What if you're not bad at art? What if you're simply new at it? In this episode of The Motivatarian Exchange, Dionne Woods sits down with Arizona artist, educator, creative entrepreneur, and Roycycled Treasures founder Royce Hunt Bell for an honest conversation about creative confidence, color theory, artist mindset, neurodivergent learning, resilience, business pivots, faith, and giving yourself permission to become more creative. Royce has built Roycycled Treasures through mixed media, decoupage, color, creative products, teaching, retreats, and a thriving community of women she affectionately calls her "Besties." Now her business—and Royce herself—is evolving. After beginning to take art classes herself, Royce discovered that the distance between the "craft world" and "art world" wasn't nearly as great as many people believe. That realization has given her a burning mission: Help more people give themselves permission to say YES. Yes to learning something new. Yes to understanding color. Yes to making art. Yes to experimenting. And maybe even yes to finally calling yourself an artist. Royce shares why she believes art isn't magic or something you have to be born knowing how to do. Through color theory, experimentation, hands-on application, and her own journey from crafter toward more classical art training, she wants people to understand that creativity can be learned. We also explore why her teaching style resonates with kinetic and neurodivergent learners. Royce doesn't simply want to tell a student WHAT to do—she wants them to understand WHY it works, experiment with it themselves, and build the confidence to use that knowledge independently. But creative confidence is only part of this conversation. Royce gets vulnerable about entrepreneurship, including a recent season when this lifelong problem-solver couldn't see a way through a problem. One honest conversation with a friend presented an option she hadn't considered. It didn't immediately fix everything. It gave her hope. That experience reinforced something both Royce and Dionne believe deeply: creative entrepreneurs need community. Sometimes we need people who understand the highs, lows, challenges, opportunities, and uncertainty of building something of our own—and who can see possibilities we can't see from where we're standing. Royce and Dionne also talk about the words we carry from childhood, family members, teachers, and other people who convinced us we weren't artistic enough. Royce sees women creating beautiful work every day who still tell her, "But I'm not an artist." She wants to change that. In this episode: • How to build creative confidence • Why art is teachable • Moving from "crafter" to "artist" • Color theory and learning to mix colors confidently • Why knowledge + application can transform creativity • Hands-on and kinetic learning • Teaching neurodivergent creatives differently • Overcoming "I'm not an artist" beliefs • Giving yourself permission to experiment • What happens when other people's words become part of your identity • Staying motivated when entrepreneurship gets hard • Finding hope when you can't see the solution • Why creative entrepreneurs need community • Pivoting an established creative business • The power of retreats and learning in person • Faith, favor, resilience, and pouring from overflow • Why transformation requires both creativity AND mindset • Giving yourself permission to be new at something Royce believes transformation happens when we stop excluding ourselves from experiences we secretly desire simply because we don't believe we belong. Sometimes the first step isn't a giant leap. It's a quiet yes. Because maybe you're not bad at it. Maybe you're just new at it. ABOUT ROYCE: Royce Hunt Bell is the artist, educator, and perpetual experimenter behind Roycycled Treasures. Through mixed media, decoupage, color, and a healthy dose of "I wonder what would happen if…," Royce helps women rediscover their creativity and trust themselves enough to use it. Through Roycycled Treasures, Royce designs art papers and creative products, teaches online and in person, hosts creative retreats, and has built a community of women affectionately known as her "Besties." Royce is also a curator for The Turquoise Iris Journal. UPCOMING: Royce's Crafting with Confidence course begins October 6, 2026, with registration open through November 1. The Roycycled Retreat will be held April 22–25, 2027, in Safford, Arizona, with limited seats remaining at the time of publication. CONNECT WITH ROYCE: Website: Roycycled.com Instagram: @roycycled Facebook: Roycycled Treasures YouTube: @Roycycled Email: royce@roycycled.com
