CRAVE IN THE VINEYARDS: Nurturing Creative Wellness

A Fusion of Art, Mindfulness, and Connection

In a fast-paced world filled with constant demands and stressors, the importance of prioritizing mental and emotional well-being cannot be overstated. Crave Workshops stands at the forefront of a transformative approach to self-care, blending the therapeutic benefits of art with the convenience of in-person and virtual classes. These workshops not only unlock the doors to creativity but also cultivate a holistic sense of wellness.

Crave Workshops is more than just an art class; it's a sanctuary for self-discovery, mindfulness, and personal growth. The workshops offer a unique blend of artistic expression, guided meditation, and community building. Whether conducted in person or virtually, the emphasis is on creating an inclusive space where participants can explore their creativity without judgment.

I art-directed a stunning photoshoot for Crave Workshops, set against the picturesque backdrop of Napa Valley's vineyards, with the goal of capturing the profound connection between art, wellness, and nature. My vision was to showcase how the beauty of the natural world can enhance the creative process, offering a sense of peace and inspiration that is central to Crave’s philosophy. To bring this concept to life, I meticulously organized a talented team, including a photographer and stylist, who shared my passion for blending art with the serene landscapes of Napa.

The shoot was designed to highlight the benefits of engaging with art in nature, demonstrating how outdoor creative practices can promote wellness and mindfulness. By positioning our art sessions amidst the breathtaking vineyards, I aimed to convey how the natural surroundings amplify the therapeutic effects of art, helping participants connect more deeply with their inner selves. This art alfresco approach not only emphasizes the beauty of the creative process but also underscores the importance of immersing oneself in nature as a means of fostering well-being.

Through thoughtful direction and a keen eye for detail, I successfully captured the harmonious relationship between art and nature, illustrating how the tranquil beauty of Napa Valley serves as the perfect setting for creative wellness. The resulting images reflect the serenity and inspiration that come from working within such a picturesque environment, reinforcing the idea that art, when intertwined with nature, can be a powerful tool for personal growth and rejuvenation.

Photos by Amy Thompson Brand Photography

Creative Self Care for Minted

Camp Minted 2024
Workshop Leader

I'm excited to share that I'll be teaching a session for all of Camp Minted this year! Last year, I led a watercolor meditations session for over 85 participants, and it was incredibly well-received. The feedback was so positive that I’ve been invited to teach a session for all Camp Minted attendees and Minted team members this time around. It's a huge honor to be invited to teach a session for a third time at Camp Minted! I started in 2019 with a block printing workshop, and my involvement has only grown since then.

Camp Minted is a conference where Minted artists from around the world come together to connect, learn from one another, and meet the Minted team. I absolutely love attending—it's always so inspiring to be surrounded by other artists. I can't wait to teach another session this year!

A CREATIVE PRACTICE

When I teach art, I approach it as a mindful practice, much like a yoga class. It's about finding flow, connecting with others, and feeling truly present in the moment. Art, when practiced this way, becomes a powerful tool for wellness and self-care. It helps to center the mind, reduce stress, and promote a deep sense of peace and well-being. Through this mindful approach, art becomes not just a creative outlet but a practice in self-awareness and connection.

This year at Camp Minted 2024, we will loosen up as we play with air and ink to create fun, exciting, and colorful abstract paintings. In this special experience, we will let go of perfectionism and go with the flow, allowing the inks to guide us. Alcohol inks are an excellent medium for all skill levels due to their forgiving nature and dynamic effects. Their vibrant, prismatic colors create an ever-changing landscape that dances across the surface. We foster a safe zone where everyone can be unapologetically themselves—unique and beautiful.

Gratitude Rocks

See our latest art practice where we teach how to paint colorful patterns and create “gratitude rocks.” The process allows us to focus, slow down and ease anxiety. I share different painting techniques and designs. Painting lines and shapes and playing with color is a mindful meditation.

I am definitely a person who is “on the go” and moving forward busy with lots of ideas. This practice is helping me not to move forward as much but sit in the present and appreciate this moment. To think about where I am. ⁣My hope for the gratitude rocks was also this. I am trying to help us slow down, pause, paint a simple pattern and take the time to enjoy the stillness and the time for self reflection. What do you guys think? What helps you slow down and practice this?

