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April 30, 2018

Ever After 2018 – Blog Hop, Give Away & Introducing the Teacher Team – Yippee!

By Tamara Laporte  |   in art workshops  | Tags: ever after 2018 , artist development , illustration , magic , magical art , myths , style development , fairy tales , mixed media , painting  

Hello magical creative friend!

Abracadabra ziggidy zoo, ala kazam, bippity boppity BOO; iiiiiit’s BLOG HOP & Give Away Tiiiiime! :) Weeeee! :)

Soooo, not long to go until Ever After 2018, my newest collaborative fairy-tale course will go on sale (15th May)! But before it does, we like to basically throw a mahoosive give-away arty blog hop party! :D It involves dancing singing, eating lots of muffins and singing Disney songs together (♫♪ under the sea … under the sea ♫♪ a dream is a wish … your heart makes ♪♫)! ;)

If you’re new to me and the blog, let me tell you a little about Ever After:

Ever After is my newest collaborative course! We ran it for the first time in 2016 and then in 2017 too and it’s been a great success! It is a rather magical course because it has a ‘Fairytale Theme’ AND we focus on style development in depth! I’ve been running art courses for so many years now and really love offering an in depth course where students can focus on developing their own style!! (The question: “how do you develop your own style” is the top nr 1 most frequently asked question in my inbox!). Ever After runs over 4 months, starting July 1st.

 

If you’re not ready for style development yet then you can just buy the ‘Ever After Fairytale Bundle’ offer on its own (without the style development element) which simply is an awesome mixed media art class with a fairytale theme taught by some of your most favourite artists and fabulous teachers in our beautiful mixed media community! Each teacher has chosen a fairytale and will let their fairytale (or myth/ magical story) inspire their lesson. I’m excited to let you know who will be involved today! We will let the fairy tales inspire our paintings and our story telling. The messages and symbolism of these tales and myths can help us develop our own voice, to be truer to ourselves and creative story telling abilities, I’m so excited to share the beautiful lessons with you! :)

Additionally we’ll look at how we can start telling new and different stories based on the original fairy tales (eg: how about Snow White saves the prince instead?) Or how about Alice on a motorcycle? How about twisting and changing the fairy tales so that your wish comes true? The options are endless and super super fun!! :)

The style development segment is full of information, hints and tips, special assignments, a big juicy workbook, informative videos, demonstrations on how to derive inspiration and then take ideas to develop your style, self discovery (style development is all about getting to know yourself and telling the story of YOU, you know) and so much more. I’m super excited about this course – the students LOVED it! :)

I hope you’ll join this course. It’s suitable for beginners and the more experienced! I’ve been running many courses since late 2008 and have made MANY students happy over the years! :) Read all the love, positive feedback and testimonials on THIS PAGE.


So who will be teaching on Ever After 2018?

An amazing group of artists and teachers! Check ‘m out! ->

+ Visionary Artist and Teacher Flora Bowley, will be contributing to the Style Development Segment only.

I’m very excited about this fabulous group of people who all have varied yet related styles which lend themselves well to the fairy tale themes of the lesson and also the style development segment of the course. :) Are you getting as excited as meeeeee?! :)

Want to read more about these gorgeous artists and see some examples of their beautiful works?

 Read all about them in this document:Teacher Profiles Ever After 2018

 

Give Away Information!

To celebrate the almost-launch-of-EA2018-going-on-sale we run a super fun blog hop with all the teachers who can each give away 1 space on Ever After 2018! Want to win a space? Follow the blog hop along and make sure to follow the instructions on the teachers’ pages to get entered into the draws.

I’m kicking off the blog hop today with running my own give-away!!

I am giving away

3 spaces on Ever After 2018

To enter the give-away please do the following:

*Be sure to sign up to my newsletter*

* Share this blog post on your Facebook page/ Twitter or Instagram *

* Leave a comment below, letting us know what your favourite fairy tale (or magical story/ myth) is *

I’ll announce the winners on May 11th 2018!



