The Artful Life e-course; Creativity, Mindfulness, Life-Balance, Self Care, and Fun!

You are a bright light,
and you are capable of incredible goodness, joy, and creativity
in every aspect of your life!

Your Artful Life e-course is an exploratory journey,
a scouting mission into the untapped creative possibilities of your life.

This isn't about self improvement or some dramatic life make-over.
It's about revealing the magic and beauty that's already there in your life:

your hidden treasures,
your dormant talents,
your overlooked gifts,
your own unique possibilities for grace.

An e-Course That  Explores Balance 

in All Aspects of Our Lives as Women!

Class begins September 15 2012!





Our journey will be an exploration of the Seven Keys to an Artful Life:

• Love your Body
• Nurture your Spirit
• Indulge your Creativity
• Practice Loving Self Care
• Create Your Home Sanctuary
• Savor Your Relationships
• Share Your Gifts

We'll spend an intensive month - September 15 to October 15 2012, the length of one moon - exploring these Keys and discovering ways to gently integrate them into our lives.

Each week will start with the delivery via our private blog of a hand-made playbook for the week's Keys.

We'll look at two keys each week, exploring them through our playbook, essays from me, journal prompts, videos, and sharing on our private blog.

Your homework (always optional) will include both guided self-reflection, and 'artful challenges,' which will allow you to apply the keys in real and practical ways to your life right now.

How highly would you value the chance to relax more fully into the beauty of your life?

What is the gift of authentic presence worth to you?

Your investment for this one month intensive ecourse is $128 plus two to three hours per week to play with the course materials. If you register by midnight PST August 15 2012, you'll get the early bird rate of $108 for the course!

I'll help you gather the tools you need to live more vividly, more authentically, and with a richer enjoyment of your already-awesome life.

And together we'll craft a plan for moving forward, a plan for integrating all Seven Keys to an Artful Life into your daily life in the coming year.

We'll have a lot of fun along the way, too.

I'll be sharing with you some of the rich diversity of my own creative life, which means we'll get to play a little bit with everything from art journaling to bellydancing, from mindfulness meditation to the beauty of healing foods.

By the end of our moon together, you'll have:

• A solid plan for bringing more creativity and spaciousness into your life.
• A personal self-care calendar for the coming year.
• A deeper appreciation for the abundance that's already there in your life,
• and a deeper understanding of the bits of your life that need work.

Two weeks before class begins, I'll be sending out a PDF with fun & artful activities, prompts, and exercises to get you started laying the groundwork for our intensive month. Then on September 15, on the New Moon, our journey begins!

For two decades I've been teaching, leading, and facilitating workshops, retreats, and classes for women. Whether I'm teaching movement, visual art, creativity, or wise woman ways, my focus is always on guiding each woman home to herself, home to an appreciation of her unique shining spirit and perfect, wise body. I'm so excited to be bringing these teaching gifts online, and I trust that the same gifts and spirit that have allowed me to connect so deeply with so many in-person circles of women over the years will also allow me to connect through this medium, with you.

Testimonials:

"Bronwyn moves through life with ease and grace.  She is an inspiration for any person wishing to add beauty and creativity to their existence.  As a dance teacher she taught me to feel strength and power in my body.  As an artist she has shown me how one can craft objects with deep simplicity and complex beauty.  I am honored to have her in my life and always look forward to her next creation or word of advice."
                           
~ Arielle Fraser, Vancouver, Canada

"Bronwyn is a wonderful, gentle, skilled teacher and leader.  I am someone who likes to dabble in art but has no talent whatsoever, and I found Bronwyn guided me through one of her classes with ease, patience and understanding. Her praise at my attempts encouraged me to continue. Her peace, patience, talent and grace radiate from her wherever, whenever. I want to be just like her."


