The Washing Line That Transforms Creativity In Retirement

What has a washing line got to do with creativity? You might be wondering.

Everything.

Imagine if every drawing you were creating was a part of one beautiful, meaningful story.

In this episode I want to give you something that completely changes the way you think about drawing and creating art. Something that will take you from practising art, drawing from tutorials and copying realistic photographs, to truly living it.

The solution? I call it the washing line.

It has nothing to do with laundry. And everything to do with finding the one thread that holds all of your creative work together. Your deeper reason for creating. Your story. The theme that gives every drawing you make a home and a purpose beyond the making of it.

When a woman finds her washing line something truly remarkable happens.

She stops wondering what to draw. She never has creativity blocks. She starts thinking about her next artwork while she is walking, journalling, daydreaming.

Art becomes a missing language. A way of expressing herself that nothing else in her life has ever quite matched.

In this episode I share my own washing lines. These are the themes that held together 25 years of exhibitions, awards and books. More importantly, I walk you through finding yours today with a simple, powerful activity.

This episode is for you if tutorials have started to feel a little limiting. If you sense there is more to your creative life than copying and practising. If you are ready to create something that is genuinely, completely, irreplaceably yours.

What you will discover:

What the washing line is and why it transforms everything. How one theme can fuel an entire creative life with endless ideas. The questions that will help you find your own washing line today. Why your most meaningful art is still waiting to be made.

