The More Than Human World

Deep Ecology is about experiencing the world as a living earth, about expanding our senses to include 

tree breathe, birdsong, rock holding, misty light, cobwebs, sunlight, mushrooms, four-leggeds, hoppers, and the myriad insects of life.

Expanding myself into nature and becoming an earth-being, allows me to feel connected, expanded and part of something bigger than my small “I” self.

It’s joyful and sometimes painful to really feel the world as it is…yet giving expression to All of the feelings, somehow makes me feel more alive and connected and held in the web of life,… and opens my heart in a new way.

When I say Art I mean putting something on paper. I mean putting colours on paper. 

When I say art I mean zero or no skill. I try to remember that it could be fun. Seeing colours go onto paper can make me feel very happy – just the thing that happens when I mix the different colours or I make a shape or a line – something nice sometimes happens inside me. 

Of course other times there are stories from the past, that mine is not good, that mine is not art, that it’s not right, or fast enough or something enough. So I try to notice the stories and let them just be while I chase the parts of art that feel fun. 

What I’ve noticed is, that over time, I’ve started to know which colours match my present time feeling and I’m more familiar with certain pencils or paints or colours. Whether you already have a loving relationship with art or whether it terrifies you or anything in between – I hope you will find some enjoyment with me over the 24 hours of art and deep ecology. 

We will be using water based mediums only. No soluble acrylics or oil paints. All art materials will be provided (watercolour paints, inks, oil pastels, pencils, pens and paper). You are welcome to bring your own favourite materials or sketchbooks if you like but please no acrylics. We are running the camp in a relatively pristine environment and would like to retain that as much as possible. 

When I’ve done Deep Ecology practices with Skye in the past I have loved: 

• How present the practices bring me
• How I get to notice things that touch my heart profoundly
• The way I feel more connected and less powerless and more tender hearted and less alone
• The natural-ness of the things Skye has shared with me
• The fun of it
• How playful I get to feel
• How much I feel

Skye: I’ve found that combining creative practices  with earth connection is a great way to expand my voice for the natural world..like poetry, it can touch where words sometimes fail…I think art might be a way to express what is going on without words.

Yo: Sometimes it lets something out that is inside me in an unexpected way or a new or profound or touching way. Sometimes I find it uncomfortable. Sometimes I make a big ugly blob. Like dirt. Or poop. Sometimes I like what I did, like the warm sun. Or a flower. Or a tree. I think it could be a fun way to get what’s inside me out into the world because sometimes what I feel with Deep Ecology is hard to pin down to words. I wonder if you would like it too.

If you have a regular art practice, partnering your existing process with Deep Ecology could open up something quite new and wonderful. 

I have been doing art stuff for a long time, it’s just that I believed the stories people told me. The art teachers, the adults, the parents. I believed them. So in the last 15 years I’ve been daring to put colours on paper to make myself happy. I have no formal training. I have been facilitating and running events for 28 years. I’ve done a lot of art classes, some art therapy and a lot of painting as a hobby. I have an art mentor and I’m working on a body of work right now.