At this point over 100 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 I’ve created this series where once a month I will be showcasing them so that you can see what they’re up to and be inspired by their unique creative journeys.

1.Tell us a little bit about yourself and your creative journey?

I am Becky Fowler. I was born in the UK, grew up in Australia and lived in Ireland for the last 18 years. I just recently moved from Ireland to Worcester, UK. I’m a qualified teacher and have worked for nearly 20 years in teaching and disability services. In 2018/19 I trained as an Intuitive Painting Facilitator with Chris Zydel and Tim Lajoie.

I’ve always loved making art and being creative. As a child, I was always singing, playing imaginative games, drawing and using my creativity to entertain myself and those around me! I’ve always loved the magic of creating. Not knowing what’s going to appear and how it’s going to turn out is part of the appeal for me. I’ve always created intuitively and have always felt spiritually guided during the creative process. I’m an introvert and my happy place is creating and exploring my psyche through art.

As a teenager and beyond, art making has been my sanctuary, an affirmation of my connection to the divine and a place of discovery, healing and play for me. I experienced a period of disconnection from making art for a number of years in my twenties and early thirties. This was a dark, painful time for me. It was the rediscovery of my love and deep need for creative practice that sparked my healing journey.

2.What initially drew you to the intuitive painting process?

I was drawn to the intuitive painting process because this is how I’ve made art since I was a teenager– without a plan, following my intuition and using the process to receive guidance from my higher self and spirit. As a teenager, I started to tap into this place of mystery and wonder in myself when I created art and I noticed a feeling of deep connection to myself and spirit when I allowed myself to drop into this zone. So you can imagine how delighted I was when I discovered that intuitive painting was an actual REAL thing and that other people also created in this way and felt the same way when they created art!

When I found Chris Zydel’s approach to intuitive painting, I was deep into my healing journey looking for ways to get ‘out of my head’ and tap into the wisdom of my body and soul. Talk therapy wasn’t working for me and I was desperate to get to the heart of my pain and transform it. Something within me knew that this process was going to help me to heal and to give me back my life.

3.How has intuitive painting been a transformative influence in your art and your life?

Intuitive painting is the process that has allowed me (and continues to allow me) to go as deeply as I’ve needed to go into my pain and trauma. It’s a safe place for me to process my stories and to re-imagine new ways of being. When I’m confused, overwhelmed, stuck, bored, angry, sad, curious or anything in between I go and paint. When I paint I get out of my head and re-connect with my body and my wisdom. The intensity in my mind begins to ease, my body starts to calm, energy shifts and often solutions appear in the form of images in my paintings. My truth bubbles to the surface and reveals itself. Seeing it in full colour looking back at me is sometimes confronting but always liberating. Intuitive painting has helped me to recover a sense of personal power and agency in my life. Powerful images appearing in my paintings remind me to tap into my own ability to manifest and create in my life ‘off canvas’ and to trust that I’m guided and supported and that I have the wisdom I need within me.

Intuitive painting truly has been the catalyst for so much growth and transformation in my life. It’s given me the trust I needed in myself, my wisdom and the infinite support and love of the universe to make huge changes in my life. Since studying with Chris and Tim, I’ve unleashed myself from a job working for an organization I served for seventeen years, freed myself from paying a mortgage on a house in negative equity, bravely moved countries and set up my own business Creative Coven Arts, doing my soul-work.

4.What inspired you to take the Wild Heart Expressive Arts teacher training program?

My intuition was relentless in guiding me to do this program. I’d never worked with Chris before, but I knew I needed to work with her. I talked myself out of applying the first time I saw the invitation for the program, but the following year my intuition was not taking no for an answer! I had a whole body YES response to doing the training, followed swiftly by bucket loads of resistance and reasons why I shouldn’t do it. I was desiring deep healing and transformation and I knew in my bones that this program was going to bring me to the places in myself that I needed to go and that I was going to be loved and supported to do it. This didn’t make it any less scary, but I trusted that I was being led to this work for a reason and that all would be revealed. My intuition was right!

5.Now that you’re out there doing this work tell us about your experience as an intuitive painting teacher and facilitator? What do you absolutely love about teaching? What are some of your biggest challenges?

I’ve been a teacher in a number of different capacities my whole adult life and I’ve discovered that I’m a natural guide and am truly designed for this work. I absolutely LOVE holding space for women to do their healing work and supporting them to go deep into their pain, shame, patterns and beliefs in circle, one to one and during painting facilitation. I know from personal experience that this is the place where we can discover our truth and what needs to be healed. The intuitive painting process fascinates me and magnetizes me to keep coming back to it over and over, so it gives me so much pleasure to introduce other women to it and to facilitate them to open to their own process of connection and healing. I trust that the intuitive painting process will bring people to where they need to go and have absolute faith that we’re all spiritually guided, loved and supported. I see that it’s my job to nurture this connection, hold this trust and vision and be a conduit for this.

The biggest challenge I’ve faced in stepping into this role is trusting myself and my deep innate knowing and getting out of my own way, so my soul can do its work. Starting my business has been (and continues to be) a truly healing process for me and has led me to unzip multiple layers of ‘not-self’ to keep revealing the true me.

