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 17: Artist Check In | Creating in the Chaos
This week was full of camp schedules, big feelings, and the whirlwind of launching our podcast into the world. Yet in the middle of all the noise, we found small moments to release control through paint, scribbles, and soft marks on a page. Join us for a conversation about how creativity can become a place of grounding and release – even in life’s wildest weeks.
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.
SPEAKER_01: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 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.
SPEAKER_00:Week 17. Hopefully the craziest week of this entire year. Because if we have another one like that, I think we'll die. We might. We might not survive it. We might not. It was wild.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, glad that this week is uh coming to a close. Honestly. Yeah. It's been a week. But we got through it and we we created and did stuff for ourselves too. Do you want to?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, let's let's talk about that. I mean, we our kids were in summer camp, which meant a lot of driving around. Yeah, back and forth, picking up and forth. That was crazy. We launched been launching the podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So and like putting it out there. It's kind of weird to talk about it because it's gonna be like several months before this is this episode is aired. But this was the week that we that we officially launched the podcast and aired it to the world.
SPEAKER_00:Took the time to put stuff on social media and it was which was a lot. It was a lot.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it really was. It was a lot of new and a lot of unexpected and a lot of learning and a lot of craziness.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and on top of that, my brother is moving far, far away. How dare he? It's so rude. And taking my little niece and nephew away from me. How dare he? So big big kids. Lots of feelings. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And yeah, and kids' feelings with oh my gosh. All their stuff and yeah. New camp.
SPEAKER_00:And yeah, because they all they all love each other and it's yeah, big kids, big kid emotions. Lots of emotions. Um yeah. So so yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Creating momming.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Uh figuring out life and then grieving. Grieving. Yeah. So did you create for yourself this week? Because I know that is a lot.
SPEAKER_00:Worth it. Was it worth it? Was that time worth it amidst all the crazy and all the chaos? I'm gonna say yes. Yes, it was.
SPEAKER_01:I am also gonna say yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. You know, I feel like a while ago, we may not have said yes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know that we would have even bothered taking the time to know. If it weren't for this experiment, we may not have. We would have just pushed it to the side for sure.
SPEAKER_01:I I definitely would have just pushed it off and been like, I don't have time for that.
SPEAKER_00:I'm not gonna I don't have the mental space for that. Capacity. Yeah. But we did it, and what happened?
SPEAKER_01:So part of I did two two creative acts, I guess, of of drawing this week. Um, one of them was simply scribbling in a notebook. I love that. Yeah. It was just I I had the feels, I needed to like get it out. And so it was just like, I just need to make marks on the page, like just like literally hash marks, you know, or or scribbles and just move my hand, move it across the page and and get it out. And it was really interesting because the beginning, the the beginning page, I did three pages of this, and the beginning page were really tiny little marks, like really controlled, tight, tiny. Oh and then the second page was was bigger and looser, and then I did uh like a big scribble, and then this is this is something that I've done actually um in the past, which has been really like therapeutic. It's like I'll just do a big really big scribble and then I'll follow the line of the scribble and draw little um draw little leaves through the whole line. And um, and that was really fun. And then um the second page was I got out like a brush pen instead of just like my pencil, and I started making like leaves and more fluid and um more open. And it just it was like this creative practice of release, you know, it released all of the things, letting go of that anxiety, letting go of the control, yeah. And just going into yeah, and it ended up being all nature-y and you know, and it was good. So that helped help a lot.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like I was kind of in the same boat. Um I mean, I was I was painting, I was doing my watercolors as I've been just like repetitive every week. I watercolored. Um but I I tend to get really focused on little itty bitty details. Yeah, right. And that like tightness and control. And if you could see me right now, you can see that I'm like scrunching up and like like a journal. Like, yeah, like make it really like tight and controlled, kind of like the first marks you made.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:The little tight controlled marks. And I I tend to do the same thing, and it was really interesting because with this painting, I started this painting, it took me three weeks to finish. This was this was the third week, and I and I finally finished it. Um, but one of my goals for this painting was to let go of all the tiny little nitty-gritty details to choose the focal points in the piece and let other areas breathe and be soft. I love that. Yeah, and so it kind of goes with that let it be organic, let it flow, let there be room, let there be space, let go of the control and the tightness.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, and the anxiety, and just let it uh yeah, let it go, let it breathe.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I definitely felt that while painting this week.
