Hello beautiful, I hope you are well.

I firmly believe that the places and environments we spend time in, can have a great influence on us.

This term in my Masters in Therapeutic Arts, I’ve been exploring indoor and outdoor physical environments to track how they can impact our creativity, receptivity and wellbeing.

Through spending time and making art both indoors and outdoors, I have noticed I respond differently depending on the space I’m in, to the materials available and the ‘mood’ of the environment.

For example, being in nature outdoors, I find myself feeling awe, curiosity and a slower, expansive connection to the world around me through all the sights and sounds. I find I creatively lean towards video, photography and nature sculpture in the great outdoors.

When I’m in my studio, I often feel exploratory, expressive and in-joyment as I engage with the art materials. I get excited by the material choices and how they feel to spread, pour, mould, print and play.

Wherever we go, the constant is us and our environments can elicit different ‘parts’ of us to the fore. It’s interesting to be mindful of the different ‘hats’ we wear and how we pivot between them as we navigate different environments and interactions.

It feels fulfilling to slow down enough to notice how we respond to the places, spaces and relationships we have with our inner and outer worlds, taking our time to get to know how they relate to another.

When we learn more about ourselves, we can adjust and choose which environments feel most nourishing to spend time in and what that means for us, our loved ones and community connections.

If you’d love to join me for some soulful, creative adventures of your own, I have a couple of new openings for Private Art Sessions based at our new Artscool Art Studio in Clontarf, or online. Adults and kids welcome.