August is always a busy month. Summer is coming to a close. Kids are headed back to school. We are all madly trying to fit in the last of our summer activities. When life gets this busy, it is imperative that we lean into the small moments in between to capture some all important time for our own self-care! That is what The Art Within Journey is all about. It is a gentle path of self-discovery through simple art-breaks, reflection, and creative self-care. It is a living creative practice that invites you to pause, create, reflect, and connect with yourself and others along the way.

Each month I lean into one of the 12 themes of the Art Within Journey and this month’s theme was Creative Community. Art practices and self-care practices can often be solo events. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good solo activity, but sometimes it can feel a bit isolating. That is where a creative community can be of the utmost importance! There are numerous ways to explore creating in community.

• Take an in person art class

• Attend a local community event

• Start or join an art club

• Find creative kindred spirits online

I have found a supportive creative community through all of the above! This month I explored our First Friday Art Walk, I met up with my Local Women’s Art club to attend the grand opening of a new creative business in town. I met up with my art business mentor group, and I began developing some exciting plans for future online communities!

Announcing

I have been working on several little projects and I wanted you to be the first to know!

1. Color Challenge: September is fast approaching and the theme for September is Your Relationship With Color, so I though it would be a ton of fun to explore a 10 day color challenge in September! The challenge will be September 10-19 and will feature one color prompt each day. I will send out a separate email all about it soon!

2. New Class: I will be launching my 1st online class and I wanted you to know about it first. It will be called the Art-Breaks Starter Kit and it is designed to introduce my 5 foundational practices that I return to again and again in my practice. You can read more about it HERE. I will be launching it following the Color Challenge, but I wanted to give you a heads up first and if you decide to take the class use the code FRIENDS10 for a 10% off discount to thank you for being a part of my growing community form the beginning!

3. Online Community: I will be launching an online community platform called the HeART Circle Collective in January of 2027. It will go on presale in December. I am opening up the waitlist now to begin collecting interested parties. You can read more about it HERE and Join the Waitlist. Members of the waitlist will receive a discount code when it launces as well as a special bonus freebie! The membership will include: Monthly Live sessions, Library of resources, Community Forum, and Bonuses throughout the year. We will Start in January of 2027 and work through all 12 Art Within Journey themes together!

I am excited to continue to build a supportive creative community with other creatively curious souls! I am so honored that you have chosen to join me in this journey and I look forward to continuing to grow with you!

August is half over already, where has the time gone. All around me I see families getting ready to send their kids back to school. Summer is winding down, yet it is still quite stagnate and hot! This is probably my least favorite time of year. It feels like the world around me is both speeding by and barely inching forward all at the same time.

I have chosen this month to do a little reset of sorts. I have been bogged down and struggling to find motivation, so I decided I would take August to pause and readjust a bit. I am focusing on figuring out what direction I want to go. I have been focusing inward and taking time to sit with my thoughts instead of simply rushing through the day.

If you have been feeling that way too, you might appreciate this little prompt:

I call it a Mindful Photo Walk. All you need is a camera or your cell phone and some comfortable walking shoes. You can walk anywhere you want, around your neighborhood, in the city, or a favorite trail/greenway. If using your phone put it on airplane mode so that you are not disturbed. Walk slow. Slower than normal. Take time to notice small details as you walk. Notice the sound of your footsteps. Notice the feel of the ground. If something grabs your attention. Pause and observe it. Explore it from different angles. Take a photo of it. When you feel ready continue on your way. Stop and take as many photos as you want. Your walk may be quite short as there truly is a lot to observe all around us.

This is a practice I return to frequently. It is perfect for when I am feeling low energy and not able to sit down to create art. I have a variety of photo collections at this point from colors to seed pods, textures, to graffiti. I keep them in folders on my phone and I revisit them frequently. Sometimes I print them out and use them in collage or journaling. Sometimes they become reference pictures or inspiration for future art. Sometimes they just make me smile when I have had a long day.

Stay Tuned

I have been using some of my downtime to plan a few things for the Fall. Here is a sneak peak:

• 10 Day Color Challenge hosted on Instagram in September

• Mini Course featuring my 5 go to art-breaks that I use on repeat in my Art Within Practice.

• Monthly Live sessions to work through Art Within Prompts together plus a community where we can chat and post.

