A mentoring group

(10 participant limit)

What do you want to start?

What do you want to make?

What do you want to leave behind?

Maybe it’s a new medium or creative idea that you’ve been meaning to explore. Maybe you have lost your momentum on a series of paintings, a memoir, a poetry collection, a quilt.

Maybe there is something you would like to leave for friends or family.

Maybe you simply need accountability to continue with ongoing projects.

No matter what medium, creative work is often what people say is

One of the most important parts of their life
And the most difficult thing to get around to doing

You procrastinate because:

Other things seem more ‘real’ or more valued by others.

You don’t believe you have the skills to succeed.

You don’t believe you are an artist and won’t give yourselves the permission to the time for your creative work.

And the big one:

This work, this dream of making something special is so precious that you can’t bear the thought of not being able to bring it to life. If you don’t start it, you can’t fail.

But while we procrastinate, time is passing.

No matter what your creative project,

I believe that this group will give you the lift you need

to start it, to work through it, and to finish it.

Make this the year your art takes flight.

Lift provides ways to bring continuity and consistency to your creative practice, habits that will last longer than our four months together.

I have been a teacher for over 30 years, offering art classes in my studio, workshops abroad, and more recently, online. My paintings have been shown in galleries, appeared in books, and hang in private collections.

I have an MFA in Writing and have published 3 books, a memoir, a novel, and a book of poetry.

I know every way and every excuse to avoid pursuing creative work; how to catch it, tame it, and train it. How to get to work when shiny distractions beckon!

I can help you balance the flash of inspiration, the nudge of intuition, and the drive to make progress. How to cope with being stuck and with periods of redrafting, rethinking and repainting. And finally, how and when to accept the honest opinions of others in the process.

Our small group (limit of 10) will meet for 2 hours a month for the four months, February, March, April, and May.

As a group, we will share our questions, frustrations, and ideas as we ma our creative plans. We’ll set out goals and share our challenges and progress, big and small.

I will also schedule 1/2 hour person to person meetings with everyone each month, to help you articulate your goals and to give you personal feedback, new approaches, and innovations as you craft your work.

What will we do?

Participants will identify their short and long term goals and set time lines.

We’ll draft action plans and start to gather resources that can help us on our progress. These will be different for each person.

We’ll examine the ways we avoid getting around to our creative life and we’ll learn strategies to overcome them.

We’ll share our work with the group, in our sessions, but also on our group page on my website.

When and where do we meet?

On Zoom—one 2 hour Zoom meeting with the group every month where we will share our ideas, discuss resources and personal plans.

Time 10 am- 12 pm Wednesdays, February 11, March 11, April 8, May 6; one on one sessions will be set according to your time preference.

One half hour session, with me each month to discuss your work.