Sep 17, 2015 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care, Favorite
Dear Wonderful, Creative You, I don’t normally like to engage in “telling secrets,” but today I will, because I want to share three artistic secrets with you. Don’t tell anyone. Unless you like them. Or find them useful, or fun, or...
Aug 13, 2015 | Creative Self-Care
My Artistic Journey As a little girl, I always loved to sing and act. I was known as the “ham,” (okay, yes, I’m still known as a ham.) For years, I begged my mother to take me on auditions in New York. My parents were not the type to indulge such...
Aug 7, 2015 | Creative Self-Care, Wellness
Dear Wonderful, Creative You: It’s the last day of the challenge! How has your week been? I have been loving the connection, engagement, and stories that you have shared. I’m always so inspired by you during these challenges. Today’s challenge is to...
Aug 6, 2015 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care, Mindfulness
Dear Wonderful, Creative You: I love all the challenges, but of course today’s challenge is my favorite, because I want to encourage you to get in touch with you inner artist. Today is going to be a fun day. We’ve got some 5-minute art prompts for you to...
Aug 5, 2015 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care
Dear Wonderful, Creative You: I’ve been really excited to share this post with you because writing is one of my passions, and I haven’t shared it much here yet, so now is the perfect opportunity. What’s your first memory of writing or journaling for...
Aug 4, 2015 | Creative Self-Care, Wellness
Hello Wonderful, Creative You: How was your Self-Care Challenge day 1? I hope you loved seeking out beauty as much as I did. Today’s challenge is exercise. Exercise is such a vital part of a good self-care regimen. You might have realized that I love to run and...
Aug 3, 2015 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care
Dear Wonderful, Creative You: Welcome to Day 1 of the 5 for 5 Self-Care Challenge! If you’re not sure about the rules and what it’s all about, find out more here. Today is one of my favorite challenge days. We miss SO MUCH BEAUTY in our rush, rush,...
Jul 29, 2015 | Creative Self-Care, Spirituality
I want to show you how good it feels when you make self-care a priority. I want you to see that it’s not selfish. That it doesn’t require too much time. Self-care is not as much about what I do, as it is how I think. It’s about taking a moment to put...
Jul 12, 2015 | Creative Self-Care
Finding time for self-care is a challenge for most of us, so I’d like to help make it a little bit easier and a lot more fun. [bctt tweet=”Self-care is not a luxury, it’s a necessity for living a balanced life – Mindful Art Studio...
Jun 4, 2015 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care
By: Amy Maricle Hello Wonderful, Creative You! Do you have a portable art kit yet? I love them, especially when I have decorated the pouch with fun patterns, designs, and colors. Portable art kits facilitate art for busy people. For more on portable art kits, click...
May 14, 2015 | Creative Self-Care
Hello Wonderful, Creative You: Today I’d like to change the way you think about self-care. Chances are that when you hear “self-care,” what comes to mind might be a series of activities – getting enough sleep, meditation, taking...
May 6, 2015 | Creative Self-Care
(Note: 5/27/15: I have changed my site name to www.mindfulartstudio.com in order to separate my art therapy practice from my online art business and to avoid any confusion about what services I am providing. Mindful Art Studio and its blog will now focus solely on...
May 1, 2015 | Creative Self-Care
Perfectionism and Procrastination As I was researching this post, I came across an article by Maria Popova at Brain Pickings about writer Anne Lamott and how she feels perfectionism stunts creativity. Popova summarizes Lamott this way: “At the heart of...
Apr 23, 2015 | Creative Self-Care
By: Amy Maricle Hello Wonderful, Creative You: You may recall my podcast interview with art therapist, Sara Roizen of Art Therapy Spot a few weeks ago. She talked about the ache she feels to create, how it heals her, and how she became an art therapist. She...
Apr 10, 2015 | Creative Self-Care, Wellness
I’ve been focusing a lot on anxiety lately. (If you missed my recent posts on coping tools for anxiety and panic, you can click on these links.) One of the things that I have noticed throughout the years working with clients is that guided visualization works....