~ Roxanna Mandryk, BC, Canada

 

"Bronwyn ~ she is Grace on earth and an innate teacher with wonderful skills! Bronwyn saw the dance light in me as she does in others and her own light radiates!  I benefited by increased self-esteem through her classes, I benefited in learning proper technique for Raqs Sharqui style, including a Teacher Training Certificate in this style, also my overall health improved and so did flexibility and overall feelings of mental wellness. I have Lupus and some limitations, as indeed a lot of dancers do, Bronwyn is gracious and kind and knowledgeable where anyone would feel like they 'fit in.' "


~ Layla Kukkola, Comox, BC, Canada

"I found Bronwyn a gentle inspiring creative leader sharing her love of dance, meditation, art and theatrical expression. I found my fear drop away as I experienced the teacher giving the message of “there are no mistakes, only variations!” I would love to participate in another retreat led by Bronwyn."

~ Jenny Nash, Vancouver, BC





 "In early 2011 I took Bronwyn’s course, “The Artful Blog.”  I completely enjoyed the course and found the content very useful.  Bronwyn was patient and helpful too when I had questions.  When I signed up for the course I had a personal blog just for fun.  I was able to spruce it up and improve the appearance.  Now I have a business site and blog.  Looking back over the content of this great course, I can see that I need to review it all and make some changes!  I’m glad that I still have access to this course so that I can review the information and apply it."                          ~Loran Hills, Utah, USA

"What I loved about having Bronwyn as a dance teacher was that she taught us more than just dance steps. Dance was more about finding ourselves creatively and expressing that through our movement. Her classes were more about us as people in the dance, being the dance, rather than students just "doing" the dance.  I loved this because she encouraged and honoured our intuition."

~ Lisa Hamilton, BC, Canada




"Bronwyn is a great leader and compassionate champion of women's empowerment.  I attended the first class she taught in my area, and within a year or two it evolved into a community of diverse women of all ages.  We all developed our creativity and confidence. With Bronwyn's expert teaching, I was able to perform solo and in group choreographies, something I had never done before.  I have not found another  teacher who could compare to her.  Bronwyn is also a creative talent in her varied other endeavors... your involvement with her is most likely to be beneficial and rewarding beyond your expectations."           ~ Julia Gardner, Vancouver, Canada


Class begins September 15, 2012.  Your investment for this one month intensive ecourse is $128. plus two to three hours per week to play with the course materials. If you register by midnight PST August 15 2012, you'll get the early bird rate of $108 for the course!

More Testimonials:

These beautiful words of appreciation are gleaned from the stack of cards and letters I've received over the years from my students and women's retreat participants. These cards and letters live in a special hand embroidered pouch  in  the special drawer that also contains love letters from my husband, and little treasures from my daughter's childhood. That's how much I treasure the work I've done with circles of women, and how much each student's experience means to me!

"Through my workshop experiences with you, I have found a multitude of things that I really like about me. That is the greatest gift!"

"You are making a difference every day with your teaching style and your deep understanding of the human (woman!) condition."

"I can't recommend Bronwyn's teaching style highly enough. We had soooo much fun!! We laughed and shared and opened our hearts... she facilitated a fabulous melding of personalities into a weekend of growth... and some epiphanies too."

"You helped inspire me to follow my dreams, trust my intuition, live my truth, speak and sing my voice, dance my joy, and feel my pain authentically. I am so incredibly grateful to you for that..."

"We thank you so much for your leadership and guidance! You are opening our minds to greatness and our bodies to freedom!!"

"It's been almost a week and I cannot get you or the workshop out of my mind! It was so powerful and enlightening. You had such an effect on all of us. Thank you for all that you shared... I am a fan for life!"

"Thank you Bronwyn for all your love and patience and for all your encouragement and your special gentle way of teaching. You've opened up such a world to me!"

"Bronwyn, you are an amazing, elemental force of beauty and inspiration..."

"Thank you so much! (After your workshop) I felt so inspired, rejuvenated, and full inside!"

"We all loved the way you helped us, you are a true and loving goddess!"

"Your teaching has enriched my life and allowed access to my soul...Thank you!"

“Bronwyn ... I loved your workshop... you have the rare gift of bringing joy to people...”