I would love to hear your thoughts if you have any suggestions, questions, or requests. Feel free to reply to this email.

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Can you believe it is halfway through July already? Time is flying by this summer. I try to send two emails per month. One that is a bit more general with ideas, thoughts, prompts, or offers and a second one that focuses on my personal progress with the Art Within Journey. This month I have fallen behind, so I will blend them both into one email for you.

Art_-Breaks

I talk a lot about art-breaks and it occurred to me recently that you may not really know what I am talking about. Art-breaks are small moments of creative activity that feed your soul. I came up with this term years ago when I had a brick and mortar community art studio, my dear friend would often come by on her lunch break from work. We would spend the time playing with art supplies. We were never making finished art, but instead just exploring tools or ideas, playing. I began calling these out art-breaks and the term just stuck.

I consider myself a pretty creative person and I have been making art most of my life, however I have changed my thought process so drastically along the way. I used to be a perfectionist and I would get so upset when my art didn’t look how I imagined in my head it should look. I would even go through long periods of refusing to create art. I would tell myself terrible things. My inner critic was quite mean! Art-breaks have helped me lean into curiosity and play. They have helped me develop a creative practice that is more based in self care rather than perfectionism. I have learned to enjoy the process and lean into my intuition. Yes sometimes I do still go all in on a piece and get wrapped up in trying to get it just how I want it, but it is rare now. Mostly I play and explore. I have found this way of creating more nurturing and fun over all.

Even with that being my primary focus, I still have moments where my energy is low or I am just not feeling creative. Maybe my time is so taken up by all of life’s shoulds or have tos that I have no more time left over for my art practice. I have been in that place the last few months if I am honest. I came up with tiny art-breaks that I can do even in those times to help me feel a bit more connected to my creative soul. Here are 3 of my mini art-breaks that I use on repeat:

1. Photo collections. I almost always have my cell phone on me and it is super easy to snap a few photos as I go through my day. I keep photo collections on my phone with a variety of different themes: found hearts, street art, inspiring words, textures, colors, nature… These photos make me happy. They fill the creative void when I am low on time or energy, and quite often they inspire future creative work.

2. Repetitive shape doodles. These are so easy, all I need is a pen and paper of any kind. Spirals have been my current favorite, but circles, dots, flowers, anything really. The fun thing about these is you can make them as small or as big as you want. Most of my notes are filled with these as I sit in conference calls at work or am on a long phone call. The repetitive motion is calming and grounding and it helps my nervous system to settle.

   

3. Stress scribbles. These are great and only need a pen and paper as well, though it can be fun to extend them by adding color! When you are feeling stressed take a moment to scribble wildly for 3-5 seconds. Next transform your stress by softening the corners, or playing with the lines and shapes you created. As you go, you may notice that your stress often melts away.

   

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   July Art Within Journey: Mindfulness in Art

The Art Within Journey is completely self paced so it is fine if you are in a different stage than I am. I began my Art Within Journey in January at the beginning of the year which I do each year and I am currently in month 7 which the theme is Mindfulness & Art.

This is a connection I discovered for myself years ago when I first started exploring mindfulness. At that time I really struggled with the idea of meditation, and I found that I could use my drawing as an anchor in a similar way people use breath. Mindfulness is about being in the present moment. It is not an absence of thought but rather a purposeful redirection back to the present moment. Art can be a fantastic tool for that!

One of my favorite exercises is to set a timer for a set period and draw my breath. I will inhale and place the pen on my paper and then draw a line with my exhale. Reset the pen on my next inhale and exhale another line. I like to slow my breath down and focus on moving my hand with my breath while following the previous line as closely as I can.

Are you working through the Art Within Journey? If so which month are you currently focusing on? I would love to connect and see how your experience is going or answer any questions you may have.

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If you are not familiar with the Art Within Journey, it is the12 monthly themes that I have built my own creative self-care practice on. These themes are the backbone of my practice. I have created a FREE gently guided journey for each theme that includes a brief description, gentle art and reflection journal prompts, and even suggested reading. These are the books that have inspired my personal journey so far! I linked each of the themes for you below if you want to check it out!

I have also created an optional companion journal that I personally use as I work through these monthly themes each year. If that feels supportive to you it can be found on Amazon for $24.

