I will always be call my sisters. Chris held each us in Big Mama Love, as we navigated the terrain of our hearts and intuitive painting.

I weave together the magic of women’s circles with intuitive painting. We gather in circle, drop into meditation, use journal prompts to get really connected to our inner world, a bit of discussion to bring in sisterhood and then we get quiet and we move to the easels. We paint and from then it’s all process, no product. It’s all expression and no judgement.

This painting process helps me follow my emotions (energy in motion) by painting stories of my childhood and adulthood which has simply transformed my life!… I’ve proven that I’m a strong survivor who believes that tragedy in life doesn’t define me. It has empowered me to find my authentic voice, encouraging me to speak my truth!

When I learned how to paint for the process not the product, my entire life began to become art. I became less afraid and more curious. I could dance with my shadow and question my own taboos. I began to see that so much of what limits me is cultural programming. I began to see that I have more agency and power than I ever realized. Painting from your soul is a liberatory and evolutionary process.

The process has helped me to be more present with myself, to feel what I need to feel, and to be free to cast off who I thought I should be to become who I truly am. This influence has informed my parenting, my relationships, my business—truly every part of my life. 

Intuitive painting gives a freedom to my expression. I can paint it all out on the canvas and although it may not look like anything in particular, it is splattered with emotion. Getting my feelings out and processing through them with paint is a form of medication for me.

Intuitive painting… me and a blank piece of paper, some paint and a brush is bliss. That doesn’t mean that it’s always “fun.” It’s about honoring and being with the authentic me. I don’t know of any other experience that has me look in the “mirror” so to speak and feel home. Feel safe. Feel loved. Unconditionally.

I facilitate with kindness, lots of love encouraging folks to have fun, laugh, sparkle, play, paint their hearts out and ask for what they need or want. They are given the opportunity to uncover masks and reveal whom they really are.

I have recovered a whole “magical” side of me I didn’t realize I had lost. Through the intuitive painting process, I believe I have been able to express myself in ways I have longed to. I have learned that I can create my own rules, and do it my way and as a result, really step into my super bold playful self-expression, my jovial kindred spirit, my innovative visionary genius.

Trust your intuition! Just like with an intuitive painting, you never know where things will lead you and you just gotta put your brush to paper to find out! When you embark on an expressive arts journey such as the teacher training program, not only will you develop skills to be in divine connection with your inner wisdom, you’ll step into your own leadership and you’ll feel more confident in your own creative voice.

I got to be even more real, to be truly seen, witnessed and accepted even when I was completely falling apart. I brought all of myself to the circle, the broken parts as well as the whole healed parts, and it felt so GOOD to just be able to BE and know that nothing needed to be fixed. That’s so liberating, healthy and freeing. I want everyone to feel what that’s like.