Drawn by a Star

Hi friends, apologies for many months of silence !! Lots been going on. I've missed y'all. After a fabulous month at Fundación Valparaiso artists residency in September, I  came home to discover I'd been given the chance to  teach a weeks course on Creativity at Cortijo Romero here  in Spain.  It's been a secret dream for years. The place is absolutely unique. Many lives have been changed by taking a worksop here.  In 1996, my life was one of those.  So here's my blurb. What do you think ? Any feedback very welcome. Celebrating Creativity - Alone and Together. Explore Investigate and develop new ways of expressing yourself post Lockdown. A discovery week exploring the fascinating world of creative tools to find your favourites then take home a strategy to make creativity a part of your daily life.  For busy people, procrastinators, for people who love to learn new skills and use new materials, and for those who've lost their spark. An opportunity to re connect w

Drawing in Wisdom.  Walking new paths in the land of the Spanish mystics.   A Good Grief Retreat with artist and writer Meg Robinson   An unforgettable week with notebooks or sketchbooks and cameras in beautiful rural Andalucía. Gentle or moderate walks – you choose. Silence. Laughter. Pool. Surrounded by nature. Guided by Meg Robinson and the poetry of Rilke, Kabir, Kahlil Gibran, Mary Oliver, John O’Donohue, David Whyte and 2 Spanish mystics. We'll explore and nourish new ideas for a future you never imagined possible. Delicious  locally grown organic food. Pool. Stargazing. Charming simple country accommodation. Reconnecting inner and outer worlds. One to one retreats. Partners welcome to share the beautiful environment and walk, or chill. 5   full days, two days travel. Good Grief retreats are for men and  women  ready and willing to move forward towards a new life after bereavement.   Bereavement includes divorce/separation, miscarriage, abortion, loss of job, loss of countr

'Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.' Jack Kornfield — My thoughts have not been on Covid 19 today, but in Nova Scotia. The  dark drawing above I made after hearing the news of the mass killings in Nova Scotia. Today I felt compelled to change it. We cannot allow fear to thrive. Images speak louder than words.

Goodbye February. Hello March 2020.  Hand washing month, and Lent.  Two years ago, at a residential workshop, I saw how fast a virus can travel. In 12 hours more than three quarters of the group were writhing in the loo.  Had we all known this was coming, certainly hand washing would have been imperative.  I was one of the few who didn't get it. My room mate did.  I'm washing my hands very frequently these days. Are you ? Drawing before  first visit to Lithuania in July 2018. Creativity. What's going on in the studio?  Not very much, yet. I'm in limbo. In that 'liminal  stage' once again. That means being ' in between ' what has been created in January and February ( in my head heart and studio), and what's about to come next. Drawings have been on pause these past two months.  Just one arrived. I'm trusting the 6th sense more and more.   Appreciating everything more and more. Art play with an 8 ye

After 12 years running creative retreats at healingartjourneys.com, then a sabbatical pause, the new  retreats have arrived as naturally as spring following winter. The Retreats will now be Art Adventures for groups of  up to 4. 3 Retreats will be for solo adventurers. Why the change? An Art Adventure Retreat is a sure way to break down limiting ideas and transform old patterns to find exciting new ways to develop your creative potential. The object of a retreat is usually to take time out to re-connect with our non busy self.  To get clarity about what matters most to us. To allow ourselves space and time to play with life changing ideas . A guided Art Adventure Retreat offers a wake up, shake up call to start being creative in a brand new way. Are you sick of being stuck in a rut? Tired of making the same kind of art, bored taking the same kind of photos, disheartened  by writing in the same 'style.' During an Art Adventure Retreat you will discover ne

Possibly more than any other book ever, Jewish  Grigoty Kanovich's story of his family in Jonova Lithuania - starting ten years before the outbreak of WW11 - is speaking to me so vividly, it's almost like being a fly on the wall in somebody's house.  Some of these people could actually be my relations.  Jonova, pronounced Yonova, is just 20 kms down the road from the farm where I’m staying for a week! Jonova house revisited in 219. Shtlel Love Song is a book of 521 pages.  I'm now on page 449. The Russians have taken over the town. It's 1940. I can hardly bear to read what happens next. But I do. I came here to make a pilgrimage to honour my never  met Jewish ancestors. Then, when that felt complete, day by day as I learned of the countries relatively recent horrific history, I began to realise it was not just the Jews who’d suffered terribly. The stories I've heard were from priests, nuns, Jews living here and in Moscow and