To up your chances to win and to learn more about the amazing EA2018 teaching team, be sure to follow the BLOGALONG:

 

 

Date Teacher Blog URL
30th April Tamara Laporte willowing.org/blog <- you are here
1st May Ady Almanza adrianaalmanza.blogspot.de
2nd May Andrea Gomoll andrea-gomoll.de/blog
3rd May Renata Loree renataloree.com
4th May Cristin Stevenson pantheartist.com/blog
5th May Danielle Donaldson danielledonaldson.com/blog
6th May Effy Wild effywild.com
7th May Tiare Smith tiaresmith.com
8th May Kara Bullock karabullockart.com/blog
9th May Katrina Koltes katrinakoltes.com/blog
10th May Lindsay Weirich thefrugalcrafter.wordpress.com
11th May Lucy Chen lucychenfineart.com/blog
12th May Marielle Stolp mariellestolp.wordpress.com/blog
13th May Micki Wilde thesecrethermit.blogspot.co.uk
14th May Regina Lord blog.creativekismet.com

Thank you

for celebrating with us you guys, I SO SO hope we will see you on Ever After 2018! :)

Registration opens on May 15th, keep an eye out! :D

Make sure to sign up to the newsletter to the Ever After newsletter  below if you want to receive Ever After 2018 Alerts! :)




Join the Ever After Newletter!

* indicates required



 

 

 

You may also like:

  • Get 20% off! -> Ever After 2018 – Registration Now Open!

  • Winners Ever After Give Away and Registration now Open! :)

  • Artist Spotlight: Carla Sonheim & a Give-Away!

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Tamara Laporte

willowing

4,856 48,324

Mixed media artist, teacher and author. I don’t see all IG msgs. For enq pls email hello@willowing.org - Join Creating Cuties:

Mental health struggles and trauma made me a seeker. I’ve been drawn to the spiritual from a young age. I started dabbling in ideas like astral travel at 15 (attempted doing it but never managed it, by the way 😅), read books about out-of-body experiences (hello, Robert Monroe!), and devoured stories by hypnotherapists who regressed their clients to past lives. It was (and still IS) deeply fascinating to me. A part of me was always looking for deeper answers through the spiritual.

Though I never felt called to the major religions (aside from a soft spot for Buddhism and Zen), I became intrigued by the more modern spiritual teachers of our time. I follow(ed) Eckhart Tolle, Matt Kahn, Ram Dass, Gangaji, Teal Swan, Adyashanti… and perhaps most notably, Byron Katie. I also loved listening to Alan Watts wax poetic about the nature of existence and the universe. For a while I worshipped these people in many ways and felt they held the answers to all of life’s mysterious problems.

Many of these figures have since fallen from their pedestals a bit, but their ideas and approaches to life helped me enormously in times of distress.

Byron Katie, in particular, was a huge influence on me for a time. I even interviewed her for my YouTube channel (the video is now private). During that conversation, she gifted me a scholarship to her "9 Days for The Work" program. I was deeply honoured, jumped on a plane... only to discover that the experience didn’t resonate with me at all. In fact, I found parts of it quite harmful.

I haven’t spoken publicly about this much, but those memories have been resurfacing lately. It feels important to acknowledge how easy it is to place ‘beloved gurus’ on pedestals, forgetting that they, too, are human. Flawed. Sometimes even dangerous.

In my own journey, I’ve learned to take what works from a teacher or teaching, and leave the rest behind. This painting (2014), featuring a powerful and beautiful quote by Byron Katie, reflects the love I had (and still have) for parts of her work. I still find some of it deeply helpful. But now I hold it all through a more balanced, humanised lens.

What about you? Have your gurus ever `fallen`? ♥️♥️♥️

Open
Mental health struggles and trauma made me a seeker. I’ve been drawn to the spiritual from a young age. I started dabbling in ideas like astral travel at 15 (attempted doing it but never managed it, by the way 😅), read books about out-of-body experiences (hello, Robert Monroe!), and devoured stories by hypnotherapists who regressed their clients to past lives. It was (and still IS) deeply fascinating to me. A part of me was always looking for deeper answers through the spiritual.

