Ep. 52 - The Soul Portraits for Healing Conversation with Devorah Brinckerhoff

Some healing happens by talking, and some healing happens when your hands finally tell the truth your mouth can’t. We sit down with artist Devorah Brinkerhoff, creator of Soul Portraits, a mixed media process that helps people turn trauma, grief, and life transitions into art that feels like relief in the body and clarity in the mind. If you’ve ever thought, “I’m not creative,” or you’ve treated creativity like a luxury instead of a tool for survival, this conversation flips that belief on its head. 
 
Devorah shares what it’s like working in the gallery system for decades, why she refuses to create for approval, and how she realized creativity wasn’t just something she did, it was something that helped keep her inner world from “coming out sideways.” From her Oregon studio, she explains how Soul Portraits use the literal materials of your life like letters, photos, journals, and meaningful objects to honor the past, anchor the present, and reveal who you’re becoming. She also breaks down the three ways people work with her: guided workshops, a self-paced course, or sending materials for a commissioned piece when engaging the memories feels too intense. 
 
We also explore worthiness and identity: how painful messages get learned early, how to trace where they started, and how creativity can build self-trust in real time. The big takeaway is simple and brave: what happened to you isn’t who you are, and you can peel back the layers until you feel that truth again. 
 
If this resonates, subscribe or follow, share it with a friend who needs a lift, and leave a five-star written review. What’s one object from your past that still holds emotional weight for you?

Previous Guest Links from episode intro:

RESET Your Buttons with Mary Elizabeth Murphy, S1 Ep1

The Entities of the Emery Estate featuring Christy Parrish - Soulseekers Paranormal NE

Devorah's Links

Soul Portraits Home Page

Inner Voice Creative Exercise

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Credits

Music Credit:  True Living by Patrick Moore

Royalty free music license purchased at soundotcom.com

Transcript

Support The Show

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Just a reminder: make sure you hit subscribe or follow wherever you're listening to this podcast. And two small things you can do if you enjoy the content that will have a huge impact on the podcast. Tell a friend about us, and consider leaving a five-star written review on your favorite podcast app. These two small things help the podcast become more discoverable to others who may enjoy the content. Thanks, and here's this week's episode.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Just being able to be creative like that. Something I've always wanted.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

And then I decided to get another hive, and that turned into a lot of hives.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

As long as I can do that, I want to be a good citizen. Help people out.

SPEAKER_05 1:08

Putting themselves out there, taking chances, and navigating challenges along the way.

SPEAKER_04 1:15

I I absolutely identified with having stage right because, you know, anytime I went on stage, I just felt like I was having a hot attack.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Very first lap, very first practice session, I crashed, turned the car upside down, made a spectacle of myself, and I got back on that horse and started riding again.

SPEAKER_05 1:31

As they pursue what makes them happy and brings them joy.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

As long as people are having a good time and I have the opportunity to put smiles on people's faces, I love what I do.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

I have done things that I never thought I could do. To have somebody tell me how real it looks and how, you know, from their actual memory. Because that's telling me I captured what I was trying to get.

Creativity As A Healing Path

SPEAKER_05 1:59

Welcome to Assorted Conversations. I'm your host, Helen. Hello, hello, hello, and thanks for tuning in. I hope you're all doing well. Here in Massachusetts, it's starting to look a lot like spring, but I'm still waiting for it to start feeling like spring. The snow from our blizzard of 2026 is is almost all melted, believe it or not. It's only taken a couple months. The sun is shining, but if anybody has any pull with Mother Nature, please ask her to get the temps out of the 20s for us. It's almost April for crying out loud. Before we jump into this week's conversation, just a few updates to share. Previous guest, Mary Elizabeth Murphy, who shared her Reset Your Buttons model with us, has rebooted her Reset Your Buttons podcast and dropped season one, Episode 1 on March 24th. So run, don't walk, to listen and watch and subscribe. I love seeing what previous guests are up to. Another update from Paranormal Investigator Christy Parrish. She and the Emery Estate were recently featured on a gripping and very active episode web series from SoulSeekers Paranormal New England. And she's got more in store for her own series coming up. We'll keep you posted on that. Links to the Reset Your Buttons podcast and the Soulseeker New England episode are in the show notes. Now, this week's conversation is all about letting creativity become an avenue to heal from past trauma, transform your perceptions of yourself, and create self-connection with the truly beautiful, strong, and brave people we all have within us. Take a listen in this week's episode, and I'll see you on the other side. Today's guest believes art isn't just something we create, it's something that can heal us. She's a professional gallery-represented artist of more than 30 years and the creator of Soul Portraits, a transformational process that blends mixed media art with deep spiritual and emotional healing. Her work began with her journey, tearing up journals, photographs, and mementos from her life and reconstructing them into a powerful visual stories. What started as expression became transformation, releasing trauma, shedding limiting beliefs, and reclaiming her authentic self. Now, from her Oregon studio, she guides others to do the same, helping them turn pain into empowerment and reconnect with their soul's truth. I am so happy to welcome Devorah Brinkerhoff to Assorta Conversations. Hi, Davora. Hey Helen. How are you?

