Welcome to the Classroom

Through creativity,

We remember how to play.

We smash limiting programs.

We learn that ALL things are possible.

In these mindful drawing tutorials, I teach you everything I know. My aim is to hand you the tools, so you can independently use them on your own.

Mindful drawing is most powerful when it’s practiced consistently – this is the key. But consistent practice isn’t too hard, because it’s fun. There’s a good chance you’ll love mindful drawing as much as I do – especially when you begin to see how your practice is changing you.

Remember: at its core, mindful drawing isn’t about the drawing. It’s about what’s going on inside your brain and consciousness.

This is where the magic happens.

In this section, I’ll run through the basic steps of how to practice, and I’ve also included a small collection of tutorials.

If you feel even a small twinge of curiosity, then why not give it a go?

If you don’t like it, then stop. But if you don’t give it a go, you’ll never know.

What if it changes your world like it did mine?

With consistent practice, I can confidently say it will.

Profoundly.

Image credit: @thecosmicfeminist

Before we dive into the basic principles of mindful drawing, I need to mention something important:

As beautiful as healing and growing is, it can often be challenging. As you change and expand your consciousness, old parts of you need to be let go of, in order to make way for the new. This can include habits, beliefs, programs – even people – ANYTHING that does not serve your highest good. Suppressed thoughts and emotions may also come to the surface to be cleared (you can read about my experience with this here). Mindful drawing holds you throughout the clearing process, because you have something to focus your attention on.

This is your journey. The choice to walk this path is yours alone. I’m only handing you the tools. You have free will to choose to use them or not. I take no responsibility for what happens in your life if you decide to embark on this journey. In saying that, there is no more beautiful path, than healing and raising your frequency to access higher states of consciousness. It is the most worthy, fabulous, gratitude-inducing pursuit there is. It’s what we’re here for.

OK that said, get out your pens and get ready (whoop!)…

The Basic Steps of Mindful Drawing

Prepare a time and space where you won’t be disturbed (as much as you can help…). One hour, a few times a week is a perfect place to start.

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Mindful drawing is best practiced in silence so you can fully focus without distractions. If you can’t find silence (hello noisy neighbours, housemates, kids or construction work outside…), then background music does the trick nicely. Go for long-play tunes with no vocals, because your attention will be pulled towards the words. In case you need it, I’ve created a ‘background music’ playlist right here, just for you 😉

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Get yourself some fresh, juicy pens, and throw out pens that are scratchy and dry. I use sharpies and felt pens mostly, and I use thick card to draw on (often A3, sometimes smaller A5). Thick card feels more….quality.

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Now draw… This is abstract, so there is NO WRONG. I often start by drawing random circles (you can use a compass or improvise with anything round.) See where it leads. Check out my art for pattern ideas, or dive into my tutorials further down to give you an idea of how to get started. Once you reawaken your creative muscles, drawing abstract becomes far easier.

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Here’s the important bit:

When drawing, put your full focus into drawing the best line, pattern, circle, that you can. Every time your mind wanders into thought or emotion – acknowledge it, and bring your awareness right back to FULL FOCUS on what you’re drawing. You might have to do this 50 times (or 500)…and that’s okay. In the beginning, your mind will wander repeatedly – but this action right here, is the beginning of retraining your brain.

Focus and attention is the action that presses ‘pause’ on your thoughts and programs.

With consistent practice, mindful drawing gradually raises your frequency (as do many meditation practices). Sometimes, not always – you may also fling open the portal to ‘somewhere else’.

This is a high frequency state of consciousness where you lose track of time. It’s the zone where insight, inspiration, solutions and ‘aha’ moments just flow through you. There’s no linear thought in this space. No monkey mind ‘thinking’. Just a direct connection with your higher state of consciousness. This is the zone where I’ve had some of my biggest shifts (from clearing stuck old traumas, to obtaining pieces of my puzzle that I just so happened to need).

It’s all you. And it’s bloody beautiful.

