IF YOU WANT TO make art, IT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO.
IT'S THAT SIMPLE.
you long to make art because
it is longing for you to make it.
most people don't even want to make art.
MOST PEOPLE DON'T even WANT TO MAKE ART
Apparently they don't even think about the art they are not making.
I don't understand it either. But I hear it's true. Like, they just don't care? But some of us do. Maybe you. Let's just say. Hypothetically.
something i found wildly shocking:
SCROLL TO BEGIN
(wait, what?)
hypothetically
Maybe you think about art (or creativity) all the time. Secretly. With great hesitation and sheepishness.
Because you aren't actually doing it.
And yet there's something inside you, glimmering at you, winking at you, something you know wants to come through you.
I felt this for decades. But I didn't know how to do it, and I felt so silly and pretentious and embarrassed about even wanting to.
Some of us are tortured by art we can't seem to make.
I felt artsy, but I didn't make art
Some people make art effortlessly.
They are prolific and destined and I was wildly jealous of them.
Are you squirmy even thinking about this?
Are you hot and squirmy even thinking about this?
1.
2.
3.
4.
let me guess, this is what you're saying to yourself:
I have a stack of journals FILLED with entries that began, "I should be writing. Why aren't I writing? What's wrong with me? Why can't I just make myself do it?" It was mortifying and ludicrous and a huge waste of time, energy, and potential. And it's one of the most painful things I've ever experienced.
I was an aspiring writer who didn't write.
It was AWFUL.
i kept waiting to be chosen. for the art to choose me. but friend... that's not what happened.
I felt stuck for years.
Stop waiting to be chosen. Your yearning IS the calling.
— my soul, for years
Don't read one more book.
I love The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, but it didn't help me write. I adored Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, but it only made me feel worse. I've read Bird by Bird 800 times but still couldn't get myself to create in any sustained way.
You know how I learned to consistently, sustainably make art I'm proud of? From my own program on getting organized: The Queen Sweep.
Weird, right? But I finally understood how to shift my behavior in the physical world, and that changed...everything.
Since then, I've written a memoir, a children's book, a beloved body of essays, produced and directed an award-winning documentary, and I'm coming out with a new book of poems this winter.
please for the love of all that is holy-
I love how Katherine guides me through her programs: I have felt abundantly supported by her step-by-step support and warm encouragement. Her teaching style is holistic, accessible, and I've been able to experience tangible benefits and improvements in my life. She also attracts lovely humans and facilitates a beautiful container of community, which adds a lot of joy to the experience.
-Nicola
Kind words
Katherine's programs have shifted my mindset and truly changed my life. Everything I’ve learned about habit-creation and changing my behavior to live a more authentic version of myself has come from working with Katherine. She can teach transformation in a way no one else can. She has helped me accomplish things I did not know I could and dare to dream bigger.
-Marilyn
Kind words
Katherine has helped me prioritize what is really important to the deepest of me, rather than getting sucked into the minutiae of daily household tasks and thereby feeling unfulfilled. The guidance she provides is what helps the most: how to really listen to yourself even when it goes against the muted grain, and then do and discover. Be kind but honest. And again.
-Melissa
Kind words
Stop procrastinating and just start doing creative artful things.
dream with me
Make things that you're proud of, work that makes your heart lift.
01
02
Wouldn't it be amazing if you could:
Actually find the time you've always wanted to give your creativity.
03
Commit-- without abandoning your home, marriage, children, or job.
04
Stop being embarrassed about wanting to be who you really are.
05
oh god yes
A 7-month journey In which you finally make the creative work that is yours to make
MAKE ART, CHOOSE JOY
I'm going to share everything that helped me go from being a blocked artist to a WORKING artist. Over the course of seven months, this mentorship will give you the tools, breakthroughs, habits, and support to help you do the same.
introducing...
Each month, I'll give you one new thing to do. They will be easy. They will change your life.
The steps I'll walk you through will be painless; even joyful. Yet over time, you will watch them change the entire landscape of your creativity.
Seven
powerful steps
Here's how it works:
Each month, we'll have a galvanizing group call.
These group calls are a time when you can ask me anything. We'll untangle tangles, solve problems both practical and esoteric, and cheer each other on. Can't join us live? Listen to the recording later.
