Ready To Connect
A podcast about spiritual, metaphysical and everything in between.
Ready To Connect
Episode 39: Interviews and Stories from Dynamic People: Kimberly Heil
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In this episode of Ready To Connect: Interviews and Stories From Dynamic People, we sit down with intuitive artist, art therapist, and energy practitioner: Kimberly Heil. Learn with us about how she helps individuals heal by rediscovering their creativity and authentic voice through the process of making art. You can find more about Kimberly by visiting her website kimberlyheil.com or check out her instagram page @artistkimberlyheil.
Want to share a story or experience? Send us an email to readytoconnectpodcast@gmail.com or reach out to us through our social media. Consider becoming a supporter through Patreon and get access to bonus content. Get Ready To Connect!
This podcast is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers' own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of their affiliated organizations.
SPEAKER_03Welcome back, everybody, to Ready to Connect. I'm Lisa. I'm Heather. And unfortunately, Ryan's not with us this week, but he will be back next week. Don't don't you fear. We promise. Today we're going to continue our series of interviews and stories from dynamic people. But before we get to our guest, I would love to know what you have been up to, Heather.
SPEAKER_04Oh, we had a rainy weekend this weekend. We did for Memorial Day. It was a good uh good weekend to binge a Netflix series and you know. Any good show? The Burrows on Netflix. The Burrows? Yes. What kind of show is that? I know sci-fi, but it's kind of funny. I don't I don't know. I have to check it out. I think you I think you'll like it.
SPEAKER_03Burrows spelt like a neighborhood burrow or burrows like burrowing under the B-U-R- Okay. Burrows. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Burrows. Yeah. So it's about like uh in the middle of a desert, there's this retirement place. And then it goes sci-fi from there. I'm not gonna spoil it for you. Okay, well, I'm the club retirement.
SPEAKER_03Am I gonna be scared watching this?
SPEAKER_04No, no, it'll just make you second guess going into an assisted living facility. Well, let's hope that never is in my future. Um exactly, exactly. But a retirement community where you can, like, you know, in Arizona. So, you know. Well, I have a friend who lives in Arizona, but out there absolutely. Um, so it was a great weekend just to relax, decompress a little bit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I know you're hoping to get to your kayaks. Would you at least get your racks on? The racks are on, okay. Yeah, I gotta clean up the kayaks.
SPEAKER_04The mouse nest is gone out of the kayak. Yeah, we do like the kayaks for that thing, too. So we're ready to go. We're ready to get on the water. Now we just need the water to warm up a little bit more.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that'll be good. That'll be good. Yeah. Yeah. This weekend, unfortunately, I don't know what took hold of me. I think it was a combination of allergies and a bad cold. I have been um popping medication to just deal with just you. And I know it's not me. Um, but I had the aches and the pains, uh that kind of thing, a lot of congestion, a lot of coughing. No fun, no fun. No fun. But we did have some, you know, my two kids who live here in Connecticut did come see us, which was fun. And, you know, get to see my grandson who's I can't believe he's gonna be one year old. I I don't I can't either. Like it's I mean it's amazing. We're celebrating his birthday this coming Sunday, which will be a lot of fun. And I will actually have all three of my kids under the same roof, which as a mom, you know, this is amazing. And I but to watch him and just how he interacts and how he, you know, he'll do something, then look around to see if anyone saw him or look for that approval. It's just I it's just to see it on the other end, you know, not as a parent but as a grandparent, it's just really wonderful. Um, so that was a lot of fun. And then um I just had to, I probably should have stayed in bed, but I just had to go see the new Star Wars movie out. Oh my gosh. Mandalorian and Grogu, which I'm gonna say it was a lot of fun to watch. If people are asking me, do I need to go see it in the theater or can I wait for Disney Plus? I'm I'm always a theater girl, so I like to be in the theater, but I don't think it's not like that kind of blockbuster thing of the Star Wars franchise, but um it would be fine as a standalone on Disney Plus too, if you get Disney Plus, but I just enjoy being in the theater, so um, especially now they have the recline chairs with the heating and all that kind of stuff, but um, it was a lot of fun to go watch, so I enjoyed that, and that was my weekend. So um, and before we bring in our uh next guest, we have a shout-out. We have a new supporter for you on our Patreon.
