Taking Refuge in New Beginnings Without a Doubt

As a way of starting a new beginning after retiring from her a hectic 30-year career and on celebrating her 60th birthday Deb Middleton-Hope set her goal to be an artist. She had all her journey mapped and she started by developing a strategic artist plan, creating a perfect studio, buying art supplies, signing up for courses as well as buying videos.

She had to replace the working habits whereby becoming an artist and actually creating an art became a daily struggle. Three months into the new beginnings, she realized she was not having fun and wanted to quit. She was ready to give up on her artist dream. However her artistic soul was not ready to give up on her and through the reading of a book by Natalie Goldberg called Writing Down the Bones; she was able to discover a whole new creative world.

She discovered and incorporated practical art exercises she adapted from the book; keeping the hand moving and creating a list of topics to use for creative adventures. These two simple practical exercises have helped her deplete her fear of the empty page and she now able to make directional decisions. She is now discovering her artistic soul through mixed media and pushes herself to try new adventures as a learning tool. She says she will continue with the two exercises until she has had a sense of freedom, deep feelings and a soul of satisfaction.