The Art Peace Experiment
We're two friends, Tasha and Briana, doing an experiment for 52 weeks, each making one tiny creative thing a week and sharing the fears, breakthroughs, and beauty along the way. Because we believe creativity isn’t just about what you make - it’s about remembering who you are. We'd love to have you join us!
The Art Peace Experiment
Week 13: Artist Check-In - Quarter of a Year, Full of Creative Courage
After three months of our 12-month creative journey, we’re pausing to celebrate the progress, the setbacks, and the surprising growth along the way. In this conversation, we open up about the fears that almost kept us from starting, the personal healing that’s already happening, and why even imperfect steps matter. From journaling breakthroughs to watercolor discoveries, we’re learning that creativity isn’t just about making—it’s about becoming. Join us as we share lessons from the first quarter and set intentions for the next.
Thank you so much for listening.
If you know someone who needs this kind of gentle nudge, send it their way. The more kind, creative hearts in this space, the better.
And if something in this episode resonates or makes you smile, come say hi on Instagram @theartpeaceexperiment 🤍
Welcome to the Art Peace Experiment. We're your hosts, two artists and friends. I'm Tasha. And I'm Brianna. At the end of 2024, we decided we wanted to cultivate more safety, peace, love, alignment, and excitement through our art and our art practices. So here we are sharing our journey with you. And we're so excited you're here. We hope you enjoy our conversations. They're honest, raw, just just two friends talking to each other about the realities of life and creativity. We're so excited for you to join us and be along with us for the journey. First quarter check-in. We made it three months into the art piece experiment. We did it. Way to go. Yay. I feel like celebrating. How are you feeling? How has it gone for you? I want to hear, I want to hear all about it. It's gone really well. You know, I was thinking about it earlier this morning and I was thinking this, I mean, not to get too personal, but this like time of life for me is really really difficult and we started the experiment at the same time that all the difficult started right and so it's been really interesting because the the experiment has really has really helped it's been like really hard but then also really amazing with the experiment and yeah those two going on at the same time and so it's it's been I guess kind of like a testament to me that you you know, like reinforced to me that our creativity and tapping into that part of ourselves is so important and it makes such a huge difference. No matter like what we're going through, it is so important and it just, it really, really helps. Yeah. Yeah. So we have the three phases, right? Create, align, and connect. The three phases, rhythms, parts of the experiment. Yeah. Really wanted to design it to just work together and to get really intentional about letting it be a boost or yeah something grounding or yeah like working with our natural flows of life and not against it not to add anything extra you know but to be a source of a source of like release and and flow and and peace and connection with yourself and with others and to be a help in life and not another task. Right, right. It's interesting because I look back at the– I mean, the art that I created in the past and the growth, like the emotional growth and healing and everything that I've had, you know, through, you know, the time of creating those pieces and the impact that it had. And like, it definitely helped. Like it was definitely a support, but then what a difference it's made with really using it intentionally. Yeah. I think, Yeah. I was kind of journaling about this yesterday and I think, you know, we were doing this intuitively a little bit just because we could feel that it was, you know, we were feeling drawn to it. We were feeling drawn to creation and, and, and, you know, that was something that we needed, but it really has made a huge difference with doing it with the intentionality, like you said, and doing it. Yeah. Yeah. Like it doesn't happen every time for me, but that's the goal. That's what we're trying for. And so aiming for that and going into creating with that intentional practice. And then also, you know, throughout the days, if even if I'm not creating, having that mindset of wanting to check in with myself and wanting to do things that help me feel better. Right. And help me feel connected to myself. And, and to others like that's been huge. It's been so impactful. Right. Yeah. I mean, I was just, I've been thinking about it. I mean, as we're leading up to the quarter check-in, I've been really like just taking time to ponder about it and, and, you know, throughout this whole, you know, three months through this process, we just realized like, I don't know how, Yeah, all of the things. there is something really encouraging and special about having a friend. Yeah. Like cheer me on and be like, no, you're amazing. You could totally do this. And like, it's something you've been wanting to do and just having that nurturing and support. Yeah. Was amazing. really impactful and really made a huge difference. And having that built in to this experiment helped me be brave. Yes. I love that. Yeah. Which is really cool. And then another layer on top of that, I needed that gentle support to get started. Yeah. Right. But then what really helped keep me going, I took the first little steps of actually doing it. And then I had that kind of reward of like oh my gosh you're amazing you did so good this is wonderful from you and then on top of that with the journaling and realizing just a deeper layer and connection to myself because I've been letting myself just draw what I want to draw and what I feel like interested in, connected in or connected to. And then, um, would sit down and, you know, pick, pick a sketch. Like I would just have a couple ready to go and then pick a sketch on one of my painting days and, and get to work on it. And then I would, you know, look up the symbolism of what I was painting and the why and, um and like why I like combined certain elements together and realized just how on top of it my intuition was of like oh this is actually a story of what I'm personally going through right now yeah and it was like oh this is cool like it felt like
