This time last week I was sitting in Hobart airport waiting for boarding to commence on my flight home from a personal art retreat. The retreat was an unexpected opportunity that I grabbed with both hands and dove into, body and soul, and I am so, so thankful for everything that it brought me:
Much (much) needed restorative action (not sit around rest, which my brain and body cannot do, but deep restoration anyway)
Time in a part of the world that feeds my heart and mind in beautifully complex and profound ways
Cool weather that I adore
Wild beings (and those that care for them) which are endlessly inspiring and truly make my heart grow ten sizes
In the week that I have been home, I have been filled with gratitude for my studio and home (painting outside my studio brought mind and physiological challenges I had not anticipated!), and enriched with inspiration and determination and deep grounding for the two big things in my creative life that mean so much to me - Hedgerow, and my upcoming solo show.
Did I take too many wood panels and sketchbooks thinking I was somehow going to fill them all? Why yes, indeed, hello, my name is Natalie and this is apparently part of my process! I proudly wear an “I am a time optimist” badge ;) But I did get first layers down on one and a half panels, and a few sketches in.
But oh, I spent time connecting with the most gorgeous wild beings! While it may not have been for days at a time (apparently these places have strict open/close times, and discourage you from getting into the enclosures with the wild ones, rude right?), I took so many photos that I can study with awe and wonder and curiosity and intention and so, so much compassion. I get to practice connection - connection to these individual wild-persons, to the species they represent, to the tools I want to use to honour them, to my own creativity, to the wild heart inside me that recognises them as kin (and who grieves the time we have spent apart).
Let’s be real, too, though. I have a very human animal heart and mind, too. Humans like to overcomplicate things sometimes, especially when we are taught to be machines.
Creatively, I experienced frustration and scarcity thinking, irrational expectations, and yes, fear. But you know what? All of this is absolutely normal, it is part of the creative process, it is part of being a wild-hearted human. But I got to practice a lot of the mindset shifts I teach in Hedgerow too - compassion, asking what if?, celebrating showing up, recognising and thanking the fear for trying to keep me safe, but choosing to keep going anyway, and so much more. That practice is invaluable - you have to be able to catch those limiting thoughts first, but turning them into empowering, curiosity filled abundance is so transformative.
Ok, this email could easily turn into a small novel, so over the next week or so I will share more with you about my Tasmanian Art Retreat, the things I learned, the things I am excited to share with my community inside Hedgerow as a result… and more.
Hedgerow opens again on 8th June, and I will be hosting two live sketch-along sessions using photo references I took while in Tas! It is an opportunity for you to see inside Hedgerow, to see how I teach, to be with the community sketching together, and to ask me ALL the questions (baby, I am an open book to you!). So stay tuned for that too.
Until then, above is a sketch of Lady, the Brown Goshawk, and then a photo of her beautiful self. That eye-to-eye connection shared with this beautiful girl gave me so much joy, hope, and inner peace. And power, yes, power - she radiated power and wildness and self assuredness, it is hard not to receive that immense gift. Her spirit is as beautiful as her physical form.
How lucky are we to share a planet with these beauties?
Living in a very real animal body
My dear friend and Hedgerow Community member
and her partner in crime have a beautiful podcast called The Autoimmune Campfire, and I am so honoured to have been a guest, talking about my own chronic illness journey with endometriosis.I am open and honest, we talk real talk, we talk women’s bodies and living in this time and place, we talk about the wild, and we talk about the power of creativity. I would love for you to go have a listen, follow
, listen to these very human stories brought to us by these two spectacular women, and celebrate all that it is to be a whole-hearted human animal.(You can also find out more about the patronage, watch me painting each week, here:
https://www.natalieeslick.com/there-is-still-life )
My sketchbook is calling my name, so I am off.
See you again very soon my wild hearted wonders!
Hedgerow opens again soon! Get on the waitlist to set your wild artist heart free :)
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