For years Colleen Russell did not know she was creative. She loved creative people, art supplies, art, and color but beyond that she couldn’t imagine herself as an artist. The first half of her life she worked in advertising and most of her creative endeavors went to creating ads for print media. It wasn’t until the second half of life that she began to discover her “inner artist.”
In pursuing her Masters in Depth Psychology she was often asked to take her feelings and express them in an artful way either through clay, paint, or pastels. But it wasn’t until a three-year Jungian based BodySoul Leadership program in 2008 that she really connected with her artist self. After working with dreams, voice work, connecting to the body through movement, images began to emerge from the unconscious and onto the page.
About that same time, she participated in The Painting Experience with Stewart Cubley where the emphasis was on following intuition, free expression, and the creative process rather than on technique. During her work with Stewart she healed many of her creative wounds and discovered a passion for creative expression. Magically, her life-long depression lifted.
Eventually, she began to feel limited because she didn’t know how to draw or give form to anything. Traditional drawing classes felt difficult and tedious. So she signed up for Tamara Laporte’s Life Book series and began to learn to give form to images while still having fun.
“Art is play,” she says. “For me art making is an encounter with the magic and mystery of life. It makes me feel alive! It has helped me discover myself and has given me a voice to tell my story. Art making is no longer an option, it’s a necessity!”
Colleen helps others to heal and find their creative voices. For more information, contact Colleen here.
In pursuing her Masters in Depth Psychology she was often asked to take her feelings and express them in an artful way either through clay, paint, or pastels. But it wasn’t until a three-year Jungian based BodySoul Leadership program in 2008 that she really connected with her artist self. After working with dreams, voice work, connecting to the body through movement, images began to emerge from the unconscious and onto the page.
About that same time, she participated in The Painting Experience with Stewart Cubley where the emphasis was on following intuition, free expression, and the creative process rather than on technique. During her work with Stewart she healed many of her creative wounds and discovered a passion for creative expression. Magically, her life-long depression lifted.
Eventually, she began to feel limited because she didn’t know how to draw or give form to anything. Traditional drawing classes felt difficult and tedious. So she signed up for Tamara Laporte’s Life Book series and began to learn to give form to images while still having fun.
“Art is play,” she says. “For me art making is an encounter with the magic and mystery of life. It makes me feel alive! It has helped me discover myself and has given me a voice to tell my story. Art making is no longer an option, it’s a necessity!”
Colleen helps others to heal and find their creative voices. For more information, contact Colleen here.
