Welcome to The Artist’s Toolbox 🧑🏻🎨🧰
Welcome to The Artist’s Toolbox, our little corner of Substack ❤️ We are a community of creatives - from fully-fledged artists to creative dabblers - whose aim is to share tools that can give our creativity a boost. Our hope is to leave you feeling inspired, motivated and/or more creative after visiting us on Substack, or joining our live sessions.
You’re welcome to come along to our monthly online workshops inspired by The Artist’s Way. Some will introduce you to the book’s concepts and reflective tasks while others will be hands-on crafty creative sessions. Subscribe for free to receive workshop links.
About The Artist’s Toolbox:
This is a space to get motivated and inspired by sharing creative tools while connecting to other creatives. We welcome all types of creativity in our community: writing, dancing, drawing, ceramics, knitting, jewellery-making, or even new venture planning! Both beginners and more experienced creatives are welcome.
This community is for you if:
You’re a creative person who wants to spend more time on your creative hobbies.
You want to connect to like-minded creative people.
You would benefit from the support and encouragement of a creative community.
You want to take up a new hobby and step in living a more creative life!
You’re heard about The Artist’s Way and are curious to engage with some of its tools and tasks.
You enjoy unwinding through creative activities.
The Artist’s Toolbox is inspired by Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way.
About The Artist’s Way:
The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron (1992), is an iconic book about creativity. Its 12 chapters outline a 12-week course full of tasks and tools designed to help you unblock and flourish creatively. It’s relevant to all creatives: from fully-fledged artists to those wanting to take up a new hobby, or lead a more creative, intentional life.
In 2024, we (Leah and Tasha) followed The Artist’s Way programme. We both found its specific tools and tasks so beneficial (and fun!) that we wanted to integrate them more consistently into our lives whilst sharing them with others so as to contribute to the movement that is The Artist’s Way!
For those of us who, rather than tough love, need a little (or a lot of) encouragement, Julia Cameron’s voice can be the companion we never knew we needed. I found her distinctive voice so supportive, and it helped me prioritise my art, enhancing my wellbeing and self of sense, and giving me the courage to take an artist’s sabbatical abroad, despite the uncertainty that entailed.
Natasha found the programme creatively inspiring, motivating and freeing. Although she is a practising artist - having painted all her life and exhibited - she says she’d never given herself the amount of creative freedom and investment that she now does as a result of following the programme. Since the programme, she’s bought herself a whole new bunch of materials to experiment with and signed up to new classes, workshops and creative communities!
Though Julia Cameron’s prose and programme are encouraging, the process isn’t a walk in the park. The first time I tried it, I didn’t get very far. The second time, I followed it with others, making it to week 10/12. The third time, with another group, we made a pact to hold each other accountable and managed to complete the programme! The point is, it’s much easier and more fun to journey on one’s creative path alongside other, like-minded people. That’s why our Substack, The Artist’s Toolbox, will be dedicated to building a creative community and sharing tools that will help our creativity flourish.
About Us
We (Tasha and Leah) met in 2020 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, over a mural-painting project for a creative hub that Leah co-founded coming out of the pandemic. Tasha had been painting her way around South America on an art journey and Leah had settled in Cochabamba as she has links in South America (is Peruvian/British). Tasha is now back in the UK but we’re still creating together online and are excited to build a community of creatives we’ve connected with in Britain, Bolivia and beyond, both off and online.
Meet Tasha!
Tasha is a painter, muralist, and art teacher. Growing up in the UK, she always had wanderlust. In 2019, after completing a contract in London working for famous British artist, she launched herself into her dreams by booking a one-way ticket to Santiago and committing to an art journey she’d always dreamed of doing in South America. On her way, Tasha stopped in Bolivia, falling in love with the natural beauty and local culture. Over the last 6 years, she’s been bringing Cochabamba’s walls to life: painting powerful murals, exhibiting, and exploring. ‘Fortune favors the bold’, and clearly Tash is that!
Now back in the UK and a new mum herself, Tasha delivers therapeutic art workshops for mothers.
Get to know Tasha and find out about her art journey around South America on the Wild at Art podcast.
Meet Leah!
Leah is a British/Peruvian ceramics artist who moved back to Bolivia in 2024 to pursue her art. She's based at La Casa del Ceramista in Cochabamba, working on sculptures and assisting in group workshops. During the pandemic she picked up sewing and since then enjoys designing furniture and clothes. In 2021, she co-founded Templo, an exciting creative hub in Cochabamba which ran a variety of events including art and photography exhibitions, dance classes, calligraphy and collage workshops. Her and Natasha met while collaborating on a mural for the space.
“Our bond quickly blossomed and we’ve since painted another mural, organized an exhibition, and are now building an online community to connect all the inspiring people we’ve met on our respective creative journeys in Britain, Bolivia and beyond! We’d love for you to be part of it.”
Find our upcoming live sessions through the link below. We’ll email out the signup links before sessions and also post them in the community chat. We look forward to seeing you there and in the meantime, happy creating!