SPEAKER_01:That's amazing. I love that. I love that. Yeah, I it was a really good, it was a really good practice. Um, and I I love that we can use our our painting, our creativity to help release in like real world um emotions, you know, and situations and like help you move through move through real life. Um it's not just frivolous, right? It's not just uh it's not just well, I was gonna say it's not just like playing, but it is play, which is but it helps good. It plays good. Yeah, it's it's not pointless, right? It does have a positive effect. It has such a positive effect, and it was cool to see that in real time this week, you know, in such a big release of uh feelings, I guess.
SPEAKER_00:For sure. Yeah, because I I did feel that in my painting, that like the moment to just breathe and be and be soft and fluid. And and then I noticed, you know, after painting, I was able to show up that way for my daughter more in her big feelings and what she was going through, because I did have some of that intention in my work. And and even though it was it was in a painting, it affected my emotional state and my release and like what I needed to process and work through, and they kind of work together because I was intentional about it. And and I wasn't thinking while I was painting this, like, oh, I need to let control go of this podcast launch. Right. I need to I need to let go of control of the fact that my brother is leaving and I can't kidnap them and make them stay. You know, like I know. Um, you know, like those things weren't in my mind. Like I can't control my daughter's feelings and what she's going through. Uh and I wasn't thinking about those while I was painting. Um, but the two still affected each other and helped me as a whole person.
SPEAKER_01:I love that. Yeah. It's it's amazing how you're kind of like your subconscious just if you let it, if you let your, you know, if you let your intuition lead, often you end up doing exactly what you need in the moment, you know, because you you it's it's in there, you know. You know, and it helps it helps you in in those moments. I love that, yeah. I love that. I also started a pastel uh landscape later, later on, like the the next day. Um actually it might have even been the same day, like after that later, but and just it felt good to move, you know, kind of scribble too. Like I that's one of the reasons that I like pastel is it feels it's so tactile and it feels so free. Um and then you can just really get into your into your body and and and into those uh yeah, outside of the anxiety head space.
SPEAKER_00:And so um work out of the thoughts and back into your body in the present moment.
SPEAKER_01:And yeah, that was also that was yeah, a helpful thing as well.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. And and you probably wouldn't have been able to do that because like the pastels is very it's very loose and it's not like tight and detail you know oriented, it's it's expressionist, it's um yeah, so that process of letting yourself make the little marks first and working through that is awesome. And and you know, it I I feel like sometimes with setting goals or like art challenges, we force ourselves to do things that maybe we aren't necessarily ready for. Like I see that sometimes with um with people online, like, well, I just I had to get something done, I had to like throw this together. And sometimes sometimes that's good, you know, to like be like, yes, I'm gonna show up and yes, I'm gonna do this for myself, and like all of that is really great. But then sometimes we miss the steps of I just I just needed to make marks on the page, right? I didn't need to finish something today. That wasn't the point.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I love that. It's coming back to the why. Why am I doing this? Am I doing this to be seen by others? Or am I doing this for my for myself, for my well-being, for my you know, expression, for my joy, for the joy of it, you know? And that's really what our whole practice is with this experiment, is trying to come back to that. You know, it's hard. We just any human doesn't get it perfectly all the time. Like we're not gonna be in that headspace all the time. And so it's an intentional practice of coming back, like noticing when we get in out of that and coming back and noticing um what we need in the moment, you know, yeah, and practicing meeting those needs in in a way that fuels our our creativity that fuels our you know, our our inner selves, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, and us as a whole being. Exactly. Exactly. Not just the little parts. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but it was a good reminder this week to uh be able to let that go and and use our creativity to help in that and to help process and yeah, and there's room for us and space for us to show up for ourselves that way, even amidst life being complete chaos.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:And it doesn't have to be uh picture perfect, no, and we don't always have to just complete a painting, you know, to be valid or to have it be worthwhile.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's our creativity is worthy and we are worthy. Always, always.
SPEAKER_01: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.