Together
we will show up
Easy, gentle, gradual, joyful: I'll help you create rituals that will actually STICK.
There's a kind of magic to habits (rituals) you imbue from the beginning with ease, permission, beauty, humor, and pleasure. No matter how busy you are, you'll LOVE the practices I'll teach you.
No more
impossible habits
Forget hour-long daily practices or complicated weekly schedules. It really is possible to make time and space for your creative work, but probably not the way you think. I bring 10+ years of helping people make new habits to the field of your creativity.
There is soooooo much bullshit out there about art, creativity, "creatives," and tender souls. Detangle the legends and mythology, understand what creative blocks are really made of, and free yourself once and for all from the crud that is getting in your way.
Here's *WHY* it will work
Exactly what to do
Creative blocks
You'll LEARN
You'll dissolve
Once you learn the fundamental rhythm of the creative heartbeat, and once you understand how to work WITH yourself instead of against yourself, and once you dissolve the bullshit blocking things, you will start taking action and then it will feel so good that you will never, ever want to stop.
Beautiful flow
You'll FIND YOUR OWN
Stop worrying about what you'll wear to the Oscars and start memorizing your first monologue. In other words, stop wasting time on questions of publishing, galleries, agents, and marketing... and start where you are. Let the work take you wherever you are going.
Take baby steps
You'll BEGIN to
Real Talk
please, let it through
There's magic trying to come through you
A monthly video lesson you can watch whenever you like
Make art,
Choose joy
A carefully calibrated set of steps to build your creative practice
01
02
This 7-month program includes:
A monthly open Q&A call for intimate, fierce and tender conversations
03
The Retreat Kit: exact instructions (even a packing list) to take yourself on a solo creative retreat
04
The Creative Compass: a printable daily template to organize your whole life AND get you making art
Two virtual Open Studio Working Sessions where we actually Do The Thing together
05
06
Yes please
the full program
Includes the full curriculum, above
7 video lessons, 7 Q&A CALLS (all RECORDED)
The retreat kit & Daily compass
2 Open studio working sessions
$639 USD (save $54)
add private coaching
the full program, plus--
3 private coaching calls with katherine
a safe place to say or ask *any*thing
spots limited-- first come, first served!
$1,999 USD
(save $94 USD)
choose your level of support:
Everything you need to
finally begin
7 monthly payments of $99 USD
7 monthly payments of $299 USD
Extra support for
extra momentum
*all prices in USD. Canadians, email me: info@declaredominion.com*
REGISTRATION
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I'm Katherine, former blocked writer
For many years, I was your classic "right-brain scattered artistic flake absentminded creative type" except I hadn't actually made any art. It was agonizing. And then I shifted it. Now I make creative work all the time, even with a business and five kids. I can help you do it too.
salutations!
I suffered for years from creativity that was eating me alive from the inside. I channeled it, sure-- into being an entrepreneur, into useful things I made to help myself and my clients manage life better, I turned my wardrobe and home and general essence into "art." But what I really yearned for was to make ART. Something that stood on its own. Something I could be proud of. Something that would last. And nothing has given me more pride or satisfaction or even RELIEF... like just doing the work has.
I know you think that you ought to be able to do this on your own, to just MUSCLE through. But darling, if that worked, it would have already worked.
I want that for you, too
I run my entire life using a scheduling & list tracking tool called the Compass. (And I teach it in the Queen Sweep!) Now, I've created a brand new Compass JUST for creatives, to help you manage your full life AND meet your artistic goals.
A daily template just for creatives.
BONUS:
The Creative Compass
Exclusive-
— Janet
"Amazing, life-changing"
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"Katherine has somehow managed to untangle a part of my life which has felt stubborn, unloved and shonky for decades, blocked by unhelpful family patterns and ways of thinking. I'm now in the process of letting the light back in and it's lighting up areas of my life I never thought it would impact, like self-respect, enjoyment and new possibilities. Amazing, life-changing."
