IVY NEWPORT

Studioworks

Journal
a letter from ivy

Dear creative friends,

Welcome to Issue #2 of the Studioworks Journal! I’m so delighted you are here and I can’t wait to share with you. Last month, we discussed what it meant to become an artisan through creative practice. We redefined the word discipline and aligned ourselves with the concept of becoming a creative disciple. This month, I’m excited to dive a little deeper into our creative practice and learn some ways in which we can cherish and nurture this path.

I know it’s still winter for many of us, but this issue overflows with growth, renewal and blossoming ideas. Our focus for February is not all hearts and valentines but instead quiet connection, self love and learning to become the caretaker of our inner artists.

I’m excited to continue this journey with you.

Thank you for being here.

xo,

How the Studioworks Journal unfolds…

So you may be wondering, where do I start? To that, I say, wherever feels right to you. Each month we will have a theme, a creative affirmation, a power word, a color palette, sketchbook exercises, art projects, articles, recommended reading and access to wonderful inspiration and resources. I want you to think of this as a delicious new magazine, you know the ones you occasionally splurge on, with soft, velvety pages, beautiful images and inspiring content!

Each issue will invite you to explore your creative practice in whichever way works for you. Experience each issue at your own pace. Take what resonates with you and put the rest aside for another time.

Grab a cup of something lovely and dive in.

FEBRUARY THEME

Nurture Your Nature

This month, I want us to focus on effective ways to nurture our creativity. I mean truly nurture. To dig down deep and understand the exquisite beauty of our inner artists. How can we tend to their needs? Their wishes. Their desires. Their fears. Their dreams. How can we hold ever so tenderly that creative being inside us. Some may call it our muse or our inner child or simply our authentic self.

Let’s first imagine this. Picture a beautiful garden. Flowers, upon flowers, swaying trees, a trickling stream, crystal clear and pure. In the center of this enchanting place is our connection to self. To our higher self and to our divine creativity. This is a sacred garden and one that needs tending. YOU (and only you) are the caretaker of this place. Without your devotion and love, it will become a dry and barren landscape. The blooms become dormant and the water ceases to flow. But with care, it will grow and flourish and sustain your very being.

So you may think, well this all sounds lovely but how the heck do I care for this place? I don’t have time. I have laundry and kids and grocery shopping and I can’t possibly spend hours meditating and connecting to my higher self. Geez…

I’m here to tell you that your creative practice is exactly what tends to this garden. Your creative practice is a doorway to this place. You don’t need to be a mystic or a guru. You just have to make time for YOU. 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an entire day. Any amount of time will add to the wellbeing of this special place within you.

By showing up each day with your sketchbook and being open to learning, practicing and trying new things you are watering the blooms and nourishing the soil. You are opening yourself to a deeper connection with your creativity. It is doable and it is necessary to live a creative life.

In our last issue, we discussed Discipline and how to become a creative disciple. To choose a path of learning. To commit to a life of openness and a willingness to walk alongside the unknown. Now, we take this further and begin to invite ritual into our practice. Rituals that will feed your creative self, enchant the muse and fill your well. Now, we will fully embrace the nature of what we are. Creative beings. We will hold to the truth that we were created to create.

This month we will tend to our creative garden. We will learn about what our creativity needs and yearns for and what we need to protect it from. We will mother our muses and soothe the inner child. We will stand strong against anything that threatens our true self and we will turn away from what is false. We will clear away the old and tend to new, precious growth. We will put our ears to the walls of our hearts and listen.

“We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.”
– Rumi
Nurture Your Nature

by : Ivy Newport

WORD OF THE MONTH

Nurture

Yes, our word for the month will involve the entirety of this definition. It is an active word, not some sweet notion. To Nurture our creativity we need to be ready and willing to get our hands dirty, to rip away what is no longer serving us, to deeply drink in what our creativity needs and requires. To fiercely protect our tender leaves and budding blossoms. To heal, to soothe, to listen and have courage. This is what our creativity needs from us.

Let’s do our first act of Nurturing…

“We must actively, consciously, consistently, and creatively nurture our artist selves.”
– Julia Cameron

WRITING PROMPT: In the Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron assigns a Letter to Self. Let us do a form of this in our Sketchbooks, a diary or on a scrap of paper. This is an exercise in listening, non judgement and self reflection. I highly recommend you listen to soft music while you do this. It will help quiet the logical mind.

Write the following at the top: 

Dear Self,
I want to nourish and encourage creativity. I want to support my inner artist and clear any obstacles that may block my light. What is it that your require of me? How can I be of service? What do I need to hear from you?

