Sacred Scribble

or the art of Intentional Doodling

Creativity for Survival and Sustenance
How’s that for a workshop title?
I mean it.
Creativity for Survival and Sustenance.


Art-making, writing, dancing, sound-making

are POWERFUL tools

to help us through daily living and topsy-turvy times.
They sure have helped me and I see them continually support others.

I ran the brief workshop for an amazing group of powerful, inspiring women
as Chat 20 of Moving Fearlessly’s series.
To learn more about Sacred Scribble and what this simple, elegant (or messy, tangled) process can offer you, go to approximately the 30 minute mark in this video recording.

Creativity for Survival and Sustenance

Yes. Me. Video recording.
After years of saying: I must get some Art and Soul guidance onto video, 2 Zoom workshops were recorded in one week.


The other one was for Carers NSW as part of their Carers’ Week program in Australia.
Nourish and Flourish – the Art of Self-Care.
My own Inner Critic is busily, loudly berating me about How I Act and Appear on Video, but I share this with you anyway.


Sacred Scribble appears around the ten minute mark on this one.

Nourish and Flourish – the Art of Self-Care

May you find soothing, satisfaction and self-care from Sacred Scribbling

with love, art and soul
from Sally

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Creativity at your fingertips

I love working with carers. And carers of carers.

I love working with creativity, self-care, nourishment and sustenance.

Breathing light
and space
and air
into places
where
we care

So I sprang into the opportunity to offer an arty self-care presentation

to Sydney Local Health District carers

as part of their ‘Revitalising the Carer Conversation’ forum.

Carers. I empathise. I am one.

There are a gazillion of us, quietly (or noisily) behind the scenes, holding it all together, not necessarily identifying ourselves as carers. We provide the stitching you don’t see. Many of us barely keep ourselves stitched together.

Some carers don’t let themselves remove focus from their caree for even a day. Or a few minutes.

Caring can be Wearing. The popular representation goes like this: ‘Caring is rewarding and can sometimes be challenging’. Shhh. Between you, me and the crumbly gatepost, try this: ‘Caring is challenging and can sometimes be rewarding’.

Breathing light
and space
and air
into places
where
we care

Here are some almost-stats. I know. Unusual for me to offer something numeric.

Carers provide many billions of dollars worth of unpaid labour in Australia. 

Carers are the single most unhealthy segment of the population. I find this extraordinary. Really? Apparently so.

If I wore a hat, I’d take it off to those full-time live-in carers of a disabled son or daughter or a dementing spouse or an adult child living with psychosis. These folk live round the clock with their whole entire world revolving around the cared-for person.

I could go on.

Creativity at Your Fingertips

Creativity at your fingertips
10 easy access points to visual expressive creativity for well-being

I facilitated the carers and carers-of-carers to engage in Sacred Scribble, play with colour and

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Making Art Palatable

Swain small art

Even If It’s Tiny, Make Art
Sally Swain
play-in-progress

Or Should I Say Palette-able?

How to approach art-making when you’re daunted?

Chunk it down.

The vast blank canvas smirks at you. It might look innocent enough, all pure and fresh, but when nobody else is in the room, it snarls,

‘What makes you think you can paint on me? You’re not good enough. You’re not an artist and never will be.’

What to do?

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Words in your Wallpaper Too

Finally. Part Two. Inspired by Maya Angelou.

Do you have an Artist Wound?

(ouch)

As a long time Creativity Coach, I sit with people in the casualty ward of The Creative Hospital of Life. I see the results of Artist Wounds.

Katoomba sign caution

Whoah!
Katoomba sign

Should we peek at places and spaces where the wounding words have seeped? Can you cope?

bricolage tissue watercolour painting

Dabflowers
Sally Swain © original art
picture made from other people’s leftover paint tissues, glue, watercolour, pen.
Quite 3 dimensional

Back in January, with Maya Angelou’s assistance, we uncovered the power of words. It’s now July, but it’s never too late to start afresh with your creativity.
See ‘Words in Your Wallpaper’.

Maya says,

“Words are things. You must be careful, careful about calling people out of their names, using racial pejoratives and sexual pejoratives and all that ignorance. Don’t do that. Some day we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally in to you.”

Words can seep into the blood vessels of your heart’s health, causing a joyful art-beat, or clogging up your (h)arteries.

collage power words

Power (with a bit of Flower)

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Words in your Wallpaper

collage power words

Power (with a bit of Flower)
detail from Sally Swain © original art

Maya and Me

Do you have words in your rugs?

In your upholstery?

Maya Angelou, amazingly versatile, talented poet, actor, director, dancer, everything-creator, said this to her pal Oprah:

“Words are things. You must be careful, careful about calling people out of their names, using racial pejoratives and sexual pejoratives and all that ignorance. Don’t do that. Some day we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally in to you.”

Which way? Katoomba sign

Which way?
Katoomba sign

Maya inspired me to

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How to make art without making art

Huh?

Over any extended period of time, being an artist requires enthusiasm more than discipline. Enthusiasm is not an emotional state. It is a spiritual commitment, a loving surrender to our creative process, a loving recognition of all the creativity around us.
The Artist’s Way
Julia Cameron

Random Acts of Travelling Sculpture

Random Acts of Travelling Sculpture
Sally’s tenor ukulele goes to Athol, South Island, NZ

Let’s revisit the Random Acts of Travelling Sculpture Challenge, or should I call it an Invitation?

In this world of push and shove, an Invitation sounds less demanding; more…playful.

I’m

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How to Get Back to Your Creativity After a Long While Away (for doctors and beyond)

Creative Doctors.   Cool.   Like the sound of that.

So many doctors (and definitely nurses) I’ve encountered over the years have rich creative juices flowing in their scientific veins. They don’t

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Lichen Love. (Like n Love?) The Mindful Kindful Texture Walk

How to bring yourself into the present, even for a microsecond? And feed your creativity at the same time?

One approach is to go for a texture walk. What’s that? If I happen to be walking anyway, I attempt to find a tiny space of light amidst the VeryClutteredBrain by practising specific mindfulness. It helps to focus on a something.

 

Paperbark texture

Paperbark
(Melaleuca)
I love the texture of this messy, soft, papery Australian tree

I might say to myself: 
From where I am (here) up to that park bench (over there), I’ll bring my attention to textures. Or shapes. Or light and shadow. Or colours.

It’s not unlike playing ‘ Continue reading

How to Access Your (Already Abundant) Creativity 5

A Flower Power Point Presentation

to be viewed one blossom at a time

Part Five:

It Takes Two to Tango

Tango is a passionate, red and black dance. Tango is dramatic, with flair and flourish. It involves two people subtly, finely attuning to each other’s every move.

Sally Swain art

The Sauce of Life
Sally Swain © original art

Creativity can be a

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How to Access Your (Already Abundant) Creativity 4

A Flower Power Point Presentation

to be viewed one blossom at a time

Flower Power Point Number Four

A Little Encouragement Goes a Long Way

Sally Swain art

Daffy and Friends *
Sally Swain © original art

The word ‘encourage’

comes from ‘courage’,

which comes from ‘coeur’ (French for ‘heart’).

I love knowing this.

It speaks to me of the courage required to brazenly or tiptoe-ishly move in the direction of our dreams.

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