Day 7
My Personal Creative Living Story + Fun Ways To Connect
Hello Creative Heart!
Welcome to the Seventh Session – the last one! – of the Art of Creative Living: Introductory Course.
So far, I’ve shared with you a lot about my work: tools for Creative Renewal, Creative Practices, and Creative Maps … along with suggestions and inspiration to dive into each one.
Today, I want to introduce you to the final, essential element in my work: my own personal creative living story!
You see, my approach to creative living didn’t come from a book I read or workshop I took. What I teach in Flourish: The Art of Creative Living is drawn my own personal experience. Specifically from what I have learned from:
My career as a professional exhibiting artist for 18 years.
Growing up as millionaires’ daughter (and then having my family suddenly fall apart).
The illness that had me mostly bed-bound and unable to create in the way I once did.
Teaching painting and creativity for over 10+ years to creative hearts all around the globe.
These experiences inform my approach and underpin everything I teach. Over the many years I’ve run courses and workshops, I’ve honed and refined how I teach creative living. And, as all good journeys do, this story begins with my own heart.
I became a professional artist after my parents, who were self-made millionaires, suddenly got divorced. During their ensuing nine-year property settlement and court battles, the wealth and family I had grown up with crumbled. It changed my perspective on what success looked like for me and inspired me to follow my heart, prioritise authentic self-expression, and encourage others to find heart-based fulfilment through creative living.
One of the blessings from that experience was I realised at an early age the popular belief which says we will be happier when *insert future-based goal here* (for example: we have made more money, bought a bigger house, or reached a certain level of external success), simply isn’t true. Many studies show after we reach a certain level of income, more money doesn’t make us more satisfied. Our culture’s focus on endless growth and productivity are not a secure foundation to build a life on.
So in my late teens and early twenties I set about defining success on my own terms and discovered happiness, security and fulfilment don’t come from external sources, but instead from building a loving, mindful relationship with yourself and the world around you. Knowing yourself, being true to who you are and accepting all your quirks means you have the capacity and freedom to define success on your own terms, in alignment with your values.
When we know ourselves deeply, we can bring more self-compassion to our lives and enjoy more rest, joy and ease as a result. Thankfully, I have found the creative process is a beautiful way to connect with yourself and build a loving, open relationship with your heart.
So instead of choosing a more ‘realistic’ or ‘safe’ career, as a mature-age student, I enrolled in a Diploma of Visual Art at art school and then a Bachelor of Fine Art at university.
But before I was accepted into art school, I had to focus on my own Creative Renewal. I was carrying deep shame about my drawing abilities (or lack thereof) and I wasn’t sure whether I could actually paint. My skills had seemingly regressed back to primary-school level, disappearing along with my joy and happiness when my parents divorced.
It turned out I was just unfamiliar with oil paints, but I believed the story that my creativity had deserted me. Plus, people around me didn’t understand the creative process and some unintentionally undermined my belief in my creative abilities. This added to my fear that I didn’t have what it took to be able to tap into my heart and create freely.
Recognising I felt blocked, I began a journey of self inquiry and reflection. I unpacked stories and pin-pointed pivotal moments in my life where doubt about my creative abilities had been sown. I also noticed where I’d internalised the cultural message that creative expression is something frivolous and ‘nice to do’, but not important.
I realised being creative was where I came alive and being in creative flow was what brought me more joy than anything else.
Expressing my creativity also proved to be a positive way to process the grief of my family’s break-down and help me move out of the depression that had settled over my heart when it felt like the ground had fallen away from underneath my feet.
After lots of journaling and processing, I found a creative mentor to help me put together a portfolio. Every Tuesday I went to his studio to draw and paint with a group of other creatives, and after a few months I had compiled a series of drawings and sculptures which I submitted to art school.
I was over-the-moon delighted when I was accepted!
From there, I spent five and a half very full years of formal art training exploring different Creative Practices from painting in acrylic and oil paints, to print-making, photography, drawing, book-binding, sculpture, writing, journalling, film-making, and more.
I held my first solo exhibition of paintings in 2002 and was delighted when it almost sold-out! A new way of making money opened up to me. I became a professional artist full-time and held regular solo exhibitions with different galleries around Australia and even had work in group exhibitions overseas. My life revolved around the art scene. I was awarded an art prize, filmed and co-produced three documentaries on contemporary Australian artists, worked in an artist-run gallery and continued painting in my studio and when I travelled around Australia and overseas.
Then my health took a turn for the worse.
For many years, I no longer had the stamina to stand up and paint for hours in a studio as I once did. I was mostly bed-bound. That was when my understanding of Creative Maps deepened in ways I had never envisioned.
We all have changing circumstances in our lives and the longer we live, the more transitions we move through. Whether it is illness, getting married, having babies, children leaving home, getting divorced, nursing aging parents, grieving a loved one’s death, or focusing on developing our careers – the time, energy and resources we have to bring to our creative lives shift over time. We move through different seasons and we need different rhythms to support us during those times.
But we don’t have to stop creating during challenging times, in fact, creating in ways that are aligned with the life season we are in can help support us through those transitions.
During this time of illness and beyond was when I discovered the self-compassion, mindfulness-based practices, somatic therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Positive Psychology tools that have enriched my life beyond anything I knew was possible growing up in a very goal-driven, external-measures-of-success environment.