SPEAKER_04Let's give her a shout-out. Beautiful Nancy, Nancy Zajak. We are so grateful you are in our lives. We love you, and we can't wait to see you. Um, thank you for supporting us. Thank you for being here for us and coming out when there's live events and many more to come. Many blessings.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So um, as always, you can support RH Connect by going to our Patreon and choosing any of the tiers that fit your interests for our podcast. Um, but yeah, so thank you, Nancy. Thank you so much. Okay, so we're ready. Let's bring in our guest for today, our dynamic person for this podcast is Kimberly Hale, who we met at the Astrological Society's New Age Fair. Right? New Age Fair. Um, she is an intuitive artist and art therapist and has amazing energy. And being an expressive artist, I just fell in love with her booth, her art. She was selling books and card decks, of which I purchased um one of her books called Visual Alchemy, which I love, not just the art, but the poetry that goes with it. And the two card decks um I purchased were Gift of Spirit, which is all animals, and it it looks like it could be something used for the youth as well. Um, and the visual alchemy oracle. And both Heather and I this morning decided to choose cards from these decks, but we could talk about that later. But we can just talk about that later. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. But so anyway, welcome, Kim, to our podcast. So great to meet you. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. I hope you feel that way at the end of our interview. So we have lots of questions to grow you with. Okay. First of all, I just want to say I love seeing the artwork behind you. Is that all your own artwork? It is. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. That one's in that one is in the Oracle deck. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. So um, unfortunately, our listeners can't see that, but just trust us, uh, it's beautiful. Absolutely. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Kimberly, I'm so excited. I absolutely love the animal deck. Um, it's just so uplifting, even though it's very simple and it's it's wonderful for all ages, right? And if you've got a deck and you love animals, this um gifts of spirit, animals and their natural gifts, it sings to my heart. And thank you. Thank you for being you and who you are, and for creating such a wonderful way to connect without getting too complicated, too. That's the other thing. Sometimes tarot and oracle can just get so complicated, and this is just so simple and straightforward and what you contemplate. And we're very grateful that you're here.
SPEAKER_05Thank you so much. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03Let's get right to our questions for you, right? We got questions, we got lots of questions. So, uh first, and we might be giggling through this. How do you describe yourself if you're meeting someone for the first time, like when I met you at the fair? How are you going to describe yourself? For if someone's meeting for are you the artist? Are you the therapist? Are you a story? Well, how do you describe yourself?
SPEAKER_02Yes, I am all of that. And again, it depends on what environment I'm meeting people in. So professionally, I am an art therapist. Outside of doing art therapy, I'm also an artist, an intuitive artist, a storyteller, a workshop facilitator. So I incorporate a lot of different things, but essentially the root of it is art and creativity.
SPEAKER_03Very good. Very good. So my mother was an artist. We have a lot of artists in my family, and I know her origin story of how she became an artist. I'm just curious, you know, how did you fall into art? Is it something that you specifically said, I really like that and I want to do it, or were you pulled there in another way?
SPEAKER_02I have always been an artist, even when I was little, little, little. I remember and I still have, and I've pulled out recently my very first little book that I wrote, and I probably wasn't even five. It is, you know, rudimentary animals, which of course I'm still painting animals. And it started then. It was just something as a kid that I would always do. I would find myself in my sketchbook outside in nature, just sketching weird things, sketching animals, just it was just something I always was into.
SPEAKER_04Are you gonna publish the book? The little one, yeah. I hadn't thought about it. Think about how many little young, you know, little ones that you would connect with because you were little, so that art would speak to them. Yeah. Or am I wrong? Like you that was a you know, obviously part of growing up. So maybe putting that out there for a mom who has a five-year-old or a six-year-old, that art's gonna resonate with someone young, I would think. I don't I don't make intuitions kicking in too.
SPEAKER_02Well, it'll be a maybe, but it's again, it's something that was always with me. I always was a creative kid. Um, you know, growing up, we had family stuff going on. My parents were getting a divorce. So really during those pivotal moments in time, I really dove into the art. It's kind of, I say it's kind of what saved me being a creative kid, being a sensitive kid, being an empath, which I didn't have the words for then. Um, I've always been intuitive, being able to read energy, even little without having the experience. Like I always felt stuff. So again, it was just one of those things that has always been with me. And it is something that I would never want to take away, give back. Like it is who I am.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_03So you're really kind of living a life purpose here. You're living what is truly at your core.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. And I think too, um, you know, I have created, you know, a wealth of books for the kiddos and for adults. And again, it's the things that kind of what I needed when I was a kid. That's what I'm creating. And I'm kind of going back to that time and bringing it forward, forward, along with um stories about nature and animals, and really just trying to have people connect with their deep inner knowing and being able to express and explore and see who who are they, right? And then really to embrace that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So when you um, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. I don't want to lose the question. So when you're saying you're creating the animal with the animals and stories and whatnot, are you are you researching like Native American stories and other ethnic group stories and bringing those into your art, or are you just letting your intuition put it on the paper?
