Welcome to my blog page! I love writing about the healing power of the creative process. Here you will find a collection of all of my writing from all the way back to 2005! Enjoy!
I know that a LOT of us are feeling over the top, uber excruciating anxiety lately because of all the incredible upheaval and turmoil on our planet right now. And some folks have asked what might be going on astrologically to activate these turbulent times. So here’s...
Greetings to my wondrous and wild hearted creative clan, Well, it’s been almost a week since we have been in voluntary quarantine and sheltering in place here in the San Francisco, Bay Area due to the Corona Virus. And among other things it still seems totally...
Greetings to my wondrous and wild hearted creative clan, Whoa! What a harrowing roller coaster of a ride this past week has been! Trying to navigate our way through this scary tangled thicket of the CoronaVirus and all the ramifications it presents has got all...
I just recently returned from holding my first creativity retreat of 2020 at Bodega Sky Ranch and was reminded once again why I have made retreats the cornerstone of my work. The women… and it’s almost always women… who attend my events come for many reasons. At this...
At this point over 98 amazing women have gone through my Wild Heart Expressive Arts Teacher Training Program. I love them ALL so dearly and, like the proud creative mama that I am, want to show off their incredible wisdom, power and creative genius to the world. So...
1.) Only certain special highly gifted people are creative. 2.) Creativity is a rarefied quality which you are either born with or not. 3.) Not everyone is creative. 4.) Creativity needs to be learned or taught. 5.) Creativity can be graded or quantified. 6.)...
If you are part of my Creative Juices Arts community either by having painted with me in a class or on retreat or even just reading this blog, it’s a pretty good bet that creativity is high on your list of priorities. But even when that’s the case, it can still be...
Come and join me for an intimate and powerful experience of intuitive painting by being part of a sacred creative circle of courageous wild hearted painters ONLINE! I have three different opportunities available for you to paint with me in this online format. And each...
It’s that time of the year when everything is in that space of being in-between. The old year is not quite over. The new one has not yet begun. Normal routines are on a kind of hiatus. There’s a feeling of pause. And waiting. And that period of pause can bring with it...
When I was a kid I absolutely adored Christmas. I loved the twinkly lights and the schmaltzy music but most of all I loved that sense of anticipation and wonder and surprise. My family and I lived in a rowhouse that had three stories and two flights of stairs. On...
Whether we like it or not, we humans are on the verge of a huge transformation. We are at a collective crossroads where a lot of things need to change in terms of what we think and believe and how we live our lives on a day to day basis. And most of what has to die...
I just returned from another fabulous week with my current cohort of Wild Heart Expressive Arts Teacher Training students and the creative energy was completely OFF THE CHARTS! And being part of yet another magical healing circle of women made me think about...
I have been very fortunate to have lived a life full of my own creations. It’s the way of the artist and I’m grateful every day that I chose that path. But there’s a myth floating around out there in the dominant culture collective brain that says choosing to do the...
My work in the world has everything to do with cultivating freedom of expression. I have devoted my life to spreading the gospel of trusting in your ability to connect with your deepest intuitive wisdom through the creative process. And finding personal and collective...
A couple of years ago I was interviewed by my dear friend Theresa Reed, otherwise known as The Tarot Lady in honor of International Woman’s Day. The topic was Women and Power... a topic for which I have a very deep passion. That passion is expressed through...
At the core of all resistance is a deep longing. There’s something that you want. And you want it bad. But you’re afraid to let yourself really want it because you imagine that you will be disappointed. You don’t think you can bear the disappointment....
In terms of the creative process everyone always talks about wanting to be in the flow. But the thing that everyone forgets is that there are many different KINDS of flow. And the least popular experience of flow is the one where it feels like you are trying to...
I’m still on a MAJOR high from being on retreat with my totally A-MAZING teacher training students a few weeks ago. And thinking about how doing this powerful inner work using creativity and the expressive arts is an invitation and imperative to shine our most...
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.
I was recently in the middle of one of my teacher training retreats and something I so enjoy about working with students at this deeper level are the powerful and energizing conversations we have as a community about art, life, creativity and the intuitive painting...
What is it that allows you to wake up in the morning feeling energized and inspired? The particulars are going to vary, but I think the majority of us feel most alive when we experience being aligned with some greater purpose. That purpose is often related to...
Thinking about my creative lineage today and honoring the work and lives of Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keefe. Frida is really the Mother of the unique way that I teach intuitive painting... she’s so real and raw and fearless in her approach to making art that expresses...
A few thoughts about some things to expect ANY time you engage with the work of true healing and transformation: Resistance tends to get activated whenever our soul begins nudging us to take a risk, make a change or step into the unknown. The possibility of...
One thing I hear a lot from people when they are struggling with their creative process is some version of I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WANT. It could be not knowing the next step in their painting or the next step on their life path. They feel stuck or confused or blocked or...
It has always seemed wildly unfair to me that as soon as my creative muse opens the floodgates to some juicy creative project, almost immediately my judging mind and inner critic whips into a frenzy of activity. For a long while it was one of those annoyingly weird...
I just returned from another of my fabulous Wild Heart Painting extravaganzas in the High Sierras, which is one of my favorite places in the whole world to not only lead retreats but to get recharged and nourished by the gorgeous land and stunning mountainous...
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.