Though I never felt called to the major religions (aside from a soft spot for Buddhism and Zen), I became intrigued by the more modern spiritual teachers of our time. I follow(ed) Eckhart Tolle, Matt Kahn, Ram Dass, Gangaji, Teal Swan, Adyashanti… and perhaps most notably, Byron Katie. I also loved listening to Alan Watts wax poetic about the nature of existence and the universe. For a while I worshipped these people in many ways and felt they held the answers to all of life’s mysterious problems. 

Many of these figures have since fallen from their pedestals a bit, but their ideas and approaches to life helped me enormously in times of distress.

Byron Katie, in particular, was a huge influence on me for a time. I even interviewed her for my YouTube channel (the video is now private). During that conversation, she gifted me a scholarship to her "9 Days for The Work" program. I was deeply honoured, jumped on a plane... only to discover that the experience didn’t resonate with me at all. In fact, I found parts of it quite harmful.

I haven’t spoken publicly about this much, but those memories have been resurfacing lately. It feels important to acknowledge how easy it is to place ‘beloved gurus’ on pedestals, forgetting that they, too, are human. Flawed. Sometimes even dangerous.

In my own journey, I’ve learned to take what works from a teacher or teaching, and leave the rest behind. This painting (2014), featuring a powerful and beautiful quote by Byron Katie, reflects the love I had (and still have) for parts of her work. I still find some of it deeply helpful. But now I hold it all through a more balanced, humanised lens.

What about you? Have your gurus ever 'fallen'? ♥️♥️♥️

✨ One Week to Go! Come Join the Cutie-Ful Fun ✨
Friends! Here a joyful reminder that Creating Cuties starts in ONE WEEK!

I’m so excited to begin this adorable, joy-sparking journey! Over the coming weeks, we’ll be painting the cutest animal characters, exploring playful colour palettes, and learning how to infuse our work with charm, expression, and warmth.

If you’ve been thinking about joining us, now’s the time! Doors will be closing soon and so does the 25% off early bird discount code, and I’d so love to welcome you in before we begin!

Here’s what Creating Cuties is all about:

🌈 You`ll learn to draw and paint whimsical animals in sweet, joy-filled scenes
🎨 I’ll guide you step-by-step with accessible, mixed media techniques
🐾 It’s beginner-friendly, playful, and full of feel-good vibes
💖 Most importantly, it’s all about creating art that lifts your spirit
The course officially starts on 12th August and you’ll get instant access to the classroom as soon as we begin.

✨ Don’t miss your chance to join this heartwarming, creativity-boosting adventure!

👉 Click here to sign up now:

https://bit.ly/CreatingCuties

Let’s paint some cuteness together; it would be an honour to have you in the class. ♥️♥️♥️

Big hugs and sparkly paws,
Tam
@everyone

Open
✨ One Week to Go! Come Join the Cutie-Ful Fun ✨
Friends!  Here a joyful reminder that Creating Cuties starts in ONE WEEK! 

I’m so excited to begin this adorable, joy-sparking journey! Over the coming weeks, we’ll be painting the cutest animal characters, exploring playful colour palettes, and learning how to infuse our work with charm, expression, and warmth.

If you’ve been thinking about joining us, now’s the time! Doors will be closing soon and so does the 25% off early bird discount code, and I’d so love to welcome you in before we begin!

Here’s what Creating Cuties is all about:

🌈 You'll learn to draw and paint whimsical animals in sweet, joy-filled scenes
🎨 I’ll guide you step-by-step with accessible, mixed media techniques
🐾 It’s beginner-friendly, playful, and full of feel-good vibes
💖 Most importantly, it’s all about creating art that lifts your spirit
The course officially starts on 12th August and you’ll get instant access to the classroom as soon as we begin.

✨ Don’t miss your chance to join this heartwarming, creativity-boosting adventure!