And when you’re ready, dive into the 4 Principles of Mindful Drawing below…

The 4 Principles of Mindful Drawing.

When you consistently practice these principles during your sessions, they become new programs seeded into your subconscious mind. Soon, you’ll begin to use them out there in the real world – away from the mindful drawing table.

These principles deepen and expand over time – but from day one, these principles will begin to change your world.

The last two principles are super powerful. They will FULLY enable you to create awesome new things in your own life, and when expanded collectively? They have full power to create new ways of living on Earth. Not a peep of exaggeration.

Let me dive into them a little deeper…

1. Do Your Best and Let Go of the Rest

At ALL TIMES during your mindful drawing sessions, do your best, and that’s it.

Let go of the rest.

With practice, this gets easier over time. Once a line, circle or pattern is drawn? It’s DONE. Whether it’s perfect, wonky, weird, or blobby – ACCEPT IT. Laugh it off! Be proud because it’s uniquely yours. There ain’t another one in the world like it.

Now move forwards.

Realign with your best, and do your best again, and let go of the rest.

We don’t put ourselves down here. We celebrate learning with all it’s bumps. We learn that we can realign and do our best again, every second that we choose to.

Let it go.

Free

Yourself.

If a ‘mistake’ can be taken in a new direction (often it can), by all means get creative and walk down that road. Otherwise, don’t stay stuck there, disappointed because ‘it’s not good enough’. Accept it – it’s done. Realign and remember – WE ARE LEARNING!

The more you practice this through repetition, the more it becomes wired into your subconscious mind as a new program – and it goes with you out into the real world. And this is one powerful program to have.

2. Go Slow and Get Into the Flow

Here’s another rhyming baby. Resist your mind’s programming to draw fast. Pull it back. Slow down 100 times if you need to. Every time you use your WILL to pull this impulse back – you’re rewiring your mind.

This creates a slower rhythm for your brain to entrain with, and soon you’ll fall into a meditative rhythm where new things are able to get in. Good things like deepening layers of awareness, ‘aha’ moments, insights or a different perspective.

Be mindful of the fact it takes a good 5-10 minutes for your brain to entrain with this slower pace. This is essentially your brain switching gears – and you’ll feel it. During the first 10 minutes, the brain will be operating in busy beta brainwave mode, and it will likely fight your focus by throwing weird and wonderful thoughts at you, distracting you repeatedly.

After around 10 minutes, your brain will entrain with this new pace – and you’ll feel it switch into more focus and flow. The more you do this, the more you’ll strengthen new neural pathways and the easier it becomes. Open sesame.

3. You are a Powerful Creator
You Can Create Anything you Choose

This principle is so powerful it doesn’t give a shit about rhyming. You begin to see that you are bringing something into being, out of absolutely NOTHING but your imagination, intention and action.

As you draw, I’ll teach you to observe the amazing process of creation.

You’ll begin to see that you are a powerful creator.

You can create a circle, or a triangle in any colour and any thickness. You then add something else to it. Layer by layer you see that you are indeed creating something unique and complex, from nothing but your intention and action. You’ll learn that there are no limits to abstract creation. No rules.

Image credit: @thecosmicfeminist

Through repetition, this program becomes seeded as your new truth. Soon, it goes with you out into the real world, and you’ll begin to play your ability to create out there.

This is where things begin to get really interesting.

You’ll see that you can create a new habit, or a new boundary FROM THIN AIR. You will see that saying NO to things, leads to different results. Maybe you’ll create a new way of responding – or listening. Perhaps you’ll choose to create a new self-care practice, a healthy new eating habit, or a new way of interacting with your kids or your dog.

You can create new thoughts, beliefs and you can absolutely create a new-found love for yourself. Some BIG things take time to create, but others can be created right now. I’m on a roll so I’m just gonna keep going here. You can create forgiveness, trust and a great relationship, you can create budgeting skills, chef-grade cooking skills or valuable knowledge about nutrition or permaculture gardening. You can create on-point intuition or peak physical fitness.