Close your eyes for a moment and breath deeply. Then, write freely, don’t judge what you write down…it may not all makes sense…just let the words come. Don’t worry about punctuation. You may just list words…whatever comes…let it flow. Write for as long as needed. It may be just a few moments or for pages. Let your soul speak.

How was it writing a letter to self? What emotions came up? Are there words or statements that repeated in your writing. Take special note of those. If you found this task difficult and felt resistance. That is ok. Try again another time, make sure you are relaxed and free from interruption. Be gentle with yourself. 

Word of the Month : Nurture

by : Ivy Newport

A Moment for Meditation

Meditation, I have learned, truly helps center me and assists with connecting to my creative self. One short and sweet mediation I recently discovered is by Rebecca Campbell, author to Light is the New Black book. When I stumbled upon it while composing the February issue, it brought tears to my eyes because it was so aligned with our focus for the month. I encourage you to try it.

Courageous Heart Meditation

by : Rebecca Campbell

Creative Caretaker Prompt:

Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee. Sit quietly in front of a window and carefully and slowly watch the scene outside. Remain present. Taste the cozy beverage, watch the world move by while you are still. Smile to yourself. Know that this moment is yours and it is fleeting. Breathe. Feel gratitude fill your heart. Do this for at least 15 minutes. The artist must always first be the observer.

Monthly Affirmation

Each month we will have a positive affirmation. I recommend you print out this affirmation and put it in your sketchbook or somewhere in your studio. Recite the affirmation out loud each time you show up to create. Saying words aloud is powerful and can begin to re-write some of our own limiting beliefs or calm our fears. Try it now…

Color Palette of the Month

This month we will enter into a gentle palette, soft hues of pinks, peach and green. Undertones of gray balance and give structure to our creations but ultimately this is a quiet palette one that reminds us of whispering woods and tiny spring blossoms under a blanket of snow.

Of course, you don’t have to adhere to this color palette, but you will see it reflected in the exercises and projects I share with you.

CREATIVE CARETAKER PROMPT:
  • Buy yourself a tiny plant to put in your creative space. Each day, when you go to create, speak to the plant, whisper to it. Tell it it is safe because you are caring for it. Gently mist it with water and do your best to nurture this little life. Remember to treat yourself with the same care and tender love.

MASTER ARTIST GUIDE

Claude Monet

This month, let’s take a peek into the world of Claude Monet. This master truly brought his inner creative garden to life with his creation of his famous garden in Giverny, France.

When we first think of his works, images of waterlilies, pastel colors, flickering light and active brushstrokes fill our minds. While the Water Lilies may be his most famous series of work, these pieces also embody the essence of what Monet was relentlessly trying to capture in his art.

Ever changing light, shifting shadow the impermanence of each moment. He engaged and dedicated his creative practice to documenting the magic of this. He would sit for hours at a time and paint the same scene over and over. Quick brushstrokes seeking to retain the beauty of the what was in a swirling state of flux before him.

It’s this dedication that made him a master and through his devotion he nurtured his soul and let it overflow with creations. Let’s look at some of his pieces and admire how he painted these dreamy scenes of nature.

“I am following Nature, without being able to grasp her, I perhaps owe having become a painter to the flowers”
– Claude Monet

CREATE A MASTER STUDY :
  • Try your own master study of a Monet. It could be one of his landscapes in soft shades or a beautiful still life. Choose to study one that resonates with you. Do a few small paintings or drawings in your sketchbook.

    Here are a few you might enjoy…

pinterest board
Refilling Our Well

To nurture our creativity, we need to remember that from our wellspring of experiences and emotions we dip in and fuel our artwork – thus we must re-fill this well. We must be aware that if we don’t, we suffer, our work suffers and usually the people in our lives suffer too. We can get really cranky when we block our flow right?

As artists we must learn to be self-nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on them.
– Julia Cameron

So what are some ways to do this? How do we refill our own creative well? Let me share some things that work for me…

1. Sifting – I call this process Sifting because that’s kind of what it feels like. I sit quietly in my studio with a pile of inspiring books and magazines on my desk. I light a candle, play soft music and slowly flip through the pages. I don’t read per sey, but rather sift. I let phrases and message, images and symbols float up from the page to meet me. I jot down the ones that really resonate. I ponder on others.  I make a quick sketch of this or that. Images that trigger or seeds that get planted. Take note of these. Do this weekly if you can. I usually spend an hour or two on this and what is remarkable is that I usually see and hear exactly what I need to in that moment. I may sit again later that week and sift through the same pile of material but receive completely different information.