"I love your classes because they take me outside of the box and into a place where creativity and inspiration dwell. This is one of your great gifts as a teacher... you create an atmosphere that is absolutely positive... you make every woman aware of her inner beauty."

Class begins September 15, 2012.  Your investment for this one month intensive ecourse is $128. plus two to three hours per week to play with the course materials. If you register by midnight PST August 15 2012, you'll get the early bird rate of $108 for the course!

An Afternoon to Celebrate Women and Creativity

I'm so happy to be participating in "An Afternoon to Celebrate Women and Creativity" on Saturday the 22nd at the Courtenay Museum. There will be a screening of the movie Who Does She Think She Is?, and some time to chat and network with other creative women. I'll be one of the five featured artists, and will be on hand to discuss my work and show what I've been up to lately. This event is organized by lovelies Lianne Raymond and Charlotte Hood-Tanner. Check out all the details here.

Florence, Home of my Heart

That's me in the garden behind my apartment in Florence in 2001. It's May and the roses are blooming. The smells of the street reach into this little urban garden; dry stone, exhaust fumes, dust, lemons. The sounds as well, the whine of Vespas, sirens and shouting. It's a rough kind of paradise. It is a place that feels like the home of my heart, just as much as my wild and pristine island. I'm achy lately to return there. Just casting the net of that intention out there! I want to bring a group of women there for soul reflection, art-making, breathing in the strange beauty of the place together, gathering inspiration. Do you want to go with me? Below is my favourite piazza, Santissima Annunziata:

a little buzz

I love bees. They're magical. In ancient times, there were entire bee cults presided over by priestesses. Imagine! I'm not sure what it is for me about bees - the life force, the passion for flowers, the industry, the female-centered culture? Or just that moment in the early spring, when I can stand under the canopy of the blossoming plum tree and here them BUZZZing like mad - one day, by secret agreement, they all arrive, and I know the sweet season of spring has truly begun. I'm dreaming of that day now...

Here's a little buzz that's happened lately, that I wanted to share with you. It always makes me happy, of course, when people enjoy my work!

• My little buddha dish made it into a pretty Etsy treasury... always nice...
• Wendy at Dharma Designs did a little feature piece on me this week - thanks Wendy!
• I just sent off a package of tableware to Jaden at Steamy Kitchen; she's going to showcase them bearing her fabulous food - I can't wait to see what she does...
• Last but not least, I LOVE that Kimberly Wilson, who I think is fantastic, posted my little drawing on her blog after I participated in her really fun teleclass on Monday.

btw doesn't this honey look amazing? the image is from here.

After a little hiatus this fall to heal my back, I'm ready to bring dance back into my life in the new year. I've jumped back in to my dance blog, and I'm looking forward to building my spring teaching schedule, including another sacred dance retreat with Gillian. Yay! Dance brings me so much joy, as does the rich community of women I've been honoured to dance with over the years. The physical limitations imposed by my injured back have forced me to take a break from all of this over the last half year or so - I know from experience that these "breaks," however unwanted and unexpected, are usually important times of incubation and hidden growth, so I am excited to see what comes to light as I invite dance back into my life! I'd love to hear about your physical practices and how they feed your life/spirit. And how will you renew them in the new year?

more winter beauty

Just to give you a sense of the true drama of the season - these photos were taken around three in the afternoon. The light was spectacular and plum coloured, the water was very soft and still, broken only by the meanderings of a few black ducks. I'm just yearning to turn inward and be still, yet life demands my full and busy presence. I participated this weekend in the Denman Island Christmas Craft Faire; it's a wonderful, high quality show that's been going for years, it felt great to be a part of it, and I worked very hard to make a good presentation and have lots of beautiful wares available. I got tons of compliments and lots of positive feedback. I even won the best booth award. (Go here to see what it looked like!) At one point, the wise and kind woman who had been our family doctor for years before her retirement, stopped by and congratulated me on my work. I told her business was going well. She looked at me in her calm, penetrating way, and said, "But how is your life-balance?" Ouch! My mind wandered back over the last few weeks of late nights in the studio, the growing mounds in my laundry room, the frozen pizza that awaited us for dinner that evening, recent conflicts with my sweetie, my absence from yoga class.... life balance? Are you kidding? The more I chase it the more it seems to elude me. This is a theme I want to explore in my life, and a thread I want to weave through my musings here in the months to come. I would love to hear about your struggles and victories in seeking life-balance - please share!

