Hello lovely people! Gracie here from Willowing – hello! :) I’m super excited and proud to present our Artist Spotlight of the month (it’s a new type of feature we are running on the blog!) We are featuring the one and only Carla Sonheim with a bit of an interview and she’s also giving away Read More
I painted this cute kitten in a woolly jumper! So sweet! 😍😍😍 #artclass #whimsicalart #cuteart #mixedmediaart https://bit.ly/CreatingCuties
✨ Somewhere in a magical little sketchbook world…
A baby octopus is surrounded by smiling fish 🐙
A sloth is sipping tea in a patch of sunlight ☕🦥
And a Highland cow is rocking gold hoop earrings while butterflies dance overhead 🐮🦋
This isn’t a dream — it’s my new art course Creating Cuties! 💫
🎨 What you’ll get:
🖌️ Step-by-step lessons to paint 7 adorable characters
🎨 Mixed media magic with watercolour, ink, pens & crayons
💖 Traceables, PDFs & full downloads
🎁 EARLY BIRD £22 / $30 OFF
📥 Yours for life — join anytime!
Paint the sweet, magical world you want to live in.
👉 https://bit.ly/CreatingCuties or link in my bio
🌸 Day 3 of A Gentle Return 🌸
A quiet coming back to sharing my heart, my stories, and my art from years gone by. (Full story behind this series: http://bit.ly/3IHFxir)
💕 Today I’ve been thinking about intimacy and connection, how all my art, writing, and singing has been a reaching. An attempt to get my soul a little closer to yours.
Intimacy makes me feel like I exist, like I’m truly seen. There’s an aliveness to it I can’t quite explain, like being touched in the deepest waters of the soul.
I used to be a huge Tori Amos fan, her music felt like her soul brushing against mine. In those moments, I felt most alive. It’s a feeling I still chase, both as a listener and a creator.
If I have a deepest fear, it’s not being forgotten, it’s never having been truly seen.
Today I’m sharing one of my earlier “paint over collage” pieces. This one was published in Somerset Studio Magazine in 2012 as part of a small series. I think it was made around 2010, when Andy and I were hoping for a sibling for Dylan. I was convinced our second child would be a girl, her name would be Sophie.
The text in the painting reads:
🩷 “A princess waiting for a princess”
🩷 “There are 3 hearts here, waiting for you”
🩷 “Currently still with the stars”
I am (in the end) grateful I didn’t have girl children. Not from some internalised misogyny, but because the universe knew what I could carry. Watching a daughter struggle with what I went through (body image issues, self-worth, depression) might’ve broken me.
Still, I sometimes wonder who Sophie would’ve been. 😊 It’s a gentle, bittersweet wondering. I adore my boys to the moon and back… and I carry a quiet tenderness for the girl who never came. ✨
Thank you for being here, for reading, feeling, and sharing your hearts with me. It means the world. ❤️🙏
🌸 Day 2 of A Gentle Return 🌸
A quiet coming back to sharing my heart, my stories, and my art from years gone by. (For the full story behind this practice, you can read here: http://bit.ly/3IHFxir)
🎨 "Tea Party with Friends" by Tamara Laporte
Whimsical, naïve, or folk art has been a thread woven through much of my creative life (and still is!). On the surface, this painting might look like a sweet scene; perhaps even something from a children’s book: wide-eyed beings, cupcakes, and a cheerful tea party. But underneath it all, this kind of art became a powerful way for me to rewrite and reimagine a childhood that wasn’t cheerful at all.
I was severely bullied in school in my early years, and that left wounds and scars I’m still dealing with today. Many of my whimsical paintings are quiet acts of healing; soft, colourful worlds where children are safe, connected, and cared for. They became visual lullabies, places I could enter to mend what was broken.
💕 About this painting:
I love the playful colours in this one. Particularly the tealy/ green background. Usually, too many colours can feel chaotic, but here, I think they harmonise pretty well, except maybe for the blue-haired girl on the left! If I could go back, I’d probably give her hair a warmer tone. Still, this scene captures exactly what I want childhood to be: joyful, full of friendship, polka dots, and slightly wonky teapots. I also love the messy way I painted the table cloth for some reason, ha!
What do you think of this painting? And how do the subjects you paint help you on a more deeper level?
Thank you for being here while I return to this gentle practice. 🫖💕
Hey my frens, I’m starting something new today... A gentle return to social media, to sharing my heart, my stories, and my art. Below is Day 1 of a daily practice where I share an old piece of art and reflect on what it meant to me; then and now.
👇 Scroll down to read the full story (if your heart says yes) 🌀✨
Day 1. “The Universe Pays Attention” by Tamara Laporte
I painted this in 2011, the year my second child, Elliot, was born. Back then, the internet felt smaller and somehow softer; we had a close-knit creative community (I think we still do, by the way; hi, I’ve loved you guys for so long 💗). I was deeply into grungy mixed media and especially inspired by the ethereal works of Misty Mawn. She often used muted tones, which I found hard (hello, colour addict!), and this painting was my attempt at sticking to that palette. I think I pulled it off.
The quote, “Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form,” is by Rumi, who I’ve adored for years. I both love and dislike this quote. It’s soothing to imagine that a lost loved one might return in some way… but it also hurts. I don’t want them to come back in another form; I want them here, alive. Sometimes when people offer platitudes around death, I feel rage. Like: don’t tell me they’re the sky now; I want their actual face, their voice, their messy beautiful presence.
That said, Rumi’s words felt like a balm; just enough softness to sit with.
Even though my girls/paintings/faces have changed over the years, I still see my style in this one and I love her still. I like the head tilt. I feel a little sad about her expression. But I like the overall feeling, what she’s trying to say.
Does the painting stir anything in you? Does the sharing?
I’d love to hear.
Thanks for reading. ♥️
