🌻🌻🌻 Love is in the Air 🌻🌻🌻

Hi Everyone I bring you this week my February Beatles lyric,  which I'm sure you all know : All you need is love, love, Love is all you need Way back in 1987, my wonderful mum introduced me to the legendary poet Maya Angelou, we watched her mesmerising, and spell-binding performance of a live poetry reading in Lewisham Hippodrome. This was a profound experience for me, her magical, mystical and lyrical performance spun songs and stories of Love……..friend love, agape love, romantic love, self love, sensual love and familial love!  A beautiful journey through her own work and black American poetry. Watch Maya in Lewisham This particular phrase has always stuck with me and you may have heard me use it sometimes in workshops, “ Be careful when a naked person offers you his shirt.” …  I usually ask people what this says to them and I think Brene Brown paraphrases it very beautifully: “Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.” In other words to give love, we have to love ourselves.

I mention all of this as we head towards February, a month in which we celebrate love. Apparently the first Valentines day was in the year 496! Originating from a Roman Festival, Lupercalia, the start of springtime. Later on, the church morphed this festival into a Christian celebration and used it to remember St Valentine. His name started to be used by people to express their feelings to those they loved………As the years went on, Chaucer and Shakespeare romanticised it and it gained popularity throughout Europe. Handmade paper cards became the tokens-du-jour in the Middle Ages. At Wild at Art in February we will be celebrating the spirit of love and self love by creating our own “Tokens Du Jour “.

Reflect and Replenish  Self Care for Counsellors, Therapists, Life Coaches, and Teachers Monthly on Thursdays:  February 6th, March 26th,  April 23rd 6:00pm - 8:30pm $450.00 includes all art materials I would like to invite you to the very first Reflect and Replenish workshop at Wild at Art Studio.  This is a professional development and Creative Self Care group for counsellors, art therapists, school counsellors, teachers and life coaches. In our role we may be advocating self care for our clients or students, but its easy to forget about US! as people who spend our working hours caring for others.  We KNOW that Self-care is important to maintain a healthy relationship with ourselves, to reduce stress, to replenish our capacity to provide compassion and empathy but knowing it and practicing it can be hard !  Life is busy, with multiple demands on our time !

Diving Deeper Retreat Days Saturday 8th February  9.00-5.00pm Studio29, Lamma Island $1,200 inc scrumptious lunch and treats Only 2 places left! Exploring personal stories through art making can help us to reframe challenges, develop new perspectives and articulate our inner world. Come and use your art-making to listen inside! Working on personal themes, you will be guided to experience mixed media art journaling. It can be the start of a transformational journey as you uncover insights and find ways to let your inner voice show you the way.

Self Love Mandalas Thursday 13th February 6.008.30pm $450 Wild at Art Studio, Central  This workshop is scheduled right before St Valentines day to maximise on the power of our shared LOVE energy! It's a day all about love, and guess where it starts? Yes, with YOU! This workshop is a gift day just for you, to pause and relax into some self compassion and affection! We'll be focusing on self care, self love and self nurture. Listening to some of our favourite love songs and responding with a gorgeous Mandala straight from your heart chakra! You can if you wish, dedicate your mandala to the significant other in your life, as well. Come and join the lovely community of art makers at Wild at Art Studio and feel the LOVE!

Mindful Drawing 4 x Wednesday mornings 9.30-12.00pm 15th, 22nd January, 5th, 12th, February $400 Connect with yourself and all your senses through Mindful Drawing. This beautiful experience  helps you to reconnect with the simple moments in life, brings a sense of peace and enjoyment, as you re-kindle your creativity and grow your drawing  confidence. Both mindfulness and drawing require you to slow down and pay close attention to what's in front of you.  These workshops introduce you to the idea of inhabiting the present moment, as you observe your sensations and experiences and pay attention to all of your senses – You will be fully guided through a range of drawing experiences and materials, no previous art experience is required!

Botanical Painting and Drawing Earth Love Saturday 15th February ( 9.30am - 5.00pm) with the amazing Claire Kirk at Wild at Art Studio, Central $1,400 inc all art materials, scrumptious treats throughout the day Only 4 places left!  Noticing small moments in nature can keep us connected to the earth even though we dwell in the big city. This workshop will take us on a creative journey starting with some playful dabbing experiments as we create different backgrounds for our masterpieces. Claire will then lead us through mindfulness drawing and painting activities to help us capture natures lines, patterns and spirit. on paper. You will connect with nature as you absorb yourself in the natural forms and recreate these using drawing pen. Beginners will be gentle coached through the drawing process and those more advanced artists can enjoy waking up or building on those skills. If you are an Art Journaler this is a perfect technique for you to use in your daily journals.

Welcome to your own creative self! Come on in .... Artfully Yours from 🌻🌻🌻Katie 🌻🌻🌻