My tribe...

Kelly Rae with my new soul sister Stella. She is courageous and has a fighting spirit. I just love her! She made my cheeks hurt from laughing. She was stocked with supplies and shared them with the group.

If you haven't heard of her yet, you will soon. This is Ms. Mindy. She is SO talented and recently was featured on Etsy's Storque: Quit your day job. We sat beside each other for three days. I have been inspired by her more than she knows.

Sweet Amy. This girl has talent, spirit and heart! And also, four children! She's a jewellery maker and learned how to make art paper and her own bound journals. Her friendship means the world to me and I was so happy to have met her and Mindy at the airport. I can't wait to start reading her blog...hint hint...xo

Kelly Rae Roberts and Mati Rose. Two teachers with SO MUCH HEART! If you ever have the chance to spend time in their class you must! It was pure JOY!



I am still processing what I experienced at the top of that grassy hill. I have never been surrounded by such talented, supportive, humble, loving women. Their encouragement and belief in me has infected me with a belief in myself. Now, that is a gift uncommonly found with people you have just met. For years, I have been secretly wishing to be an artist...more specifically a painter. I have always been creative and I have expressed this part of me through making jewellery, sewing, felting.. these were safe in my world. But deep inside the pocket of my heart lay a dream to express myself with paint. Fear always stopped me... Fear of not being good enough, fear of attempting my greatest secret LOVE and failing at it... Fear of just plain sucking!

This tribe has lifted me up to a place where it was safe to try, safe to do and safe to be. We are all on this journey together on this beautiful planet earth. If you have been yearning and praying for a tribe of your own, I urge you to seek one out. I promise you, you will know it when you find it. You will never be the same.


I wanted to share links to the women in my tribe. While I don't have pictures of all of them, their spirit is loud and clear inside my heart. Check out their blogs and invite them into your hearts.

Here is a list of those who have blogs so far:

1. anna marie still: annamariestill.com
2. peggy krantz: passionsofanoddchick.blogspot.com
3. chrissy: chrissygardner.blogspot.com
4. ann deakers: hearts-delight.blogspot.com
5. cathy: tinniegirl.com.au
6. monica: thecreativebeast.blogspot.com
7. debbie: omzblog.blogspot.com
8. louise: louisegale.blogspot.com
9. lorrie: amiartspott.blogspot.com
10. tiffany: craftyfanny.com
11. davielle: iamprincessmagpie.blogspot.com

Changed in Los Gatos...

These pics were taken by the lovely Stella Singleton...one of my new soul sisters...



Some moments take your breath away. We have all had moments where we are forever changed...some good moments, some heartbreaking... What I experienced in Los Gatos, California at the top of a mountain inside a nunnery, was breathtaking. It has changed me.

It is here that I have finally met my tribe. The one your soul yearns for. The kind you can feel at the depths of who you are...For years I have been searching for my people...the ones that get me, that understand my need for creativity, that could support my passion for everything artististic and help me through all of the ugly stages of the process. They understand the meaning of wanting to eat the colour turquoise... I feel supported. I feel LOVED.

I am beyond grateful to have found these women. I am connected to each one of them and their journey. This trip has broken me open in a good way and has given me my wings to soar and just put it out there.

Who knew this girl from Canada would fall so in LOVE with so many women in the US, Australia, and the UK. Thank-you to every single one of you for being part of my ARTful Journey. I look forward to nurturing these friendships and seeing you all again.

A special thank-you also to Kelly Rae Roberts and Mati Rose, who shared so much more than their inspiring techniques with us. Spending three days with you was a gift that I will treasure. Your generosity was overwhelming and I am so grateful to have met you. xox

With HEAPS of LOVE,

Danielle xoxox

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

i am BEYOND excited for my trip to San Jose, California for my ART retreat. i have been planning this since the summer and wishing for this kind of experience my whole lifetime...my postal code does not allow for many artistic moments of sharing creative bliss... but alas, I decided many months ago, that it was time for me to go find them... so off I go to meet one of my favorite artist's Kelly Rae Roberts. i am thrilled to meet a kindred spirit who listened to the whispers within that allowed her to pursue a creative life without apologies. like her, I have left a secure, responsible job that society respects for an artistic life. it's nice to know that I'm not alone with a passion for ART that supersedes "societal norms".

i am also excited to meet Mati Rose who will be co-teaching this three day mixed media class. SO many wonderful moments await. i feel it in my bones. sometimes, you can sense the shift when it is about to happen...this is one of those moments for me. happy happy dance!

here is a picture and link to show you where I'll be staying during my Artful Journey...

Kelly Rae Roberts & Mati Rose McDonough

Kelly Rae Roberts neglected her creative dreams until she was 30 years old. Once she finally put paint onto paper, her heart and life exploded with a joy she hadn't known before. Now, many moons later, she's a full time mixed media artist, author, and seeker of all things joyous. She is the author of Taking Flight: Inspiration + Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings, a popular arts + craft book that encompasses all aspects of what it means to live the creative life. Her work has been featured in a variety of mixed media books by her peers and she's had several articles published in various magazines, including Cloth Paper Scissors, Somerset Life, and Memory Makers. Recently, she signed on with Brush Dance Publishing and Demdaco for long term licensing agreements that will showcase her work on cards, journals, magnets, calendars, and decorative wall art in stores nationwide. In essence, Kelly Rae is an artist, author, and all around lover of life and people who not only seeks to express a sense of vitality and connectedness in her creations, but is passionate about teaching others how they too can find their creative wings.

Mati Rose McDonough is a painter and illustrator who lives and works in San Francisco in the studio behind her home. Mati Rose is a busy artist who balances showing around the country, teaching, illustration projects, licensing deals and her own designs. She hopes that this is just the beginning. Mati is currently inspired by Italy, painting murals, art retreats and her artist husband Hugh.

www.anartfuljourney.com

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SO much to share when I get back...

Hello World!

Well, here I go...2010 is all about letting go for me. My ART, my writing and my heart. I have been reading blogs for a few years, and now, I finally have my own... It is here that I hope to evolve as an artist, as a writer, and, as a human being. I hope to meet like-minded, passionate- art-word-truth- loving people.

This first post is dedicated to Ms. Woolf. I believe that if is she were able to blog so many years ago, her life could of been a much happier.  One of less melancholy and isolation that surely could have changed her fate. Thank-you for your body of work Miss Woolf. You are not forgotten.