Instead of believing “life would be better when”… I reached a new goal or outward level of success, I discovered the joy of cultivating more presence and living in the moment. I discovered the freedom that comes from accepting ‘what is’ instead of fighting with reality and getting stuck thinking about how things ‘should be’. And I learned how to tune into the inner knowing and wisdom we hold in our body and our intuition, which brought more freedom and clarity than I’d ever experienced before.
Mindfulness has guided me to create a unique life that’s deeply fulfilling for me. My lifestyle is not for everyone (living on a sailboat cruising the coast of Australia while painting, coaching and teaching along the way), but that is the beauty of Creative Maps. They are hand-tailored and uniquely-crafted for each of us.
My relationship with creative living, like everyone’s, will continue to grow, shift, evolve and deepen in the years ahead. I still have much to learn, let go of, and transform. But I am so grateful for the journey so far. I’m grateful for the challenging times just as much as the easier times, because they lead me here, where I get to support others to slow down, evaluate what is important to them and what brings them joy, share my knowledge and experience of a vast array of creative practices, and teach the mindfulness tools and practices that deepen and sweeten our daily life.
Looking back now, it’s easy to connect the dots that have lead to this culmination in my work…
Personal reclamation of my creativity ~> Formal study & years exhibiting as a professional artist ~> Illness and Mindfulness ~> now: an integrated framework bringing creative expression & mindfulness together as a path to deepen our relationship with ourselves and cultivate self-compassion, which is the heart of Flourish: The Art of Creative Living.
Over the past 10+ years I’ve hosted retreats, workshops, taught in-person classes and coached other creatives one-one-one. I’ve developed the content of Flourish from a ten week program into a year-long experience. I adore hosting the program in this format, as I see the longer time-frame support member’s to integrate more sustainable shifts in their relationship with their creativity. And, seeing folks prioritise their creative expression and self-care in Flourish: The Art of Creative Living program is one of my life’s greatest joys.
I’ve also renewed and deepened my own relationship with creative living in many ways:
I’ve defined success on my own terms, in alignment with my values.
I discovered the value of ‘following my bliss’ and deconstructed the idea that doing what we love is selfish or a ‘waste of time’.
I’ve learnt to draw! (Pssst… it’s all about slowing down, looking carefully at what’s in front of you, and transferring the angles and blocking in shapes lightly on the page before you commit to intricate detail, oh and being willing to make mistakes!)
I’ve unpacked and forgiven people from my past who where un-supportive of my creative expression.
I’ve written and published two books (and a third is on it’s way!).
I’ve had 12+ solo exhibitions, and been in multiple group exhibitions including overseas.
I’ve developed my own painting style and given myself permission to let my style evolve, change and shift over time.
I’ve developed a framework of Creative Maps to help guide me towards what is true for me, in each season of my life. Instead of holding onto how things “have always been,” Creative Maps have supported me in embracing fluidity, peace and meaning through life’s many transitions.
I’ve developed a creative business that’s joyful, sustainable, and delights my heart, while also allowing space to enjoy time my husband, puppy, sailing and with my loved ones.
I’ve incorporated self-compassion into my learning process, celebrating small steps as I’ve gently moved through fear, self-doubt and discomfort in both my creative expression, sailing adventures and creative business.
I’ve followed my curiosity and continued to expand my love of different Creative Practices, being a beginner again and again as I learn more about print-making, writing and painting with different mediums and styles.
And what I’m most proud of and grateful for is — I’ve become a seasoned, heart-led guide to the emotional and practical side of creative living. Supporting folks on this journey with lots of cheer-leading and encouragement, while teaching useful tools, techniques and approaches to crafting a life that is true them.
That is my deepest honour.
Here are a few of my favourite next steps and resources for you:
[Video] Painting on the Beach on Humpy Island — peek behind the scenes of my life on a sailboat and come for a painting adventure with me in this vlog episode!
[Video] Outdoor Painting Workshop – want to express your creativity more? Head out to your local park and be inspired to paint in two very different styles with this fun-filled painting workshop.
My blog has lots of articles and videos on creative living. You can find my favourite articles and videos on creative living right here.
I love Instagram. I share our sailing adventures, my love of nature, inspiration to nurture your creativity and behind the scenes of creative projects I’m working on. I’d love to connect with you there. You can also find me on Facebook and Pinterest.
My Youtube Channel has lots of goodies for you to explore – from vlogs, to painting tips, to organic gardening how tos, and adventures sailing the east coast in our 35 foot sailboat, to practical creative living tips, creative mindsets and more. You can check it out here.
You can get my book “Lessons From My Garden: 52 Reflections on Creative Living and Organic Gardening” here on Amazon. It’s full of gentle inspiration to be kind to yourself and express your creativity,.
I’m leading a global creative living movement. And you’re invited! Find our more about my year-long program Flourish: The Art of Creative Living – and check out the special early-bird offer for 2020 – right here.
I would love you to share this introductory course with anyone you think would be delighted by it. Please use the following link in emails to your friends, and to share it in your newsletter, on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to connect your community with my work: https://www.nicolanewman.com
And finally, I’m honoured to have connected with you!
Thank you for being part of my community, and for showing up to deepen your relationship with creative living. I’m grateful for you and the presence you bring to the world.
With my warmest wishes,
Nicola xx
P.S. I’ll be popping back in your inbox a couple of times a month with my Inspiration Letters. These include video classes, inspiring articles and teachings on creative living, plus resources I’m loving and updates from my own creative living adventures. So keep an eye out – and I’ll see you then! And don’t worry, you can unsubscribe from my Inspiration Letters at the bottom of any email you get from me.