👉 Click here to sign up now: 

https://bit.ly/CreatingCuties 

Let’s paint some cuteness together;  it would be an honour to have you in the class. ♥️♥️♥️ 

Big hugs and sparkly paws,
Tam 
@everyone

I`m doing final preps for my new course (Creating Cuties) and just bumped into this super sweet image, totally forgot that I`d made this cute little character with funny speech bubble. One of the perks of perimenopause BRAIN FOG, is that you also forget the fun stuff you did for others and then are pleasantly surprised when you find random funny/ sweet things you did! 😂😁😆

Open
I'm doing final preps for my new course (Creating Cuties) and just bumped into this super sweet image, totally forgot that I'd made this cute little character with funny speech bubble. One of the perks of perimenopause BRAIN FOG, is that you also forget the fun stuff you did for others and then are pleasantly surprised when you find random funny/ sweet things you did! 😂😁😆

"Angels Are Always With You" - This painting, created in 2014, was loosely inspired by the mystical works of Susan Seddon Boulet. Her art whispered to me of protection, connection, and unseen realms; and I was quietly enamoured by it all.

Looking back on my childhood, I realise that I grew up with a strong sense that I had to be independent, resilient, and self-reliant; a kind of emotional armouring that still echoes through me today. It’s something I’ve worked on in therapy for many years, but a streak of avoidant attachment still lingers. Being bullied in childhood and not receiving much support for this; I learned early on that depending on others often led to disappointment, so I built my safety through self-dependence.

My beautiful love Andy, and many of my close friends these days, continue to show me (again and again) that this belief doesn’t always hold true. That some people can be safe harbours and that is why kindness and true support heals me a bit, every day.

Still, you can see in this painting a deep yearning, perhaps even a knowing, that I’ve always held: a longing to be surrounded by protectors. Angels. Guides. Mentors. Elders. Ancestors. I feel them, both the ones in spirit, and a few very special ones in the flesh. 💕

I remember once, in my twenties, feeling so ready for a teacher that I approached a real, board-certified Zen master. I was prepared to be devoted, to be led. He invited me to meet at a pub and promptly spilled beer on my trousers. 😂 At the time, I was slightly horrified. Now I see: perhaps that was the lesson. (Very Zen.)

And so, I kept walking my own path. But even now, I believe those angels (seen or unseen) have always been with me. In whispers, in wings, in laughter, in love. Somehow, some way.

This is day 10 of a ‘gentle return to social media’ read more about this practice here: http://bit.ly/3IHFxir 🌱

Open
"Angels Are Always With You" - This painting, created in 2014, was loosely inspired by the mystical works of Susan Seddon Boulet. Her art whispered to me of protection, connection, and unseen realms; and I was quietly enamoured by it all.

Looking back on my childhood, I realise that I grew up with a strong sense that I had to be independent, resilient, and self-reliant; a kind of emotional armouring that still echoes through me today. It’s something I’ve worked on in therapy for many years, but a streak of avoidant attachment still lingers. Being bullied in childhood and not receiving much support for this; I learned early on that depending on others often led to disappointment, so I built my safety through self-dependence.

My beautiful love Andy, and many of my close friends these days, continue to show me (again and again) that this belief doesn’t always hold true. That some people can be safe harbours and that is why kindness and true support heals me a bit, every day. 

Still, you can see in this painting a deep yearning, perhaps even a knowing, that I’ve always held: a longing to be surrounded by protectors. Angels. Guides. Mentors. Elders. Ancestors. I feel them, both the ones in spirit, and a few very special ones in the flesh. 💕 

I remember once, in my twenties, feeling so ready for a teacher that I approached a real, board-certified Zen master. I was prepared to be devoted, to be led. He invited me to meet at a pub and promptly spilled beer on my trousers. 😂 At the time, I was slightly horrified. Now I see: perhaps that was the lesson. (Very Zen.)

And so, I kept walking my own path. But even now, I believe those angels (seen or unseen) have always been with me. In whispers, in wings, in laughter, in love. Somehow, some way.