You can also create a set of actions to dissolve a whole host of crappy programs that block your light. And you can absolutely create your own inner peace, joy, freedom and empowerment no matter what your circumstances – because it comes from within…not out there.

And did I mention you create all this from nothing but your intention and action? This is serious wizard shit right here.

You’ll probably do the completely normal thing and fudge it up a few times. We ALL do it! We rarely wield a-grade magic on the first go (or the 50th!) – it’s about learning and becoming more aware.

And here, Principle One pops in: DO YOUR BEST AND LET GO OF THE REST. So you let it go – it’s done. You ease up on yourself, realign with your best and CREATE the action again.

Wiser, and with more determination this time.

You begin to see these things you’re creating, lead to different outcomes.

It sounds weird that you can learn this from creating art, but it isn’t really about the drawing. It’s about planting the belief into your program that YOU ARE A POWERFUL CREATOR. And like all subconscious programs – it works.

This is the training ground for installing the program of conscious creation.

When you create something real from nothing but your intention and aligned action, this is literally magic.

4. Trust your Intuition

We’re all mind here on Earth and honestly, we’re only functioning at half our potential. Here in our mindful drawing tutorials, we learn to exercise our intuition, from a dusty dormant thing, all the way up to a strong, unwavering side of you that KNOWS the right step to take ALL THE TIME.

Your intuition will become so useful you’ll wonder how you lived without it.

Through repetition again – it’ll gradually grow from a whisper, all the way into a clear and powerful ROAR.

HER

INTUITION

WAS HER

FAVOURITE

SUPERPOWER.

Sooner or later when you’re drawing, you’ll begin to feel little creative nudges pop in. During our mindful drawing tutorials I’ll remind you over and over to FOLLOW IT. Remember, this is abstract. There is no wrong.

You’ll learn to get brave and wander down these unmarked roads. We don’t overthink it or talk ourselves out of it – that’s the rational, critical mind. The thinking mind doesn’t understand intuition or abstract and that’s cool – we love the mind – but around here we also fire up our creative intuition. We follow it and we watch it grow.

As you strengthen intuition through using it, it’ll begin to go EVERYWHERE with you, in your life.

You’ll see how it’s got your back, and how it teaches you to “SEE” where you could not see before. Intuition marks out the invisible roadmap that leads you all the way, to where you’re meant to go.

Snaggy Pitfalls to Expect When You Begin Mindful Drawing

Watch for these guys. They’re likely to pop in at some point and BLOCK YOU. I’m telling you about them here, in our mindful drawing tutorials so you can anticipate them, sidestep them and PUSH THROUGH THEM.

Thinking that these benefits will not find you. Maybe you think you’re too broken, too old, too young or not special enough. Bollocks. If you practice consistently IT WILL happen (because you’re creating it). These benefits will start small, but soon they’ll layer up and snowball. Trust me.

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Expect some fully charged, “I love this shit SO MUCH” days, and other days where you just cannot be bothered. Every day is not going to be the same. If you have some crap days, don’t give up – just have a break. A few shitty days guarantees you’ve got some goodies coming up, that’s all. Cycles. It’s all about cycles.

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Cycles also apply to the benefits. Some days/weeks the benefits will snowball in, and at other times they may trickle in. Sometimes they may pause for a while. Healing and expansion WILL always progress as long as you create the way, but the pace and intensity will fluctuate. Healing is NOT linear – it’s a process of expansion and contraction. Ebbs and flows. A big leap forwards and a little shimmy backwards (and sometimes a big fat slide). And this is completely normal. Take a look at nature. She’ll teach you this exact wisdom through observing the seasons.

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Don’t try too hard. We want the good things fast, I know. But trying too hard will hinder natural progression. Relax. Have fun. Don’t fixate on the result, just focus on now and trust the process. Do the work consistently, and it WILL HAPPEN.