SPEAKER_07 5:18

How are you? I'm good. How are you? Happy to be here.

Gallery Life And Artistic Freedom

SPEAKER_05 5:21

Oh, I'm happy to have you. So you're a gallery represented artist for 30 years. What exactly does that mean?

SPEAKER_07 5:33

It means that you connect with different galleries that like your work and you like them, and you enter into a relationship where they're selling your work and taking a commission for it.

SPEAKER_05 5:47

Okay. Okay. And what kind of what what did you mainly work in?

SPEAKER_07 5:54

At the time, you mean what media did I I was doing oil on canvas. Like that was that was my go-to for more than than well, for so many decades. I was gonna say more than 30 years, which is true. Mixed media was sprinkled throughout that and really it transitioned to predominantly mixed media since since about 2019. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 6:24

And I mean, how how early were you involved in creating art?

SPEAKER_07 6:30

I can't remember a time when I wasn't creating art, whether it was like mud pies in the backyard or you know, making forts out of haylofts, right? I it's all creativity. So drawing, like traditional drawing and painting, it was always part of my world, whether it was coloring books or just scraps of paper. I was pretty much always drawing or doodling in the margins of any paper that was within arm's reach.

SPEAKER_05 6:59

Oh, that's funny. I used to too. It never panned out for me, though. I just didn't have the talent.

SPEAKER_07 7:06

I see, I just want to argue with you, Helen, because I don't think it's about talent. I, you know, I think that it doesn't have to be a career, but it is such a source of well-being that if you enjoy drawing and doodling and whatever creative source that you have, I was like, get to it, woman. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:26

Oh, that's that's funny. Because as I take notes, I either take them in an outline or it's a diagram and I have arrows going everywhere, almost like little mini flow charts. Yeah, perfect drawing. So funny. So as as you worked through 30 years as a gallery represented artist, that's amazing. That's that's an awful lot of work. What were, you know, as you continue to work through and and work with the galleries, what was the experience like?

SPEAKER_07 8:00

For the most part, I had really positive experiences with the galleries. There were certain things that are just part of that system that I want to push back against and did push back against just naturally. I was never somebody that was going to do 30 of the same paintings. I there was no way. So I, you know, I know people who who do do that, and I just would have been so incredibly bored. So there was no signature like look from me. I think there's a a thread of style, but I was always changing and evolving. And so my work really reflected that. When I was pregnant and had young children, I painted in a very different way, like in a way I had never painted before or since. And so that work I'm always like, huh. What version of me created all of that? And, you know, looking back, I understand it. Hindsight is 2020. I understand it a little bit better. But it really, I was one to follow where creativity wanted to lead. And that was always true for me. Always, always. Even in the beginning, before, you know, when I was just in high school and making, making artwork, I was also taking classes at the local college because I had run out of new classes to take in high school. And people would look at my work and say, well, why won't you make that prettier? That why won't you make that like more pleasant? And I and I was like, Well, it's pleasant to me. And and it was just something internal that I was following. And so that, if anything, that was kind of the edge in galleries because they would never know what they were gonna get from me. And I think that made them uncomfortable. Not always, because some of what they got from me like did really, really well. And they're like, I want more of that. And I'm like, well, yeah, it's if it strikes me, yeah. Right. And and so I was even like, it's not even really striking me. Like, there's just something else that I'm following. Yes, it's a part of me, but there's a bigger thing happening that I just really respect and and don't mess with, you know.

SPEAKER_05 10:20

Yeah, it you know, it it's funny uh thinking about and and and kind of knowing, you know, what you do now. Uh-huh. Preparing pieces for galleries. Like I could see like there's there's other opinions that are going to get involved, and I can see I can sense that that would be stifling.