2. Visit a museum, bookstore, cafe, library or place in nature. Getting out of your home and into new surroundings always excites our inner artist. Go see something different, sit somewhere new. Stay aware of the things you hear, see, and feel. Take your sketchbook with you. Sketch something you see, quickly and without judgement. Be playful with your excursion. The important part is to have an experience that is outside your norm.

3. Take a walk with your phone or other camera and your sketchbook. Go out for a stroll and take photos. You don’t need to be an experienced photographer – just a creative observer. Seek out beauty – A flower in the light, a dying leaf on the sidewalk, a child walking hand in hand with her mother. Actively seek out magic and you will find it all around you. The inner artist thrives on magic. The inner artist craves to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. Jot down any ideas that come up, any words or thoughts or emotions. We must actively engage in the world around us to encourage our creativity. We have to see what others do not.

Refilling Our Well

by : Ivy Newport

The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.
W.B. Yeats
Weeding the Garden

Now that we can all imagine our gorgeous, sacred, creative garden we can surely understand that while watering and fertilizing our flowers is key, weeding is another vital act and one we must take seriously.

Poisonous to our creative flow are fear, self-doubt and comparison. We know them well don’t we? Oh yes…those little voices in our minds that tell us we aren’t good enough, we don’t know enough and why can’t we just be better like “that” other person? These intrusive thoughts may seem harmless and annoying at first but given enough power they will shut our inner artist down completely. The trees will shrivel and the blossoms will fade. As the caretakers of our creativity, we have to be vigilant and ever watchful for these parasitic invaders.

While, completely natural, like other pests in nature, these factors do play a role and we can bring light to them by simply being self aware. We can recognize the feelings and thoughts that accompany fear, doubt and comparison and then acknowledge that they are happening because we are feeling vulnerable. Vulnerability is incredibly important in art making right? Yes! So in fact, as we edge closer to vulnerability, we often feel these negative feelings the most. Take them as a sign you are headed in the right direction. Then, refocus and keep moving. Gently pull these thoughts up by the roots and put them aside. They will spring up again, as weeds do…just pull them up again and keep walking.

Recognize what triggers these creative pests…is it too much social media? (that one can really get me!) Is it showing your artwork to the wrong people? Maybe a negative friend or a critical parent? Is it a fragmented memory of being shamed as a young child attempting to be creative? Write these things down in your sketchbook. Bring them to light. The shadow these things cast over you will only stretch as far as you let them. Writing about past hurts or negative habits or experiences regarding your creativity is healing.

One of the hardest ones to overcome in our age of social media is comparison. I found this mantra in Rebecca Campbell’s book – Light is the New Black pg. 267. Try saying this aloud when faced with that overwhelming and awful feeling of comparison.

Mantra:

I choose not to compare myself to others.
I show up and let the Universe work through me,
knowing that what I have to offer is enough.

No matter how experienced you are, these feelings of fear, self doubt and comparison will never fully be eradicated from your garden. It is part of our existence as humans. No one is exempt from fear. No one gets a pass on self doubt and there isn’t a being alive who hasn’t compared themselves to another. As artists, we can feel all these things with even more intensity. But by keeping our focus, staying aware and practicing self love, we can move past these obstacles and allow our creativity to flourish.

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
– Anaïs Nin
Weeding the Garden

by : Ivy Newport

Sketchbook Explorations

Before we begin our explorations, I wanted to provide a cohesive theme for us to focus on. This will help unify our explorations and provides us with a simple place to start when approaching a VERY white and VERY blank sketchbook.

Our sketchbook theme this month is flowers. These symbols of life, growth and love need to remain ever present in our practice. We would not crush a flower underfoot on purpose, yet we do so with ourselves daily. Now, we will begin to change this. As we draw and paint tender blooms, let these images take a foothold in our hearts and begin to change our relationship to self. Fill your pages with flowers!

Creative Caretaker Prompt:

Create a Touchstone – Find a stone in nature and paint it beautifully. It could be simple or elaborate. Keep this stone on your creative table. Touch it and remind yourself that you are whole, complete and worthy. Your creativity is needed in this world and just like that tiny stone, it plays a part in this universe.

“Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature..”
– Gerard De Nerval

Please remember, our explorations in our sketchbook are really just access points to get you into the flow. However, they can also be seeds for new ideas, concepts and themes in your art. Some of them will be more about writing and others more about drawing and painting. You will see below three prompts and exercises explained and photographed from my own sketchbook. You are welcome to expand upon, invent and experiment with your own concepts too. Use our color palette if you want to. You will see I stay in that theme for my explorations. These may feel silly at first but let your inner artist play.