SPEAKER_03:magic yeah
SPEAKER_01:I think that was cool and that was just another layer of it um like wanting to keep going Yeah, because it did it did feel like a little bit of magic. Like, yeah, it was really interesting. in that moment, right? Right. It's powerful. And I think we all have that ability. We all have that inside of us because we all have intuition, right? Right. Our bodies and our subconscious and like we know what we need even if we can't consciously tell what we need in the moment, right? Right. But if we lean into those little feelings and those little whispers of, you know, of our intuition, then it like it always leads leads us to the right place it always leads us into more alignment with ourselves
SPEAKER_00:mm-hmm
SPEAKER_01:mm-hmm and I think that's what this experiment is really showing us you know personally like it's yeah it's it's been really great in that way already and it's only three months so it's only I know it feels like it went by so quickly you know it feels like we just started when we first started it felt like we would never get here it was like will we will we keep showing up for ourselves yeah will we keep showing up for each other right well you know like there was a there was a lot of a lot of doubt you're in doubt yeah I think for both of us yeah I mean part of it is because that we were like trying to you know not show each other right it's like yeah of course we're gonna do this but you know I mean life like you said there are different behind the scenes like things going on that it's like can we handle at all. Yeah. Can we, like, can I keep showing up for myself? Can we add this to the list of things to do? Right. And on top of our load already. But the crazy thing is it hasn't really felt like, I mean, some days it has, I guess, but like when we're, when, okay, I'll speak for myself. When I have been in that place of, I'm just going to let go and do this. It has not felt Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. week to week getting together and do this. And I feel like this part of it was just another layer of like, this is scary and this is hard. And we do this, let alone show up for the art every week. You know, can we, can we show up this way? And I'm really proud of us. I am too. I mean, it's, it's cool because both of us are very, quiet introverted and shy yes introverted you know get us out into the public into the wild world and you know I'm kind of a wallflower and kind of like behind the scenes you know like get together with a group of people and I'm just going to listen to the conversation rather than really add to it and like a year ago if someone told me that I would be working on recording a podcast I'd be like that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard I would never do that that's too scary yeah that's just ridiculous not something I would ever feel comfortable with yeah and I know you're the same way same so I like I don't know I think it's cool that we're like you know what our voice matters yeah and what we have to say and what we think and and all of that like Like it has its place. Yeah. And we believe so deeply in this. Yeah. That we're going to show up even though we're a little scared, you know, like through the fear. Through the fear. And through the doubts, self-doubts and all of it. And I think that's really strengthened as we, you know, through the doing, right? That's where confidence comes is through the doing and showing up. And showing up scared anyways. Yeah. And then I feel like giving ourselves that permission to, um, that was, that was what happened. Like we gave ourselves that permission and we're like, you know what, we're just going to do it and we're going to do it messy and imperfectly and scared, but we're going to try and let, let go and just have fun with it. Yeah. And it has been fun. Yeah. And it really has. And, and it's great. Yeah. That's been, that's been fun. Yeah. So any other revelations or interesting things happened with you know creating or like tell me a little bit more about the I guess maybe just like the actual art making yeah tell me more about how that's that's kind of impacted you yeah so I I haven't been as consistent as I was wanting to be with the actual art making just because of what's going on but I Mm-hmm. Right. Right. I think frozen with fear of everybody else's perceptions, right? Total people pleaser over here. Yeah. That's hard. It's hard to get through. And so there's been a lot of like internal work happening, right? Yes. But with the art making, yeah, I have definitely been trying to be intentional and not worry about what other people might think
SPEAKER_00:about it