SPEAKER_02So with the animals, I did a lot of observational research myself and and a little bit of research. I still wanted my intuition to come through and just you know what would be easy and not everything is concrete. So when parents are reading, aunts and uncles, teachers are reading, it's very clear, and you know why I chose what I chose. Um, so it's a little of both. Like I brought in some cultural names and some things from faraway lands, uh, but essentially it is still all about, you know, the basics, concrete things that these animals are kind of showing us and the lessons that are there.
SPEAKER_03Okay, that's that's amazing. So um help our listeners understand the difference between an intuitive artist and a regular artist.
SPEAKER_02All right. So what I feel my intuitive artist is is that we are being fully present when we're creating, and I'm not, I don't, I show up to the canvas and I allow wherever I am, whatever I'm feeling to sort of arrive through my hands, through the paint colors, through the brush strokes. I don't have a pre-planned set idea, like I'm going to paint, I don't know, a fox. Like that's not, I all of my stuff is pretty layered. So if I show up and I'm not in a great mood, cool. Like it's just another layer in the painting. And I just keep going and I keep painting, adding layers. Sometimes my artwork takes a week, sometimes it takes three years. It just really, I'm really in tune with where I'm at, my connection with the canvas, my connection with what's going on inside, uh, how I'm feeling while I'm painting or mark making. A lot of times I use my hands because I love how it feels. Uh the it's I think more about being present within and doing that check, check-in inside. That like I always say like the deep dive. The minute I start thinking about it, I lose it. Right. It's gone. It doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't feel, it doesn't have the expressiveness that I want. It's I've already sort of flattened it because I'm thinking about it too much.
SPEAKER_04You're a dull brain kicked in. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And then and then it's like, ah, and I feel like I want to be curious and playful and just be in that creative space because that's when the magic happens, right? Like there's at some point, if at some point animals, I either say I'm I paint animals or abstracts. There's no really in-between for me. It's one or the other at some point. But while I'm working on the canvas, as I'm throwing stuff up, there might be a mark, and I'm like, oh, the intuition is it's a crow. Okay. So then then it kind of evolves more from there, and I can develop the image a little bit more, but I'm still playful, curious. Um, I it's fine for me to be messy. I I don't have a lot of, you know, I feel like in fine art you have like there's a direction. But I still kind of leave it open.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So I I love how you said fine art and uh being an expressive artist myself or an expressive art facilitator, working not just for our business at Saranic Grove, but also for Harvard Hospital, I understand um expressive art and how that functions. You you need to stay out of the left side of your brain and more on the right side. Don't let that conscious brain that a fine artist uses to plan and implement that plan on canvas or on sketchpad or whatever. Um so as expressive artists, we really try to allow our paintbrush, our fingers to choose the color and not consciously choose the color that we first use. And then we allow that to make a mark. And um I know I use it particularly for clients to help them access um trauma that they can then process and work through and get messages from their own artwork, whether it's through expressive painting, drawing, or um another medium called so collage, where we use images that have already been created. Um do you find when you are doing your artwork, which sounds so much like expressive art, do you find it helps you work through your own trauma? Or do you find or and or does your artwork help others see trauma within that artwork? So because you're an art therapist, which is different than an expressive art facilitator. A therapist is gonna use the art to help to diagnose and to help right treat. So um I'd love to hear your thoughts about that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think it's a both and uh for me. Yeah, like showing up, they're trying if you're why I say this. Art therapy is great. I'm gonna use the words of, you know, when there are no words, we have the art. Um, and part of being expressive arts is art therapy because we're trying to, you know, resolve traumas, work through things, find insights. And it's just a you know, creativity is how we get there. And I think with a lot of talk therapy, it's that's in the brain. And the art kind of bypasses that it makes it a lot safer to explore these realms. And so I think your question was, you know, for me, have I learned that absolutely. I went through a major health crisis, and through that, I dove so deep into my art. I rented a studio, I was painting because I had to process through my own trauma and what the diagnosis meant and all of that. Yeah. And like I just threw it, threw it down, threw it on the canvas. I was using house paints and whipping things like Jackson Maholic, right? And then I would just sit and and see what answers, what messages were in there. And you know, through it all, like I into like I knew I was gonna be okay. Like it sucks, there's things we have to go through. But at the end of the day, I was able to move through all of those feelings and be okay with like, we're gonna do this and we're gonna be okay. And that is one of the catalysts that brought me to art therapy. So because I had always done art, and then this was like that healing moment. And from there, I was like, I'm not gonna work in a job that I don't like anymore. It's the cost is too much, and so that's what brought me to art therapy.
