ART of destressing. RESEARCH - 'play for your mental health'

I have been an artist for a very long time and am always criticizing myself. This course is helping me let go of all the negativity and stress. I really enjoy Nicola's style of teaching. Very relatable and somehow soothing.

I found this course inspiring and fun. I was engaged and stuck nwith it to completion. My only complaint is that I found some of the demos too long and, at times, boring.

It was a sweet little course, enjoyed getting back to paint. Very simple, very easy to follow instructions, it is more like an encouragement to play with the colours, and relax than much new things to learn. Good start getting back to paint :)

I'm just starting to make art again after a long illness. This course was sweet and gentle, just enough to help me break out my watercolors and start to play again. I love the teacher's soothing voice. If you take this class, be prepared to paint alongside her, working on your separate project as she narrates her own. If you haven't played with paint for a long time, this class is like having a friend hold your hand while you begin.

really good and fun :) A good start if you never really paint with water colors, and want to have a bit of fun before...

This course offers a great teaching on getting the conscious mind out of the way of creativity. This is exactly what I need to practice. Thank you!

I make a living off of my art, but hit a roadblock when it came to creativity. Been looking for courses to help with this, but this one was the course I have been searching for this whole time. I seen one person complained in the ratings about it not giving more instruction, BUT for me this is what made it perfect!! It was like I was sitting down and painting with a friend that inspires me, but allowed me to be creative right along with them! Something that can't be done by simply following directions and copying. The whole purpose was to allow yourself to let go without fear of mistakes or judgement. I have come to realize that I lost a lot of my creativity as a child due to the fear of being judged and not good enough. Ex: - in grade 3 (I think it was) we had a substitute french teacher and I drew her a giraffe. She ripped it up in front of everyone. - in grade 7 after I completed my assignment, I sat a doodled a "wolf pack" the male in the middle and the female heads all around him. You could tell they were female because I put a bow on their ears. Our teacher Mr motowillow came up behind me while I was drawing and grabbed the picture and told me to get to the office. This was in front of the whole class, I was shocked and embarrassed ! He took me to the office and told the principle that it was a picture of the wolves having sex. They called my mom and when she came down she ripped a strip off of him and told him he had a sick mind. Just for the record it was honestly an innocent pic and no the wolves were not having sex or it would have made more sense for me to put the males head in behind the female. - my grandpa found some paints and brushes in the garbage (he loved finding treasures) he told me to paint something so I tried painting a tree. He took the paints and brushes away from me telling me it wasn't good. These are just few examples of how my creativity was crushed as a child and why I second guess myself and why for the longest times I didn't like to show my drawings to anyone. And it took me until about 6 yrs ago (when I started making my wood signs) that I finally considered myself an artist even though I have been drawing all my life. I am going to throw on some music and try one on my own BUT I know in the future I will replay this and paint along side you again. It's soothing and I like how you keep encouraging one to be free the whole way though.

Only one example shown by the instructor. Instructor is clear and presents concept well, however I didn't feel inspired.

I needed this. Got very emotional in the first few minutes thinking about several occasions in my youth/childhood when some authority figure took over my creation and changed it to suit themselves. I had no idea how much of an impact these events had on me, but this course seems to be bringing it all back to the surface. Thank you!