ART AND REST

Hello everyone, and welcome to new subscribers!

The beginning of a new year always brings the invitation to reflect and recommit. I prefer this to setting resolutions, and find the opportunity to set an intention, or word to work with for the year ahead is a potent way to tune into what I need most. As 2025 begins, what word would reflect what you would most like to create for yourself this year?

In this month’s blog post I shared a powerful experience from several years ago that shook me, but set me on a trajectory that was truly needed. It led me to making many big changes, all of which led me here – spending time sharing with artists like you. That experience also helped me to remember the value of rest, which is necessary for creative work. I have started 2025 with the intention to honour what I need, and I hope you can as well.

The beginning of a year is also a wonderful time to reboot your art-practice with focussed engagement with your creative work, and my 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course offers you just that. Scroll down to find out more, including how you can join in and even create your own Group Accountability Challenge.

And just a reminder that my monthly blog post is also offered as an audio recording, allowing you to listen rather than read. To listen to the recording just click on the READ MORE OR LISTEN button in the ‘FROM THE BLOG’ section of this newsletter and you’ll find the MP3 file on my website at the bottom of my written post.

If you have any feedback for me, I always love hearing from you. Thank you for reading and sharing this newsletter…it truly is appreciated.

PS: For those of you that are new subscribers I have included a link to find previous issues of my newsletter – full of additional resources for you!

REST, RECOVERY, AND RECLAMATION

As one year closes and another begins I like to pause for a deep rest. This means turning inward, reflecting and aligning with the quietude that restores my energy. I’ve come to know how essential this is for me and, more importantly, that I can give myself the permission I need to choose what I know is right for me.

While some would suggest that I’d better serve my business and the social media algorithms by staying engaged and consistently posting and sharing, I know the choice to not take a break would not serve me well, and would leave me untethered and drained.

I have learned that I can not be of service to others in the ways that my heart desires if I don’t serve myself first. 

This piece of wisdom was a hard one for me to learn, and requires constant recommitment on my part. I still catch myself thinking that I “should” be doing more, or that I am missing out on opportunities and losing connections by choosing to retreat to myself. I can be swept up in an inner tug-of-war at times, especially when I look outward and see so many working hard to be seen in the ever-changing online arena we engage with as artists, coaches, and teachers.

I clearly remember when this message – one I desperately needed to hear – was delivered to me in a way that I could not ignore. At the time I felt confused by it, and stunned by the fact that the person delivering it to me could so easily see through all my constructs. 

It was many years ago on a group retreat that the bell was rung for me by an insightful and powerful guide and teacher. Our group was being guided in discussion by a woman who was leading us in a process of reconnection and attunement. In our initial introduction to her, she moved from person to person asking them what they brought with them to this session and what they most wanted to know or give to themselves.

INSPIRATION FOR YOUR ARTIST’S MINDSET

LESSONS ON CREATIVITY: RICK RUBIN

Once again I am returning to the wisdom of Rick Rubin, as he shares more of his insights on the creative process and nurturing the artistic path. Rubin is a well known and celebrated music producer, and the author of The Creative Act: A Way of Being – the seminal book on the creative life, released in early 2023.

I don’t think we can hear these messages enough. We need to be reminded of the deeper purpose of why we make our art, and what helps us to stay true to ourselves as the creator of the work.

Rick’s perspective is to only compete with yourself, follow your own inner guidance, and to always work from that deep place of source that resides within each of us. Such an inspiring message to hear for the New Year.

HOW TO TRANSFORM BROKENNESS INTO BEAUTY: LILY YEH

Calling herself the barefoot artist, Lily Yeh moves through the world with one intention – to bring the transformative power of art and community to places and people that are often seen as “broken.”

In this moving TED Talk, Yeh tells us that hope remains when we can experience the profound and transformative power of beauty once more. As a successful painter and professor at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, her purpose as an artist wasn’t truly awakened in her until she began traveling to places and communities with her bag full of art supplies and worked with whoever would come and join her. It is what returns her to “The Dustless World,” a place she calls home.

REWILDING A FOREST: ARTIST AND POET MARIA “VILDHJÄRTA” WESTERBERG

The creative life can be expressed and experienced in so many ways. It’s always personal and connected to what is meaningful for us, and allows us to be who we truly are.

In this film, which is part of a series called ‘Something Beautiful for the World’ we meet Maria, who took to the forest to heal and found a deep wisdom in that experience. She shares with us how, in bringing back diversity to her forest home, she saved it and herself.

Her simple life and purposeful actions have made a remarkable difference. An artist’s sensitivity understands process and working with intention, which allows us to have trust in the outcome.

OFFERINGS FOR ARTISTS

The New Year is a great time to recommit to your art-making through a focussed practice that The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course offers.

This year, to honour my commitment to rest and recovery, I will not be offering my free Accountability Challenge that I typically host in January. But, I encourage you to invite a friend or two, or three, to join you in the Sketchbook Challenge to make it an even more enjoyable and enriching experience.

Here are some ideas for how to do that:

• Decide on a date to officially start the 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge, so that you can all begin together and help each other stay on track throughout the 30 days. You don’t have to start the 30 days at the beginning of a month, but you could. February 1st is right around the corner, but any date is a great day to begin!
  
  

• Agree to a weekly check-in, where you can meet over Zoom, in person, post to a group chat, or by exchanging emails. This is an important way to remain accountable throughout the challenge.

• Decide if you want to share your progress on your social media accounts, which can add another layer of accountability for you. Be sure to like and comment on each other’s posts.

• Use the hashtag #insightcreative30daychallenge2025 when posting to social media to make it easier to find each other’s posts.

• You can schedule your first check-in for Day 1 of the Challenge, with a focus on what you’re hoping to create for yourself over the next 30 days.

• Subsequent check-ins can be scheduled for one week after your start date, and be followed with four more check ins on each of the following weeks. It’s best if they are on the same day each week.
  
  

• Craft some check-in questions that each of you can respond to each week.

I have also added a new page to the RESOURCES section of The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course website that guides you through the process of doing the challenge together with a group of artists. It will offer you some thoughts and questions to work with, along with ways to best support each other.

So gather up your group and enjoy!

The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course is an affordable, content rich, self-guided course that can be started at any time, and is always available for purchase on my website.

Once purchased, you’ll have lifetime access to the course and can repeat the Challenge at any time in the future, giving your art-making the boost it might need.

This course also touches on many of the essential aspects of the Artist’s mindset – the ways we can think about and approach our creative work to move past fear and limitations, opening to what is possible for us.

You can find out more about The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course HERE.

You can also email me at info@insightcreative.ca with your questions or for more info.

The Vision + Voice Program is a personal and transformative deep dive into who you are as an artist, helping you identify what supports you in expressing yourself fully and authentically. You’ll discover YOU in your art, allowing you to bring your vision forward, and to clearly connect with your unique voice. 

In collaboration with artist and coach Kerry Schroeder, we created a unique and inspired 8-week program that addresses many of the core concerns artists face. Our intention was to inspire and empower our participants to work with passion and conviction while trusting themselves in the process. 

Our first offering of the Vision + Voice Program concluded in November 2024, and we’re so pleased with how it unfolded, and the progress the artists made in connecting with, and articulating their vision for their art-making. If you’re interested in joining us for Vision + Voice 2025, you can join the mailing list HERE.

THE GIFT OF SHARING

For new subscribers – please enjoy these previous issues of my monthly newsletter.
Links to additional back issues can be found on the right sidebar of my blog HERE.

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