SPEAKER_04So it was a real defining moment for you. Yeah, absolutely. Where something you loved putting on paper now became something that you had to help everybody with. Yeah, I got like goosebumps. Yeah, goosebumps, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's there's such a power in healing in in making art. Like it is, I feel like sometimes maybe we've lost that because we're you know all in our phones now and doing like we're there's a presence in making art. And it brings your focus somewhere else, it brings it into the body, so and it allows you to lose control.
SPEAKER_04You know, many people operate in every box, right? And to go outside of box, especially in this society, right? Everything's so instantaneous, it allows that mind to quiet. At least I'm not an artist like the both of you, but like once I can get out of my head and out of being an adult and just mess up the canvas, and nobody's gonna yell at me for messing up that canvas, it's life-changing. And so for anybody who is like me, who I'm creative, but I don't sit and do what you guys do. So when someone can coax me out of that adult brain and get into that childlike brain and just go and not be criticized for what's on that canvas, I think that's a defining moment for anybody. Because, like you said, you sit back, you reassess, and it's like something starts unfolding and then you process, right? I mean, this is I'm not in the league of what you guys do, but that's how I see it as a lay person, I guess.
SPEAKER_03But the beauty of expressive art is that you don't have to be in the league of any kind of artist, right? And um, I I'm just curious. I know what I say to my clients to get them to start um and that first you know, stroke of the brush or crayon or whatever it may be. Um, I'm curious, how do you guide your beginner to expressive art to as art therapy to start? Like, are do you have certain rules that you have them follow? I know I love them. I'm just curious to think.
SPEAKER_02I feel like as a rules, I mean, I you have a willingness to show up. We can make bad art because it's not about the art, it's about the process. Thank you. That is like the core. And sometimes if people are too much in their head and say, I can't, or compare, we're making messy art today. We're just gonna let it go. And that is so freeing because it's they have permission to not make good art. And yeah, yeah, and we don't compare, we don't judge, you know, one day you might do something you think it's wonderful, and the next day it's like it doesn't matter. It's just it's again, it's a process. It's you've learned something in the process, right?
SPEAKER_03Right. I know when I uh have groups that do expressive art, we do like little retreats and stuff. We I position the easels so that none of our you can't see anybody else's work. And we're not allowed to judge. And um you need to stand close to your canvas. You can't step back until you feel you're done. Because when you step back is when you start to judge your work. Um, which is something I think helps lots of people. But the first thing I give them, the first text is do you remember when you were a kid and you drew whatever you drew, a butterfly, a rainbow, or house, or your family? I want you to draw that. I want you to pretend you're that five-year-old, six-year-old, seven year old, and draw what you would have drawn if you were a child, which gives them permission to draw something very basic and juvenile looking, right? Um, which most people say they can do. And that kind of breaks breaks the uh ice for a lot of people to kind of like get started. So yeah, you have to take the judgment out of it.
SPEAKER_04And so you mentioned um moving out of the thinking mind into the feeling. How do you how do you teach someone who can't get out of the head?
SPEAKER_02Like who can't get out of their thinking mind? Yeah, that sometimes it's hard. Um, sometimes I might do a little meditation to get them down into their body. Uh, sometimes it could be some music. I don't use anything with words per se, but an instrumental sort of piece that's expressive, emotional, evokes a feeling that always sort of helps. Uh, let's see. Yeah, just it's more dropping in. So I kind of need them. It's like a playful activity before and then. Um, sometimes also, so they're not so precious about what they're creating. We pass the paper around.
SPEAKER_05Oh.
SPEAKER_02Right. And you can do moves like into a song too. You each one, like you can change the rhythm of each song. So it it m mark making would probably be different. So if something's more staccato as a opposed to lyrical, and you just keep passing it around. So then everybody has a hand in what we're they're creating. And there's you know, it's it there's less attachment.