Flower Mandala

This art lesson makes a beautiful flower mandala. It’s a meditative practice where we arrange a piece of art with petals, take a photo, and then let it be. We practice embracing the beauty of impermanence, letting go and being in the present moment.

Spending time in nature can bring a sense of peace and relaxation. Nature can help calm and slow down your mind. Gathering flowers and looking for beauty will provide our active meditation. 
Go for a walk. Look at the exuberant color that is bursting this spring. Gather flowers that speak to your soul. Small moments of beauty. They can be delicate. This can involve pebbles, flowers, leaves. Don’t take too many but think about creating an arrangement with what is readily available.In making your mandala, start in the center. Start laying out the flowers around it in a circle.

What I love about this practice is its ephemeral nature. This is something that I need to embrace more. Appreciating the value in something in the short time it exists and being ok with its impermanence. I’m learning to value beauty when I see it, and try to minimize expectations for the future or regrets about the past. Even now, during quarantine, I’m thinking of the past and the future rather than sitting here in the present. I need to absorb it and appreciate it better. Somehow these practices, slowing down and having patience to arrange a mandala flower by flower, petal by petal, are helping me with the present. ⁣

STEPS⁣

• Take a moment + write down in a notebook several words that describe your current state of mind.⁣ Notice the pace of your thinking, moving, walking. ⁣

• Then go for a walk for an hour. Put away your cell phone for that one hour, so you won’t be distracted by anything other than where you are. ⁣

• Look around you.⁣
  What colors do you see?⁣
  What shapes intrigue you?⁣

• Pick up little treasures along the way that attract you: a twig, a flower, a leaf, a piece of bark, stones.⁣ After an hour, notice how you feel.⁣

• When you’ve gathered up enough materials, find an area you’ll feel completely comfortable and at ease to make your mandala.⁣

• Start from the center and build outwards. The mandala can be a circle, square, diamond, whatever suits you!⁣ Keep building or changing the design up until you're completely happy with your beautiful creation.⁣

• When the time comes to part ways with your mandala, you can leave it for strangers to enjoy, return all of the little treasure back to where they came from or make a flower offering. The choice is yours!

Sun Prints

In continuing our Art with Nature series, this exercise has us making art in our backyard. We are teaching a special photographic process called Cyanotypes, or making sun prints. The process is a magical method where the sun exposes the shapes of the pants. It creates a permanent pattern based on a temporary moment.

Nature heals. Breathing in the air, holding nature in our palms provides a connection to the natural world. We pause. We are calmed. We focus on the moment at hand.

Have fun with arranging these plants on your sun paper. Think about their shapes and the composition of the page. What is a pleasing way of creating this garden bouquet?

Sunprints are our favorite things to make. Printing with the sun and plants is a meditative process that allows us to surrender to the moment. We embrace the unknown and await the discovery of what will be revealed.

STEPS⁣⁣

• Gather supplies. Purchase sunprint paper.⁣⁣

• Gather plants.⁣⁣

• Practice arranging plants before taking sunprint paper out.⁣⁣

• In dark room, put plants and paper under glass. Clip together.⁣⁣

• Bring outside into sunlight. Mid day works best.⁣⁣

• Leave in the sun (expose) for 1-2 minutes.

• The blue will turn brown.⁣⁣

• Unclip and quickly put into tub of water.⁣⁣

• Watch your image get exposed.⁣⁣

• Wash off solution and take out of water to dry.⁣⁣

• Add a splash of hydrogen peroxide to darken the color.⁣⁣

Shadow Drawings

Let’s connect and make art together. We start with drawing shadows from nature. This video teaches how to begin a meditative art practice while drawing shadows from the sun. We believe art is a practice to inspire self-awareness, ease anxiety, and promote personal growth. During a time where many circumstances outside of our control fuel anxiety, we turn to art as a tool for healing and bringing calm into the world.

