In the Studio with Rose, Walk in the Woods

I grin, tilt my head and hold my hands upward with a slight shrug whenever I am asked anything about who I am and what I do. Given the opportunity I ask, “what do you see in me?” You see, when I regard myself I see a swirl of ever-changing energy. The activities I choose each day shift with the needs and desires held within that day. Nevertheless, I can tell you that – at present – I am called by others herbalist, artist, healer, teacher and priestess of the wild.

What resides in my core is a sense of empowerment that is rooted in my relationship with Nature, and that is what I choose to express in all that I do, be it a consultation, an herbal product or a work of art.

As an artist, my expressions are nature-centered and have their roots in healing and empowerment (which are hardly separate). As a little girl, it was a drawing I created for a school psychologist that helped me be accepted into the mainstream when I my teachers judged me as unresponsive to their questions and assorting prodding. Or so I am told. In any event, it was a drawing with flowers sprouting from hats worn by those depicted in it, that connected my quirky ways – my power – in a way that was acceptable to mainstream thinking. As I matured drawing, painting, sculpting and creative expression of every variety were central to my life … and wellness. During challenging times, I would create art, for it was a centering and grounding force that allowed me to express the feelings that words could not always convey.

My college years began as an art major before shifting to business, and the several years that followed were invested in the corporate world. Even in that realm I made time to create, and discovered in my creativity a spirit of self-sufficiency and empowerment. Even in the corporate world I would use visuals to convey my ideas, my plans, my power. At some point I came to understand – in a very conscious way – that it was this passion to create, alongside my relationship with nature that nurtured my spirit and gave me sustenance of an intangible kind. While I might say that I am primarily self-taught, I have taken classes and workshops over the years to support all my passions, including art and craft. To this day I stretch myself by learning and applying new techniques, and have found that sharing my experiences with others as a teacher/mentor would be an empty expression if I were not constantly challenging myself and learning new things, and I feel remarkably blessed by all that I learn from my students. They are among the greatest teachers of all.

These days, I consciously nurture my relationships with art, nature and spirit and observe how they weave together a synergistic expression of creation, healing and power, whether I am doodling in a journal, making a utilitarian object, blending herbs for self-care or sharing my creative expressions with others. All these things and more make up what I value in this life.

It seems I create something everyday in some small way, as you can witness at my blog, “What I Made Today”. I make my art and craft wherever I am – in the moment, be it in the woods, at my dining table, in my dispensary or lounging on the couch. I have several journals for words and images, for pressing leaves and flowers, and keep them close at hand for whenever an idea or image enters my consciousness. Most often I create at my dining table or – in warm weather – my deck table, for both of these spots offer me scenes of nature, of the gardens and trees that make up my little acre. When outdoors it is the music of birdsong and the breezes that sing with the leaves and branches that feed my creative purpose. When indoors I often have music playing, though sometimes prefer the quiet hum of the refrigerator.

Lately I love working with a form of mixed-media collage that fuses natural items like leaves and flowers, but I work with watercolors, pen and ink, clays, herbals and I love spinning my spirit cords, especially when I feel the unraveling tug of a world in need of healing. I also knit and crochet, sew and quilt, garden and preserve, cook and simply create with whatever is at hand in the moment.

Over the years I have sold my work around the region in shops and at fairs, but lately opt for selling directly – in person and online at my Walk in the Woods ArtFire studio. Selling online seemed so distant and impersonal when first considering it and yet in the years that I have been doing it I have nurtured some amazing relationships and have made some wonderful friends – from all over the world. It’s quite an experience! I enjoy it so much and this experience speaks to the healing power that art – creation in all its forms – can bring to our world, for it draws people together to a common ground, where candid expression in the forms of art and craft become a healing force that binds us all in a place of love, peace, oneness.

As I’ve said, the work that I do with art and herbs and healing, is rooted in empowerment. We live in a social structure that seems to teach us that we must hand our power to some external entity … that we must sacrifice our most vital beliefs – our integrity – in order to survive and thrive. My experience contradicts this. Even though my years in the corporate world served me well, I am happier, healthier and more whole now fanning my heart-flame and following my heart-song. I have found that I am able to give more to my world and the people in it now that I have reclaimed my power. As an artist and crafter, herbalist and healer, teacher and all-‘round-crazy-woman, I nurture my own health and wellness, I contribute directly to my local economy as well as to the worldwide handmade economy, I am playing a role in returning power to the people … and this, I feel, is the real value of the handmade movement. And this is a movement I plan to be part of for … the duration!