EXPLORATION 1

Language of Flowers

Pick your favorite flower and sketch it. You can find many reference images online. Mine is the Peony. After you sketch your flower you may want to paint it. Go for it. Then jot down some notes about your chosen flower. Why is it your favorite? What does it make you think of? What memories are triggered when you look at it? Then, go buy yourself or pick from your yard some fresh flowers. Put them in your creative space as a reminder of your role as the caretaker of your inner garden.

Here is the reference image I used:

EXPLORATION 2

Georgia O’Keeffe Flower

Now go for a Georgia O’Keeffe approach to blooms. Zoom in on a bloom, fill your entire page and abstract its form. Georgia often wanted to express flowers so large so you could no longer deny the power of their beauty. The same is for your creativity, shine it so brightly that it can not be ignored. Let it fill the pages, let it overspill and flood the world.

Here is the reference image I used:

EXPLORATION 3

The Inner Garden

Collage a photo of you OR a figure/face you enjoy OR sketch a figure/face to represent you. Create a beautiful garden all around you. It can be realistic or playful and childlike. Use our color palette or expand into colors that call to you. Smile as you do this. Enjoy surrounding yourself in a glorious flowers. Know you are worthy of the most beautiful blooms in the world. Entangle them in your hair, let the leaves caress your cheeks, lets tendrils of root and vine flow into and out of your heart. You are a divine expression of creation. You can create words in your piece that remind you of your role as caretaker to your creativity.

Here is the image I used in my collage:

Look for more muses on my Vintage Portrait Pinterest Board here:

Sketchbook Explorations

by : Ivy Newport

Creative Caretaker Prompt:

Write down the recipes! Anytime you create and love the process. Take a minute to make note of the materials you used, the colors, the paper or substrate, what tools you used. But also note environmental and emotional elements – What music were you listening to, what time of day was it, what was your mood when creating, what was the weather like outside? Make note of all things surrounding and involved in your art making. Over time, you may see a pattern emerge. Like all living things you need different elements to flourish – more water, less sun. More light less darkness? Activity or stillness. Do you bloom most brightly in the morning or in the shadows of the evening dusk. Pay attention to what is involved in your creative practice and what needs tending to.

Other Ideas To Try

PETALS : Draw a large flower and some petals falling away. Write on the petals that fall to the ground things that you can let go of. Write on the petals that remain on the flower the beautiful things about yourself that you cherish and want to nourish.

GARDEN SKETCH : Visit your garden or one in your neighborhood. Take your sketchbook and draw from life. A tree, a bird, a flower, it doesn’t matter what you focus on and capture just that you remain still, present and observe. Drawing from life is one of the most vital and simple ways to improve your skills. Do this as often as you can.

FEBRUARY ART PROJECT

Among the Flowers

Oh my goodness my friends, I had such a wonderful time creating this portrait for this month’s lesson. I will admit, that the start was a bit shaky! LOL! But I kept at it and she finally began to cooperate.

The inspiration image really aligned with my feelings about this month’s theme and I hope you resonate with it too. The idea of leaning into the blossoming beauty of our creativity captivated me.

Working first in black and white with charcoal was also such a great study in value and of course constructing a face and observing the light and dark is always a joy and such good practice! The soft addition of acrylic glazes of color was the finishing touch.

I hope you enjoy this lesson and I can’t wait to see your “Among the Flowers” Portrait. Of course, as always, feel free to interpret this project as you see fit. Do not feel like you have to do exactly what I did or even use the same photo reference OR do this project just as I did. Both are wonderful learning moments! Let your own creativity shine!

STUDIOWORKS PODCAST

February: issue two

You can also listen to this month’s issue of the Studioworks journal. I find I love listening to books, podcasts and music while I draw, paint or go on a long walk. Enjoy.

Studioworks : issue two

by : Ivy Newport

inspiration: curated

One of my favorite things to do is to curate inspiration. From Pinterest boards to books, resources, playlists and more – I love to share anything that might facilitate learning, expansion, and sparks of curiosity! Being an artist, we naturally crave these things so here are some of this month’s picks from me to you.

BOOKS TO NOURISH YOUR CREATIVITY

MUSIC PLAYLIST

Another list that I hope soothes your soul and encourages you to connect to your creativity. I’ve added in some more mysterious music since well, gardens have a magical, mysterious quality don’t they?

INSTAGRAM MUSES

These feeds capture our mood of the month and reflect the beauty and joy of flowers.

MAGAZINES TO ENJOY

PINTEREST BOARDS