SPEAKER_03I think you also have to keep um stressing it's a process, it's not a product. We don't care about the product. We're not trying to create works of art, we're trying to create art that works for you. And I have to say, one of the defining moments um working for Hartford Hospital, we had a gallery night for our participants in our uh classes and support groups and things like that. And we had some of the participants come up and um speak. And I couldn't uh I swear to God, I could have hugged and kissed this woman. She first said, I need you all to understand that when we come to these groups or classes, we know it's not what we're creating, it's the process of the creation. It's not the product, it's the process. I just I could have run up and kissed that woman.
SPEAKER_02She was like, You got it, you understand. Yeah, and sometimes it takes individuals, you know, time to get there. You know, sometimes you have to, it's it's the the the time. Um, because they have to come to that on their own too. Like that's the magic, especially with like art, like art therapy-wise. Like, you don't ever want to do for them, you guide, but it's more powerful when they are able to say what that woman says.
SPEAKER_04They're witnessing their breakthrough, right? They're witnessing their breakthrough. And then when you get to that breakthrough, you can give them this positive bump, right? Like this positive boost of energy to get them to keep going, right? Yeah. I mean, that's how I see you being. I haven't had the chance to sit with you, but that's exactly what I see. I see you push somebody gently to the breakthrough. And then when you see the breakthrough, you must just fill them with this positive energy and let them go, right? Yeah, it's wonderful.
SPEAKER_02Like a dog. Even with other group members, because I run a lot of groups, like if one starts to, but then also, you know, there's a power in the realization, right? But there's also a power in sharing that and then getting other people excited or or even being vulnerable vulnerable enough to share something maybe they hadn't shared before.
SPEAKER_04Sure. Well, I would imagine you're working with people who are carrying trauma, correct? I mean, as a therapist, that's probably what people are coming to you for. And grief is probably another one. What else? What else do you think is um people come to you to get that power out of them to or to empower themselves?
SPEAKER_02Oh goodness, it's like really anything. Anything like a jelly bean, right? Yeah, I mean, you know, and I we run the game out because we see individuals with a lot of different mental health count challenges, and each diagnosis comes with its own set of criteria that an individual may have or may not have. So even just working on so many different levels with so many different people, it's always like a unique um process for each one of them. In some groups, you have individuals with all different diagnoses, and then sometimes it's just, you know, a group with one diagnosis. So that really kind of depends what you want to do for an art therapy directive and how you sort of uh move through and navigate that group because everybody's at a different level and they're healing their traumas. And some, you know, again, some people it may take them years to get to that final point of like catalyst of like I've made this artwork that just encapsulates the entire experience, and now there's that healing that happens. And some people, you know, maybe it's little traumas that have built up and they're getting it, you know, once a month, or you know, I I hate putting like time limits on it because like you can't really say it's gonna heal it, but it's the it's what you put into your process is what you're gonna get out of it. And I firmly believe that when someone is ready, their body knows intuitively and it comes in the artwork, and then that's when we talk about it, and that's when the dialogue happens, that's when the healing happens. Like we can kind of look through too if they've been with me for a year, like how how much has your art changed? What do you notice? What are the symbols?
SPEAKER_04Kind of forces them to confront it, right? Yeah, it's super powerful. So it forces them to kind of confront it in a non-forceful way. I mean, is that how yeah? Yeah, I mean, they're ready for it.
SPEAKER_02I don't think they're not gonna draw anything they're not ready for.
SPEAKER_03I love how you talk about it comes through sometimes as symbols again and again in their artwork. I know when I do so collage, there are some people say, I always need to seem to put, you know, uh a clock on my card, or I always seem to need to put a turtle there or something. And it comes up in many, many cards. And um you have to look at that symbology and what is it telling you? And maybe when that symbol no longer shows up, you know, something's been healed.
SPEAKER_02Maybe, or it's gotten closer. Yeah, you know, and maybe there's I work with veterans, and there's a lot of there's a lot of imagery that happens, but dragons, lighthouses, compasses, yeah, and they can show up at any time in any situation, but it's it will keep showing up in their narrative, and you can see it over a course of time, and then you can kind of again pull everything together and like have a little discussion about like what do you notice? What do you see? How has it changed?
