Getting to Know Rachél Payne

This week I would like to introduce another creative sister, Rachél. I first met Rachél in August of 2011. She radiates a zeal and zest for life and art. Show her some butterfly love by leaving her a comment below. 

When I first meet someone new, I like to start by explaining my name.  I looks like Rachél but it sounds like Rah-shell.  I like to claim that my dad was a creative speller.   




As an artist, one of my first subjects to explore was archetypal female figures.  You see, I lost my mom about the same time I took up visual art.  She was an artist, and I inherited her supplies.  I was working on a degree in theatre at the time.  Somehow exploring that big idea of the feminine spirit with her brush and paint helped me connect to her and more deeply to myself.  

I looked for the Feminine in stories, cultural imagery, and in the everyday things we take for granted, like the way my grandmother's crochet resembled a spider's web or the realization that the Moon had a rhythm in the same way my body did.  All of these little things grew more and more meaningful for me when I connected them to my discovery of what it meant to be a woman. 

Art had such a profound curative effect on me that I  have sometimes wondered if Mom had a hand in leading me to it.  For most of my life up until that point, I felt like art was off bounds.  I assumed everyone got one talent, one big gift.  There was not doubt that acting was mine.  So when I began my journey as a visual artist, I was surprised, delighted but surprised.  

That's when I realized anyone could be an artist, anyone who wanted.  Learning to draw wasn't much different than learning to write.  It was a language of symbols.  The more art I did and the deeper I invited myself to go the less I identified with a wounded spirit.  After much personal exploration, I imagined helping others delve into their inner world and express themselves through all forms of creativity.  One day I said to myself, "What if we took Self-Confidence in Creativity classes in school?"  and a dream was birthed. 

I followed that dream back to the university for a Masters in Counseling and now give it wings as a Certified Life Coach and Creativity Mentor.  My website, Creativity Tribe, is a sanctuary for creative spirits.  It is a place I have created to share my art and writings along with that dream of helping others discover the confidence to express themselves in any number of creative ways. 

 

My current adventure sets out to do that through Creative Sacred Play.  For most of the month of April, I am touring Middle America from South Texas to Wisconsin for the Creatives Celebrating Sisterhood Art Retreat.  Along the way I am going to be playing Gypsy Wild Woman, one of my many Inner Wanna Be's.  What fun to travel the world letting my Bohemian spirit lead the way, crazy scarves around my neck and layers of bangles up my arm.

Early in April, I issued an invitation to creatives to join me in a social experiment called Journey of the Inner Wanna Be's, a collaborative investigation of those parts of ourselves we don't yet have the confidence to live with authenticity. 

This project offers opportunities to do art projects with me, journaling activities, blog and video posts, and connect with me on my trip.....or simply be a fly on the wall... as the Creativity Tribe dives into the world of imagination and brings a few treasures back to make life a bit richer. I hope you will consider following along or joining us.  Come play creative!