— wende
"A kind of alchemy"
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"I have taken many programs from Katherine and they have all been life changing! Katherine is a wise and perceptive teacher. She follows her intuition when answering student questions and the result is magical. Katherine's courses are perfectly paced and the tasks for each unit of a course from Katherine are a kind of alchemy. "
"Katherine has an intuitive understanding of where the tangles are that keep us from moving forward and how we can work our way through them, one step at a time. Her unique approach builds upon positive reinforcement and support to help each participant create an environment that brings beauty into her life, along with simple new daily habits that help to bring you closer to meeting your personal goals. On top of that, Katherine is open and honest about how she shares some of the same challenges and what strategies work for her. She is an absolute delight to work with!"
— Andrea
"An intuitive understanding of where the tangles are"
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← PREV
Have a sustainable, steady creative practice you can depend on
Dissolve the things blocking you from the work you have inside you
Just be making stuff. All the time. With no drama!
Stop waiting for someone else (a publisher, a gallery, a mentor) to anoint you an artist
Stop worrying whether your art is good because you know that bad art is how you get to the good stuff
Make the thing you've always to make & feel the fundamental primal relief of that
By early summer, you can...
This mentorship is like nothing else out there, because...
it draws on my work with thousands of kindred spirits.
I've worked with creative right-brain kindred spirits for over a decade now. I've taught group programs, coached them privately, taken them on retreats, and talked about the most intimate details of their lives.
I understand what makes us tick. I know what shuts us down. I know how to light us up!
I have ten plus years of helping people shape and shift their behavior-- from daily habits to longterm trajectories.
NOVEMBER | clear the ground
I've lived this journey myself.
I was the most agonized, embarrassed, blocked, non-art-making artist you have ever met. I wanted so badly to be a writer, and was so horrified by my terrific failure to be one, that I know how painful, tender, and raw this all is. I know where to be fierce, and where to be tender.
There is a time for tiny baby practices, and there is a time to rip off the bandaid. Do those things in the wrong order, at the wrong time, and you can set yourself back another decade. There is a time to cocoon around your tiny baby art, and a time to be brave and proud and share it with the world. Most people (even most creative teachers and mentors) get this part wrong.
Unlike most coach/teachers, I'm also an artist. Unlike most artists, I'm also a seasoned teacher.
I'm actively, currently, joyfully making my own work. I have so much work pouring out of me! I've unleashed my own creative flow and making beautiful and useful things is one of my great joys. I believe it always will be.
But I know how to help people change things. This isn't as obvious as it sounds; being able to DO a thing and teach someone ELSE how to do a thing are.... radically different skill sets.
I'm every bit as busy as you are. maybe busier.
I'm not going to tell you to have a two-hour long morning routine, or that you should get up at 4am to meditate, or that you need to take long leisurely dates with yourself every fucking week. Hi, I have five kids, a flourishing coaching practice, a house that is its own challenging and ongoing art project, and about 47 different new ideas that I want to get started on.
I will tell you what WORKS. I will gently but RUTHLESSLY push you to stop wasting time and start doing the things that will actually move the needle. I will give you the structure, systems, container, tools, and inspiration you need to get you making art in the most streamlined, elegant, efficient way possible. Because that has its own kind of beauty too.
IF YOU WANT TO make art, IT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO.
IT'S THAT SIMPLE.
I AM SO OVER PEOPLE WASTING THEIR LIVES FEELING EMBARRASSED ABOUT WANTING TO BE ARTISTS. IF YOU WANT TO, IT'S BECAUSE YOU CAN AND BECAUSE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO. IT'S THAT SIMPLE.
This for you if:
It's been long enough just dreaming
You're more interested in the business end of art
You are willing to try something new
You want a quick fix, not a lifelong trajectory shift
You feel scared, but eager
It's probably for you if...
You're already a prolific, joyful artist
not
is
It's probably
for you if...
& choose joy!
The time is now to make art
"Katherine's programs help me connect to myself and open myself up to new possibilities. I've achieved goals that I never thought I could. "
— Anne
"achieved goals I never thought I could"
the full program
Includes the full curriculum, above
7 video lessons, 7 Q&A CALLS (all RECORDED)
The retreat kit & Daily compass
2 Open studio working sessions
$639 USD (save $54)
add private coaching
the full program, plus--
3 private coaching calls with katherine
a safe place to say or ask *any*thing
spots limited-- first come, first served!