SPEAKER_03Where has it changed? Yeah, as a lighthouse in the background and now in the forefront, you know, that kind of thing. So here's a question for you. Um, do you have your own personal symbols that show up? I do.
unknownI do.
SPEAKER_02I do. Um, there are eyes that show up, they're not like realistic eyes, but I know that their eyes. There is a scar, which is interesting, and I think it's because of the surgeries I've had that kind of I was like, oh it's it's it's it's I don't mean to do it. It's sometimes I don't mean like I'm not intentionally making it there, it just happens. And it could be two random brush strokes together, but it's still there. Um what else do I um birds end up showing up and a lot of uh my favorite color is fluorescent magenta pink. Um that shows up in all of my artwork, like and I didn't realize that to a couple years ago, and I was like, oh, okay, there it is.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you uh being an intuitive artist, um, most I would imagine primarily most of your artwork is intuitive, but is any of it intentional? I mean, it would need to be, I would think, some of it.
SPEAKER_02So I feel like it's intuitive to a point. And then it becomes intentional because if I especially if I'm making an animal, at some point I have to know what the animal's gonna be, and then create the body and the form and the structure. Uh, but there's still that element of intuition because it may not, it's not again, my stuff isn't what do I want to say? I'm not, I went to school for fine arts, but I wouldn't calm my stuff, is definitely more expressive. Um, so it's not, they're not gonna be perfect, and I don't want them to be. So they all have their own energy, they all have their own characteristics. I feel like my artwork too, being intuitive as a kid, I also did a whole lot of uh healing work. So I went to energy medicine school, I've done Reiki, I've studied with Laura Day, like a lot of things. So all of that gets infused in all the layers of my work. It gets infused with the colors and the mark making and just what a piece at the end embodies. Very good. And I know whoever is viewing it, they're gonna get something out of it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so that brings me to a question about some of the products that you have that you sell, your books, your card decks, and things like that. I mean, like I'm looking at this particular book, this visual alchemy. Did you create this artwork with the intention of it being a book? Or did you see your artwork and then collate it into a book? And I'm curious to know what came first, the art or the poetry?
SPEAKER_02I love that question. Thank you for asking. My artwork always comes first, always, even with my kids' books. Jerry the Giraffe was the first one, and then I just did a series of animals and they just kind of became the book. Um, so with all of my, it's always the artwork for first. And then I had the idea of again for the kids' book. I always wanted to write a kid's book even when I was little. So it makes sense that I would do that. Uh so and then the words come. It's the book, then the words, then the title. Okay.
SPEAKER_03Which I think when people write a children's book, a lot of times it's the words. Then they put the artwork to it, they find an illustrator, right? To go with it. But I love it this way, the way we way you do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I feel like the writing is this part of the brain. Yeah. So if I had to like make something fit, something that I wrote, I don't think it would have the same energy. Whereas if I'm creating from that expressive, intuitive place, anything can happen.
SPEAKER_04And when all is said and done, do you feel like an energy shift where like you're like, okay, this is complete now? Like, yeah, I do. And so you get that feeling. Is it like I gotta keep going until it's just so?
SPEAKER_02So it's so I typically work on like five, six different paintings at a time. And they all are in different stages. I lean into what's pulling me today. And there is a point where I'm like, oh, okay, this is done. Like you have it's settled in my body, and I know. If it's not settled, then I just keep adding layers until I know, until it tells me what it wants to be, whether it's an abstract or an animal. Like that's that's always been my process. And again, like I always there's a knowiness of like it's complete.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's complete. Yeah, we we try to explain the the you'll just know to a lot of our students, and it's really hard to give them like that empty sentence, like you'll just know, or trust it, or trust it. And then it's not until they actually have like this full, you know, circle of events that go into through their lives that they come back and they're like, I get it now. I just know, and I couldn't understand what you're saying. I thought you were full of crap. Why did you keep telling me that? But now I get why you just know. Um, so I was wondering if you just know fits into what you're doing too, because it happens for Serenity Grove all the time.
SPEAKER_02It happens in art therapy too. They're like, How do I know it's done? Right, right. Great question. Yeah, how do I know? Yeah. But and again, it's it's you dialogue with it, right? Like what it doesn't have to be a verbal dialogue, right? But you're you're sensing, you're feeling, you're intuiting, you're you just know.