SPEAKER_07 10:41

Yeah, it didn't work very well for me. And and and I there was really no animosity. Like I really enjoyed working with the different galleries that I worked with. I would get frustrated if there, if I received a message of, well, that's too naked, it won't sell. And I'm like, you don't know like who's gonna resonate, right? There's this like projected assumption and also with a goal of selling. And for me, it was never about like, of course, I want my work to sell, but more than that, what I really got excited about and still get excited about is then when people resonate with a piece, something inside of them is waking up, coming alive.

SPEAKER_05 11:23

Right.

SPEAKER_07 11:23

It's their relationship to themselves that matters. It was never, and then they then they want to be in relationship to that part of themselves on a daily basis. And I love that. Like that's that's amazing.

SPEAKER_05 11:37

Right, right.

SPEAKER_07 11:38

Well, but I'm not sitting there saying, like, oh, I'm gonna paint this so I get that.

SPEAKER_05 11:43

That I couldn't do that. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I'm gonna paint this because this is what people are looking for and this is what's going to sell. So it's kind of the difference between creating for approval and creating for fulfillment. Yes. Yeah. At what point did you begin to feel a shift from creating for approval to creating for truth? Or was that just your main method all along?

SPEAKER_07 12:13

I think that was my main method all along. When I had a desire or expectation, when my ego was involved, because of course it feels good to sell, like ego is involved, and that's normal. I don't reject that at all. When I started to get really wrapped up with if something did well or didn't do well, that turned me back towards why why am I looking for that? What is what is missing inside of me that wants to fill it up with external validation or approval? And it was always a question of how can I return to to what's meaningful to me for me rather than the other way around? It's an inside out kind of thing. It starts inside and then and then reaches the places and people it needs to reach. Did I answer that?

SPEAKER_05 13:09

Yeah, you did. You did. You absolutely did. When did you first realize art wasn't just something you did, but it was something that did something for you?

SPEAKER_07 13:22

That is a great question. And I kind of giggle now because it took me a really long time to clue into that. It's only really in the last 10 years, 15 years, that I was like, oh, this is helping me release my own inner world so that it doesn't come out sideways, right? Because prior to that, it was coming out sideways. And I just think like if I hadn't had creativity as an outlet or wasn't actively using creativity as an outlet, I would have been so much more harmful and so much more of a mess than I already was. So I didn't really, really, really understand what creativity was doing for me until probably about 10 years ago, where I'm like, oh wow, if this is helping me like this, we're really missing this whole toolbox, right? It's it's a whole nother, I just want to say, like, basket of gold that we don't really drop into and and utilize, and and we could, right? Yeah, we we we really could get a lot out of it.

SPEAKER_05 14:36

Yeah, I I I think, and again, my you know, it's just my opinion. I I think a lot of folks look at doing art, painting, sculpting, you know, doing anything like that as relaxation and just relaxation and enjoyment. And and I don't think a lot a lot of folks, although art therapy has been around for years, I I still don't think mainstream folks view creativity as as a means to help them heal from trauma and from stresses.

SPEAKER_07 15:13

Yeah. No, I think it's really easy to dismiss. And there are so many gatekeepers within the creative fields that say only if you go to that school, or only if you got into this dance company, or only if you're, you know, a five-star whatever chef and whatever restaurant in whatever city, then you're a legitimate source. But but as soon as it becomes like a pressure, again, means to an end kind of outcome, we lose sight of how like joyful it is inherently, just when we're in the process of making, simply for the to see where it's gonna take us, right? Like I sometimes know where a painting is going, but I never know how it's gonna get there. I might have an idea before I get to the studio or a dream I had, an image that caught my eye. But for the most part, there is no end goal. I and and I feel like it is disrespectful to the process, to the open-endedness of and possibility to say, I'm gonna make it and it's gonna look just like this, and this is how. And some people work like that, and that's great. And there's nothing wrong with that. That has not been where I have gotten that hit of self-connection and joy and peace and freedom, the kind of moving from my mind into my heart wisdom, which is just joyful. Like it feels so good. And so it's that feeling. Again, I can't go into the studio and say, well, I'm going for that. It either happens or it doesn't. But I it's more like turning a channel out of one, out of personality, out of expectation, and entering into a different space that says, I am open and ready. That's gonna be so liberating.

