Two girls heading home at the end of the day, Mile End, Montreal (section)

Stepping Out of Your Creative Comfort Zone

Expanding your skills by exploring an unfamiliar subject

In taking steps toward a goal, you will find that new steps reveal themselves to you, as you go. Sometimes they are simply next steps on the same path, other times they are a surprising new direction, a different perspective on your work, or an unexpected creative challenge. I share how to step out of your creative comfort zone, why it’s important to fill your toolbox with new skills, the importance of embracing mistakes, and how to incorporate your new skills into your unique creative style and voice.

Moody Paintings of Interiors

The curiosity & excitement that comes when your work takes on new directions

I’ve been working my way through a self-directed online painting class. It’s supposed to be a landscape painting class, but since it’s been snowy and cold outside, I’ve been painting any and every scene I can find around our Montreal condo. It’s been an unexpected treat to have these paintings to remember our place by when we move to our farmhouse in Nova Scotia.

Spiralling Upward: Finding the Motivation and Courage to Keep Going

How to keep going when doubts, fears, and wobbles take hold

Making big life changes can be very overwhelming. It can be hard to keep track of who you are and so easy to be afraid of all that you cannot see about where you are going… of all of the questions that don’t yet have answers. When you are in the thick of things, it can also feel as though you are not getting anywhere. It can feel as though you are working mightily, showing up the best you can each day, and still not moving any closer to your goals. It can be a struggle to stay motivated, remember why exactly you are trying so hard, and keep your vision for yourself and your work fresh. Take heart, you are not alone.

Winter Magic: Paintings of Montreal in the Snow

The creative discoveries that come with paying attention

Montreal is so beautiful under its blanket of snow. I have been savouring every minute of our last winter here in the Plateau. You learn so much when paying close attention to something and then making work about what you’ve seen.

A Year Without Alcohol: An Experiment in Creative Flow

How cutting alcohol changed my creative practice

Over the past several years, I have been looking carefully at all of my resources – time, energy, focus, money, and well-being, to name a few – and have been looking at how I can optimize each of them. Since I became unblocked and began making art regularly, I have found myself discovering just how important creative flow is to my life.

Daily Paintings: Memories of Walks

Uncovering patterns in your creative work

Many of my mornings over the past few months have been spent in the studio, painting. I’ve been going back to the basics – making work for myself – because I feel more alive, balanced, and grounded when I am creating images. I am keeping things simple: a few brushes, smaller loose-leaf pages, my favourite tubes of colour… and painting what interests me, for me. This has helped me to remember why I began painting in the first place and reconnect with the process of making.

Daily Painting & the Power of Routine

Using the power of routine to get back on track

The beginning of the summer marked a low point for me, and over the past few months, I have edged my way back to creating by making a routine for my weeks. It’s not an understatement to say the simple act of painting each morning and knowing how I planned to spend the rest of my day helped me to get back on solid ground.

Affordable Ways to Refill Your Creative Well

20+ low-cost ideas to fuel your creativity and feel inspired

After many times pushing past the point of creative health and finding myself burnt out or with no ideas/inspiration, I have learned to listen better to the warning signs. These are things that can help you to slow down, restore your energy and focus, and find new inspiration.

Maker Interview: Fine Art Photographer Morgane CG

A conversation about the need to create, making sense of uncommon life paths, overcoming imposter syndrome, and the meditation of creative flow

Playing with Paper: Exploring Chine-Collé

Paper collage made with a printing press and Japanese papers

It can be easy to forget to share the behind-the-scenes of what we are working on. These things can give a glimpse into the artistic process and into other ways of working that can be very enlightening and inspiring to others. So, I thought I’d share with you here a few recent explorations I made in chine-collé as well pictures of the shared studio space in which I often work

Blog - Posts tagged: creative flow

Expanding your skills by exploring an unfamiliar subject

The curiosity & excitement that comes when your work takes on new directions

How to keep going when doubts, fears, and wobbles take hold

The creative discoveries that come with paying attention

How cutting alcohol changed my creative practice

Uncovering patterns in your creative work

Using the power of routine to get back on track

20+ low-cost ideas to fuel your creativity and feel inspired

A conversation about the need to create, making sense of uncommon life paths, overcoming imposter syndrome, and the meditation of creative flow

Paper collage made with a printing press and Japanese papers