{"id":6075,"date":"2016-11-15T02:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T02:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mindfulartstudio.com\/?p=6075"},"modified":"2016-11-18T11:34:17","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T16:34:17","slug":"creative-self-care-using-photography-to-escape-darkness-with-cynthia-shepard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindfulartstudio.com\/creative-self-care-using-photography-to-escape-darkness-with-cynthia-shepard\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Photography to Escape Darkness with Cynthia Shepard"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Creative<\/p>\n

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: <\/span><\/p>\n

This is part of an interview series on members of the Mindful Art Studio community who have used art as self-care. You can find\u00a0all the interviews in this series:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Day 1:\u00a0Finding the Courage to Create with Guylaine Morin<\/a><\/p>\n

Day 2:\u00a0Using Photography to Escape Darkness with Cynthia Shepard<\/a><\/p>\n

Day 3: \u00a0Defining Your Life through Art Journaling with Vanessa Oliver-Lloyd<\/a><\/p>\n

Day 4:\u00a0Creating Beyond Limitations with Barbara Shelton<\/a><\/p>\n

Day 5:\u00a0Painting Through Grief with Joy Simon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I’m hoping that you will find inspiration in these amazing stories and motivation to charge up your own art practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Creatively Yours,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amy\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n


\nAMY: What are your earliest memories of art making, and creating as a child?\u00a0 What\u2019s the first time you remember feeling inspired?<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

CYNTHIA:<\/strong> The\u00a0<\/span>first project I remember feeling inspired on was in grade school. \u00a0The\u00a0teacher gave each of us a piece of burlap, a large needle and several\u00a0colors of yarn.\u00a0 My grandmother had tried to interest me in counted cross-stitch, but I liked the idea of being able to make a picture just by drawing and stitching an outline<\/strong>.\u00a0 I made a very colorful butterfly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Finding<\/p>\n

AMY:\u00a0 What were the messages that you got as a child about art?<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CYNTHIA:<\/strong>\u00a0My aunt took a lot of pictures and even had a darkroom in her basement.\u00a0 When I was about four, she gave me an 8″x10″ of a picture she had taken of me, which got me interested in taking pictures.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I got my first camera while I was still in grade school – an instamatic.\u00a0 I didn’t think of it as art,<\/strong> but just a way to keep memories.\u00a0 I considered my older brother an artist because he could draw and played music by ear.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The person who most encouraged me to explore creativity was my fifth grade teacher, who introduced me to writing poetry and even trying my hand at writing a play.<\/span><\/p>\n

AMY:\u00a0\u00a0What are your favorite ways to express yourself creatively?\u00a0 What kind of art do you make?<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

CYNTHIA:<\/strong>\u00a0I take photos and do edits of them.\u00a0 I was very late in moving from film to digital, and find it easiest to just work with the camera on my phone.\u00a0 After an excursion this spring, I discovered the editing capabilities of the Gallery app on my phone and have really enjoyed playing with that.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Photography<\/p>\n

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AMY:\u00a0If you\u2019ve ever gone through a period of feeling blocked, or that you don\u2019t have \u201cpermission\u201d to make art, how did you find the courage to create again?<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CYNTHIA:<\/strong>\u00a0I used to do some creative writing, but found that I felt I needed to make a story go somewhere, which didn’t do good things for the writing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What allowed me to start experimenting with creativity again after that was driving my mom to her cloth doll club.\u00a0 The leader encouraged me to try a couple of challenges, even though I didn’t\u00a0sew. I had the fun of working with fabric and embellishments without sewing.\u00a0 For one challenge I also had to make up a short biography for the doll using the name the doll was given as a point of inspiration.\u00a0 My dolls were much more primitive than those of the club members, but I got encouragement from them, and that was important.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[bctt tweet=”Taking photos and editing them has become part of the way I cope with depression. – Cynthia Shepard #artheals” username=”amymaricle”]<\/p>\n

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\"Self-care<\/a><\/p>\n

Let me help you along on your self-care journey.\u00a0Grab your spot in\u00a0my e-course,\u00a0the\u00a0Guide to Creative Self-Care,\u00a0for FREE and you will:<\/p>\n