Mindful Art Studio

Art journaling and mindful creation from the heart

Studio Tour: Get Organized to Get Inspired

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Art Studio Tour, art studio ideas, small art studios

 

Hello Wonderful, Creative You:

I’m so excited to share my studio tour with you today! Creating a space for your art making is one of the single most important creative self-care habits I teach students at Mindful Art Studio. Even if you think you have no space at all, you can still CREATE some space. You can learn more about creating a small art studio at home in this post.

A studio space should also be ORGANIZED and INSPIRING. As part of my own creative self-care, I recently cleared out some supplies I wasn’t using, moved things around, and bought paint shelves. I can’t wait to show it to you in this studio tour video.  AAAAAND… if you look sharp, you might see a few sneak peeks of the new class I’m planning. I can’t share anything yet, but stay tuned. If you’d like to see the classes I’m currently offering, click here.

 

You deserve an art space that begs you to create. #carveouttimeforart Click To Tweet

Studio Tour – How to create an organized, inspiring art studio:

  • Display your own art; it will encourage you to keep going.
  • Showcase natural materials for inspiration. I keep shells, dried seeds, and stones on my table.
  • Keep an open, inviting table space so that you can get right to work.
  • Leave art out that is in process to tempt you to add to it.
  • PURGE! When drawers, containers or shelves are over-full, it’s time to purge! If you haven’t used it, you probably won’t. Clear your drawer to make space for inspiration.
  • Use jars to organize groups of supplies like pens, brushes, oil pastels, and markers.
  • Keep small, pretty boxes full of collage bits for journals.
  • Hang shelves for supplies near your work area to keep frequently used supplies, like paint, gesso, and gel medium, at arm’s reach.
  • Make an inspiration cork board with pretty postcards and inspiring pictures.
  • Keep art books nearby on a bookshelf to see inspiring ideas and pictures.
  • Maintain multiple journals at once to keep from feeling tight or stale. You can give them different purposes, like sketching, collage, painting, and brainstorming ideas, or just mix it up in them all at once.

Art Studio Tour, Art Studio at home, art studio ideas, art studio inspiration

An organized studio will invite you to create often. #artstudiotour Click To Tweet Keep frequently used supplies at hand while leaving enough space at your table to invite you in. #studioscenes Click To Tweet Studio tour! Check out Mindful Art Studio's creative art supply storage solutions! Click To Tweet

What are the must have’s in your art studio? Any great tips I’ve missed? And what’s on your art supply wish list? Tell us about it in the comments!

 

Creatively Yours,

 

Amy

 

 

* Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to click and purchase something, at no extra cost to you, you’ll be supporting the work of Mindful Art Studio to empower the artist in all of us. Thank you!

Creating Beyond Limitations with Barbara Shelton

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Creative blocks, art for pain, creative self-care

Dear Wonderful, Creative You:
Today’s interview is with Barbara Shelton, an amazing artist who has used art through recovery from a serious injury to her body and soul. I think her relationship with art, the inner critic, and her need to create will resonate with you.
You can find the other Creative Self-Care interviews here:
Creative self-care can work for you if you just give yourself some space to try like these women did.
Creatively Yours,
Amy
AMY: What are your earliest memories of art making and creating as a child?  What’s the first time you remember feeling inspired?  
 
BARBARA: In grade school I remember drawing a daffodil and the teacher putting it on the bulletin board.  During the school open house later in the year, my mother and I looked up and realized that about about 1/3 of the class drawings were mine.  That was the first time I could clearly see that someone valued my art. In 9th grade, I shocked my parents by entering and winning the school talent show with my singing.
But the day art was erased as a creative outlet in my spirit is etched in my memory.  I was in my 7th grade art class.  I was having trouble with perspective in a drawing assignment, so my father pulled out a college level art book to help me understand vanishing points. It was too difficult for me.  Upon graduating from high school I was torn between studying music or landscape architecture.  I chose music so I wouldn’t have to compare myself with my parents.  Talk about the destruction wrought by the inner critic!
  
Barbara Shelton portrait, creative self-care
 
AMY: What are your favorite ways to express yourself creatively?  What kind of art do you make?
 
