Most women who are drawn to art carry a quiet belief.

I am not an artist.Art belongs to other people.I missed my chance.

It often feels like a fact.Something settled long ago.

But that belief did not appear out of nowhere.

It was shaped by childhood moments.A comment in school.A comparison that stung.A paper that did not look right.A teacher who moved on.A feeling of being behind.

So you learned to hesitate.To hold back.To apologize for your work before it even exists.

That does not mean you lack creativity.

It means you learned to leave yourself when things felt uncomfortable.

Most women do not struggle with art because they are untalented.

They struggle because art stopped feeling safe.

Safe to begin badly.Safe to make something small.Safe to stop and return.Safe to stay when doubt or shame shows up.

So the answer is not more motivation.It is not discipline.It is not waiting until you feel confident.

The answer is safety.

Safety to take five minutes instead of an hour.Safety to make one mark instead of a masterpiece.Safety to notice your breath instead of judging the page.

When the stakes are low enough, something soft happens.

Your shoulders drop.Your breath slows.The voice that says you do not belong gets quieter.

Not because the art suddenly looks better.But because you stop asking it to prove anything.

If you think you are not an artist, you are not alone.

And you are not late.

Art does not come back through pressure.

It comes back through permission.

One small honest mark at a time.

Love ya,

Lynn

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Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video!

Join me for my next live video in the app.

Most creative women think they need to feel motivated, calm, confident, or inspired before they sit down to make something.

So when they feel tired, anxious, sad, flat, or overwhelmed, they wait.

They scroll.They clean.They overthink.

And the art table stays empty.

What I shared in today’s video is simple and important.

You do not need the right mood to create.You need permission to bring your feelings with you.

DOWNLOAD PRACTICE PAGE

Your art table is a safe place for all of it.Grief.Joy.Anger.Numbness.Hope.

Five minutes is enough.

In the video, I guide you through a gentle feelings check in and a tiny art practice that helps you move emotion through your hands instead of carrying it alone in your body.

Nothing fancy.Nothing performative.Just honest marks on a page.

If your art has felt far away lately, this is your invitation back.

No pressure ever.

Warmly,

Lynn

Most creative women think they are the problem.

Not consistent enough.Too scattered.Too late.

What if the problem is not you but the way it has been named?

Low quality creative problems sound likeI am behindI am lazyI never finish anything

They create shame and very little art.

High quality creative problems sound kinder and more useful.

I want a gentle practice that fits my real lifeI want to rebuild trust with myselfI want to pay attention to what lights me up

One shuts you down.The other opens a door.

I made a short video for you today to help you reframe the creative problem you are actually working on.

No pressure.No fixing.Just a way back.

Download the Practice Page here

Five minutes counts.Returning counts.

You are right on time.Lynn

Thanks for reading Make Art~Be Happy/ Art! This post is public so feel free to share it.

2025 was the hardest year of my life.

Breast cancer.Surgery.Infection.Family layoffs.Illness.

It felt like wave after wave after wave.

There were days I was scared.

Days I was exhausted down to my bones.

And for a while, my art practice slipped away.

But then something quiet happened.

I found my brush again.

Not from motivation.Not from discipline.Just from a gentle pull inside me that said come home.

And when I painted, it didn’t feel like pressure anymore.

It felt like refuge.

So in 2026, I’m laying down the old, torn up brush that tried to prove somethingand picking up the brush that helps me breathe.

Yes, there will still be obstacles.But I’m stronger now. Softer, too.And my art feels like home again.

If your year was heavy, I’m right here beside you.

Here’s to beginning again lightly.

love ya,

Lynn

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I return shopping carts. Not because I am especially good.But because if I do not, a small voice wakes up.

You are careless. You leave things for others. You are doing it wrong.

That voice is shame. It does not shout. It whispers in ordinary places.Parking lots.Unfinished paintings.Messy tables.

Art hears this voice too.

You should be further along.This should look better by now.If you were really an artist, this would feel easier.

But art is not saying that.Shame is borrowing its voice.

Art is not a report card. It is a place to process what has not been felt yet.

When my art feels heavy or stalled, it is rarely because I am doing it wrong.It is because something in me needs attention.

So sometimes I return the cart.And sometimes I just notice why I feel I have to.

Flow doesn’t arrive fully formed.

It shows up after we begin.

For me, it comes through writing.

I start without knowing where I’m going.

That’s when the words begin to move on their own.m and I clear out what blocks me from my creative rhythm.

I see the same thing with someone I coach, though her doorway is different.

She finds flow through meditation.

The effort softens.

The practice opens.

She isn’t trying to get anywhere else. That’s her rhythm.

Flow isn’t one thing.

It’s personal.

Some of us write. Some of us sit in stillness. Some draw, walk, cook, or listen.

Flow comes when we stop forcing and start staying.

Once you find how you enter it, returning becomes easier.

I’m dying to know what you have found works for you that gets you into your creative rhythm? Leave in the comments below!

Thanks for reading Make Art~Be Happy/ Art! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Sometimes life just feels heavy.

You’re frustrated. You’re tired. You want to cry.

And you don’t feel good in your body or your heart.

In this live, I talk about how to let those emotions move through you without getting stuck in them and how to stop pulling meaning from the past and instead let the future guide your next step.

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

This morning I was walking around our pond.Foggy. Christmas lights still up. The sun trying to break through.

Yesterday my doctor said I could start moving again.After a year of breast cancer.Four surgeries.A body that needed rest more than discipline.

When I was 58, I ran a marathon.I will never do that again.But I am still a runner.

Once you run a marathon, that truth doesn’t disappear just because you pause.

And the same is true with art.

This year my art practice hasn’t looked like it used to.Not consistent.Not scheduled.Not what I wanted.

And I beat myself up for that.I told myself shame filled stories.Catastrophic ones.

Until I stopped.Sat with it.And realized this.

I don’t have to recreate my old practice to begin again.I don’t need perfection.Or discipline.Or a plan.

I can start where I am.

Right now that looks like touching my supplies.Making contact.Letting joy come back before structure.

If life pulled you away.If your body needed your attention.If shame is telling you you lost something.

You didn’t.

You are still an artist.Just like I am still a runner.

You can begin again today.Right where you are.

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

I just posted the first session of Start Where You Are, my five part series for creative women who want to return to their art with more ease and confidence.

Today we talked about creative problems. Not the dramatic ones, but the quiet thoughts that keep us from starting or finishing.

I show you how to turn a low quality problem that shrinks you into a high quality creative problem that grows you.

If you want a tiny homework practiceWrite down your main creative problemRewrite it in a kinder, more interesting wayTake one tiny action that supports it

No pressure. No art police. Just small beautiful shifts that change everything over time.

You are not behind.

You are right on time.

If you need more help reach out to me via DM or smoke signals!