SPEAKER_05 17:07

Because, you know, when I think of my day-to-day, it's you know, there's a lot of things you do because they're expected of you or you're responsible for them. And to be able to cut loose and just be creative and say, this pen is gonna go wherever it's gonna go, yeah, has to be really liberating. And but but very hard to do if you are so used to being buttoned down and being responsible and doing what's expected.

SPEAKER_07 17:37

It's true. It is hard. And I think, especially with the people that come to me, they're very used to following direction and wanting to know how and what steps to follow in order to get such and such result. And and so much of what I teach is is like, can you suspend all of that and enter into a deeper place inside of you that already knows and to practice that internal self-trust? And it's practice, right? It takes time to turn off the rules and to tune into possibilities.

Trauma Origins Behind Soul Portraits

SPEAKER_05 18:15

Yeah. I'm sure you you hear it pretty often. I don't have a creative bone in my body. How do you help coach somebody through that?

SPEAKER_07 18:28

Well, I just say that it's emphatically not true. And we're all born creative, and we each have our own creative language, our own fingerprint of creativity that helps connect us to us. So, whatever that is, right? It can be gardening, it can be cooking, it can be dance, it can be music, it can be a podcast like what you're doing. Like we all have the creative language that's unique to us. And so the joy is finding out what lights you up, and that is your creative language. So we we tend to make it so narrow, like what is creativity? And I just want to really open up that definition to what makes you excited, joyful, and while you're doing it, lose track of time. Whatever that activity is, is creativity.

SPEAKER_05 19:26

And so, since you've discovered all of this for yourself and within your work, what was going on at the time that you kind of put the pieces together and it led you in the direction of creating soul portraits?

SPEAKER_07 19:45

Well, I was in a really, really dark time in my life. I had just been sued by my parents and my husband's parents and excommunicated from my family. Oh god. And um, I did not know what to do because I didn't know who I was without them. And we had certainly had a different challenging relationships. I had always been that that one in the family that kind of quote unquote didn't belong, like in the Sesame Street pictures, like which one doesn't fit. I didn't really fit and I made a lot of people uncomfortable, not intentionally, but just the way I move through the world is a bit challenging, I guess, for for the rule following, kind of very, I don't know how to say highly educated. Do this to get, yeah, do this, get this degree, and then get that level of success. And, you know, so I I was heartbroken and I was dealing when I got pregnant, I it was a huge triggering part of my life. And it uncovered that I had always wanted to have children, like really always. And when I finally got pregnant, I was like, why don't I feel over the moon? And it wasn't just because I had terrible all-day sickness, it was because I had an early childhood sexual abuse history that I had completely buried and did not know of. And so having something else that wasn't me in my body felt very wrong to my body. And all of my alarm bells started going off. And it led down this 10 year process of sort of uncovering what that means. And really, in doing so, much of my early life started to make sense. So actually, it was a relief to have that information.

SPEAKER_05 21:58

I am so sorry that's happened to you.

SPEAKER_07 22:01

Well, it was awful, right? Like, and and for me, there's and it was interesting because there was a moment, several moments at different times where I'm like, I don't want to deal with this. Like, I don't know how to deal with this. And more than anything, I'm terrified of what will happen if I actually say what's going on. Like, what is the fallout going to be? And and that heartbreak, the only way I knew how to deal with it was to lean in, right? Because I I couldn't stand this idea of people thinking so poorly of me, but I also couldn't change how they felt about me. There was no amount of explanation that was going to shift their viewpoint. And so I reread all of those letters and I reread the legal documents and I sifted through photographs and I revisited, you know, fear and anger and hatred, but I also revisited love and connection and support. And in doing so, it was so clear to me that none of it, it was all experience. And underneath those experiences, at the end of the day, who I am underneath those experiences is what matters. And can I live from that version of myself? And that's what soul portraits are all about like ripping up the layers and the limiting beliefs and the false identities. Like, who are we beneath those? And every time I ripped something up, it was like a little somatic relief. I didn't have to, I didn't have to explain my story. I let the materials speak for me. I didn't have to worry about getting the words right. I didn't have to worry about defamation. I didn't have to worry about any. I just let the materials speak for me. And I was making everything more digestible. Every time I ripped something up, it became something I could integrate and automatically acknowledge. Like I could acknowledge every version of myself that I was revisiting and saying, I see you.

SPEAKER_05 24:14

Right.

