Welcome to Week Two of the month-long Carnival of Creative Mothers to celebrate the launch of The Rainbow Way: Cultivating Creativity in the Midst of Motherhood
by Lucy H. Pearce.
Today’s topic is Creative Heroines. Do read to the end of this post for a full list of carnival participants.
Join the Carnival and be in with a chance to win a free e-copy of The Rainbow Way!
December 4th: Creative Inheritance.
December 11th: The Creative Process.
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Dear Friends,
This Blog is in support of a wonderful new book by Lucy Pearce – info below… Enjoy 🙂
I have been a ‘creative’ person since the beginning of my life. My mother has always told me the story that she sent me to playgroup at the age of 2.5 due to my spirited nature and bounds of energy. On my return, I was unable to settle down and rest until I had drawn at least ten pictures which was my way of self regulating, self soothing and having fun. This process has not ceased over the years. Art, mainly painting and drawing but I don’t like to be restricted or pigeon holed, has been my salvation so many times. When life gives me lemons, I go and paint!
My mother was creative but not so much in the arty sense. Everything she did/does is artistic, from baking or cooking delicious meals, to designing her garden, nature tables, to creating a healing environment at her work and so much more.
At school, I devoured our history of art lessons with a passionate ferocity as I was transported into a world of the eclectic imaginations of many different artists. I was in awe of their expression, I felt their pain and struggles, and I knew that my life’s purpose would HAVE to involve ART! And that is what I did. I managed to get myself to art school and do the formal training but really struggled as I always felt like art was to be kept as a hobby while you did a proper job, unless of course you were famous. There is no acknowledgement of the JOURNEY to get from the 2.5 year old girl to the professional or famous adult artist who makes a living from her art. Or just being like a child who does art for the pure joy of it.
However, in 1998, on the recommendation of my sister, I made a Journey to Bali (Indonesia) and fell in Love. I immediately felt at home in the warm, nurturing Feminine energy that permeates Bali. Initially I was struck by how they raise their children… so kind, patient and validating and as a result, the children are relaxed and quietly confident. The next exciting thing I discovered in Bali is that Artists are revered as they believe artists are channelled by the gods. I felt very validated by their support, encouragement and celebration of the fact that I was an artist. And so, in Bali, I found MYSELF through my ART.
Bali is another story but in a nutshell, I married a Balinese man and we came back to the UK when I was six months pregnant and my son Jude was born in January 2000. I painted throughout my pregnancy making the most profound and astonishing paintings I’ve ever created. Painting was like a meditation. It opened up the world of my unconscious which found a welcome outlet and connected me to my deeper inner wisdom. Being creative really helped my birth as well to the point that my newly published book is all about that; art and birth. The book is called The Art of Birth – Empower Yourself for Conception, Pregnancy and Birth (details below).
Making art was more of a challenge once my son was born. This was mainly due to tiredness, because I practiced child centered, attachment, intuitive parenting (or whatever you want to call it) and the fact that I became a single mother which left much less time for my art. Nevertheless, where there’s a will there’s a way. My son was nine months old when I became a single mother and I marked that painful transition with a large exhibition thanks to two amazing women who ran a very successful café gallery. They gave me the whole place! Painting has kept me sane, grounded, balanced, self soothed, happy and pleasured as it’s a non intellectual process and has charted my own personal development. I could not live without it and feel bereft if I don’t paint.
Motherhood has enhanced my creativity because I used art to heal my fears and create a natural, pain free home birth. My birth was my ultimate creative experience and since then doing my art has become a necessity not a whim. I love unleashing my creative juices on a canvas and I believe it makes me a better mother!
Creativity can also come in many different forms and so, in the early days, I employed whatever was at hand. My art work, as a result, became more abstract and formless thus allowing me to ‘express myself’ without having to make a so called ‘good picture’. This was very liberating and I used every opportunity to do expressive art or free painting. Later on I studied a Masters degree in Art Therapy and it all made sense. I now help other people to unleash their creative spirit… and it never fails! I am particularly interested in liberating the Feminine through Art.
