a creative audacity mentorship & cohort for artists
You’re not here to just dream of writing your memoir, painting the career-pivoting series, or receiving pay-off-the-car money from your art….
you’re here to actually do it.
Ideally, with your head thrown back in laughter, delighted & certain that you were MADE to create & share as freely as this.
“bad grl art club played a huge part in my growth — a lot of that has been about art business, but the foundations we build essentially boil down to QUALITY OF LIFE.”
— pixie flodhammar, former creative cohort member
You wanna end each day feeling tired in a good way,
beaming with pride as you show off updates on your art in the group chat, feeling excited to jump in again tomorrow.
Problem is, along the way, you picked up the idea you had to be Good:
You couldn’t just paint pretty flowers, you had to paint hyper-realistic portraits!
Enjoying the process of writing your book wasn’t enough — you had to pen an award-winning project!
You’d let yourself make income from your art, but only at such tight profit margins that you’re constantly stressed about bills.
Creating and sharing started becoming synonymous with anxiety and pressure…
…so is it any wonder you started avoiding the work and leaving your creative dreams on read??
Mary Oliver said it best:
“You do not have to be good.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”
If trying harder or strategy alone really worked, it would have worked by now.
Instead, my approach starts at a more foundational level.
I’ll guide you through a process of rewriting core beliefs and stories around who you are that make showing up as an artist feel unsafe, impossible, or ridiculous.
As you unhook from all the ideas and masks you thought you had to take on in order to belong and be successful as an artist/ a woman/ a queer person in this world,
you’ll root more deeply into the truth of Who You Really Are.
This is when change becomes inevitable!
Free from all that is Not You, creative courage and audacity naturally unfolds:
When one day on a whim, you paint your first giant canvas and feel THRILLED by the work, so you post it to your stories too!! Instead of spiraling, you bask in the joyful chaos that will come when everyone who knows you as a CPA, gets to see you’re an artist too!
When you wake up and decide to LET GO of that book you thought you “had to” write and instead of feeling sad, you feel free and excited at what new ideas might come in, in its place!
You start sharing on TikTok, even if your hair’s a mess and you’ve got not an ounce of makeup on — you just start recording because you’ve got something to say, and now you’re someone who takes that shit seriously.
This is not another course you’ll never finish.
In fact, this isn’t a course at all!
It’s a personalized mentorship and artist cohort that combines 1:1 support, creative community, live-teaching calls and real-time feedback,
all designed to help you move beyond the never-ending-time-loop of:
“Eh, I’ll launch my art-subscription next week…”
And into the powerful reality of:
“Ahh I just hit publish, and someone already signed up!!”
"This entire program feels like an absolute treat. It has made me look at the world differently: colors are more vibrant; I'm looking for whimsy in the mundane. I love how you encourage play and new discoveries."
— Karima Fathi, creative cohort member & coaching client
What you get inside:
Three 1:1 calls with me.
These deep dives get right to the heart of where you want to go and the parts that are holding your back.
Calls vary based on you and your needs, but most start with a check-in and grounding. You’ll share what you want support with, and I’ll offer real-time teaching and intuitive transmissions in response.
I might guide you through a personalized visualization or offer a specific tool or practice.
Each time, you’ll come with questions and frustrations and leave with clarity, inspiration and next steps.
A private community Discord
A creative inspiration refueling station!!
A place to ask questions and get my eyes (+ the eyes of your community members!) on your work — your copy-writing, essays, paintings, landing pages, etc., so you can sharpen and hone your skills.
We also use this space to celebrate wins, share updates and memes, and be supported in community between calls.
Monthly creative play dates.
Think: body-doubling for artists.
At least once a month, we will gather as a community for some creative “co-working,” where meeting your creative edges with curiosity and persistence gets easier and easier because you’re no longer doing it alone!
Live community calls:
Twice a month, we meet as a community for experiential workshops, classes and “spotlight-style” group coaching sessions..
There is a deep healing that happens when you repeatedly allow yourself to be witnessed and supported in a creative community of your peers.
These sessions will change how you experience yourself and your art, leaving you inspired and energized, emboldened to act on behalf of your dreams and desires.
A private 1:1 line to me.
Send private voice and/or text msgs to me throughout your week via a private Voxer channel, and each weekend Friday through Sunday (9 am – 6 pm EST) I’ll catch-up respond!
This is THE place for private, personalized accountability, encouragement, support & sustained momentum between your private and community calls.
Artists love using this space on things like: processing disappointment, celebrating wins, asking creative advice, sharing struggles, sending updates, and more.
Lite, self-paced online resources.
This is not a course. The heart of this program is personalization, and sometimes, when I notice common needs and themes, I will create and add content to your bad grl art club member’s resource portal.
Things you might expect to find in this space are short lessons on topics like moving through creative resistance, a holistic creative metric system to help you chart your growth, the shitty art challenge guidebook and other resources.
A creative self-expansion document.
Upon enrollment, you will be given a private Google Doc that we share in together.
There, I give you monthly writing prompts that gently, lovingly investigate and reshape how you see yourself, your desires and what you believe is possible—and inevitable—for someone like you.
I will read each of your answers, respond with follow-up notes, and offer new questions each month.
This discourse will inform all the other work we do together in the cohort.
How it works:
1. Apply!
Applications help me ensure a diverse and complementary group of artists.
2. If accepted, you’ll receive a message within a week with an invitation to enroll.
Be ready because once accepted, you’ll have five days to secure your spot by enrolling! This helps keep applications on a first-come-first-served basis.
If you have questions you wanna ask prior to applying, send them my way ahead of time at hello(at)ashleytrabue(dot)com
3. Once enrolled, you’ll begin receiving correspondence on next steps!
This is where the work begins but also where you stop expecting yourself to do it all alone.