gorgeous kitchen

Well, I usually only show these on our ceramics blog, but this installation is so gorgeous I had to share it here too. (there are more pics on the the ceramics blog, though.) I got a big envelope of photos in the mail yesterday, from a client in Florida who featured our Kyoto tiles in his new kitchen. The kitchen is amazing, with exposed beams, granite countertops, this beautiful professional range, and (I'm seriously envious) a built in espresso machine! I think the tiles look fantastic. We send them off into the world, and seldom get to see the results, so this is really gratifying!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!

So exciting, and I missed it! I made it to the coveted front page of Etsy!!! Yay! I really needed a bit of fun good news. Other good things that resulted from this feature were: 40 new Etsy "hearts," a request from Stacy to feature my stuff on her fabulous indie crafts blog Nonpareil, being featured on another fun craft blog, The Long Thread, and an invite from Taste Homemade to advertise free for their launch. Wheee! I love these encouraging connective threads in the virtual world, they add a sense of connection to my often solitary rural days. Thanks to everyone who has supported my work on-line!

something different

I just posted this to my etsy shop. What do you think? I've never made anything like this before! I made it one happy fall day in the studio, listening to the radio and chatting with Bob while he pressed tiles... one of those easy creations that kind of made itself while I wasn't looking. I bisqued it and it sat around for about a month, and I finally glazed it last week - I was visualizing yellow, but it came out this nice italian orange. I think it would make a great cookie jar.

I'm very excited about this new line of tableware we're making. Here's a place setting (dinner plate, salad bowl, ice cream bowl) of blossomware in turquoise/lime, photographed in the September sunlight with fresh picked blackberries and heirloom English table linens and silver. This tableware is lovingly handmade in my studio. Check my ceramics blog for lots more photos and purchasing details.

Art Journalling Workshops Coming in October - Live and Online!!

Above are some of the results from this summer's "Arts Bootcamp" mini-workshop in art journaling. It was a glorious warm August Sunday, and the grounds of the Arts Centre were festively adorned with tents and booths with a variety of art, crafts, and yummies. Ten students gathered in the shade of a big canopy, and we spent two hours sampling many different journaling techniques - with just 15 minutes for each page! What fun! The mini-workshop was so popular & such a success, that we decided to offer a 6 week course this fall, on Tuesday evenings at the Denman Island Arts Centre. In conjunction with this "live" course, I will be offering the same course on-line, and I'm really excited about opening up this fun and empowering course to a wider range of students than I can on my little island. Each week we'll be exploring a different type of art journal:

WEEK ONE: handmade watercolour journals

We'll learn super-simple techniques for putting together your own journal using watercolour paper, found and decorative papers, and your sewing machine! Once the journal is complete, we will learn simple pen & watercolour techniques for recording daily sketches or on-the-spot travel memories - whether or not you think you can draw. PLEASE BRING: pencil, technical pen, watercolour set and brushes OR watercolour pencils and brushes, a container for water, and some photos/memories of a recent travel experience or other meaningful event (holiday, wedding, new pet, new house, party, etc.) These photos are for reference only so feel free to bring originals. Journal will be provided.

WEEK TWO: beyond scrapbooking: creative play with photos




Using copies of our favourite precious photos, we'll create unique pages that communicate the beauty and drama of our memories. We'll learn various mixed media techniques for backgrounds and layering, and experiment with materials like metallic foils and water soluble crayons. We'll explore creative ways to incorporate text into our pages. Fun journal prompts will help us to compose images and text from our authentic selves.