SPEAKER_03Do you ever do you ever do this? Because this is something that uh I do with my participants. It was how I was um trained, I suppose, when they're done with an a piece of expressive art and they say they're done, I have them step back and we look at it together, and like one question I says, Is there anything else you want to add? Yeah, right? Yep. And they're like, if they take a beat and they're like, you know what there is. And so sometimes the I'm done isn't really quite done. And then they say, Oh, I'm done now. I'm like, step back. Is there anything else you want to add? And they're like, God, why do you keep asking that question? So you know what? I'll come back in five minutes and we'll if you're done, then you sign your name to it and you're done.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, you almost have to give them a beat to say, Am I truly done? You know, and they know they just yeah, yeah. It's just if you ask the right questions. I'm curious to know about your card decks too. Was that uh is you know, between the gifts of spirit, which is definitely kids of all ages, I think it's a really um wonderfully simple, easy card deck to use for all ages. Have that um on the nail on the head. When it comes to like this visual alchemy of Oracle, which I would imagine goes with this book, it does. Um artwork first, and then you interpreted the artwork into the booklet that came.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So the artwork all came first uh for the visual alchemy, the book, and then that kind of became my major, I'm gonna quote unquote Arcana, like if you were thinking about it as a tarot deck. So and then it took me, I didn't force anything. So I would still I was still creating intuitively, just making my paintings. I decided, oh, if I'm looking at these all together, I have this whole body of work that is now relationally, you know, connected to visual alchemy. Let me make an Oracle deck. So it took like three years to paint 50 paintings. My bad. Like that was the thing. Yeah, and then it culminated into the the Oracle deck.
SPEAKER_03So when I look, like I chose I chose the card grief today, yeah. Out of this, and um I'm looking. So did you paint this first and then say, Well, that's grief, or did you say, Let me embody grief? What comes out of me?
SPEAKER_02No, I painted it first. Okay, and I will say I was going, I know that when I was working through that, there there had been uh an artist friend that had passed, and I was processing through that, and that's the image that came out of it. Okay. Very cool.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, cool. Now, do you have when you sit with somebody, do you have them flip one of your cards just to like maybe get the energy rolling like a ball? Like if they're just sitting there and like don't have the expression for you, do you let them choose? Absolutely. Oh, yeah. I love that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you know, we I also do creative wellness workshops where we're doing we're leaning into meditation and intentional, intuitive art making, and we always pick a card because we want to see where we're going.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, wants to give us support in the day, or where we need to pick and choose which one we're gonna start with, right? Because some of us have multiple layered traumas, and that's beautiful. And that must help when you're working with any veteran or someone with PTSD, where they can't define one word or one space to start, that must get them into a spot where they can start, right? I imagine so.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03All right, we're we're gonna um need to wrap this up soon, but before we do, I I know it's been a while, right? Goes fast, goes really fast. I do want to ask you, what do you have cooking now? What's going on? What can we um talk about that's going on with Kimberly Hill? Woop boop.
SPEAKER_02All right, so first off, I'm part of an artist online event that's coming up in July. It's called Make Express Make Create Express 2026, and there's probably about 20 artists in that, and we do a free weekend session, and then people can sign up for the full year long. So I'll be doing three classes in that along with everybody else. So there's a lot of art classes in there, and that'll be online. And how do they find that to sign up for something like that? So we go live next. Oh, I don't when does this air?
SPEAKER_03Well, we'll make it air.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. So it goes live on June 1st.
SPEAKER_03Oh, okay. And the events in July. It won't air before June, June 1st, but okay, so June 1st.
SPEAKER_02And then in July 25th, I'll be at the book walk in Old Weathersfield.
SPEAKER_03So if you want to come, yeah. Oh, I did that. I I walked that last year. So I'm an avid reader, and I walked that book walk last year. I wonder if you were probably I was there.
SPEAKER_02I was there. So here's here's my I'm a unicorn because I have books for the kiddos and I have books for the adults. So they typically put me in with the kids section, which is fine. But I am so if you're looking for me, go to the kids, you will find me there. And it's a wonderful day. They we do readings for the kiddos, we are all selling our books, and they're all local Connecticut authors. Yes, in all genres.
SPEAKER_03It was fabulous last year. I went with my niece and we didn't even do the full walk, and I walked out with a bag of books. So it doesn't take much for me to walk out.
SPEAKER_04It doesn't take much for my lovely business partner to walk out with a bag of books.
