Blog
Why We Make Art Today
Now, I'm sitting in a café in a San José del Cabo, sipping a late morning coffee. The sun is just right and cuts sharp shapes of light and dark across my table as it filters through the palm tree planted firmly by the entrance. Wanting to catch the moment, I feel around the bottom of my bag, hoping to grab my sketchpad and a loose pen or coloured pencil.
A Letter from the Atlantic Coast
When I step out of the car, the sea air surrounds me. My body softens, and I’m filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling. I’ve returned to Portugal, and the light has waited for me. I go to the beach and wade into the ocean. I watch the surfers play and set out a plan to take a beginner’s surf lesson, inviting myself to step out of my comfort zone.
What It’s Like to Begin
The creative process often involves setting an intention without knowing the exact outcome. We might know that we want to make a drawing (or a painting, a photograph, a poem, a piece of music, or something else), but we’re not sure exactly what it will look like, feel like, or sound like when it’s finished. We can begin with an idea, a color, a shape, or a rhythm, and see where it takes us.
Curious, Imperfect, Alive
Life is full. I’m writing to you from my desk near an open window overlooking Lisbon. The sky is the softest blue. The breeze is sweet and warm. I can hear a gentle mix of voices and nature, punctuated with the sounds of a city that likes to take it slow.
Why Drawing is Important In The Digital Age
AI images are easy to create, so why would anyone still pick up a pencil and struggle through the messy, imperfect process of drawing by hand?
We ask, ‘what’s next?’
‘If you don't risk anything, you risk even more.’ — Erica Jong
It's those in-between days of late winter. Sunshine teases and the air is soft. I meet with friends for dinner on a Friday night.
The Messy Beauty of Creativity
Have you ever stopped yourself short from fully throwing yourself into making something, worried it will get messy Maybe you keep thinking about the thing you want to make, or say, or do, but you never get started.
Facing the Fear of Being Misunderstood
When we receive a creative impulse, it can come through quickly. When it arrives, it doesn’t always make sense in that neat kind of way. And when we spend time with our ideas, developing them through the creative process, meaning can be fluid. We’ll start one place and end up someplace radically different.
Feeling Free to Express Yourself
Have you ever felt it was challenging to feel truly free to create and express yourself? Maybe you hesitate to spend time doing the things that you enjoy — painting, singing, drawing, writing, playing the guitar, taking photos — worried that you should be doing something more practical, concerned what you make won't be good enough?
Drawing the Flower
One of my mentors once shared a way of looking at how we grow and move through life. She suggested I imagine the process of drawing a flower — like a daisy or a wildflower with a circle at the centre and petals looping around.
The Truest Version of You
It's springtime in London and the season of renewal takes on an even greater resonance this year. Out in the hazy sunshine, I feel myself taking gentle and playful steps in the world.
The Kind of Person I Want to Be
When I moved to London over eight years ago, I underestimated the change I’d experience in this city. Letting go of ideas of girlhood to become a woman, facing some of my greatest personal challenges, and allowing myself to reconnect with parts of myself I had abandoned.
How to Feel More Like You
Your essence is your fundamental nature and what makes you uniquely you. It is the deepest part of yourself, where your authenticity lives.
How to Make Choices for Your Higher Good
From the moment we wake in the morning until we drift back to sleep at night, we move along the path of life making decisions and taking actions that steer our life in a nearly infinite set of directions.