Lots Of Changes Are A Happening!

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This weekend I sat down with my studio log and looked back at January with a curious heart.

I can’t believe it’s only been a month. So much has happened.

So much clarity.
So much joy.  
So much excitement for a new direction that I’m moving in.

A big part of me wants to shout it out loudly.  While a more tender part wishes to keep it safe, protected, and privately tucked inside the pages of my studio log.

This is the dilemma of being an artist, I guess. Always sewing the need to process with the desire to share.

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The painting in this blog post is the last one I created while on my own personal painting retreat at the beginning of January.

I love it.

I love it solely because it felt so damn good to do.

I loved smearing bright colors around and witnessing those figures emerge.  I loved ripping it apart just because every thing inside me wanted to do so.  I loved mindfully sewing it back together as I kneeled on the hardwood floor like a child. I loved leaving the bottom a bit raveled, uneven, broken.

I love that it pushed me out of my comfort zone and begged for new solutions.

I love that it looks like nothing I usually do.  Except it still feels like me.

Maybe it’s a part of me that is ready.  Maybe it’s the part that is tired of being unheard.

Maybe it’s just me, finally becoming whole and soaking in the deliciousness of it all.

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And that is the medicine I received this January — that it’s time to move in new directions that feel so. damn. good.

Time to follow the things that literally make my cells tingle and spark my heart into a bonfire.

But you want to know the crazy thing?  It terrifies me just a bit to share this with you.  It makes me nervous to put it out there to the Universe and say yep — I am ready — let’s do this.

Except I can’t keep denying it anymore.

All last year I feel like I was taking baby steps to this exact place.

But January…Oh sweet January…you showed me in bright, juicy colors that it’s time to crack the shell on my cozy little life I’ve crafted and embrace something wildly new.

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So today, the first of February, I’ve decided to start spilling my heart’s secrets slowly like honey.

I want to begin by sharing that something really special to me has started shifting already: 21 SECRETS.

21 SECRETS, which is going on it’s seventh year, is doing a little shape shifting itself.

My beloved friend Hali Karla who has been the creative director since Fall 2014 will be making the next 21 SECRETS her last one as creative director.

Hali is stepping fully into her own creative business and will no longer be able to pour her love and attention into this program anymore.  As much as I hate to let her go — Hali knows how wildly happy I am for her and that I believe with every ounce of my being that this is the best decision for her as well.

Already this year Hali has launched a sparkling new program called Art Medicine that is completely in alignment with her passion and mission as an artist and her Spectrum program is soaring to new heights as well — it’s so awesome to see!

Hali started as a student of mine in my FEARLESS® Painting courses.  She then blazed through IGNITE with such passion in 2013 — and now I couldn’t be more proud of her as she spreads her wings and flies.

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But, Hali’s not leaving Dirty Footprints Studio yet and both of us are excited to share another way 21 SECRETS is shifting this year.

Over the past several years, we’ve had a strong set of workshops that have focused on a multitude of intuitive, reflective and process oriented approaches to journaling. But in 2016 we are shifting the focus to balance those approaches with some practical art-making foundations and skills.

I think it’s going to be super fun — so much fun that I’ll be teaching in our Spring edition: Tools & Techniques that will be going on sale Wednesday, February 17th!

Our Spring edition of 21 SECRETS will have 21 amazing teachers sharing their favorite tools and techniques to art journaling with still the same heart-centered approach that makes 21 SECRETS so special.

Then, coming out in late September, our Fall collective of talented teachers will be sharing the various ways they use Color! Color! Color! in their art journaling practice!

This is going to be a real exciting year for 21 SECRETS — can you feel it?

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The last bit of news I want to share with you today is that after great reflection, prayer, and hee-hawing around about it, I’ve decided that it’s time to retire my interview series: 21 SECRETS Conversations.

Believe me, this was not an easy decision to make at all.

For months I have been listening deeply to decide if this is truly what I want to do because not only do I have a lot of fun meeting these amazing artists and collecting their stories — but each week so many creative hearts write me sharing how these interviews touch and inspire them as well.

But the truth is, I need to make space.  I need to make room for a new project and expression to blossom through — and so with great love in my heart, I have to let 21 SECRETS Conversations go.

There are still two beautiful interviews I haven’t shared yet that I will be airing on Thursday, February 11h as the finale of this series.

I hope that you will join me then to seal this project with so much love and gratitude.  It has been such a fulfilling two years getting to collect these stories of the artist journey!  I am truly blessed for the artists I have met and the inspiring conversations we had.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

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