SPEAKER_01:and just do the things that I feel really drawn to and that light me up. up and that I'm delighted with.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_01:And so following that, that delight, following my intuition, leaning into what I feel drawn to, like those are my main goals with all of this and with the art making. And it's been so much more joyful and so much more freeing when I actually do sit, you know, have the time to sit down and create and, or make the time I, I should say, but yeah, yeah, it's been, it's been really good. Oh, good. I love that. I love, I'm so glad that shared that thanks because it's so relatable especially you know starting out because that's a lot of what this is is getting past the limitations and the blocks and the you know getting to the root of why is it so hard to show up for the things that exciting and fun to me yeah you know like why is it hard to show up for something that is that brings me joy yeah um and you know a lot of this is about that um you know rewiring the nervous system and yeah and and being able to cultivate that safety and a lot of it is in that those like mindset blocks and those there's a lot of I mean, it's kind of, it's often small, like small trauma is what they call it, right? Yeah. But just... add up and getting past that is huge. And it's a constant, a constant work in progress. Yeah. You know, I was actually journaling. This was what I was journaling about yesterday, which is so funny, but I, I was reflecting on that a lot and where I was like seven years ago, you know, when I really first started this, this journey of coming back to Myself, I guess, and, and connecting with my creative side. And I was writing about, I was writing about the nervous system and, and those limiting beliefs and how important it is to like how we are wired for connection with,
SPEAKER_00:with
SPEAKER_01:people. And so any sort of rejection of the things that we like or things that we resonate with, it, it feels like a rejection of ourselves, right? Of us. And because when we, when we connect with something, when we love something, when we resonate with something, it's kind of a reflection of our soul, like of us, you know, our inner world, our inner workings and, and what makes us unique and what makes us us, right? Ourselves. And so when, when that is rejected or somebody doesn't like it, or, you know, just not celebrated. Yeah, exactly. Then it, it can Right. Right. Right. walls come up and um so often uh if we've had that often enough right if that has happened that's what we learned that's our new our new way of of functioning and you know right and it's not always a conscious exactly either it's just what lives in your body yeah and so that's why so often i mean this happened for me you know i would look at something that i felt drawn to that i really you really did want to do like making art you know like painting and I'd be like oh but that's for somebody else or oh I can't do that it would just be an automatic you know automatic immediate shutdown
SPEAKER_00:with some
SPEAKER_01:excuse limiting or sometimes even it would be like resentment you know yeah or it'd be like oh that's for this kind of person and I'm not you know like jealousy right exactly and so So it's been really interesting going through this, you know, years, these past years of slow, slow, slow progress
SPEAKER_00:and
SPEAKER_01:baby steps towards where I am now with recognizing this because it's hard to recognize. Yeah. like really build in that safety that we haven't had before. Yeah. And it's taking that time to be like, I am gifting this to myself because I am worthy of it and I deserve it. And, you know, the world needs the best version of me, you know, and my daughter needs the best version of me. And I, I deserve to be able to show up for myself that way too. Yeah. And you know, I'm talking about this as like I and me, but anybody. Yeah. Like you listening to this, the world deserves, you know, the best version of you and you deserve the best version of you. Yeah. This was something that I wrote yesterday and I'm, you know, paraphrasing from memory, but it, when we tap into our creativity, that is when we are our fullest self and our fullest self is our best self. Right. And so it's, it's more than just picking up a paintbrush or, you know, getting out your old tap shoes or, you know, it's more than the thing that you're doing. Yeah. It's the becoming. Yeah. Right. It's the way you're bringing to it. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. I love that. Yeah. I, it's, it's interesting cause I, um, Through this process, I really wanted to open myself up to this, like, limitless energy. And just, like, I don't want to hold myself back in fear anymore. Yeah. Mm-hmm. of like, oh, maybe I can do this. Yeah, something you've been wanting to for a long time and looking at from far away. And like admiring from, yeah, in the distance and like admiring other artists who could. Yeah. You know, and then just being like, oh, but I can't. I'm like, no, no more of that. No more, like there's a reason I'm drawn to this. You know, like it seems fun. It seems interesting and cool to me. There's a spider on my wall and I just keep looking. looking at it like oh okay sorry speaking of fear oh my gosh really being so brave test here thank you it's luckily a little one yeah if it was a big one we might have to pause take it take care of it oh my gosh that's so funny uh yeah so anyways showing up showing up with that like limitless energy of you know I and it just it takes just Yeah, right. I think is beautiful and what I get excited about seeing and what I want, you know, in my home and, and then, you know, talking about the things that are important to me and, you know, just showing up in all of these different ways. And then what's really interesting that happened is through this process, I had this experience, which again is very personal. I'm not going to share exactly what happened,
SPEAKER_00:but