$1,999 USD
(save $94 USD)
choose your level of support:
Everything you need to
finally begin
7 monthly payments of $99 USD
7 monthly payments of $299 USD
Extra support for
extra momentum
*all prices in USD. Canadians, email me: info@declaredominion.com*
REGISTRATION
CLOSED
REGISTRATION
CLOSED
Cart closes in:
Will you run this again in the future?
I have absolutely no idea! I've learned to stop promising things. Currently this is a one-time offering.
Frequently Asked Questions
I think I might be a "craftperson" or an "artisan" not an artist.
I believe that is a false dichotomy created by a toxic patriarchal culture. This program is a work of art, and my art takes great craft. If you want to have a consistent, sustainable practice making anything beautiful and useful, this is for you!
Will this help me get published/sold/an agent/a gallery?
What about the holidays?
Nope, this isn't about that. This program focuses on helping you build the muscle to MAKE the work. Until you're making so much work that it's up to your waist, that's asking the wrong question.
I've carefully chosen this timing because I've got things for you to do over the holidays that won't take any time at all, but will still be a powerful part of your process. Yes, I am being mysterious on purpose. You'll have to trust me; it will be okay.
What if I don't care about ever being a "professional" creative?
That's ok! The question of whether you ever any make any money from your art isn't a question about art, it's a question of entrepreneurship. This program will help you make deep beautiful wild funny useful helpful things for your heart and others'. That is so much more than enough.
What if I sign up and realize I'm in the wrong place?
Here's a tip to help you know if this is right for you. Do you feel stronger in your body when you look at this page? Do you feel invigorated, even taller? That's a yes. If you feel heavy, sick, or weak, don't do it!
Because of the longterm nature of this program, there are no refunds. That said, if you run into trouble partway through, just email me. I care (a lot) about my clients and students, and we'll figure it out together.
What if I fizzle out part of the way through?
How much time will I need to dedicate to this?
Seven months sounds like a long time, doesn't it? Especially for those of us with short attention spans. But each month we'll be doing something new, and the practices and exercises build on themselves over time, and I will be there the whole time and in your inbox on a regular basis to help keep you on track! I have a LOT of experience helping people finish things that they weren't sure they could finish.
You should set aside an hour each month to watch the lesson and synthesize it, and another hour to join or listen to the Q&A call.
Our daily practices begin so small that you won't even notice (30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes) but by April you'll be doing 20 minutes of creative work four days a week.
In April, you'll also want to set aside two days on your own to do a solo creative retreat. I will tell you exactly how to do this. Plan for these to be some of the most exhilarating, nourishing, joyful days of your life.
october 31: welcome
november 5: we begin!
new module on the 5th of each month
nov
dec
jan
may
march
april
feb
"Investing in Katherine’s Make Art, Choose Joy turned out to be such a wise decision for me. The tools and attitudes I learned from her have allowed me to form habits that have served as a lifeline this past year. I did not think of myself as a writer, even in my own head. But I wanted to. I didn’t know how to start. I see now I was limiting myself in so many ways by how I defined “writing” and “art” in the first place. I write several times a week now, just for the joy of it.
So if you are intrigued, if it is calling to your heart, I encourage you to take the plunge. I’m so grateful that I did.
— laurie
"i write several times a week now, just for the joy of it"
the full program
Includes the full curriculum, above
7 video lessons, 7 Q&A CALLS (all RECORDED)
The retreat kit & Daily compass
2 Open studio working sessions
$639 USD (save $54)
add private coaching
the full program, plus--
3 private coaching calls with katherine
a safe place to say or ask *any*thing
spots limited-- first come, first served!
$1,999 USD
(save $94 USD)
choose your level of support:
Everything you need to
finally begin
7 monthly payments of $99 USD
7 monthly payments of $299 USD
Extra support for
extra momentum
*all prices in USD. Canadians, email me: info@declaredominion.com*
REGISTRATION
CLOSED
REGISTRATION
CLOSED
Talk to me. I'm a real person, and I care about the people who take my programs. Tell me your concerns and I'll tell you honestly whether I think this is right for you. Trouble checking out? I've got you!
Questions?