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!
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.
I have been on a mission for many years now to help people reach their full creative potential. Which can mean different things for different folks. But what I am trying to help others avoid is living their lives without being creative if in their hearts it’s...
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.
There is a little known occupational hazard to being a transformational workshop leader that I call The Monumental Left Brain Meltdown Syndrome. And it always happens at the end of a week long retreat intensive. I love leading live, in person retreats that combine art...
Someone asked me recently how to develop a life that is based on a commitment to love instead of allowing fear to run the show. And I told them that I simply make the choice to concentrate on love. When it speaks, I listen. I do what it tells me. I don't argue with it...
Life is an ongoing invitation to be fully alive. It’s simply saying YES. It’s being willing to follow that aliveness and to allow that aliveness its full and unbridled expression. How much money you do or don’t make, what you achieve or accomplish, if...
Folks keep asking me when, when, WHEN is the astrological whirlwind going to stop. But here's the deal, dear wild hearted wonders, it's NOT stopping. The cosmic plan is for us to get used to this new level of intensity. And energy. We're being asked to...
If you have attended any of my week long Wild Heart Painting retreats you know that they always take place in some amazingly beautiful natural settings. Nature is my co-conspirator when it comes to creating sacred healing containers for my work where creativity and...
I get invited to participate in a lot of free online workshops and retreats. And I’m pretty choosy about which ones I say yes to. For me to agree to spend my precious time and energy being part of this kind of event it has to touch my heart and be meaningful to me and...
Dearest Creative Sister, I am sending this letter to you today to let you know that I see you. I see the blinding beauty of your being. And the indomitable courage of your spirit. I see your deepest desires. And I see how much you struggle to be the best and most...
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.
I just returned from a week long expressive arts teacher training and was once again, SERIOUSLY blown away by the magic that happens when you bring a group of creatively courageous souls together, ask them to go to their creative, emotional and spiritual edges with...
Aries is the BEGINNING of a brand new cycle. She is Spring and the life force incarnate, like the seed pushing its way through the last layer of soil bursting forth to meet the heat of the sun head on. Aries energy DEMANDS to live. To make headway at all costs. She is...
Because intuitive painting is sometimes a psychological self exploration practice it is assumed to be the same thing as art therapy. It is similar to art therapy in that you are supported in expressing your feelings and emotions when they arise. But one of the...
Wild Heart Expressive Arts Intuitive painting is a practice of surrendering TO your intuition and allowing it to lead the way. But this approach often gets confused with painting from an agenda which means you are USING your intuition to get a desired result. And your...