Unlocking Your Creativity with Isabel Coulton

Many people think they can’t draw, whilst others get stuck.

One of the biggest joys in my life is to see someone develop their artistic potential, whether a professional artist or complete beginner…

We all have self-doubt – that nagging little voice that tells us what we do is no good. Learning to love yourself and learning to draw are intermingled, and the beauty of drawing is that once you have let go of the outcome, anything is possible! What’s more, using artists materials is play, the more you can experience with wonder and awe, the more you learn. A young child doesn’t have that self-critical voice, therefore, be a child again.

Picasso said : “Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once they grow up.”

I love to teach what I know with enthusiasm. My thirst for experimentation and letting go of any fears or worries is contagious.

Art comes with letting go, being kind to yourself and seeing what happens. I suspect that those artists like Tracey Emin or Van Gogh, couldn’t suppress their need to create. It takes a certain bloody-mindedness to doggedly go on despite all the stuff life throws at you. And through not caring about what people think, they succeed, probably because we would all like to express our innermost feelings, but just don’t dare.

Having a very creatively prolific family I was extremely artistically shy and lacking in self-confidence. During the last decade through teaching life drawing I have come to understand a great deal about fear and freedom from it.

My own practice has embraced my new ideology: I like to work in a variety of mediums, each one giving me its own freedom to explore according to its own parameters.

Having felt the need to ‘know how’ I learnt ‘how to’ and am now exploring what is inside me. I believe technique is helpful but not everything and that experimentation and the spirit of excitement in the joy of creating is a powerful instructor. It is often laborious and sometimes awkward, even depressing, but coming out the other side is like watching the sun rise in a clear blue sky…exhilarating.

If you would like to know more or join either live classes in South Brent and Ashburton or my zoom life drawing classes, or just have a one to one mentoring session, please email me on info@isabelcoulton.com My website to know more about me is www.isabelcoulton.com

If you would like to join me at Bala Brook retreat centre I will be running a 5 day drawing and mixed media residential class on Tues 24th May to Saturday 28th May 2022.

 

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