“ashley knows how to create a warm, inviting, encouraging space for us to work on our projects. I felt inspired and gently ass-kicked, the exact combination I needed to get focused and get to work writing my online course.”
— Rose Crouch, former creative cohort client
What clients are saying about working together:
“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” -HD
“Ashley gently and expertly guides you into a more loving and understanding place about who you are and where your unique creativity comes from.” -CJ
The cost of the program:
$3500 paid-in-full
or
$600/ for six monthly payments
If cost is prohibitive for you, make note of it on your application, as I have some scholarship funds set aside!
Apply
The spell starts here! Take center-stage in your own life & creativity. Apply to join us today.
Spots are first come, first served. Applications will close will spots fill, so if you feel drawn, get yours in while you can!
If accepted, you will hear from me either by text or email within one week. Upon acceptance, you’ll have five days to secure your spot!
The cohort begins mid-August 2026 and runs through through early February 2027 with a brief break for the December holidays.
Applications close when spots fill.
meet your guide
hi! I’m ashley — a lifelong artist, AuDHD, Eldest Daughter who for many years carried myself around like a chronic self-help project to fix, deeply fearful I was Terminally Too Much.
And it’s true! I have big emotions, big opinions, big ideas and desires and dreams, but as I would come to discover — they are not the problem.
Everything began to shift for me when I stopped making myself wrong for being how I am and, instead, began finding new and more loving/ liberating ways of working with and not against myself.
I left my stable job as a Montessori teacher and began following my desires, selling my art to homes all over the globe, exhibiting my work in galleries and fancy hotels, and allowing my art, writing and ideas to be seen and celebrated in the world because I was finally willing to first see and celebrate them in myself.
Since 2020, I’ve been helping other artists, healers and teachers to create and share their art more freely, with less pressure and perfectionism and more pleasure, freedom and joy.
“If you need community and a place to get you moving with your art practice this is it! An amazing program that helped me get my art card deck ready.”
— Genevieve Nolet, former creative cohort client
Who this is for:
This space is for women, non-binary & queer artists with a specific creative project, goal or dream that won’t leave you alone:
a creative business you keep meaning to launch but the “perfect time” never comes
a manuscript you barely started drafting begging you to bring it fully to life
a new body of art burning a hole in your chest but it’s nothing like the work you usually make, so you keep talking yourself out of it
a desire to be the kind of person to regularly fills the sketchbook, books the trip — who lives with more daring and delight
You know this work is important, but every time you feel the discomfort of the actual process — the doubt, the fear, the impulse to cringe — you run the other direction faster than a bombshell on Love Island asking for a kiss.
The discomfort isn’t a sign that anything is wrong; it’s a sign you’re carrying too much alone and need support.
FAQ
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This space centers women, gender-expansive folks and queer people, so if you fall under one or more of those categories, absolutely!!
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The cohort start day is pending the above, but we will kick things off sometime in the second half of August!
Our cohort will run through early February with a couple weeks off from calls and Voxer in December for the holidays.
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The cohort will at the same time each week, three x a month (two creative coaching/workshop-style sessions + one creative co-working call) with a week off each month for rest, life and integration.
You can still use Discord and Voxer 1:1 hours during those weeks without a group call!
As the cohort gathers, I will send out a survey to find a day of the week and a time for our sessions to be hosted.
We will find something that works for everyone, you included! If for some reason that’s not possible, you’ll be refunded your payment.
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I find that when programs are too long (like, say, 12 months) it can be easy to hang in the back of the class and assume, “I have plenty of time — I’ll do more with this later.” But we get good at what we practice, and I want to help you practice leaning IN to your art and saying YES to the things that matter for you.
Six months is long enough to start building real trust and safety both in our coaching relationship but also for you within yourself, and short enough that you feel inspired to lean in and show up! -
If you find that at the end of six-months, you want more support, you can always re-enroll.
A lot of creatives — especially those who opt to work at a group-coaching level — find it helpful to remain in these spaces for longer stretches of time, as they work toward completion of their projects and goals.
Current members will always have first choice or re-enrollment before I open up new spots to the public! -
Even if you don’t have a specific product-based goal (ie like drafting a manuscript, publishing a regular blog, painting a series, etc.) if you have a process-based goal (like showing up weekly to create for the fun of it, writing for myself, exploring new mediums, etc.) the program will likely still be very supportive to you!
There may be corners of it (like our art-crit feedback channel on Discord!) that aren’t for you, but who knows!You might get in and find fun areas of your practice and goals that could benefit from outside love and feedback.
That said, if you’re satisfied in your current creative flow with no complaints or goals you wanna be exploring but aren’t, this probably is not for you!
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This program is meant to be flexible to meet you where you’re at and go as lite or deeply as you like.
In any given month, we have about 5 hours of live-programming available (two 90 minute group coaching calls and one 90 minute creative play date) — sometimes a little more if you have your 1:1 that month. Often, the above sessions will leave you with self-selected quests and things to create and play with.You also have spaces like the Discord channel and 1:1 Voxer Office Hours where you can get hours each week of extra support, but the depth to which you take it is always entirely up to you.
The flexibility of this program offers the infrastructure to support you where you are now, with however much time and energy you want to give!just that.
Real results from my clients + community:
Meghan wrote and recorded an album in our time working together. She then used the tools to go on to write and publish a book of poems in the year following!
Parv went from spiraling in perfection-mode, wasting huge hunks of his weekend perfecting pieces he did not even feel connected to, to building up a deeply-personal body of art he actually enjoyed creating.
Ellen took her robust creative practice and built up multiple income streams around it, so she could work full-time as an artist and community leader!