SPEAKER_07 24:14

And I haven't seen you, right? Like I've exiled you myself, I've pushed you away, I've judged you, I've criticized you. And in this process, I'm acknowledging you, I'm accepting you, I'm allowing you to have the space.

SPEAKER_05 24:28

Yeah, it was something that happened to you. It is not you. Exactly. So what was your first step in getting to that point, but then discovering that, hey, this might be able to help other folks too.

SPEAKER_07 24:45

Well, that same day, because I just it was probably like four or five hours that I spent like revisiting and ripping and gluing materials down. And I stood back and I I I was sort of in this just other world, right? The world of creativity. But I stood back and realized in that moment what I was doing and it and and I felt so different. There was such very potent sense of relief that there was this awareness in this process of knowing that just what you just said, like this experience happened and it's not who I am. It doesn't define me. And that was a it people say I like AI says it all the time and it drives me crazy. And I'm just about to say it. It was a game changer to realize that. Like, like everything shifted, and and I realized that it's all perception. Everything is learned, everything. And we we were our lives are being run by these experiences of a seven-year-old or a three-year-old, and that those are the programs running in the background. And without awareness, like we're sort of powerless to do anything about it. And I felt the change inside my body. It was like releasing stuck energy, and I was a different person in a matter of hours.

SPEAKER_05 26:11

So you pretty much realized in the moment that you were healing.

SPEAKER_07 26:17

Yeah, I don't know that I would have said, Oh, I'm healing. I just felt like such a sense of empowerment and relief. And then I spent the next probably four years doing that on repeat for myself, just like more and more and more. What other layers can I peel back? What else can I let go of? Who am I underneath this layer? Who I am, who am I underneath this next layer on repeat? And then I and then I was like, oh, I'm going to open up the invitation to friends and family, and then I'm gonna open up the invitation to the community and then really see like how this can help other people in real time.

SPEAKER_05 26:57

Yeah, so it became not just your personal process, but something that you could share with others.

SPEAKER_07 27:05

Yeah, I felt like I had to. Like despite being a total hermit and not really liking to be in front of an audience or a camera, I was like, I I have to because this is too powerful and too easy not to.

SPEAKER_05 27:23

How did you come up with the name Soul Portraits?

How Soul Portraits Work

SPEAKER_07 27:27

There are so many iterations. I I feel like lived experience kind of piles on top of our essence, on top of who we really are. And so this idea of peeling back to get to the core of who we are, and that underneath it all is the soul that we came in with, the soul that wants us to expand and experience freedom and joy and empowerment. So they're not really about any kind of likeness or capturing, because who can capture a soul? Right, but it's more about can you reconnect with the truth of who you are, aka your soul. And so that's that's how the name came to be.

SPEAKER_05 28:13

And what makes this different from traditional art therapy?

SPEAKER_07 28:19

I think of therapy in general as going in to just talk, talk about your life. I think of art therapy as talking about your childhood, and I think of soul portraits as working with the literal actual materials of your life and your childhood to see what they have to say, that version of you. I really believe in energy and that our we leave, we have an energetic signature that like our fingerprints are the same from birth till death. So I think of soul portraits as the energetic signature. And when we pick up a letter or a photograph, the energy of who we were when we wrote or received that letter, when the photograph was taken, is in the photograph. It's in the letter. And I don't even care if you make a photocopy of the letter or the photograph, it's then in the in it gets transferred into whatever it is that you're working with. So I think of our materials as a direct representation of those versions of ourselves, energetically speaking, and that when we're working with them, we go back in time to when those experiences happened. And as we engage with them and really acknowledge them, then they're free to move on. And we've released all of this energy that's like trapped in our body.

SPEAKER_05 29:51

When when somebody sits down to create a soul portrait, well, actually, you offer this in in a couple of different ways. Why don't you share the the different ways folks can connect with a soul portrait?

SPEAKER_07 30:06

So I there are there are three different ways. One is a workshop, and I tend to organize those around like a certain a specific experience. So divorce or suicide or or veterans, for example. And then people can also get get a course and do it themselves in their own in their own space at their own pace, and they can come back to it as they're ready. So there's a lot of flexibility. Well, there's really a lot of flexibility with all of them, but that's the course. And then the third option is a commission. And so people send me their materials and I do it for them. And the same thing happens, it's just energy. And it doesn't really matter who is witnessing the energy, it matters that it's witnessed, and that's what helps it move. And so people often send me their materials when they are struggling to engage with their materials themselves because it they feel flooded by it if it's too overwhelming or too upsetting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:11

And so But does the final piece actually help them? Like what where is their healing or what did they get out of the commissioned piece?

