A week of Wild Art Day 7

Hello you wild hearted artists,

Guess what?

This is it! The last day of 49. Tomorrow, I will be a whole decade older! And I have to admit, I am a little bit very excited. I am growing deep roots, and unfurling, and generally growing into the human I would most like to be. And so much of that is centred on being a compassionate, confident, curious and courageous artist and creative guide.

I thought I might read you this missive while you get a glimpse at the two painting tutorials of Harris hawk that I completed this week.

So inside Hedgerow I will walk beside you in a compassionate and encouraging way, empowering you to find your own unique way of connecting to your creativity and the wild world.

We are growing a beautifully supportive and inspiring and connected community - each of us walking our own wild but inextricably linked paths.

Doing it together is powerful, nourishing and grounded. Our content release pace will reflect that - you will have enough to feel inspired, but not overwhelmed. You will feel safe and supported and nourished in the content and in our community. And more than anything you will feel empowered to make art - because we need your art. We all need that emotional, mental and physical wellbeing that making art, especially art in sketchbooks, provides. For you and for me and for this wild world in which we live.

We will primarily be concentrating on sketching and drawing and honing our observation skills, and understanding all the things that go into being a confident, curious, courageous artist and human being, because truly, everything else comes from that.

We can’t feel safe and excited to make art when we are filled with fear and doubt and scarcity - I don’t think that gets talked about enough.

In Hedgerow we talk about all this, all the lumps and bumps, the good, the bad and the ugly. Because making art is such an incredibly generous act, but it is also very vulnerable. We get to support each other through the challenges, unravel some of those unhelpful thoughts, and celebrate all the big and little things too.

Painting realistically requires a strong understanding of drawing realistically (painting is really just drawing with paint). But this is not an atelier where you cannot move onto the next module until you have achieved mastery in the first. Nope. This space is about celebrating the wild and growing our abilities to do that in ways that feel good to our own very animal bodies, and that excite us and push our boundaries a little (but safely and with joy). So we play with paint too. There will be pop up tutorials where we get to play with watercolours or acrylics. And then the new stand alone classes that are coming over the next twelve months will also have painting elements in them. The best part? Hedgerow members also get access to those classes while in the membership too.

When the Hedgerow portal opens on 3rd June, I wanted there to be a taster of everything I would love to offer on a regular and occasional basis inside - hence all the Harris Hawk fun. 

Do you get all of this each and every month? Nope - I don’t think any of us has time for all of that, and then we end up feeling overwhelmed and defeated and not engaging with any of it (and then the shame spiral and the not knowing how to start again and suddenly you are paying for a membership you don’t show up in at all). I do not want any of that for you. 

I want you making art and being excited to do so, at the pace of you, and with the unfaltering support of me and our community. We do everything at the pace of the wild.

I don’t want you to lose the thread of connection with your art and your heart. 

I do want you to see the things that will be coming in different iterations, and even let me know what you would like to see too. 

But we deserve slow and calm and deliciously connected - so that is how we will roll in Hedgerow. We thrive, and we do it as a community.

We will have a regular monthly workshop, a regular mindset conversation, and meet together in the community, daily if you are up for it, and the rest will come at a more compassionate and balanced pace. 

Calm. Creative. Focused. Compassionate. Connected.

That is our ethos in Hedgerow. If you are here for that, I am here for you.

Come join me. Doors close on the 1st of June, and the portal unlocks on 3rd June. As founding members, you have a say in what this community looks like, and how it can best serve you. 

Let’s make beautifully connected wildlife art together!