Where do we even start? Creativity can be a challenge, as the hardest step is usually the first step. So, we decided to make it simple. You can start with a piece of paper, some flower or plant and a pencil. Go outside. Soak in the light and the sunshine. If there is no sunshine, grab a light and look at the wonderful world unfolding under your gaze. Shadows are the most magical things. They transform reality into a two dimensional form. Simple and beautiful. And so, this week’s practice uses the sun to trace shadows and draw nature. 

Our video shows how to draw with nature using shadows and plants. Drawing contours is a simple but very effective meditation. Let your pencil guide you as you trace around the shapes. Drawing eases anxiety and calms your mind through the meditative process. Let your hands lead and your mind follow. Make and don’t overthink!

Creating a Vision Board

Art is a practice to inspire self-awareness, ease anxiety, and promote personal growth. During a time where many circumstances outside of our control fuel anxiety, we turn to art as a tool for healing and bringing calm into the world. We are excited to offer this new how-to" series that will hopefully inspire you in this time of uncertainty. 

The best way to begin this series is with a vision board. Vision boards are incredibly useful and inspiring as visualization is one of the most powerful activities. If you're ready to follow your dreams, continue reading on below for Agnes's tutorial on how to envision and create a vision board with stuff you find in your home and why it's important.

CREATING YOUR VISION BOARD

We are living in a very stressful time—many circumstances outside of our control fuel anxiety and worry. As a way of mitigating our stress and our fears, you can choose to focus inward. You can control what you think. You can choose to focus on the positive you see. You can look at what brings you calm and what brings you joy. It's important to take the time to focus on where you are now and where you want to be when you have the chance to move forward.

Creating a discovery board, or a few will allow you to focus inward, reflect on words that help calm our minds, and provide inspiration and happiness. Think of this process as a scavenger hunt, a journey of discovery.

FINDING YOUR INSPIRATION

The first step involves flipping through magazines you already have at home and cutting out words that resonate with you. It's important to begin looking for words and phrases that inspire you. Using magazines you already have at home allows you to be resourceful, repurposing the pages to create new art. Looking at something you have already seen with fresh eyes is an important aspect of the process to go through as it allows you to appreciate what you have. Moreover, flipping through a physical magazine, and tearing things out also helps calm the mind through using our hands. 

For my vision board, I looked through travel magazines to cut out my inspiration, but you can look through any publication that you value. Maybe your quotes come from home decor magazines or fashion magazines. As long as it resonates with you, it's all that matters.

WHY VISION BOARDS? 

Part of the idea behind this project is that art should be something we don't "think too much about" but rather let our hands lead, and our minds follow. By connecting with things that resonate on a gut level, you uncover subconscious beliefs you might not be aware of before. 

During the process of making vision boards, take the time to reflect on words that you find essential or inspiring. Start adding those words together to form guided paths of your beliefs. Ask yourself the following:

What do you want to bring into my life? 
What do you value right now? 

This journey will help you identify what you gravitate towards, what you want more of in your life, and what ultimately brings you the most joy.

GETTING STARTED 

Before getting started on your vision board, ask yourself the following questions: 
Where are you?
What do you value? 
Where do you want to be right now?
Where do you want to go?
It’s important to participate in self-reflection. 

WHAT YOU WILL NEED 

For this project, you should be able to find everything you need in your house. 

• 8.5x11 Poster (this is a good starting size, you can go bigger)

• Magazines/ Publications of your choice ( limit to 2-3) 

• Scissors 

• Tape or Glue Stick

4 STEPS

STEP 1: Get your supplies. Limit it to 2-3 magazines that resonate with you. 

STEP 2: Cut out/tear the word and phrases that stand out to you. Think about what words jump out of you, what you find beautiful or interesting, and what speaks ultimately speaks to you. It's important during this process to not overthink it or look on the computer for ideas. 

STEP 3: Organize. Take all of the words, phrases, and images you cut and organize in piles based on ideas, colors, and type. 

STEP 4: Paste. Glue cutouts on to the posters. Create as many vision boards as you chose

IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER 

Remember, there is no right way to create a vision board. Make the vision board yours and tear the paper, cut it into circles, whatever you like. The journey is just as important as the end result. It's a meditative process, don’t rush and take your time. Another way to think about it as a manifest collage, cut out the words you want to see more of. Visualize and envision that for your future. At the end, what you find may in fact surprise you.