dear artist, yours
is a generous light.
You’re someone others seek out for warmth and support.
The friend people lean on.
The expert folks call in.
You’re so outwardly generous with your time and energy.
But when it comes to your own creative dreams?
Your unique needs, desires and whims?!
They tend to get pushed to the margins.
Delayed for “later.”
Treated like luxuries instead of lifelines.
You’re here because your art is asking for a new level of care — one that is as generous to you as you are to those around you.
Tell me if this sounds familiar:
This isn’t your first time trying to double-down on writing the book, drafting that essay, committing to share your art online, or finally finishing that creative project.
But each time you try to “really commit,” you swing between these two extremes:
1.Bullying yourself into action.
Like the best of us, you crave creative control, so you get hyper
“logical” and draft a great-looking plan.
But then the moment you don’t perfectly follow through, you beat yourself up, and abandon it.
You bypass and minimize your own emotions & lived experience:
“It shouldn’t be this hard!!”
You ruminate on your perceived shortcomings thinking that will help you avoid them.
You attempt to WILL the project into existence through sheer force, which just turns the internal pressure up and makes it even more impossible to create.
2. Becoming the most permissive “parent” to your inner-artist.
You let SO MUCH SLIDE in the name of “compassion.”
You feel tired, you feel resistant, so you say, “eh I’ll do it next week.”
Next week, the same thing plays out.
You’ve listened to fear’s excuses for so long, you’ve even started to believe them!
“I just have to be in the mood!”
“I’m just a slow creator!” which may be true except for the fact that you’re not creating much at all.
You call it compassion, but deep down, you know, it doesn’t feel very compassionate — it feels like avoidance running the show.
Of course, neither works. Neither feels good.
And worst of all, both leave you further from the thing you want to make!
And listen — you come by these patterns honestly. They’re indicative of broken systems — not personal failings.
And/also once we see the pattern isn’t working for us, it becomes an act of love to change it.
I’ve circled these patterns time and time again over the past decade of my creative career.
And over the past six years, I’ve worked with so many other creatives standing in this exact same place:
Overflowing with ideas, longing, and potential (ugh, that dreaded truth!!)
…and equally weighed down by fears, doubt, overwhelm, and the paralyzing urge to Get it Right.
Because you want to make the thing, and the truth is, in showing up to give it life — it will give you life in return.
But it starts with confronting what is.
The Google Doc full of painful half-starts.
The unpublished website.
The promising outline.
In showing up to work on our art, we are actually showing up to work on ourselves.
Because here’s the important thing I need you to know —
Regardless of past patterns, you’ve got this in you.
You are capable of creating this thing. You’re capable of creating many, many future versions of that thing.
This current thing is just scratching the surface of all the art & magic you’ve got to share with the world!
Based on the million ways you show up for those around you, I happen to know you’re not “bad at following through.”
You do hard things all the time! You’ve just been doing them for everyone else.
Now it’s time to do that good, hard, fulfilling thing for you. And when you show up for yourself that way?
You will feel powerful. You will feel beloved.
Because love — real, grounded, lived-in love — is a verb. We love ourselves and our art not through lip-service or fantasizing, but through persistent, compassionate action.
Right now, you may be over-responsible and under-supported.
With a hyperactive (read: neuro-spicy) mind that’s gotten really good at overthinking, overplanning, and chasing a perfection that doesn’t exist.
But these are just habits — and habits can be changed. Not by trying harder or by waiting for the stars to magically align.
But by gently and persistently practicing a new way of relating to yourself and your creativity.
I’m here to help you practice.
Practice playing.
Practice lowering your sky-high standards while you draft, so you actually enjoy what you create.
Practice caring for the ecosystem around your creativity.
Practice hearing & honoring your honest yeses and nos.
Practice showing up (even when it’s hard!) without abandoning or bullying the parts of you who feel afraid.
Practice moving through the world as the artist you are.
A six-month, highly personalized 1:1 creative coaching for the artist hungry for growth & transformation.
Your experience includes:
18 1:1 calls ($8400 value)
Access to 1:1 support on Voxer ($1500 value)
Access to a personalized curriculum ($500 value)
Inclusion in the artist mastermind — calls, labs & community ($2700 value)
Access to any live-taught classes or workshops offered during enrollment ($600 value)
Bonuses & surprises (priceless)
Over $13,000 worth of value
Your investment: $1000/month or $6000 paid in full
$800/month or $4800 paid in full
for Unblock Your Project workshop attendees that reach out or book a discovery call by November 30
HMU!
Send me an email hello@ashleytrabue.com or schedule a discovery call below to get some time set aside for making the choice that’s best for you!
“I have learned so much! Not least how much I already knew, which on the surface sounds counterintuitive but is huge under the surface.
The scaffolding and nutrition you and your space has provided has been crucial in my growth towards my own wisdom and ability to see myself as capable and worthy. “
-pixie
“Ashley knows how to create a warm, inviting, encouraging space to work on our projects. I felt inspired and gently ass-kicked, the exact combination I needed to get focused and get to work. “
-Rose
"“It actually feels crazy that we did actually get the portfolio out just in time before the mentorship came to a close!!
Like it feels like an insane time travel moment… Thinking about the whole mentorship feels crazy tbh when I think about how all of our work added up to this moment. I'm very grateful I came across you to help me get to this stage.”
Parv
“I stared to tap into my creativity and inspiration again, which I haven't allowed myself to do in so many years. I started drawing more, and learned how to tend to my scared parts when my inner critic showed up.”
Helene
interested in tapping into your own transformation?
I’d love to chat! Helping artists feel more powerful & capable and less stressed out & alone is my jam.
Book a call or reach out to me by email at hello@ashleytrabue.com, and let’s explore what kind of growth we could create together!