Curing imposter syndrome with play!

To begin 2026 I’ve embarked on a short art course run by artist Helen Jones, to get my brain back into a creative zone of some kind. Art for Wellbeing - in the past it’s not something I would’ve been interested in based on the name alone- but an artist friend who attended the course told me she had had a really positive and creative experience so I decided to take the plunge. I’ve been complaining for way too long now about having no inspiration, no time, no ideas and no talent… it’s time to get out of this rut and into some kind of creative practice! I don’t know how it’s going to evolve for me personally but I do hope to end the course with some new ideas on how to regularly make artwork, and begin to have an ‘arts practice’.

I want to get out of my head and open up to discovering new ways of making marks and making images!

Week 1

Playing with pastels.

It was so lovely to cycle to the RWA on a cold Monday night and carve out this time to be arty. It really did feel like I could finally make space in my life to make art again! To be in a room with a bunch of lovely people who just want to make some stuff, to be creative and all have their individual reasons for wanting to be here, felt great - warm and nourishing.

But oh man I was so inside my head this week! Big negative judgements of every mark I made, big worrying about not doing ‘good’ work or living up to some kind of invisible expectation.

I didn’t take photos - but it was a lovely, playful and wholesome intro to the course - and a learning moment for me. I made a promise to myself to arrive next week with a different mindset - to free myself of judgement and literally play.