If you could be an artist in exactly the way you want, what would that look like?
You're invited into The Way of the Happy Artist, where we make that dream your reality. 🗝
GET ON THE WAIT LISTDoes any of this sound familiar to you?
- You often find yourself procrastinating instead of making your art, and you can’t figure out why or how to stop.
- You’re worried you don’t have a ‘style’ and that your work is all over the place, and yet you resist the idea of consistency.
- You secretly feel very uncomfortable about calling yourself an artist ‘out loud’, and if anyone asks, you freeze up, play it down, or cringe over the outrageousness of claiming it.
- You default to asking others for their opinions about your work because you don’t trust yourself to ‘get it right’. {And then get confused because everyone says something different.😆}
- You look at other artists’ work and feel an awkward mix of envy, inspiration, confusion, and despair of ever creating such masterpieces.
- You regularly feel overwhelmed by possibilities, and don’t know where to begin.
- Your process feels scattered and erratic, and like you’re reinventing the wheel every time you go into the studio
- You're not sure how to use your materials to fully express yourself.
- The demons - the self doubt, the fears, the lack of confidence - are loud, and you don’t know how to make them stop.
Maybe you can recognise something of your experience in all of these, or perhaps just one or two.
Either way, artist friend, I get it; I really do. I’ve experienced every single one of them, and then some. Still do, sometimes! Let’s not pretend we can just delete all of this forever and without trace.
But I have good news! 🎺
This is incredibly common, a very normal part of the artist path, and absolutely something you can change.
Over the past 15 years I've been building a way that not only works to bring greater ease to your life as an artist, it’s also beautifully adaptable to your unique expression, situation, and dreams.
Introducing...
None of us are born knowing exactly how to create our truest work, or the artist’s life that will embrace our individuality and support us in thriving in the ways we want to.
We all struggle along the way - with making art that feels true to us, with creating a space and a process that works with our beautiful quirkiness, with how to share our work with the world, and all that comes with that.
It’s a process of discovery, but you don't have to navigate it alone, and it doesn’t have to be anything like as hard as you think.
The Way of the Happy Artist shows you how, with:
- A comprehensive exploration into who you are as an artist and how to set up your artist life so you can thrive the way you dream of.
- Two deep dive modules full of thought provoking, practical exercises, supported by encouraging chats at my kitchen table
- Video, audio, text and downloadable workbooks for an immersive experience
By the end of this program, you’ll have:
- Clarity everywhere! In your process, your ‘why’ as an artist, your art practice, your method of gathering and using inspiration, how you make the kind of art that feels truest for you, and the way you feel best sharing it.
- A really solid understanding of how to trust your decisions and support yourself emotionally on the artist path. {Do not underestimate the importance of this!}
- A feeling of empowerment and excitement, knowing you have what it takes to make your most meaningful work and share it with the world {without cringeing 😉}.
- Tools you can take with you for the rest of your life as an artist {and human}.
I’m feeling excited and more in touch with myself as an artist
"The Way of the Happy Artist is proving invaluable to me. It is guiding me gently through an inquiry into my artist self and ways of working. By helping me to delve into my thoughts and course correct my perceptions, I feel I’m getting to a healthier & more productive mindset for making truer, more authentic work. This is enabling me to home in on the root causes of some of my less helpful feelings about my work and practice.
I’m gradually finding a route to things I’ve been searching for and not been able to unearth by myself. I’m starting to feel better equipped to make art that comes from a deeper place in me and most of all enjoying making rather than struggling. I’m feeling excited and more in touch with myself as an artist."
What's inside?
The program consists of two deep diving, aha-moment-inducing modules.
Each focuses on one of the two pillars that I've observed support a happy artist life.
Module One: Mindset
This means everything you think about your art and yourself as an artist. This is often overlooked and abslutely crucial to your thriving.
In this module you'll find:
- Introduction to Mindset
- Starting to change your mind
- Happy Artist Tool #1: Questioning your thoughts
- Happy Artist Tool #2: Ask better questions
- Happy Artist Tool #3: Self forgiveness and self kindness
- When it doesn't feel good
- Using thought work to deal with negative feedback
- How to not be so attached to your art
- Define your terms
- Going deeper
- Thought Bank
Module Two: Process
This means everything you do as an artist. It covers your voice, your practice, your process, your materials, and how you share your work.