SPEAKER_07 31:21

So I love it when I love explaining this to people as like you go ahead and send me what you think is unacceptable and and so quote unquote ugly about you, and I will send you back your beauty. So when people work with me directly, I am witnessing them, their story, their lived experience, but through a lens of love and compassion. Because I've made like so many of my own mistakes and have really walked through my own trenches, there's no part of me that wants to judge anyone. And I'm talking, I have sat across the table from people who have murdered, raped, sexual violence, like the whole nine yards. And it's, I have a lot of compassion. It's not about judging anyone. Again, I'm not condoning it, but I'm saying, how do we hold this so that it we can stop the cycle? And part of that is like allowing stories to be told, whatever they are, which includes everyone who's been greatly harmed by them. I can go down so many rabbit holes there. So I'm gonna try and stay on track here. So the process itself is like three-pronged. The materials are about honoring the past. The there's a portion of it in the in the center of the middle of the process that is really meant to anchor who people are right now in the in the moment. And so if I'm working with them, there's a little bit of a back and forth. Like what poem, what quote, what free writing do you feel captures you in the moment right now that resonates right now? And I'll rewrite that in my own hand to capture and anchor who they are now. And then the over image, which is the main focal point of the piece, is who are they stepping into? What is the beauty and power that they are ready to step into as a reminder about what's possible and who they know they are underneath all of it. So, so that's so that when they get this piece back, what they're really focusing on is remembering that they've survived everything and that there's a chance to step into somebody who's more powerful, more free, more empowered, and excited about who they're becoming. So, who have you been and who are you becoming is what they're about.

SPEAKER_05 33:55

Oh, fantastic. Well, what are the typical reactions when folks get their pieces?

SPEAKER_07 34:01

So I always get a little nervous because the over image is channeled essentially and very much based on the material and what images come through while I'm working with somebody's material. So I never ever know what it's gonna be ever until it's done. And then they never know what it's gonna be. So I make sure ahead of time that people like resonate with my style, but really they feel such a sense of relief, whether they're doing it themselves in a course or a workshop or or me doing it for them, it's a it's a sense of relief. And like, oh, I didn't have any idea like how beautiful I am, right? That's like because I'm seeing their power, I'm seeing their beauty, I'm seeing their love. So, and then I'm showing them that version of themselves that they have a hard time trusting inside of themselves. I think trusting is the right word that they don't know is possible. So I I show them their beauty. And so when they look at it, they're reminded, oh, wait a second, I'm more than I thought I was. I'm more than this experience, I'm more than the divorce, I'm more than this, whatever.

SPEAKER_05 35:16

I think everybody can can use a little of that, even if there isn't, you know, past trauma. I think everybody's got this stinking thinking voice in their head and need to check up from the neck up on occasion.

SPEAKER_07 35:28

Yes, totally. All the time, really. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 35:31

For for folks that do the the workshop with you and they want to do it on their own, but they they want your input. Um when they sit down with you, what are they often bringing to you?

SPEAKER_07 35:47

Do you in a workshop or in what in the court? Like so people have access to me, you know, they can ask questions. Is that what you're asking? Like in a community coaching kind of thing.

Materials People Bring And Why

SPEAKER_05 35:57

Um like in your in your workshop. I'm assuming I'm just picturing that there are, you know, five or six people coming to the workshop because they want to do it themselves. They want to do it in person and they want some guidance from you. So, you know, what are the types of materials folks bring?

SPEAKER_07 36:12

People bring people really what I love is that they know what ahead of time, like they have an idea pretty clearly. Because the question is always what is the experience that you've had that you feel like is still like really getting in your way or running the show from from behind the scenes or next to you or taking over the car ride? They bring those materials. So often it's you know, letters and photos and journals and all of that, but people, one person brought like hundreds of bottles of nail polish because she she had been in a uh very violent relationship, and her ex had actually tried to kill her. And in the really I know it gets pretty dark, in the relationship, he chose her outfit, and every day she had to paint her fingernails and toenails to match whatever outfit he chose. And and so she brought nail polish and dumped them out, Jackson Pollock style, on her canvas, and then in nail polish over the top wrote trust your gut. And that was her piece. And so, yeah, and it's anything, anything goes. People have brought in metals, people have brought in that they've then smashed and like put the chunks on it. People like really anything goes. People have brought in ashes for loved ones who have passed when I'm doing a commission. Sometimes people send me ashes to fold into the paint that it turns into this remembrance, you know, that goes beyond an urn or a burial plot that says, here it is. I'm honoring my relationship to this person, and I've given grief a safe place to land out of my own body. Wow. Like, how do I address how do I address these two babies that were born, still born, or right? You know, so so people know what it is that they want to bring, and there are no rules. Like you will know.