My suggestion to mamas would be: Love yourself enough to know that YOU MATTER! Women often find it hard to make time for themselves and the ‘I’m too busy’ story can become an excuse or a useful defence. I know it’s hard, especially if you have several children and work AND there is always a way. I.e. Make time once a week/month where your partner, a friend or even get a babysitter, to look after your children while you have ‘mummy time’ where you can experiment with art/craft. Many people will be scared of beginning because they will think they are ‘not good enough’ at art/being creative. I believe EVERYONE is creative. Most people gave up art (which includes being ‘creative’) at school thinking they were ‘not good at art’. This thought shuts down their natural abilities. Really young children NEVER have any trouble drawing/painting/being creative. We can recapture this if we refrain from self judgment. It can help to do warm up exercise such as what I call the Daily Doodle or buy an easy to use art for fun book and follow the exercises. My book also has lots of interesting exercises in it. Otherwise, just experiment!
Another thing you may want to try is a craft that you could do in the evenings. One great way of being creative with your children is either do art with them OR have a Nature Table. A nature table is basically a designated place in your house i.e. I have mine in the kitchen on top of a chest of drawers. I put a coloured cloth on it and decorate it with things I find in nature which you can collect with your child(ren), like coloured leaves, nuts, conkers, feathers, flowers, shells etc. I do, however, also buy little things from a local craft shop like little candles, crystals, gnomes, fairies or relevant seasonal objects. It is lovely to collect objects from the natural world which also shows your child about the changing seasons, help them feel included, is fun and interactive and nourishes their soul at the same time. Even my teenager secretly likes it! Just Have FUN…
Have a great week.
Warm wishes,
Alex xx
Alex Florschutz, MA
alex@theartofbirth.co.uk
www.theartofbirth.co.uk
The Art of Birth book is available from Amazon, my website and many other distribution channels.
Expressive Painting by Alex Florschutz
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and grab your free extras
(first 200 orders only!):
– exclusive access to a private Facebook group for creative mothers
– a vibrant greetings card and book-mark of one of the author’s paintings.
or order it from your local bookshop!
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- Carnival host and author of The Rainbow Way, Lucy at Dreaming Aloud celebrates her creative fairy godmothers, and gives thanks for the creative blessings that each has gifted her.
- And on her other site, The Happy Womb, Lucy expresses her sadness at a lack of real-life female mentors and Wise Women in her life so far.
- Becky at Soul Sunshine shares the creativity heroines– her Saviors– who reactivated her creative heart after a near-20-year-hiatus.
- Lucy Pierce from Soulskin Musings explores the ways in which three artists have inspired her to follow the inner wild of her own creative narrative and it’s interface with the forces of nature and of Spirit.
- Kae at The Wilde Womb shares how she invokes her inner child when summoning creative juices.
- Zoie at TouchstoneZ reflects on the women who have inspired her most.
- Alex at The Art of Birth shares her Journey of a Creative Mama which is all about liberating the Feminine through Art.
- Laura at Authentic Parenting is grateful to those women who have inspired her.
- Who most inspires Georgie at Visual Toast? She’ll tell you here!
- Please come to the dinner party, invites Nicki at Just Like Play, where we will celebrate Judy Chicago, art, womanhood, and the creative kitchen table.
- Becky at Raising Loveliness shares her creative heroines.
- Dawn Collins at The Barefoot Home honors three artistic mothers in the post:her strong willed Nona, her free spirited mother and the best solo artist ever… Mother Earth.
- Angela at Peach Coglo looks to her grandma and granny as her creative heroines when the creative going gets tough.
- Jennifer at Let Your Soul Shine wears odd socks proudly!
- Kelly at Knittingandthings shares how she turned her grief into helping others
- Biromums remember their biggest creative heroines.
- Darcel at The Mahogany Way shares who inspires her.
- Aimée at Creativeflutters discusses which artists influence her in her creative journey. Find out how she nourishes herself as a creative mother, and finds the time to help other moms on their journeys.
- Creativity is something that’s always meant the most to Jasmine at Brown Eyed Girl and she can’t wait to take the journey in identifying herself and supporting other moms with it as well.
- KatyStuff has a mother who allowed her to make mud pies while she knit or embroidered near by.
- Ali Baker is a creative mama to twin girls who reignited her creative energy and sense of who she used to be by just doing it and creating whatever needs to be created in an imperfect way.
- Liz at Reckless Knitting remembers her biggest inspirations.
- Milochka at Art Play Day shares her creative heroines.