BARBARA: My favorite way to creatively express myself is singing.  I played 12-string guitar and sang professionally for several years when I was younger.  It was the first time in my life I felt like I could truly let out my innermost feelings and the first time I felt my life had any real worth.  But with music I could transcend those hesitations and connect with my truest inner self.  
Barbara Shelton, creative self-care, creating beyond limitations
 
As an adult, I went back to college to work toward a master’s degree as an art therapist.  My art classes validated  that I indeed had talent in the fine arts.  I loved my ceramics classes as well as drawing and oil painting. But the ceramics were my favorite.  I loved the tactile/physical nature of the making – the mixing, kneading, and building, as well as the decorating.  Every element was all mine.  

art journaling class, art journaling e-book, art journaling guide, how to start art journalingBarbara is a student of Starting Your Art Journal, an e-book on using color, symbols, and shapes to explore, express, and de-stress. I’ll show you how to start and keep a meaningful, fun art journal that brings meaning and messy fun to your days. With countless step by step tutorials and nearly 50 art and writing prompts, you will have tons of ideas for expressing yourself in your art journal and finding a new language in art.

 

 

AMY: If you’ve ever gone through a period of feeling blocked or that you don’t have “permission” to make art, how did you find the courage to create again, to create beyond limitations?

 
BARBARA: Nearly 20 years ago, I began working at a large psychiatric hospital as a social worker/play therapist.  Unfortunately only a year and a half after starting there I was seriously injured.  I’ve gradually improved since those first years of agony, but all forms of self-expression went out the window for many years.  
 
A few years ago I was part of a group discussion on Linked-In about art therapy.  Someone asked a question and I responded that I no longer make art due to my injuries.  One Amy Maricle responded with such kindness and encouragement!  I had hit a brick wall and you gave me the nudge to explore ways to go around it and begin again, Amy.
 
Barbara Shelton creative self care
I do sing in my church choir now but my powerful solo voice falls far short of where it used to be. I am trying to create a small art making spot in my home.  For months I’ve had to drag supplies in and out of my kitchen to create on the countertop (I cannot look down for very long without my pain levels rising).  It was so discouraging.  Once in a while I sneak up there and smear a little paint on paper.  That helps.  Until responding to some of your challenges in the Creative Self Care group I felt like I was going to explode because I just needed to MAKE SOMETHING!
I want people to know: You don’t have to be an “artist” to engage in creative acts. Don’t do it for a product.  Do it for you.  You just might find out, as I did, that with a little instruction, experimentation, and practice – you are indeed an artist, too.  To me, the act of creating is an act of making life.  It is allowing something to come into existence that was not there before.  It is a birth and that is a miracle all its own.
 
 
 

 

Courage to Create, creativity and painBarbara Shelton lives in Bossier City, Louisiana with her husband, Greg.  She received her master’s degree from the University of Louisville in Expressive Therapies and formerly worked as a social worker/play therapist at a large psychiatric hospital. She currently teaches a class called “Healthy Family” to empower parents to be better by bettering themselves as people. She also loves to sing in her church choirs.

Defining Your Life Through Art Journaling with Vanessa Oliver-LLoyd

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Art journaling for self-care, creative self-care, art journaling your feelings

Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

We have arrived at day three of our interview series and I’m thrilled to introduce you to Vanessa Oliver-Lloyd.  I met Vanessa several months ago when she took my online class, Freeing the Muse. Her passion for art and the courage she has to express herself, explore her feelings, and allow her art to open her up is inspiring. I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did, and allow that spark of inspiration to lead you directly to your art table.

If you are looking for the other interviews, you can find them here:

 

Creatively Yours,

Amy

 

AMY: What are your earliest memories of art making and creating as a child?  What’s the first time you remember feeling inspired? 

VANESSA: There is a photo of me in first grade. I am painting at an easel, wearing an apron and someone called my name so I’ve just turned my head toward them. My lower lip is half in my mouth. That is my concentrated face! I could always be found with crayons and paper when I was a kid. I remember finger painting bringing me so much joy, touching the slightly cold paint with the palms of my hands and loving getting dirty and feeling like this was such a treat!

 

AMY: What were the messages that you got as a child about art? 

VANESSA: I was always told that art is important and necessary. My mother always said, “If you feel connected to a piece of art, buy it because it means something.” I was an introverted child so my parents figured this was a good way to let me express myself. So art as self-expression was always encouraged for me.