WEEK THREE: altered books as journals









Using a variety of exciting altering techniques, we'll create a decorated journal with plenty of space for future writing on each page. We'll play with collage, random text, acrylic layering, creating pockets and inserts, and adding embellishments and personal ephemera. We'll have a mini "round robin", giving the other artists in the class a chance to contribute to our books.

WEEK FOUR: the memory painting






This week we'll create a stand-alone mixed media art piece based on a special memory. Working on light weight wood panel, we'll use layered papers, acrylic paint and inks, encaustic, and several types of photo transfer to create a richly layered image.

WEEK FIVE: life narrative: making a personal fairy tale



Using the skills we learned in the altered book and memory painting classes, we'll create an illustrated fairy tale about an important event in our lives. This can be a powerful technique for exploring and sharing our feelings about life's challenges.

WEEK SIX: the dream journal and collage as self-exploration
This week we'll explore the power of collage to reveal the inner workings of our minds and hearts. Emphasis will be less on technique and more on play and exploration. We will learn a few tricks for making your collages smooth and professional looking.
If this course sounds like fun, you can sign up here for the in-person version. For more information about the online course, drop me a line at info@linguaterratile.com, and check this space for updates. To see more of my own journal pages, check out the slideshow in the sidebar.

The quality of light has been so amazing these past two weeks or so - witness the late afternoon sun filtered through leaf shadows illuminating this little buddha in my livingroom... somehow I am having trouble soaking up the light, I'm longing for ease and focus, but these qualities elude me. I know what I need to do to feel better and regain that precious focus and creativity. I need to walk through the forest then all the way out to the end of the spit and breathe in the sea and sky, hear the voice of the water, see how the land and sky change day to day. I need to do this every day. I need to move my body, some gentle yoga with lots of breath, even just 15 minutes. I need to do this every day. I need to light a candle while I work and take little steps towards bringing peace and order to the cluttered corners of my life. I need to not yell at myself about how I am not doing these things. I need to spend mornings in the studio, with a cup of strong tea, some great music or inspiring podcasts, just dig in and get orders out, but also dig in and make all those cups and bowls and cake stands that are rattling around in my head. I'll let you know how it goes.

Creative Journaling and Visual Autobiography Workshops

I'm teaching a couple of Creative Journaling workshops this summer and fall; the first one is part of the "Artist's Bootcamp" in conjunction with the Arts Denman Celebrating Our Own Festival Aug. 16th & 17th, and the other is at Leapenhi Paper Arts on November 2. This is an exciting new adventure for me! I thought I would take the opportunity to share some pages from my own journals, to show you some of the techniques and ideas we'll be playing with in the workshops. I've been a journaler/diarist since I was a child, and always have one or three on the go.

Here are some pages from last spring's "Sketch a Day" journal. I challenged myself to work fast - no more than 5 or 10 minutes on each sketch - and to record simple details from daily life. These are done on watercolour paper with technical pen and gouache:





I've often kept a dream journal, and have found it really interesting, sometimes startling, and useful for my emotional growth to record these messages from my unconscious. A few years ago I got tired of writing them all down - dreams are so visual and irrational - so I put a basket of really simple collage materials (magazines, pen, glue stick, scissors) next to the bed, and began a visual dream journal. Here are some of the pages:







Of course I keep travel journals -- but I enjoy recording the little details that bring the experience back to me, so my travel journals are quirky and personal. Here are some examples:








Sometimes I use journals as a way to record what I'm learning or as a repository for information about my widely varied personal interests. Here are a couple of pages from an altered book I made about Afro Caribbean spiritual practices:





One final way I've used journals is as a medium for reflection and healing. These pages are from a "Fairy Tale" I created when I was dealing with the tragic onset of mental illness in a family member. These highly personal pages were created very spontaneously within the framework of a story. The process of creating this journal was immensely healing for me, and also created a quiet and non-threatening way for me to share my experience with others:







So these are some ways that my journals have been important tools in my life. I hope this inspires you to try some new and creative ways of recording your own experiences. Feel free to share your journaling experiences with me! Post your pages to your blog, then put the link in the comment section of this post!