Crit Groups and a very personal story

July 2020 Life seemed so slow at times, those were very long days yet I felt I wasn’t accomplishing anything. Most of my days I spent with a baby strapped to me.

As I started my art career, I was lucky to join an amazing group that was led by Beth Welch in 2020. Back in 2019, I knew I wanted to be a visual artist, and had been sketching regularly since 2017, without knowing how to take the leap. I had 3 kids, my last one only a few months old. At that time I felt the only way to be an artist was through formal education.

I intended to go back to university and train for a bachelors in fine art. But things did not go the way I planned it. My mental health deteriorated rapidly after I had my last child, as I had been going through post partum depression. Art making was something that gave me so much hope in the midst of the darkest period I have experienced in my life. I didn’t have the support I needed for my mental health and I had not yet learnt how imperative self-care was. Compiled with a burnout and crippling anxiety, I would spend the next 2 years learning how to take care of my mental health and about healthy boundaries around relationships. At the same time, I would be cultivating and regularly making art. It seemed to be the only thing that my body could cope with doing, without being overwhelmed or mentally exhausted.

Hoping to find a way forward, I decided to join a crit group, not knowing what to expect from it, but feeling that it would be a step in the right direction. What followed was meeting some of the sweetest art friends I could have dreamt of, Rosanna Buford and Holly Romano. Shortly after we had gotten to know each other and in the midst of the crit group I had to take a step back from my life, from the world and learn a new way of being.

What followed were years of dedication, of deep self-love and self-compassion, guidance from health professionals and loving kindness of family, friends and strangers. How very lucky I have been to meet all these wonderful people, who carried me forward through with sincere love and support during that period and beyond.

It has been nearly 4 years since then, I’m still learning to navigate the cycles of mental health. And I am as determined as ever to continue to develop my art practice in new and innovative ways as well as through the support of crit groups. I am part of two crit groups at the moment and for the past few weeks as we discussed each of our artworks and series, my own vision becomes clearer and I am filled with joy and pride for how my art practice is has and is developing.

My practice is far from being traditional in any way. I have worked with various mentors including Victoria Fry, Liselle Anderson (life coaching), Gita Joshi and a recent course in Venice with the European Cultural Academy help me shift my focus and enabled me to actively seek opportunities for growth and development. I make opportunities for art making and training as I go.

I hope as you read this you also feel inspired, it is easy to go through life being dutiful. Yet life is filled with moments of awe when you have a burning passion. Weaving in opportunities to develop skills that bring pure joy are important and necessary to thrive in life. I will be sharing detailed content in my Patreon page, which I am setting up. I am setting up limited spaces to work one on one mentoring about nurturing an art practice, this information is available upon request via email.