The tease of the creative process

Last weekend I taught one of my favourite in person workshops 'Essence of Gypsy' . . . I have been walking with this theme for some time now, and it's still filled with mystery, madness and moments of magic for me and my students.

At my workshops, we take a little time to connect in, and meet her via guided visualisation . . . and then over the two days together we may experience a vast range of emotions and experiences … ranging from anxietea to complete heart bursting joy at the magic of it all. This past weekend I watched a delightfully brave 11 year old arrive with her Mother and positively sparkle and spill over with her excitement at being in an art space, dedicated to creativitea for the weekend.
This was a new experience for me also, to have a younger student with her Mum attend the workshop, they were of course an incredible support to eachother and the transformation we (the other two attendee's and myself) saw on their canvas's was truly magical.

The delightful young Stella said, 
"I feel happy with what I have done, and I am amazed that I could paint what I did."
Jo, her dear Mum said 
"Relaxed, tired! A sense of achievement and comfortable that I can go home and play".

It's not easy taking yourself back to beginner's mind and follow a process you are not familiar with . . . but another wise workshop attendee could be heard saying under her breath on more than one occasion 'trust the process' . . . she knew she had been on other journey's such as this and would likely come out the other end with a result she could be surprised by. (I am reminded of a movie my partner plays often . . . and the words "use the force Luuuke") 
It's true, if you will but allow yourself to play in the possibilitea . . . and not be constricted by the inner critic.

I will mention the critic . . . she/he definitely shows up . . . usually you can feel your belly tighten along with your jaw.. and your thoughts move from supportive ones to most unsupportive like what are you doing that for, you're doing it wrong, you can't do this, this was a stupid idea, your painting doesn't look right,it looks stupid and wrong . . .  e x h a l e.
*and breath deeply into your belly . . . at least three times* then proceed.

This seems to be one of the current realiteas of the human condition.. to bash ourselves up from the discomfort of our own head. I believe it is vital to speak about this more readily, I experience the same mild anxietea's as my students . . . I can be mystified by my painting, and not quite know where it is going as well. 
Instead of bluffing my way through I chose to share that honestea on our Sunday morning check in. I could sense and feel we were all experiencing it, so to bring it out into the open, 'pour some tea and cake onto it' . . . and begin the day anew, was most helpful to us.

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. . . for me the 'tea' addition takes it to a 'softer place' of inviting self nurturing and kindness, it's not interrogation it's an invitation to sit down with yourself or selves and be present to what is, the current realitea if indeed there is something wanting your attention, your wise self/or Muse has love for you on an infinite basis.

Many of my students have not painted very much before.  Here's what the lovely Val had to say at the end of day two.

"This workshop was so much fun for a beginner or a more experienced 'artist'. Denise is calm, encouraging and has oodles of patience. Thank you Denise for making the weekend so interesting and rewarding." Thanks, Val

The fourth of my gorgeous guests this weekend was Ann, a fashion designer,  she is very skilled at fine art with a focus on perfection . . . 

so for her it was a break through to loosen up and feel freer in her artful explorations with her Gypsy'ness.

Here we are pictured with our somewhat exuberant grins celebrating 'we did it' at end of a very special day 2!

"I was totally amazed at the outcome of the workshop.  I love my painting and it's spurred me on to get my art mojo going again after about 5 years of no art.
I learned to draw a face free hand which I have always wanted to know how to do.  I had always traced faces.
And also I achieved the painting myself totally.  In the past my teacher has always helped me with my paintings so I was really chuffed this one was completely mine with my essence.
I have learned so much in the weekend workshop on drawing and painting than I had before and that is because of my wonderful teacher Denise.....so thank you for the opportunity to find my art mojo again."

Ann
xxx

What a pleasure it is for me when each one has such an individual and enjoyable outcome at the end of my workshops. 


bye for now,


love Denise x

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Two opportunitea's this year 
to paint your Gypsy'ness 
in a 2 day Creativitea  Workshop with Denise

 Melbourne in May is filling up now
we will meet at the Antique Bookstore 
at Abbotsford Convent on Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd May

please email for a pdf of details for this workshop.
art (at ) denisedaffara.com.au

or visit the web page to read more and register your interest asap.

warmly Denise xo

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You may like to join the 'interested list' for the upcoming Gypsy Creativitea online course which is brewing now to be released in the Australian winter time.

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