6.Tell us what happens at one of your classes, workshops or retreats?

I am based in the UK and I offer one to one and group workshops and programs both online and in-person. I particularly love working one to one because of the depth of the work and the potential for growth, healing and transformation. I’ve been told that I am deeply empathic, laser focused and have the capacity for seeing the bigger picture and the truth of a situation or person. I use these abilities, my intuition and mentoring skills to facilitate women to tune into where they’re at and what they’re most called to work with. I then facilitate them in the intuitive painting process or other creative spiritual practices (e.g. art journaling, visioning, collage etc.) to delve deeply into what needs to be seen and worked with. The process is very intuitive, individual and co-creative.

In my group workshops, I incorporate guided meditation, movement (dancing, stretching, intuitive movement) and expressive arts (drumming, singing, voice work, drama games, rituals) to get us into our bodies and out of our ‘rational, logical minds’ so we can access our intuition and wisdom. We then paint or create and share in circle about our process. Sometimes my workshops are built around a theme and sometimes not. The focus and intention of all of my workshops and programs is on the healing and transformational aspect of this work. I feel truly honoured to be invited to work with women and to be trusted to journey with them.

7.What advice would you give to someone who is contemplating this expressive arts/intuitive painting path?

If your soul is calling you to this work, then it’s for you and it’ll keep calling you. The expressive arts and intuitive painting process is such a rich ground for deeply healing work to occur and it’s an honour to be initiated into its dream-like language and ways. There’s a lot of research out there to support the use of the creative process as a legitimate and profound tool for healing and transforming trauma, so if you are ready to heal your wounds and feel called to support others to do this work too, then I whole-heartedly recommend you take a leap of faith and jump into this deep, wonderful world of creative mystery. You won’t regret it.

Who I am personally and what I bring to my work:

I am here to shake things up and shine a compassionate light on all that no longer serves. My soul work is to guide brave women who are ready to see, heal and transform what stands in their way of being their fullest most magnificent selves. I bring my wisdom, insight, trust in the process and courage gained from my own healing and transformational work with my struggles with perfectionism, people pleasing, workaholism, panic attacks, trauma, grief and generalised anxiety to the work that I do. I bring my love and experience of the creative process and my knowledge and experience of how it is innately a deeply spiritual practice offering a portal into the soul. I bring my playfulness, lightness and joy to celebrate with women as they discover their own wisdom and paths to healing and growth. I bring the fullness of who I am and I give permission to all women who work with me to do the same.

The space I create is a safe space for opening to what needs to be seen, experiencing the full range of emotions needed to heal and a place to be witnessed and loved throughout the process. I facilitate women to use the creative process in the form of intuitive process painting, art journaling, oracle collage and the expressive arts to tap into their wisdom, intuition and the depths of their souls.

My superpowers are my intuition, my visioning of the bigger picture and my ability to tune into the essence and truth of a person or situation. I was born to do this work and my business Creative Coven Arts offers me a platform to be who I truly am and to bring my gifts to the women who work with me.

Who I am professionally:

I’m a qualified teacher (with a Bachelor of Arts in Education degree) and have experience and qualifications in management, leadership and mentoring. I trained as an Intuitive Painting and Expressive Arts Facilitator with Chris Zydel and Tim Lajoie in California over a ten-month period in 2018/19.

I have many years of personal art making experience. I studied art at secondary school to portfolio/exam level and ceramics and expressive arts as part of my teaching degree course at university. I have a passion for lifelong learning and have attended many online and in-person workshops in intuitive art making, art journaling, singing and creative spiritual practice.

My studies, career experience and extensive on the job training have given me a strong grounding in psychology, knowledge about behaviour, trauma and compassionate ways of supporting people with healing, personal growth and development. I have years of teaching, leadership and mentoring experience gained in the area of disability and mental health services which has given me the capacity for meeting and honoring people where they are at and working with people at every level.

I’ve dedicated many hours to holding space for people to share about their personal and professional challenges and love supporting people to come to their own solutions. It is here that I developed my capacity for guiding, intuitive wisdom, patience, compassion and deep listening through two decades of working in this area.

I’ve been healing and transforming my life through devoted self-inquiry and consistent exploration of creative spiritual practice for a number of years and know from personal experience how powerful these tools can be in supporting healing from trauma.

I bring all of my personal and professional life experience to the healing transformational work I am here to do.

For info about upcoming workshops and ways to work with me, see https://www.creativecovenarts.co.uk/

Follow me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/beckyfowlercreativecovenarts and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/beckyfowler_creativecovenarts/ for regular musings about life, healing and the creative process.

Rise Up Soul Sister is a one to one program that I offer online and in-person in Worcester, UK. It’s for women who are ready to heal and transform their lives and are committed to this process. The sessions are individualized and centered around the unique needs of each woman. I use a powerful combination of talking, embodiment practices and intuitive painting to dive in and work with what comes up to be witnessed in the moment. If this sounds interesting to you, I invite you to take a deeper look at this offering on my website and contact me if you feel called to work with me: https://creativecovenarts.co.uk/rise-up-soul-sister/

Investment: £450 online and £570 in-person.