“It is not so much about learning a technique as it is learning to trust that you know what you know. It is letting go of a plan, letting go of expectations, and creating in spite of your fear.” ~ Crystal Marie-Neubauer, The Art of Expressive Collage
The focus of my 5-minute collage exercises (featured in the September series that ran when I opened this blog) and the foundation to so much of what I do and teach as an artist, started with my own need to push through those internalized critic blocks that left me feeling stuck, unable to even put glue to a scrap of paper for fear of not having certainty about the outcome of the work.
I no longer freeze in fear of messing up when I sit down at the table to work on a collage, or any project really. With so many years under my belt as an artist and instructor, I’ve learned a thing or two about the value of the experience; how much I benefit from the art making, whether I wind up showing my work or not.
But the inner critic isn’t limited to what happens inside the studio. The origin of its roots run deep. It can’t be separated from how it relates to the internalized messages and lies we believe about ourselves that came through life experiences and the culture around us. What happens outside of those studio doors has a major impact on what happens inside of it—or doesn’t happen inside of it, as the case may be.
What starts as a minor disruption to the daily habit of being creative becomes a reason to delay starting that new project and pretty soon you’re avoiding the studio altogether—life got in the way.
Maybe, like me, the time you once had to focus on that creative practice, has slipped away without noticing. The way I shared in Tuesday’s post,1 one small incremental shift at a time, everything changed.
As so often happens, my life outside of my artistic practice serves as a living metaphor to help me understand and breakthrough the resistance I’m experiencing in it; and it becomes the fodder with which I’m able to teach.
Sharing my human experience has always been a part of my teaching and writing practice. I spend a great deal of time coaching how to discern which internal messages are part of the Intuitive Voice and which are part of the group of messages that I call “The Inner Critic” or “Art Critic”.
That aspect of my teaching has consistently been the thing that has brought me the most feedback from participants, in the way of having breakthroughs in understanding what those blocks are when you enter the studio, or why you’ve been avoiding it altogether.
In these incremental shift seasons of change, the inner critic jumps at the opportunity to regain a foothold. Little-by-little, without noticing, those old messages ramp up, causing us to doubt ourselves in art and in life. It sounds dramatic to say these things out loud sometimes, but this is the gist of it. This is the opening the inner critic will seek to pop in and deter us from deeply listening to the core, most authentic, and truest version of ourselves—our own intuitive voice.
Often those critic messages have just enough truth in them to sneak past our radar. They sound quite logical: “I don’t have time for the studio today” becomes “I don’t remember the last time I just let myself play.” Before you know it, you’re dragging yourself through each day feeling completely disconnected.
Intuition is a muscle that has to be exercised. Like going to the gym, once we’re out of practice, it takes intentional effort to get back in shape. And that’s where I’m at today. Completely saggy in the backside—metaphorically of course.
Curiosity is the antidote that helps me to return to that place of wonder; the deeper place that connects me to my work, to my life, body, spirit, and soul—to my own Intuitive Voice.
Finding your voice as an artist has become synonymous with finding your style as an artist, but it’s not the same thing. While finding your voice as an artist may lead you to a particular style, it isn’t limited to that.
It’s not about a product at all, it’s about YOU.
You and that deeper place that brings meaning and passion and connection to your art and life, regardless of the form it takes.
You, allowing yourself to show up and be seen, unapologetically, unfiltered, unabashedly using your voice as an artist and a human.
Which brings me to the thing I’ve been leading up to all week.
Introducing the Recovering Your Intuitive Voice membership community
This program is designed to help break through the blocks of the inner critic and develop a daily habit of intentionally connecting to the wisdom of the inner knowing—your own intuitive voice, the core, most authentic version of who you are.
It’s not about the destination. It’s not about a specific outcome for your art practice. It’s about YOU.
You learning to become the fullest, most authentic, version of you—as a human and an artist.
You in full connection to your own voice.
You learning to trust that you have what it takes in art and in life.
Yes, we’ll be making art, and plenty of it. Members who choose to engage in the lessons will have the opportunity to develop, seriously, a significant body of mixed media work. But this program will be every bit as much about learning what it feels like to dig in and listen, to trust your own intuition.
Think of it as life training. Skill building that goes beyond paper, paint, and glue, as connections are made to the art, to each other, and to the words written in our journals.
There may be a few tears shed, as someone connects to something they hadn't recognized in the past, but it isn't the scary kind, where a professional needs to be called in to assist. It is the bountiful, beautiful, illumination of the truth of what is possible when we are finally able to identify that voice.
You know the one. It’s your own authentic core. It tells you to Be curious.
Here’s the Scoop:
The Recovering Your Intuitive Voice Membership community will be happening right here on the blog as a subscription based tier.
To jump start the program, subscribers who choose to register for the community will begin receiving content on February 18th to coincide with the global 100 day art project.2
Yes, that means you’re going to get content delivered to your inbox every day for the first 100 days!
Approximately every third day for that 100 days, you’ll receive a prerecorded art lesson from one of my workshops.3 In between those prerecorded lesson days, you’ll receive a journal prompt, quote, or an additional prerecorded lesson.
(After the 100 day project, recorded lessons will be delivered once weekly.)
In keeping with the spirit of the 100 day art project, those who wish to post their work on social media can use the hashtag #100daysofcreativecuriosityproject
Once a month we’ll gather live on ZOOM to connect, ask questions, share our work or insight, and just generally hangout in a community of creative people seeking that deeper connection.
Aside from the opportunity to connect through those live zoom meetings, we’ll stay connected through weekly chat threads and in the comments section under each post. Share your dreams, hopes, breakthroughs, goals, discoveries and challenges along the way. This is the opportunity to practice showing up for yourself in a safe welcoming environment.
Subscribe now to lock in the low introductory rate of $10 a month or jump in at the annual rate of $100 for as long as you want to stay.
PLUS Each member who registers at the annual rate during the introductory period will be enrolled in my next live online workshop Momigami Paper Vessels at no additional charge!
I have so much more in mind for this community that will be rolled out over time as it grows. Ready to join me?
More details on which course and why I chose it tomorrow—but for those who are curious to know, we’ll be starting with my course Pensieri: Little Thoughts in Paper, Fabric, and String from the Deeper series of workshops.
Woot woot!!! I’m in. I’ve been in a sticky patch and look forward to a community approach to getting unstuck.