SPEAKER_03I got like 300 books back at my house I need to read. But um, do you bring your books for adults too or just to take? Yeah, no, I'll set both up. Yeah. Oh, I gotta go and I gotta check that out. I I'll find you.
SPEAKER_02I will find you. Yeah, so there's that. And then also we'll be doing another um creative wellness retreat in the fall. But any information, if you want to sign up for my email list, you can just go to my website and I don't inundate you with spammy stuff. If you get an email a month, it's a great day.
SPEAKER_04It's a great day. I feel we feel the same way about the Serenity Girl.
SPEAKER_02And you have a you have a new book. Okay, so yeah, so I have a new book coming. I you guys are gonna laugh, but you won't. All of the images are done. The title's not there yet. So it will be released next spring. So if again, if you want to sign up, I'm actually collecting physical addresses for this because I'm gonna be sending out some snail mail throughout my process. So you might get like an art print or a sticker, and I'm gonna have some fun giveaways leading up to the pre-order time.
SPEAKER_03Oh, definitely gonna sign up for that. Oh my god. Now tell our listeners, yeah, tell our listeners your email, your contact information so they can. Oh sure. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I'm at um Kimberly Hale.com and it's H E I L and Kimberly, just the regular way you spell it. No E Y, just L Y Kimberly Hale at oh, Kimberlyhale.com.com.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02And your email if people it's it's K Hale, H E I L Artworks, A-R-T-W-O-R-K-S at gmail.com.
SPEAKER_03Perfect. So we hope that our listeners definitely reach out. Um, I know that I will be reaching out. I want a piece of sail mail.
SPEAKER_04And I want everybody to go buy your beautiful cards. I want, I hope all our listeners go out and help you and help us and support, and you know, just I hope we all win. It's such a beautiful community, and we're so glad you're in our community and we got to meet you. And thank you so much.
SPEAKER_03Are your products for sale on your website? Yes. Okay, perfect. And do you have this deck nearby?
SPEAKER_02Uh in a pot over here somewhere.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna say we usually pick an affirmation at the end of our um, we usually pick an affirmation at the end of our podcast, but why don't you pick one of those animal cards for our listeners and let's see what happens? All right, I'll be fine.
SPEAKER_04I love so for our listeners off to the right of Kimberly's shoulder, there is this amazing dragon on Canvas. Could you just tell me? Could you just tell me a little bit about that really amazing dragon?
SPEAKER_02I she uh she's so she's in the next book.
SPEAKER_04Okay, then you can't tell me. All right, so I have something to look forward to what you say. Yeah, okay. Well, for everybody, wait till you see this dragon, it is absolutely beautiful, and I feel very blessed that we were privy to get a sneak peek of that over across your shoulder. Yeah, thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_02Uh all right, so the card I chose was cat.
SPEAKER_03All right, and what does a cat represent?
SPEAKER_02All right, so if you're struggling with your boundaries, cats are really great at boundaries, so just keeping that mindful. It's about resting and independence. So go be your awesome selves and uh give yourself a little time to rest, a little self-care.
SPEAKER_03There you go. So both Heather and I are cat people, so yes, love that.
SPEAKER_02This is kind of funny because I keep dreaming about cats. Um, and I want a kitten. Oh, I want to competit when you get it. Okay.
SPEAKER_04I really do. I really, really do. I miss my cat. I gotta go clean the cat pew because I heard the cat pew when we were doing this interview.
SPEAKER_03Lovely, lovely. Well, um, it was wonderful to meet you. And I'm so glad that our listeners got to hear from you. And uh do check out Kimberly Hale again. She's um Kimberly Hale, H E I L dot com, and uh you won't be disappointed. And check her out on the bookwalk and that online um make create express. If someone was just to search make create express, it doesn't start until July, correct? Correct. Yeah, if they were to just kind of Google Make Create Express, they would I'm gonna be posting stuff on my Instagram as well.
SPEAKER_02So if they want to follow me on Instagram, that would be that just your name, Kimberly Hale.
SPEAKER_03Artist Kimberly Hale. Artist Kimberly Hale, okay. Yep, yeah. All right, perfect. All right, so thank you so much, and until next week, we'll be in your ears then. Yes, be blessed. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for tuning in to Ready to Connect. If you're interested in exclusive behind the scenes content, be sure to like, share, and follow us on social media by searching for Ready to Connect Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. And for those looking to further support our podcast, consider subscribing to our Patreon at patreon.comslash ready to connect podcast. And until next time, get ready to connect.