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Falling into monotony: Sticking to ‘safe ground’ by drawing the same old patterns that you’re familiar with. I know this well because I’ve done it 1000 times. When I catch myself, I switch it up and do something new. Boredom with your current pattern, indicates it’s time to try a new one. It’s a little scary. It’s unfamiliar and it may very well turn out looking like shit (hint: turn it into something else ;).

When you take a new path, you feel excitement well up inside. This is YOU exploring. No one ever got anywhere great by sticking to the same old roads. Switch up the colour! Try out a new pattern. Feel that little spark inside? That’s your cue – walk down that road. Do this repeatedly, and you’ll also carry this bravery out into your real world. It’s the same thing. Pushing past the comfort zone, and doing the harder thing to get somewhere new. Feel the fear, and do it anyway.

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As I mentioned earlier, be patient with your brain for the first 10 minutes when you sit down and draw. Your brain will throw a hissy. It’ll fight you. Thoughts will defiantly stomp on through your mind, just because that’s what it’s been doing all day. It takes around 10 minutes for the brain to entrain with calm, or focus, or to ‘shift gears’. Just set the new pace, and give it 10 minutes to entrain and catch up with you. You’re the boss remember.

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A Small Collection of Mindful Drawing Tutorials

Below are a few short and simple mindful drawing tutorials, and there’s also a bloody big monster or two. I’m aiming to grow this library as fast as I can (patience please, they take ages haha!).

These mindful drawing tutorials are just small samplers to get you started. When you’ve got your head around the technique and principles, you won’t need my tutorials anymore. All throughout the bigger tutorials, I focus on drilling the 4 principles into your practice, because through repetition, these will become powerful new programs that you keep with you – forever.

Ready when you are…

Fruit of Life Template (Mini Tutorial)

Blue Grids (Mini Tutorial)

This tutorial is not a complete picture – it’s a template that can be used in thousands of ways – I use this really regularly so I thought I’d show you how to draw it too (it’s only a few minutes long).

This is also a tutorial for a pattern I use often – it’s turned out to be one of my favourites. Here I show you how to draw blue grids too, and I explain why they’re so powerful.

"Building Worlds" (a medium-sized tutorial - it's easy)

‘Building Worlds’ is my latest tutorial. It’ll take you a good few hours to draw – this one is half A4 size – and it’s not hard to draw at all. You don’t have to draw it exact, throw your own creative flair in ANYTIME you feel like it!

As always, in this tutorial I explain the all powerful 4 Principles of Mindful Drawing. I do believe I’m getting better at editing these haha! I’m having a lot of fun making them too. Give it a go, or at perhaps a listen 🙂

Star of Life - This One's BIG (one of my more recent mindful drawing tutorials)

This is one of my favourite mindful drawing tutorials because it explains the Principles of Mindful Drawing in the best way yet. I actually think I’m getting better at making these…

Have a listen if you have time and then decide if you want to draw it. Warning: It’s big and will take a while. But don’t be afraid! It’s where the fun and the power begins.

Black and White Star

Blue Fire

This mindful drawing tutorial isn’t too long – it’s a great starting point to give you an introduction to what mindful drawing is. Draw it exactly as it is, add a splash of colour or change it completely – it’s entirely up to you.

Blue Fire is a big guy. It’ll take you around 30 hours to draw. You can follow along, and whenever you feel like it, add in your own abstract, creative flair. Remember, there is no wrong….

Three Mini Mindful Drawing Tutorials (from the archives)...

Below are three short mindful drawing tutorials I created sometime in 2019. They’ve got all the instructions included, but in a simple form. They don’t have the principles – it’s just a nice and easy introduction to mindful drawing.

I think I drop some big F-bombs in the tutorial in the middle, so if you’re not cool with swear words DO NOT ENTER. Maybe don’t put your kids onto that one.

So that’s it – why not give it a go!? Right here is where it all begins. Stick these finished pieces on your wall as a symbol of your growing creative wizardry, because you made this – out of nothing but your intention and action.

This is how we create art.

It’s how we create our lives.

And it’s how we create new worlds.