Tag: soul nourishment

personal at-home summer art retreat…

Back in 2019, during a time when I needed something to help me get through a difficult period, I decided to have what I called my personal at-home summer art retreat…a summer when I spent more time than usual with painting and doing art-related activities, and connecting to the joy and the calming those things bring to me.

This year, in late May, I decided to do the same this summer – and on June 1st I began this year’s personal at-home summer art retreat.

Although I’ve had a daily painting practice for several years now, for the past month I’ve been painting even more. And I’ve spent more time doodling. And mark making. And doing mixed media.

I’ve been using some of my art supplies I’ve barely picked up in years, like stamps and stencils. I’ve even come across supplies I forgot I had.

Most days I’ve been watching at least one painting or art journaling or mixed media video – not only for techniques and ideas,, but also because watching those kinds of videos will usually spark my own creative juices and get my fingers moving to create something (even if it’s not creating what the video is demonstrating).

And I’ve been trying new things…like making my own journal from torn watercolor paper, using pieces of one of my acrylic-on-canvas paintings for the front and back covers, and binding it using tools from a small book-binding kit I purchased half a dozen years ago but had never used until now.

With the painting, the doodling, the mark-making, the journal creating, the “arting” in general…it’s not about how it ends up looking, it’s about the process, the doing of it.

And the doing of it is having so many benefits for me.

All of this has been fun. Playful. Calming. Relaxing. Joyful.

It’s helping me get through hot days and stressful periods.

Creativity joy is a real thing, and my personal at-home summer art retreat is helping me stay connected to creativity and to joy.

I hope you have something in your life that does the same for you.

❤

sparking creativity…

Are there certain things that just make you feel like creating? Things that spark your creativity? Things that make you want to pick up a paintbrush or pen or get to work on a project?

One of my creative sparks is watching videos about painting, art journaling, or writing.

These videos can be instructional or they can be someone talking about their own creative process. It doesn’t matter to me – simply watching them (even without following along if it’s a lesson or a teaching video) makes me feel creative. These kinds of videos help me stay connected to my creativity.

I’ve been watching several videos like that over the past few days. Karen Abend’s 2025 Sketchbook Revival Binge Fest started on Tuesday and I’ve been having a blast. My first experience with Sketchbook Revival (no charge to sign up) was in 2019, and I’ve been doing it every year since then. Each year there are many videos from different artists sharing videos of techniques and tips and projects for painting, drawing, mixed media – basically anything that can be done in a sketchbook, whether big or small.

This year’s Sketchbook Revival Binge Fest is different from previous years, and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since she announced it. For the 2025 Sketchbook Revival, Karen has opened the vault to all the videos for five years’ worth of past Sketchbook Revivals: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. This means over 130 workshop sessions from dozens of different artists.

Watching videos like these sparks my creativity, and that’s why I try to watch things like this on a fairly regularly basis. Sometimes I’ll simply go to YouTube and search for art journaling videos or writing-related videos. Almost always, it leads to doing more writing, more painting, more creating.

Since Tuesday, I’ve watched a few of the videos from 2018 (I’ve focused on that year since I didn’t sign up for Sketchbook Revival back then). I’ve only watched, I haven’t actually followed along or done any of the specific projects. But watching has made me pick up my paintbrushes and pens more often this week.

How it looks isn’t what matters. It’s the doing of it that matters.

Just to play. Just to relax and unwind.

Just to connect to creativity.

Just to create for the joy of it.

❤

creativity as calming distraction…

As I continue my journey of life having way more anxiety than I wish it would, I’ve been spending even more time immersed in creativity. I’m still (very gradually) working on a sequel to my novel, New Life in New Melody, and doing other writerly-type things.

Mostly, though, my creative time has been related to painting and art journaling and doodling.

Writing (as I’ve mentioned before) seems to need a certain amount of feeling settled inside myself for me to make the jump from not-writing to writing on any given day… and when the anxiety is too high, I can’t seem to reach that state.

But painting is different for me. I can pick up a paintbrush and start painting even in the midst of high anxiety.

And then the settled feeling comes, at least while I’m painting. And it’s calming. And it’s distracting.

Even just painting squares of color does this for me. Recently, I spent some time going through some of my acrylic paints and I simply painted swatches of color.

Which is just what I need to get past the anxiety and reach a place of peace.

Even just doing this made such a difference in the anxiety!

Whenever I had a bit of paint leftover on my palette, I added it to a canvas I had recently covered with white gesso. Not trying to make it into anything, just painting and making marks to use up the extra bits of paint left when I squeezed out or poured too much.

Simply playing with the paint.

Just being in the creativity with the paint and the brushes.

But the calming of it, and the distraction of it, help so much.

When you’re feeling anxious, find what can help you distract from the feelings (unless distraction isn’t what’s needed at the time). Find what can help you calm. It might take some experimenting – and what helps can shift and change, which is why it’s good to have a variety of things to turn to and try. But when you do find what helps, take the time to do it.

And may it make a positive difference in your day.

That’s my wish for you.

♥