Vanessa Oliver-Lloyd - art journaling self-discovery, art for feelings

AMY: What are your favorite ways to express yourself creatively?  What kind of art do you make?

VANESSA: I work in an art journal. This is super important to me because I feel a book is the best place to express yourself without self-censorship. Because you decide if you want to share a spread or not, you can be super honest about how you feel, even if those emotions are super self-indulgent. I love to use paint, collage and water soluble pencils in my art. The art I make is directly related to self-expression.

 

AMY: If you’ve ever gone through a period of feeling blocked or that you don’t have “permission” to make art, how did you find the courage to create again?

VANESSA: I have never felt blocked in this way, but I have felt frustrated, because of lack of time. When my children were babies, it was very difficult to find time for myself and that was a very difficult period for me. I found my way back slowly but surely. But I dived completely into art journaling when my family was posted in Hong Kong and I had to give up my job as an archaeologist. Art journaling saved my life because I had so much trouble adjusting to this new role.

art journaling for self-discovery, mindful art, creative self-care

My art journal is the recipient of all my feelings. - Vanessa Oliver-Lloyd #doitfortheprocess Click To Tweet

 

AMY: What role does art play in your life? How is art self-care for you? Does it help you express, cope or understand your world? Can you explain your process and how you use it?

VANESSA: My art journal is the recipient of all my feelings. In this sense, it is self-care. I pour my feelings unto paper so that they do not fester in myself. In turning something ugly like anger or frustration into something visually strong and powerful, I am freeing myself from the hold these feelings have over me. My process is all about the process! Often, when my page is done, I don’t feel attached to it especially if it has expressed what I needed it to. I can’t really make a spread that I don’t feel concerned about, like you will never see an art journal spread with just a quote from me, that isn’t how I art journal.

 

Creative block, artistic freedomVanessa is a student in Freeing the Muse, an art journaling class that focuses on using simple and fun art prompts to help you quiet your inner critic, and inspire your inner muse. It’s a great class for perfectionists who need to let go at the end of the day, artists who need to bust out of a rut and into inspired, soulful art. It’s a heck of a lot of fun, in other words. You can learn more here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AMY: Are there ever art pieces that scare you? Pieces that you don’t want to complete because they feel too dark, weird, stupid, or “not you?”

VANESSA: There are no art pieces that scare me. Some scare others though, especially if they know it is about them. Because my art is my refuge, nothing is off limits or too dark/weird for me. It has happened once or twice than I felt that a spread wasn’t me. In those cases, the pages were not expressing what I needed them to.

 

AMY: What inspires your art? Who are some of the artists/places/situations that inspire you?

VANESSA: My daily life is what inspires my art. Being around other artists and taking workshops inspire me immensely. Traveling is also a source of inspiration for me. My all-time favorite artist is Jean-Michel Basquiat, but I admire a whole range of artists some of whom I have had the chance to meet and work with. Orly Avineri, Erin Faith Allen and Misty Mawn are some of these artists that inspire me.

creative self-care, art journaling prompts

AMY: Do you have artist friends? Why is being in the Mindful Art Studio community important for you?

VANESSA: I do have artist friends but they are not in my daily life. The friends I have grown up with are not artistic. So the arrival of online communities has been incredible for me; it is amazing to have an online tribe. The artists in these forums are very important to me and I love our exchanges. My art tribe is linked to some of the art groups I belong to or workshops I have taken. It is essential to me to have a place – even a virtual one – to ask questions and to interact with like-minded people.

 

AMY: Is there anything else you’d like to add or that you feel is important to this conversation?

VANESSA: I would say that the best gift you can give yourself is to quiet the inner critic and create for creating’s sake. Give yourself permission to fail, to make ugly pages, to purposely be off the mark. Why? because these are for you. They will help you loosen up and not care so much about perfection. It’s overrated anyway!

 

Art Journaling for Self-Discovery, art journaling prompts, mindful artVanessa Oliver-Lloyd is an archaeologist and an artist. She believes in the healing power of pouring your feelings unto paper and transforming them into art! She has just released a new online workshop called Totems, on finding and using personal symbolism in one’s work: https://www.getmessyartjournal.com/shop/totems
You’ll find more of her work on the inter webs here: