In this episode, we follow on from a theme that has been present throughout all our talks, but began to come to the fore in the last episode when we explored Input versus Output (see episode 10).

There is a quality of inner quiet that can infuse our work as artists - and our life as human beings. It is a state that exists below the busyness of our mind and that is independent of any external circumstances.

When we access this, it somehow adds an extra ingredient to our work. It becomes part of the fabric of what we create.

In this episode, we muse on this subject and on how it impacts and shapes our work and our lives.

To connect with either of us, go to:

Clare Brown:
Coaching and Art: www.clarebrown.co.uk

Rachel Singleton:
Art: www.rachelsingletonart.com.
Coaching: www.rachelsingleton.com

We live in times where an amazing richness of content is available to us from many different sources - podcasts, blogs and articles, magazines, books, webinars, online and in person courses, vlogs and videos, social media, and so on.

Add to this the conversations and interactions we have with our colleagues, friends and loved ones, where they may be telling us about what they have seen, heard, felt and discovered.

And, of course, all the content that comes our way via advertising.

This all amounts to a lot of input. Sometimes we don't realise how full we are getting, and how our own voice, our own expression, our own creativity may be getting squeezed out - and perhaps a little intimidated - by the wealth of voices and creativity out there in the world.

It is vital that we have regular times of quietness where we are not reaching for the next stimulus but, instead, are reaching into our own well of creativity, connecting with our own expressiveness. Where we are outputting rather than inputting - sitting in a space of integration and renewal, allowing ourselves to settle down and feel our way forward.

Join us as we ponder what the balance of input and output looks and feels like, and how this helps us as Creatives and, indeed, in life in general.

To connect with either of us, go to:

Clare Brown:
Coaching and Art: www.clarebrown.co.uk

Rachel Singleton:
Art: www.rachelsingletonart.com.
Coaching: www.rachelsingleton.com

It would seem that being an artist is about freedom of expression. Isn't this something we long for in our creativity as in our lives?

And yet, we also need the creative tension that some level of constraint brings.

Some artists will always use the same colour palette, or return to a subject over and over, or always paint on the same size and shape of canvas or paper.

Something in us needs certain things to be taken care of. It is as if, in order to launch into the unknown and explore that vibrant edge just beyond what we know we can do, we need to start from a place that feels familiar and stable.

Join us as we explore all of this and more.

Clare Brown:
Coaching and Art: www.clarebrown.co.uk

Rachel Singleton:
Art: www.rachelsingletonart.com.
Coaching: www.rachelsingleton.com

In this episode, we explore the promise of the creative year that lies ahead.

Is there a way to approach the coming year that doesn't have us boxed in by goals and expectations before we are even a week in?

Can we leave a little space for the unexpected? Be more fluid? Let the year find and shape us a little more, rather than us imposing a shape upon it?

Can we make room for the unknown and the revelatory?
And, what happens when we do? What mystery do we get to sit in?

We hope you enjoy this exploration.

*At the start we refer to this as episode 7 when it is actually episode 8 - just to cause confusion ;-)


Clare Brown:
Coaching and Art: www.clarebrown.co.uk

Rachel Singleton:
Art: www.rachelsingletonart.com.
Coaching: www.rachelsingleton.com

If you like the podcast, please consider leaving us 5 stars and/or a review to help us to get known.

In this episode, we explore how the act of NOTICING is fundamental to us as human beings. It sits at the very heart of both our creative life and our consciousness.

Noticing seems to be something that we humans are born to do. Yet, in this era of technology and screens, the dominant demand is on our seeing and our hearing. Are we jettisoning the deeper reaches of our attention?

What happens when we reclaim a broader way of noticing ? When we reclaim the noticing that happens in our other senses - smell, touch and taste? Don't these help us to stay grounded and alert in our bodies?

And, what about the level of consciousness from which we are noticing? The quality of our gaze? The degree of love and curiosity that is present in us?

Join us as we ramble and roam, ponder and peruse, finding nuggets of wisdom as we go.

To connect with either of us or find out more about what we do, please use the links below:

Clare Brown:
Coaching and Art: www.clarebrown.co.uk

Rachel Singleton:
Art: www.rachelsingletonart.com.
Coaching: www.rachelsingleton.com

If you like the podcast, please consider leaving us 5 stars and/or a review to help us to get known.

In this episode, we explore Creative Practice: what it really means, what it offers us and why it is a vital resource in our life.

A Creative Practice is not some rigid amount of time that we set aside each day in order to do exercises and 'be creative'. Yes, it involves us showing up consistently, but it is far more than something we timetable in: it is actually a way of being, and something we humans naturally do.

Creativity is happening all the time. For anyone who is a writer, musician, artist, gardener, engineer, scientist or film maker, you will know that you are constantly being inspired by the world around you and by the creations of other human beings. Life itself is constantly planting seeds. We are being 'resourced' all the time by Life.

Having a creative practice is a) being conscious of this dynamic flow of inspiration and allowing ourselves to get fully immersed in it, and b) making time to co-create with and express this.

Not only does this prove to be fulfilling and nourishing for us, but it also touches others too. It isn't just some selfish or self-indulgent practice where we take time out from the real world; it is where we sip at the well of meaning and beauty, and come back better able to serve, support and inspire others.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

To connect with either of us or find out more about what we do, please use the links below:

Clare Brown:
Coaching and Art: www.clarebrown.co.uk

Rachel Singleton:
Art: www.rachelsingletonart.com.
Coaching: www.rachelsingleton.com

If you like the podcast, please consider leaving us 5 stars and/or a review to help us to get known.

In this episode we explore spaciousness and the creative void.

What does it mean to give our art and ourselves room to breathe?
We both experience creativity arising from the space between things. It is a mystical, living energy which is always revealing itself to us.

When we show up to do our art or our work in the world - making time and space for it - we create a fertile space for it to appear.
When we tidy our space and put it in order, we can feel primed and ready.

When we allow ourselves to ebb as well as flow, rest in the fallow times as well as the productive times, new waves of creation come through.

How is space showing up for you? And what does it mean to allow this in more consciously?

Rachel mentioned this poem in the podcast today:

THE SPACE BETWEEN THINGS
'See me as the pause
between your reaction and your peace.
See me as your gathering stillness.
See me as the space you leave between
yourself and another,
for their sake and yours.

See me as the punctuation that structures your life.
See me as reflection, not distortion.

Step back and breathe, and let life lead.
See me as the pattern revealed. ' Rachel Singleton


To connect with either of us or find out more about what we do, please use the links below:

Clare Brown:
Coaching and Art: www.clarebrown.co.uk

Rachel Singleton:
Art: www.rachelsingletonart.com.
Coaching: www.rachelsingleton.com

If you like the podcast, please consider leaving us 5 stars and/or a review to help us to get known.

In this episode, we explore the way that pressure can look like it is a requirement in life - not just in the field of art, but in any profession.
As artists, we can feel under pressure to produce art and then produce art in a unique style, to get into galleries, to sell well, to be as good if not better than our peers, to become successful and well known, and so on.

What if none of this is real and none of this is necessary? And what if all of this actually just gets in the way of something much more meaningful - our own innately creative essence wishing to express itself?

To connect with either of us or find out more about what we do, please use the links below:

Clare Brown:
Coaching and Art: www.clarebrown.co.uk

Rachel Singleton:
Art: www.rachelsingletonart.com.
Coaching: www.rachelsingleton.com

If you like the podcast, please consider leaving us 5 stars and/or a review to help us to get known.