Mar 27, 2015 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care
I recently had the opportunity to have an artist date with the lovely and inspiring Sara Roizen, the artist and art therapist behind the Art Therapy Spot blog. If you’ve ever trolled around Pinterest for inspiration for mandalas, you’ve almost...
Mar 18, 2015 | Creative Self-Care
By: Amy Maricle Happy Creative Arts Therapies Week! This week I have the pleasure of being interviewed by Janet McLeod, MA, AT, AThR Clinical (Hons) an art therapist and artist in Auckland, NZ. I first learned about Janet and her wonderful work last year when I...
Mar 11, 2015 | Creative Self-Care
By: Amy Maricle I want to start a revolution. A self-esteem revolution. A self-love revolution. A self-appreciation revolution. Will you join me? I’m not talking about conceit. Not selfish, self-centered insecurity masquerading as confidence. Do you know what...
Feb 26, 2015 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care, Wellness
Dear You: I came across this amazing TED talk and just had to share it with you. I love it because it speaks to so many of the things that we love to talk about here: finding courage, recapturing creativity, and embracing our “weaknesses.” So many of the...
Feb 20, 2015 | Creative Self-Care
Because I have a somewhat unusual job, I spend a lot of time explaining what art therapy is. In the course of that conversation, I inevitably talk about what I personally LOVE about being an art therapist. This got me thinking that I’ve never shared that...
Feb 9, 2015 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care
By: Amy Maricle The Creativity Challenge #2 is to make an artist date. What is an artist date? It’s making a time to get together with another creative soul to make some art. That’s it. You can mix things up by giving yourselves an artistic...
Feb 5, 2015 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care
Got anxiety? (This post is for informational purposes and should not be considered a substitute for medical or psychological evaluation or treatment. For more on this, please see the end of this post.) What Is Anxiety? Anxiety and fear are normal...
Jan 20, 2015 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care
Creative self-care is not just about regular exercise, eating right, and making time to relax. Creative self-care is about feeding your soul. It’s making sure that you have something to be excited about when you get up in the morning. For me, that’s...
Jan 11, 2015 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care
By: Amy Maricle This week I am guest posting on the Small Talk blog at Small Company Artworks. Melissa Gondeck is a sculptor and blogger who focuses on bringing more lovely and fun into life. She asked if I’d be willing to blog about about how to prep for...
Jan 4, 2015 | Creative Self-Care, Spirituality
Several months ago one of my clients asked if I had heard Jim Carrey’s commencement speech about choosing LOVE. She thought the message closely aligned with the work we had been doing, and after watching, I couldn’t agree more. I hope his...
Dec 30, 2014 | Creative Self-Care
Hello Wonderful, Creative You: Well, you did it. We are almost at the close of the year, the holidays are over, and you’re still here. How did your self-care strategy work out this holiday? What did you do? Did you take things off your plate? Make more...
Dec 22, 2014 | Creative Self-Care
By: Amy Maricle Hello You! This last week of the challenge, (plus a couple of days) I thought we could focus on something that really speaks to the spirit of the season: Giving. When we talk about self-care, we focus a lot on needing to be sure that you give to...
Dec 15, 2014 | Creative Self-Care
By: Amy Maricle Hello Wonderful You, How are you? We are now officially in the throws of the holiday rush. How’s it going? Have you been able to steal away some moments for yourself – whether taking pictures for the contest, working on some art, or just...
Nov 18, 2014 | Art Tutorials, Creative Self-Care
Recently I came across a hilarious t-shirt: I Run to Burn Off the CRAZY. I loved it because it really speaks to why running makes me happy. I run on my own, but also as part of a club, so it’s exercise, community, and social life all wrapped into...
Oct 6, 2014 | Creative Self-Care
By: Amy Maricle This is part 2 of my series on sleep. For part 1 on setting the conditions for a good night’s sleep, click here. What If You Can’t Fall Asleep or Stay Asleep? When do you most struggle getting to sleep? Are there any patterns or...