In this module you'll find:
- Introduction to Process
- Your creative ecosystem
- Introducing the Wave Cycle
- The Wave Cycle of your process: The Build
- Your Artist Voice: The what, the how, and the why
- Gathering and organising your inspiration
- The Wave Cycle of your process: The Fold
- The Spread
- The Retreat
- Bringing it all together and next steps
The Way of the Happy Artist supports and strengthens anything you do as an artist.
It won’t conflict with - and doesn’t replace - process based courses or programs. On the contrary, it supports you in getting the most out of them.
It helps you make choices for your art and your artist life that are more aligned with you, because you've clarified what’s yours, and you’ve grown the self trust and confidence to own your artist self and the work you create.
It gives you tools to get the richest, deepest, most fulfilling experience from anything you choose to do as an artist - forever!
Want to know what it's like?
Press play to watch the Introduction to the program. {Approx.14 mins.} The lessons are in this format, with me sharing the lessons with you across my kitchen table. There are also audios, transcripts, and workbooks, to support different learning styles.
{Previously this program was only available inside The Happy Artist Studio, hence the references to it.}
"Tara's way of teaching and insights have always resonated with me and this most recent program is no different. Even though I've been doing this art thing for a long time it's still helpful to gain insight from another perspective. I'm barely into the program and already have had some huge revelations. I've been starting each day with a lesson while I have my morning coffee. It's my favorite part of the day!"
Ann T Nemcosky
You can go from this:
- Stuck and struggling in the studio
- Confused about what’s yours and how you can best express that
- All over the place in your process {what even IS a process?!}
- Doubting yourself and your ability to make and share your art
- Procrastinating and feeling frustrated
- Tired of struggling through all the mental clutter every time you go to make your art
- Wanting to share or perhaps sell your work but feeling overwhelmed and vulnerable.
To this:
- Knowing exactly what to do when you get in the studio and what to do when you get stuck
- Creating confident, well developed artwork that hangs together beautifully
- Having a process that fits you like a glove and evolves with you
- Feeling confident in both making and sharing your art
- Tools and techniques that can use to support yourself as you go
- A clear understanding of your habits, needs, desires and sticky points so you can navigate them gracefully and get on with being a happy artist
- Sharing your art with the world in a way that feels good and sustainable.
Eye opening, easy to follow, and inspirational
"I’ve found the Way of the Happy Artist really helpful and inspiring. Tara’s focus on the psychology behind what blocks us as artists and what can support us to create and to sell (if we want to do that) has been really eye opening in understanding my blocks. The lessons are great. Well laid out, easy to follow and inspirational. The permission to not create (when life gets in the way) gives a softness to her approach."
Hi I'm Tara.
I’m your guide on this artist adventure!
I’ve been teaching art online since 2013 - and an artist for a lot longer - and over and over have noticed that we all feel challenged by the same things on different parts of the artist path.
And while there are myriad learning options out there for artists now, most of them tend to deal only with process {subject, technique, style etc}.
Mindset doesn’t often get covered, even though it’s so incredibly fundamental to thriving as an artist. {Just think about the difference between a ‘good’ day in the studio, and a ‘bad’ one. That doesn't happen by chance!}
If you take a lot of technique or subject based courses, as most of us do, {because: fun! And valuable!} you can end up with a lot of techniques under your belt but no practical way to deal with the demons - that’s what I call the mindset issues - which can and will come up at any given time throughout your life as an artist. No artist escapes the demons, but very few of us are taught how to deal with them effectively.
I lost my art for a long time, and I got it back, and along the way I found all sorts of things that worked, and plenty that didn’t, to help me become the thriving and happy artist I experience myself as now.
I created this program to teach you the best of what I’ve learned over the past 15+ years, so you can create a strong foundation of your own for your Happy Artist Life!
More confidence and more clarity
"It was recommended when I first joined the Happy Artist Studio a couple of months ago to start with The Way of the Happy Artist. And so I did. It has absolutely helped me to shake loose from my "stuckness"!
I saved the audio files and re-listen to them frequently (it takes a lot of repetition). The 'thought work' that I am doing now because of this course is resulting in more confidence in myself as an artist AND more clarity about my artist life. I love being a part of the Happy Artist Studio, and, I do declare - I am a much happier artist for having joined this community!"
Jeannie Ginsberg
FAQs
Who is this program for and not for?
Is this a painting course?
Is this only for painters?
How much does it cost?
What's the difference between The Way of the Happy Artist and The Happy Artist Studio?
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