Yes I did say that I work through the Art Within Journey each year. It provides me a bit of loose structure without too many rules. Some months I do better than others but it has helped to keep my practice manageable without it being overwhelming. I start each year in January, but there are no dates so you could really begin at any point in the year and work through each theme at your own pace. You can go back and repeat themes or move on as you wish. There are no hard fast rules. It is meant to offer a bit of support without being overbearing. And no, you don’t need to be an artist or even consider yourself creative to join the journey! All prompts are open and accessible to any level, so take it as far as you want to or keep it simple. It is ultimately your journey!

12 monthly themes:

1. Starting Your Practice

2. Embrace Imperfection

3. Creative Inspiration

4. Creative Process

5. Creative Blocks

6. Personal Connection

7. Mindfulness & Art

8. Creative Community

9. Your Relationship With Color

10. Creative Play

11. Embrace Where You Are

12. Art As Self-Care: Moving Forward

This month has been a bit of a hard one for me. I have felt overwhelmed and anxious, but my practice has helped me identify those feelings in my body and begin to process them. The feelings have not magically gone away, but I have been able to release just a little more with each creative session.

The other day I had this knot in the pit on my stomach. I had tried breathing exercises, and progressive muscle relaxation techniques, and tapping, but it would not go away. I decided to sit down and make some messy, ugly art before bed. I poured black ink on the page and then added some maroon and some yellow. I made puddles. I made lines. I made dots. It was not pretty, it was messy! When I was done, the knot was gone. I had some relief, at least for a little while.

Art is medicine. The simple act of creating art can lower cortisol levels and help calm and relax the body and mind. It does not matter if it is pretty or if you are good at it. It does not matter if you only have small amounts of time. Even 5 minutes of active creating can help you manage stress and boost your mood. Studies have actually been done to prove this idea. Try this search and read more about it: studies even 5 minutes of creating art has benefits

Prompt

Sit for a moment and tune into your body. What do you notice. What sensations are you feeling? Is there a color associated? Is there a texture or a shape? Try illustrating what you feel. Here is mine.

Take this prompt a little bit further by journaling about your experience creating it. Write about what you felt as you started this exercise. How did you feel as you were in the process of creating your illustration? How about after? Did you notice any shifts?

The more we use our art as a tool for self discovery the more we are in tune with ourselves. The more we learn, and the more connected we begin to feel to our authentic selves.

As a middle aged woman who is firmly in the grasp of perimenopause, facing an empty nest, and trying to navigate new relationships with my children and husband, I am leaning into every tool I can to help me feel more connected. My body is changing. My identity is changing. My life is changing. It is easy to feel overwhelmed. It is easy to feel lost. My art practice is one of the most powerful tools in my life to help me navigate all that life brings.

I would love to hear your tips or stories. I invite you to hit reply or leave a comment.

Best,

Jen

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I had my first live art & meditation session cohosted with my Mom, Gayle Hansen Browne of Beholding and Befriending Life on June 4th. We had a great time and have decided to continue offering these quarterly. Our next session will be in early Fall so stay tuned! Meanwhile please enjoy the replay from session one.

Watch On YouTube

Music in the background while we co-create: “In the Night” Beautiful Sleep Meditation Music with Kalimba Instrument” | Royalty Free Sleep Music

If you are not already, be sure to subscribe and follow so that you are sure to get all the updates.

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Today is the day! Our first live Art + Meditation live session. Please use the link above to join. Hosted by Myself, Jennifer MacIsaac and my guest, Gayle Hansen Browne of Beholding and Befriending Life.

What To Expect

• A moment of guided breathing/meditation to anchor ourselves into the space and moment together. Lead by Gayle 10min

• I will introduce a gentle guided creative prompt followed by time to co-create together. All skill levels welcome, even if you don’t consider yourself creative! Mics can be on or off so people can chat, connect, ask questions, etc. 30 min

• A brief go around, check in form each person who wishes to share. 15 min

• Closing. 5 min

What To Bring

• Paper of any kind/size

• Something to write with (Pen, Pencil, Crayon, Etc)

We look forward to seeing you soon!

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12 months of creative prompts, journal reflections, and suggested books that support 12 different topics that lead you through a personal creative self-care journey. Designed to follow at your own pace and accessible to all levels.

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