SPEAKER_01:the idea of it. is you know working on this process I had a a memory and like realization come to me of like a past trauma that I had completely suppressed yeah and didn't even like realize and so I've been able to start working through that and it's something that I didn't consciously realize and yet it's been holding me back in really significant ways for years and years and like it It's been so powerful to be able to actually start. releasing that and healing from it and working through it. And it's going to be a process. It's going to take some time, but just having that start because I gave myself the permission of, you know what? I'm strong and I'm capable and I can handle the scary things and I can grow and I'm ready to, you know, it's just, ah, I love that. That is powerful. Right. And who would have thought just from sitting down and painting every week that it can have that Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that is, that's amazing. And, um, I have not wanted to do it, you know, I'll sit down and it's like, Ooh, but, um, but yesterday, like the last couple of weeks, it's been, it's been warming up, right. As we've been using our voices in this way in the podcast and we've been talking more and I don't know, just like through the process. Um, then yesterday I was able to finally sit down and I wrote like five pages. What? Yeah. It felt like that release. And so it's, yeah, like you said, it's a process, right? It's a process. It's not all at once and we're not going to get it just because we have the idea or the goal to be here where, you know, it's going to take practice and it's going to take time, which is absolutely fine. You know, that's absolutely the way that it's supposed to be. Yeah. Because if we just like had the thought, Hmm, I want to be this way. And then we were that way. Right. Right. It would just, that's not realistic. no it's not I mean we had the idea for this back in November right right and it's May now and we're like okay you know kick off the year the new year running like we're gonna start January 1st this is gonna be a thing and then it came to January 1st and we were not ready yeah like it took some prep work to just be like getting to the place of showing up yeah to be able to do this internally yeah internal prep work yeah so we didn't end up starting in Mm-hmm. Yeah. get to a place that we really got started yeah right um yeah and how sad would it have been if it's like well i didn't start on this like self-imposed deadline and i didn't get going and like you know it's so easy at least past me it would have been like oh i'm a failure yeah like oh it's not like i just i can't stick to my goals i can't you know i would remember it us being like oh no we didn't do it you know and we're like taking so long but really I mean three three months from conception to starting that's not that's not it's really you know like when you look back it's like oh actually it's not that big of a deal right yeah yeah I mean I feel like so often yeah in the moment we're like oh no you know we missed the week oh no we missed and now you know we're three months into it we haven't shared anything on social media right you know but it's it really is that matter of okay we're taking it one thing at a time right like okay we start started actually creating the like we we took those like prep months of what what really do we want this to be and can we be showing up you know to create the art and can we journal and like yeah it took some time to figure out for us yeah and to get a little more clarity on what this thing was to be yeah what do we want to do to do with it yeah because we knew we wanted to do an art um like challenge basically and we kind of had that goal of We didn't really have the conscious thought and clarity of wanting to build safety in the art practice. It was one of those things that it was inside of us, and that was where our intuition was leading us. That was the core of it. But it wasn't conscious yet. Yeah, it took some time to– Yeah, it took some time to get there. And then when we got there, it was more settled of like, oh, this is what we're doing. This is what we're wanting. Exactly. But again, clarity and confidence only came by doing, by taking steps. And we're going towards it, right? Yeah. Yeah. Because I mean, we say we officially started the last week of February, but through January, we weren't necessarily showing up consistently week to week. But we were starting that process of showing up, getting together. Yeah. Do the things that we said we were going to do. Yeah. It's like I had built up a little bit of the, you know, just like a little bit of that resilience, a little bit of that courage. And it was like, okay, I'm going to actually like, you know, break out the nice paper. Yeah. This week. But it wasn't, it would be unfair to say that we just started from scratch that week. Yeah. Because I don't think that's, well, I guess that's not how I operate. Yeah, no. Right. That's essential. You can't skip that part. every week we did show up for ourselves in some way towards this goal. And now looking back at it all, it's like, wow, look at what we did. Look at what we did. And, and just how I feel about myself. Yeah. Complete change in the past three months. That's really the most like important part of this. It's not about what we did. Right. It's about how we have changed as people.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:As individuals and how we've grown because we're, we're going to That's what it is. Yeah. Yeah. So interesting. And I, I, the thing that I didn't do very much of was the journaling. Yeah. I did some of it. Well, good. I'm glad that makes me feel validated. Yeah. Like I, I didn't show up like a hundred percent. I didn't create art every week and journal every week. And we did show up for the recording every week. We did. Well, actually not even that because we had some weeks where we didn't, and then we like made up, you know, some, some episodes. We made her work with the crazy schedules. But even then, you know, it was like, it wasn't every Friday, you know, at this, like sometimes life just doesn't always work on schedule and that's okay. And that's, that's what the whole thing about this is, is how do we, how do we still show up amidst craziness and life and imperfection and, and still move forward. Right. In the direction that we want to go. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's flexibility. Right. Resiliency and just. Yeah. And gumption, that was the word that came to mind. Gumption, yeah. Well, it's interesting. Continuing, you know, keep going. Yeah, I didn't journal every week, but I did have that introspection every week. Partially because I felt a little forced to because we were going to get together and talk about it. Yeah, yeah, same. I was like, oh, I have to have something interesting to say to Brianna when she comes over. I got to think about what's happening. But that's been helpful. It has, yeah. No, I didn't actually put pen to paper. There were some times where it was a little overwhelming. It was like, oh. no but it actually ended up being really helpful and really good yeah just really really positive yeah okay so second quarter the next three months is there anything you're hoping to do differently or I don't really want to say better but like show up more of in certain ways yeah saying that like what are you what are you hoping for what do you I mean we are going into summer for us yeah we're going into summer so I think the main hope for me is to just keep keep going you know like stay on the course that I have been on yeah and keep showing up um and just looking for the spider sorry I had to check it was it was over me and like I asked you a question and then I'm like wait where is it it's fine we're okay uh yeah no it's okay so keep keep showing up that's that's my main goal Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Same here. Same here. And I'm hoping to get my daughter involved. Yeah. I was just going to say that. I was like– and, you know, it would be really, really good to kind of, you know, involve my people, right? Like the people that I'm with. So if you don't have kids, you know, that's okay. Like– maybe if it feels safe and if you want to incorporating the, the people that you are around and that you love and into what you, into what you're doing and what lights you up, that's, I think that there's power in that, especially if they're, when they're a safe person. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So, but yeah, incorporating, figuring out how to incorporate it with, with parenting time and, you know, like parent being, you know, Right. Yeah. our full self. Yeah, and shifting away from that checklist mentality and just... to the present yeah yeah I love that I guess one of my goals on top of that which I love is I do want to try to journal a little bit more yeah because I did notice a difference when I when I actually you know sat down and worked on that yeah I've been thinking a lot about the artist way by Julia Beck I believe is her name I forget her name but I know what you're talking about it's Julia Julia something I always want to say Julia Child and I'm like she's not that's wrong Julia but yeah Julia Beck anyways I've been thinking a lot about that because I read that like seven years ago
SPEAKER_00:at the beginning
SPEAKER_01:of my journey and I'm wanting to revisit it again now in this mindset yeah and she talks about doing morning pages which is journaling first thing in the morning and just like getting it out the timing doesn't always that doesn't work for me and so But I still want to kind of incorporate that idea and journal and just like brain dump, get it out, right? I think I'm feeling more ready to release some of that. Yay, I'm so happy for you. That's exciting. Thank you. I mean, I know that's a big deal. It is. Yeah, it's been hard. I'm so glad. I'm so glad that this has actually been helpful for both of us. Me too. It would have been kind of disappointing if it was like, Never mind. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. No, this has actually made profound differences and impact. More than we even thought it would or realized that it could. So cool. So cool. We're excited to keep going and we're excited that you're joining us and here along the journey. We love having you here. We love having more community. I mean, we haven't even shared anything yet. So we're just hoping that there's gonna be somebody listening and there's some community here yeah maybe it's our three month marker three months to prep to start it three months to do it and then three months to share I don't know I guess we'll start sharing soon that's the big goal though is to actually start sharing consistently yeah yeah so stay tuned we're gonna start sharing
SPEAKER_03:yeah
SPEAKER_01:you're listening to this we've done it we we did it yay so if you haven't already make sure you subscribe so you can keep hearing our conversations and follow along our journey and we want to celebrate you too that's right and and we'll see you next time that's it for today friend thanks for spending this time with us we hope you're leaving with a little more light a little more peace and maybe even a nudge to go be creative just because it brings a little more joy to your life if anything in this episode spoke to your heart sparked a thought or made you smile. We'd love it. If you'd follow the show, leave a quick five-star review or share it with someone who might need a little creative encouragement too. And remember your creativity matters. Your voice matters. You matter. We're cheering you on always until next time. Keep making, keep softening and keep showing up as your whole beautiful self.