A Painting Artist

Hark Publications: Coming to my Senses: Finding my voice through ovarian cancer

“I found it exciting to read about her inner struggle, her courage to face very painful decisions. She talks openly about how everything that we do in life comes with a price tag, and only if we are willing to face this and the consequences, can we truly be healthy and take control of our lives, including our bodies. I have not had to face a life threatening illness, but I found that when she shares her deepest feelings, she speaks directly to issues in my life.” (extracted from Amazon review).

Stevie Nicks: what I always wanted was to affect people

… Especially women in rock ‘n’ roll and what they could write about. We are a force of nature.”

On writing:

“I have truckloads of leather-bound journals. And when I’m long gone, my niece and all my fairy goddaughters will get to read about my songs and how they happened. They’ll have my whole life in their hands.”

What a gift that will be.

An artist who honoured her own voice, sometimes at great personal cost. She never wanted children of her own. Instead her nature chose to express her creativity through songwriting.

Great to see her back performing her music, and wearing her own clothes in the Elle shoot.

Although she was part of Fleetwood Mac, her voice both unified and also segregated her from the rest of the band.

Standing alone again, she unites the audience as she sings from her soul.

In September 2009 I was interviewed by Joanna Harcourt-Smith who founded Future Primitive, which is a podcasting website that presents intimate conversations with authors, visionaries and innovators from around the world.

I share my thoughts on the connection between suppressed creativity and illness, and how one of the keys to better health is to be fully self-expressed, and doing so from our deepest connection, what I call our soul’s songlines.

The Aborigines knew what they were doing when they followed the earth’s songlines, when they listened intently to the stories their ancestors left for them, secret pathways only they could know and find. It’s the same with our bodies. Our bodies have encoded stories, and when we know and express these, and own them, we experience a deep sense of peace and intimacy with ourselves.

Still not sure?

Listen to my Future Primitive interview

And tell me what your experience has been.

A couple of years ago I worked with a school of autistic kids in North London, most of whom could not speak nor walk. Together, we painted, using our bodies, and they showed me their voices through the extraordinary images they created.

This inspired me to go further, and to take this process into areas where conflict has rendered children silent, through violence. When children are too afraid to speak, their spirit starts to die, and when their voices aren’t heard, they lose their connection not only to themselves, but to one another.

This simply won’t do. We have to do better for these kids. And so HARK, which stands for healing art for kids was born. The idea being to listen for the breath and words of these children, to tell us about their experiences, and for us to help them transition out of that painful place, to a place that has colour and light and opportunity.

For me, creativity and health are interconnected, and when this chain is broken and becomes fragmented, so we get dis-eased. It all begins with a frightened voice, too scared to speak.

HARK is interested to hear from anyone who has experience of working in a humanitarian context in South Africa, which is where HARK will launch its first project. Please get in touch with me if you have ideas and/or resources to contribute.

Here is one of the carers at the school in North London enjoying finding her voice in paint.

Duane Keiser was the inspiration for this video. He got fed up of galleries taking a fat commission for the sale of his art, and so he conceived the idea of creating a painting a day, and it proved to be a successful way of selling his artwork.

As well as his successful postcard series which he sells through his blog, Duane also sells what he calls Oddments of his work. He randomly posts these on his blog.

This concept can apply to drawings and even small sculptures, jewellery especially, and pottery.

So I guess the question is: what can you create each day to sell online?

I am so interested to hear about what you decide to create, so be sure to leave me a comment.

Have fun filling your tank!

Amanda
PS. Create a second store online for your work and open an account at Etsy which is the place to buy and sell arts and crafts.

PPS. Look out for my post about how to keep your creativity tank full.

At the weekend a friend came to visit me in my studio to see my new paintings, and asked to see some of my earlier work. I showed her paintings I had done during a phase when I felt fragmented and raw from painful surgeries and treatment. After she left, I spread out and then collated all the paintings I did during this intensive art therapy phase in 2003-04. Some of these are so small they are like shards, or edges of a painting. Inspired by this collection of over a 100 paintings, I reflected on how art therapy had strengthened my creativity generally at this time, and I wrote about this today in a new Hub Page.

Before you make money online (or offline), you have to have something to say. To find your story, and tell that in words or pictures. As a writer and artist I switch between words and images. Today is a day for words. I’m away from my London studio, and have not travelled with any paint, so I’m left with my journal and pen, and my blog, of course!

Several years ago I completed Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way At Work, the famous 12 week course in creating a map of creativity. What I learnt about my own map is that I need to make time for my words to express themselves on the page, as much as I need to make time to find meaning in the paint. When words tie me up in knots, the paint releases the tension. For years I wrote Morning Pages, 3 pages of A4 every day come what may, and it was good, but I reached a stage where those 3 pages weren’t enough, and in a way they became a substitute for my real writing. I still keep a journal, but like any performer, I’m now looking for means of bigger exposure.

What are you substituting for your real writing?

Be sure to leave a comment and tell me.

Amanda

Live An Extraordinary Life

This video expresses some profound ways to ‘fill your tank’ – the source of all creativity, right?

So if you are feeling blah, uninspired, unsure about what to create next, watch this and be inspired all over again about life’s possibilities.

I came across this video on Contemplatethis.com
CLICK HERE

Someone named Brentife on Yahoo Answers asked the following question:

What jobs can I get with speech and theatre arts?

Hi there Brentife

Amanda Seyderhelm here. Your questioned interested me. When I’m coaching people about finding their purpose, I ask them, ‘what if the word ‘impossible’ didn’t exist? What would your dream job be?

If you want to know what job you can get, you first have to ask yourself, ‘what do I want to contribute’. Second, ask yourself what is interesting about the speech and theatre arts course … why this and not computing, or tree felling? What is it about this particular course that rings your bells?

The secret to getting your dream job is understanding how it aligns with YOU and your passions. When you understand those, you will automatically attract the perfect job for you.

The best way to explore your curiosity is to expand your creativity, either by yourself or, hire a coach who teach you how to find your answers.

I hope this helps.

Amanda