SPEAKER_05 38:24

Wow. What what changes do you witness in your clients as they're working through this? And and again, probably talking more about the folks that you see in a workshop.

SPEAKER_07 38:36

I see people practice that connection to themselves in real time, which feels good. And so it's this starts off with how do I do this? Am I doing this right? Is this okay? This photograph isn't laying down well. Like there are tricks to how to get the materials to do what you want them to do. But more than anything, the transformation goes from questioning and uncertainty to I've got this. Like, I know how to do this. I just am following this inner part of me, and it feels so good to do that. And then they know what it's like to tune into their intuition, to tune into their own answers, their inner wisdom, and take that out into the world, into their daily lives. And so it's that sense of relief paired with empowerment that happens in a matter, well, it depends on how long the workshop is, but the length of the workshop.

SPEAKER_05 39:38

Wow. That's fantastic. Does any does anybody ever reach back out to you and check in or do you reach out to former students?

SPEAKER_07 39:47

I try to leave them alone unless they want to connect with me. I love hearing from them. And I love it when people like I'll get out on a random Tuesday afternoon, somebody will send me a snapshot of their piece that they made and say, Oh, I just noticed this thing that I hadn't seen before, and I got this new insight, and it's so awesome. Or notice how the sun hit this corner, or thought of you today because I felt a reconnection to myself that I haven't felt since the workshop. And like it's so nice to hear. Yeah, I love hearing from people.

Starting From Worthlessness To Self Trust

SPEAKER_05 40:25

It's beautiful. But for someone who feels invisible or unsure of their worth, where would you tell them to begin?

SPEAKER_07 40:35

That's such a great question, Helen. It's that's a really hard place to be. And there's a reason why they're there, right? And so I really want to encourage that that that lens is a learned lens. It's not the truth of who they are. And if they lean into rather than avoid where that came from, if they were to lean into it and start asking questions about where did I first receive this message and what materials are associated with that message? And is that message really true? Do I want to keep that message alive? Do I want to do something different? And of course we want to do something different. Are we willing to sit with feeling that lack of worthiness and question its truth? I would ask them to begin revisiting their the different versions and layers of themselves. And ask, like, what's underneath that version? What's underneath that layer? Because if we peel it back enough, we're gonna get to this ember inside of us that is just pure love. And that's that's where the relief is. I like that.

SPEAKER_05 41:55

I like that a lot.

SPEAKER_07 41:57

Like, keep going, just please keep going.

SPEAKER_05 42:00

Yeah, yeah. I uh but I can also see, and and I've been in that in the uh situation at times where you you can't see the forest through the trees or the trees through the forest, however that goes.

SPEAKER_07 42:14

Yeah, exactly. Me too, and it's extremely painful, and you have to take it on faith that you're more than you think you are. Yeah, like always.

SPEAKER_05 42:24

Yeah. Why do you believe creativity is such a direct pathway to the soul?

SPEAKER_07 42:32

Because I think we're all born creative, and I think that when we are in that space of doing something creative, again, whatever your creative language is, I feel like it connects us to our inherent divinity. So, and I and I don't think you can if if you're in that space which is so joyful, I think it's hard to dismiss the power of it. And and if we started to live in trust of our creativity, just imagine what the world would be like today.

SPEAKER_05 43:07

Right. My God, all the problems will would be solved.

SPEAKER_07 43:12

Right? Everyone needs to do a soul problem. There you go. And maybe several. Several. I mean, seriously, I've done so many. It's like a meditation now, right? Like it's just meditation. It's just another form of of self-connection, which meditation is. So creativity is play, right? Creativity is play. Play connects us to that other part of us that is what I think is our our divinity. Yeah. And and what a great way to move through the world, like through play. And again, like if play for you is is cooking, like I don't like cooking. I would love to come eat your food. So, right? Like we can all work together so that our creativity is in benefit, is in service of all.