This is day 10 of a ‘gentle return to social media’ read more about this practice here: http://bit.ly/3IHFxir 🌱

In case you missed the newsletter! --> Coming in 2026: A whole year of magic & fairy tales! 🧚‍♀️📜

So many of you have asked about this…

“What’s the theme for your next year-long course, Tam?”
“Will there be another Year of Light or will we do something else?”

Well, I’m so excited to finally share it with you! 🌟 Ready? 😊

Next year’s magical, joy-filled, heart-expanding journey will be called:

✨ A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales ✨– a magical adventure through magic, story, wonder, and everyday enchantment.

This course is a heartfelt offering; not just for your creative practice, but also for your spirit. ✨🙏✨

I know that life can feel heavy sometimes (hello understatement). The world has been challenging for so many of us for a long while now. Personally, I’ve often found myself longing for comfort, softness, a sense of wonder… and that’s exactly what I’ve poured into this new course.

This course will offer a way to come back to yourself, to spark imagination, and to gently hold the parts of us that feel weary or overwhelmed. It’s balm for the soul; a little candle in the dark. 🕯️

In this course, we’ll explore magic in a broad sense, but also story, myth & lore and subjects like glowing forests, storybook characters, enchanted creatures, shimmering moons, and everyday objects or experiences turned magical. We’ll look for magic in the ordinary and extraordinary and paint it to our hearts’ content!

Expect a beautiful blend of my signature mixed media lessons, a stunning team of guest teachers, and a touch of playfulness, nostalgia, and wonder throughout. 🎨🦉🌙

I’ll share full details, the teacher line-up, and the early bird details & launch date very soon, but I wanted you to know the theme ahead of time, in case it resonates deeply and you’d like to save your spot.

If you’re craving magic, softness, enchantment and art that feels like a warm, whimsical hug; this one’s for you. 💛

With fairy wings and love,
Tam x ✨💕

PS. More details and all sign up info will launch near the end of August/ Early Sept ♥️♥️♥️

PPS. YES!! There will of course be an AWESOME taster event for this course too, can’t wait to share the details with you!!

Open
In case you missed the newsletter! --> Coming in 2026: A whole year of magic & fairy tales! 🧚‍♀️📜

So many of you have asked about this…

“What’s the theme for your next year-long course, Tam?”
“Will there be another Year of Light or will we do something else?”

Well, I’m so excited to finally share it with you! 🌟 Ready? 😊

Next year’s magical, joy-filled, heart-expanding journey will be called:

✨ A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales ✨– a magical adventure through magic, story, wonder, and everyday enchantment.

This course is a heartfelt offering; not just for your creative practice, but also for your spirit. ✨🙏✨

I know that life can feel heavy sometimes (hello understatement). The world has been challenging for so many of us for a long while now. Personally, I’ve often found myself longing for comfort, softness, a sense of wonder… and that’s exactly what I’ve poured into this new course.

This course will offer a way to come back to yourself, to spark imagination, and to gently hold the parts of us that feel weary or overwhelmed. It’s balm for the soul; a little candle in the dark. 🕯️

In this course, we’ll explore magic in a broad sense, but also story, myth & lore and subjects like glowing forests, storybook characters, enchanted creatures, shimmering moons, and everyday objects or experiences turned magical. We’ll look for magic in the ordinary and extraordinary and paint it to our hearts’ content!

Expect a beautiful blend of my signature mixed media lessons, a stunning team of guest teachers, and a touch of playfulness, nostalgia, and wonder throughout. 🎨🦉🌙

I’ll share full details, the teacher line-up, and the early bird details & launch date very soon, but I wanted you to know the theme ahead of time, in case it resonates deeply and you’d like to save your spot.

If you’re craving magic, softness, enchantment and art that feels like a warm, whimsical hug; this one’s for you. 💛

With fairy wings and love,
Tam x ✨💕

PS. More details and all sign up info will launch near the end of August/ Early Sept ♥️♥️♥️

PPS. YES!! There will of course be an AWESOME taster event for this course too, can’t wait to share the details with you!!
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