Starting something NEW....

Now, I’ll admit, I’ve never been a great listener (I’m sure my mom can corroborate that 😉). I’ve always been a talker, and I struggle to let others get a word in sometimes. But as my various platforms grew last year, people began to share their own stories with me. Stories of how they struggle with their art. How they’re so crippled by fear that they can’t start a new piece. How they’re so burnt out and feel like they’ve fallen out of love with their art. How they can never seem to put on paper the beautiful things in their minds. When I finally gave others a chance to speak, they were so ready to share what they were going through. And as they shared, I began to listen. 

In December of 2023, I decided to start a new project. One that would help artists of any kind to nurture their creative practice. I wanted to build a workbook that would:

1) Help them identify the problem they were facing in their practice

2) Help them to use the resources already available to them to nurture their practice

3) Help them to set a good intention to nurture their practice

4) And ultimately to help them do the work.

The truth is, I wrote this workbook as much for me as I did for them. I’ve struggled so much with my creativity over the last few years as I’ve turned my art into my career, and I wanted to fall back in love with the practice again.

So, I released the first draft of the workbook on Patreon so my patrons and I could go through it together. We started a Discord group to share our progress, and I’m blown away by how encouraging it’s been to me.

Here was my intention: To fill five pages in my messy sketchbook each week for the month of January to nurture a love for my creative practice and a willingness to show up consistently to it.

The first week was HARD. I hated almost every sketch, and I felt like I’d regressed so much in my drawing skills. Ideas were few and far between, and every sketch was stiff and lifeless. But day by day it got easier to get in my sketchbook again. My hand loosened up and so did my art. Ideas started to build on one another. And I found myself being excited to show up to my sketchbook. Did I love every sketch? Absolutely NOT!! But I loved the simple act of being creative.

Nurturing your creative practice takes time. It takes effort. It’s uncomfortable. But it’s so, so WORTH IT.

I’m currently working on the second draft of the workbook (fixing my typos and tweaking things around a bit), but my goal is to be able to release the finished workbook within the next few months. I’m so excited to share it with y’all!

In the meantime, I have a new mystery bag available in my shop!! This is for the ones craving ALLLL the cozy things. The Jumbo Bag contains one 8×10 in. print, a 5×7 sticker sheet, and 5 die-cut stickers. So, if you’re feeling those winter blues, head on over and snag a cozy mystery bag!