Meditations, Pastels & Flying Paper with the Mum's at Mother's Camp

In May earlier this year I ran a workshop with a group of six mum's during Mother's Camp at Manly's Bear Cottage.

The workshop was noted on the timetable that day, but the mums initially thought it was for the kids. Minutes before the workshop they were more than a little excited to discover it was actually for them. They arrived ready to create outside at the large wooden tables where I had set up feather butterflies, a circle of pebbles, lots of blank paper and pastels. I introduced what we would be doing, a preview of The Butterfly & The Gift. Each mum chose a pebble to hold while I guided them through a meditation to relax and breathe, then they created an artwork using the pastels. During this it got rather windy, and both the feather butterflies and paper kept lifting off ~ like the wind was encouraging the mums to fly and let themselves be free with their art! Next, I guided them through a longer meditation, this time with a butterfly to uncover a gift. They drew this out, then took turns to share about their experience. It was fabulous to hear the 'gifts' each received from their meditations, including one mum who got to speak with her Grandmother who had passed away. At the end, the mums got to keep their pebbles as a reminder of the day.

Thanks to the mums who were open to create, Janet, Gy and all the Bear Cottage team. I've run several workshops at Bear Cottage since 2006 via Art IM and it turned out I had run previous workshops with these mums' kids ~ what a beautiful full circle moment for me.

Workshop run by Jelena Mrkich.