SPEAKER_05 44:00

What a great world it would be. Right. So what's what's next for for you and for soul portraits?

SPEAKER_07 44:09

Well, more and more are commissions. Like I started doing mini soul portraits just because they're they're they're more practical. Like I love working large. My my work can be like six by eight feet wide. Not very I love it. Not very many people have that wall space. So I started making little ones like for people on on the outside of journals. So to make really personalized gifts for for somebody who loves to journal or small eight by eight inch ones, which was a challenge for me to go from like seven by eight feet to um to eight inches. I'm like, there's no way. And then it I it turns out that it's really quite fun. And the materials just they I follow them, I follow their lead. And I always ask for more than what they think I anybody can use. But that's really what I'm doing more of now, so that they can fit into small little nooks or on somebody's altar. Or I mean, people have such neat ceremonies these days. So they're soul portraits part of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 45:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:19

Where can folks find you on the internet and see your work and learn more about soul portraits in case they want to connect?

SPEAKER_07 45:28

So I have a couple of different pages on Facebook and on Instagram. On Instagram, it's just my name, Devorah Brinkerhoff. That'll take you to Soul Portraits. And DhakeArt is also on Instagram, and that will take you to my art page. And they there's so much overlap there because one just naturally leads to the other. Right. Um, and and that's the same for Facebook as well. I have a Soul Portrait page, which is just Soul Portraits with my names, and Devorah Brinkerhoff is sort of like a mishmash of both of them, and then an art page, Devorah Haik on on art on Facebook.

SPEAKER_05 46:11

I will I will have all those links in the show notes so folks can connect with you and see your work and hopefully commission a project or get involved in a workshop.

SPEAKER_07 46:21

Yeah, they're fun.

SPEAKER_05 46:22

Lastly, what what's the one thing you hope your work will bring to others?

SPEAKER_07 46:34

Self-connection. I I love thinking about how this, whether they're making it themselves or resonate with a painting that I've made in the past, really what they're doing is connecting to themselves. And I love that. We're always like the paintings are a bridge between me and whoever buys them. But really, whatever it is that resonates with them is the bridge to a deeper level of who they are and their own self-connection and and the relationship that we have with ourselves to me is the most important relationship we can have.

SPEAKER_05 47:12

Yeah. Yeah. And in bringing that to others, what what do you get out of that? What does that bring to you?

SPEAKER_07 47:21

Oh, I get so excited. I get so excited because because, right, like you were talking earlier, that place of suffering. Like I spent so many years not only feeling unworthy, but but really apologizing for my own existence. And that is a prison that I never want people to live in. And so if people are engaging with me in my work, there is a deeper mission of self-love and self-compassion and self-forgiveness that that is really my mission. It and it just happens that it comes through the tool of art and creativity. It's it is constantly the invitation to love ourselves more. And when people resonate with my work, they want, they're resonating with that message because that's what that's the foundation of what my work is. Even if it's even if I'm painting something like that's pretty ugly, quote unquote, really it's like, can you accept the ugly parts of yourself and love them too? Right. So it all comes back to ugly isn't even real because it's just a platform for you to love yourself more.

SPEAKER_05 48:36

Interesting. It's a completely different perspective for me.

SPEAKER_07 48:42

Yeah. Okay. Nice.

SPEAKER_05 48:45

Well, Devorah, thank you so much for all of your time. This has been fantastic. I love what you do, and I love the healing and the awareness and the self-connection that you're bringing to folks. So thank you for doing what you do.

SPEAKER_07 49:01

Thanks, Helen. My pleasure.

SPEAKER_05 49:12

Wow. Through Soul Portraits, what Devorah is bringing to folks in need of healing from anything: handling grief, navigating transition, finally conquering self-esteem, and so many other things that bog us down, sap our joy, and distort our perceptions of ourselves is truly inspirational in my opinion. She shows us it's okay to see every layer of ourselves, even the ones that are dark, ugly, or painful, and pale them back to reveal the beauty and the light underneath that's being covered up by lived experiences and misunderstood perceptions so we can reconnect with our authentic selves. If you or someone you love is struggling, please consider looking into Soul Portraits to see if Devorah could help. Jump down to the show notes for links to her work and Soul Portraits offerings. And while you're down there, don't forget to connect with me. All links to my socials are included as well. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in two weeks.