What if making art is not only about creating something beautiful? What if the things we make can speak back to us? In this conversation, I’m joined by artist, teacher, and intuitive guide Stacey Vajta of The Feisty Crone. Stacey creates spirit dolls and magical creatures that hold stories, emotions, and wisdom. Together, we explore the difference between simply producing art and feeling creatively alive. We talk about the rules artists carry, the pressure to make something “good,” and what becomes possible when we approach art with curiosity, play, and no predetermined outcome. Stacey shares how her dolls become storytellers, teachers, and companions. I share how contour drawing and watercolor help me enter the creative flow and discover the marks, shapes, and visual language that are already mine. We also talk about allowing grief, sadness, joy, and wonder into the making process. Art does not have to eliminate difficult emotions. It can give them somewhere to go. In this conversation: * The difference between little “c” creativity and big “C” creative energy * Why you can make a lot of art and still feel creatively stuck * How external rules and comparison disconnect us from our own expression * Why your creative practice does not have to happen every day * How keeping materials accessible makes it easier to follow creative energy * What spirit dolls can reveal through imagination and story * How art can help us experience and process grief * Why play sometimes offers answers that seriousness cannot * How intuition can arrive through art, nature, children, movement, or ordinary moments * Why your style is already present, much like your handwriting * What happens when you stop asking whether you made an insight up and begin listening to it One of my favorite reminders from this conversation is that the pressure can come off. You do not have to make art for Instagram, create a finished masterpiece, or know where the work is going. You can make something because the energy is there. You can follow it, play with it, and ask: Where else could this take me? About Stacey Vajta Stacey is an artist, teacher, and intuitive guide who creates spirit dolls and other magical creatures. Her work explores what happens underneath the things we make, where imagination, energy, intuition, and story enter the creative process. Find Stacey on Substack at The Feisty Crone, on Instagram, or through her website, Sacred Art and Story. She also offers dollmaking classes for anyone ready to discover the stories their hands want to tell. Feeling Art On September 15, I’m teaching Feeling Art, a 90-minute live masterclass about using feeling to guide the marks you make. We will choose a feeling or quality and explore how it can influence color, line, pressure, shape, space, and movement. We are not painting pictures of feelings. We are allowing feeling to guide our artistic choices so the work carries more of our energy, voice, and aliveness. Find out more here : https://lynnhardin.com/the-feeling-art Thank you for listening. I hope this conversation encourages you to take the pressure off, follow what has energy, and let your art surprise you. Until next time, keep making, keep listening, and trust where your creativity wants to take you. With love,Lynn This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lynnhardin.substack.com/subscribe