🌼 Ready to begin your creative journey? Claim your free Gold Daisy Coloured Pencil Drawing Experience at DrawPJ.com/gold-experience — free, no credit card, instant access.
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 📧 cindy@drawpj.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Tutorials are wonderful. I have created many of them myself and so have my friends and peers. I believe in them completely and I always will. There is a time and a place for following along with an instructor. Of course, like when you're learning new techniques, practicing skills, and many women love tutorials and they're absolutely right to do that. They build confidence, they develop ability, they introduce you to new ways of seeing and mark making. So there's nothing wrong with tutorials, there's everything important about them. They are a genuine and valuable part of the creative journey. But you see, somewhere along the way, for some women, something else begins to stir. She finishes her tutorial and looks at what she's created and feels that beautiful, quiet satisfaction that she's quite used to by now, and then something else happens. She hears a whisper or a thought. She's wondering, is there more than this? Not because the tutorials aren't good enough, but because she's ready for something deeper. She's ready to go further. Because somewhere deep inside her, there's an expression waiting that no tutorial can give her. It's a story that is entirely her own. That is the moment the washing line becomes essential. Now let me explain what I mean. I want you to imagine a long piece of string stretched out in front of you and it goes on forever. And you peg to that string, just like a washing line, all of the drawings and artworks that you'll ever create. Each one of those artworks is different. Each one is individual and unique. Each one is a separate piece of work in its own right. But all of those artworks share the one thing in common. They all hang on the same line, and that line is your story, your theme, the deeper reason why you're creating. It could be the question that you're exploring or the cause you care about, the world you want to say something about. When you find that line, everything changes because you stop showing up to the desk wondering what to draw, you arrive already thinking about the next piece. You've journaled, you've daydreamed, and you've noticed things on a walk that sparked an idea. You've taken a photo, maybe at the local supermarket, because the pattern on someone's coat was exactly the right pattern for the work you're creating or developing. You're thinking like an artist thinks, not just a practicing student. That is the difference between copying and creating, between practicing and expressing, inventing. It's a difference between doing art and living it. And I want to share my own washing lines with you because I think it helps you to hear what this actually looks like in a real creative life. For 25 years, my washing line held one single question. What does it mean to be a woman? How do I balance my personal power with my femininity? I didn't know the answer when I began. I was asking that question, but I knew the question mattered to me so deeply and more than anything in the world. It was who I was at the time. A person, a woman who questioned. And so I created, I researched, I explored what femininity meant, and found myself equally fascinated by masculinity and the power play between the two, the masculine and the feminine. I chose to celebrate the masculine energy through representing that as machinery, boats, great man-made structures that surrounded me. They were in the industries of farming, fishing, and tourism. So everywhere I've lived there's been tourism industries. And I celebrated the feminine through animals. I wanted to represent that through nature, birds, plants, the entire natural world. And I looked at the role of the holiday in particular, the necessity of escapism and rest, the soul-nourishing power of time away. So the tourism industry has always fascinated me, and I'd paint these beautiful, bright, bold, imaginary scenes of the Australian beach lifestyle. All of it fed the line and hung on the line. I painted portraits, beautiful self-portraits that meant a lot to me. They were also on the line. There was beautiful, abstract fires that I painted. Again, it was all about that same line. And so all of that was one part, just a part. Every individual artwork was one part of just a long, winding, and deeply personal conversation I was having within myself and with the world. And that lasted for 25 years. It led to many exhibitions, to awards, books, creative life, a creative lifestyle that was never ever short of ideas, never without direction, and never wondering what to draw next. Then one day I arrived at a kind of peace with the question I realized that there was no label needed. I just had to be me. And the line was complete, and now I have a new one. My new washing line is all about adorable and important animals. It's about keeping imagination and wonder alive, about the joy of characters who are a little bit human and a little bit wild and entirely their own. So my children's books are for adults and children alike because I believe we should never stop imagining. I ask, why should we grow up? And every artwork I make answers that question in its own way. Two very different lines, both completely mine, both giving every single piece of work a home, a direction, a reason to exist beyond the making of it. And here is what I've discovered across 35 years of working with women who have found their own lines. When a woman finds her washing line, she discovers something profound. Art becomes a missing language, a way of expressing herself that nothing else in her life has ever quite matched. Not copying from a photo, not following a tutorial, not even a beautifully rendered portrait of a much-loved pet, but something that has been composed entirely by herself from her own mind, her own observation, her imagination, and her unique vision of the world. And when she looks at what she's created, she can say something that she has never quite been able to say before. I did that. I did that entirely myself. Not I followed those instructions beautifully. No, I copied that reference photo so accurately, but I did that. I made something that did not exist before. I thought of it, and only I could have made it this way. That feeling of worth, that feeling of fulfilment, of genuine creative achievement achievement is unlike anything else. So let's find your washing line today. Right now, I want you to pause this episode and find a piece of paper and a pen and write down your honest answers to these questions. Write freely, don't edit yourself, don't think about what sounds sensible or practical. Just write down what comes. What if you always wanted to say to the world? Is there a cause, a little animal, any form of creature? A place? A landscape? A moment in history that has lived in your heart for years and that you'd love to bring more attention to? Or is there a question swirling around in your mind, something you've never been able to fully answer that your art could help you explore? If there's something you believe the world needs more of, something that has more wonder, some more gentleness, more humour, more beauty, more awareness of something precious and overlooked. Is there a place from your childhood, real or imaginary, that you would love to recreate and share? Is there an industry, a community, a way of life that has shaped you and that deserves to be celebrated, highlighted, brought attention to and remembered? Take your time. I've listed lots of ideas there for you. You can even scroll them out on a big sheet of newsprint. You know, you can buy some butcher's paper and have a pack of coloured markers and write me in the middle. So put yourself in the middle and then just draw out from it and all around it ideas, thoughts that come up. There are no right or wrong answers. There is only your answer. And somewhere in what you've written, your washing line is waiting for you. And when you find it, I want you to notice what happens inside of you. Not just a thought, but a feeling. A small bright light that just begins to flicker at first and then it begins to burn brighter. It's a sense of yes, that's it. That's what I want to say. That is your line. And from that moment forward, every artwork you make has a home. It has a reason. And now here is something important I want you to understand. You don't have to be technically advanced to begin working on your washing line. You can begin right where you are with the skills you already have. Make simple drawings that explore your theme. Practice and develop as you go. The line just gives you the direction. The drawing gives you the language. Together they give you a creative life that is genuinely, completely, and irreplaceably yours. And when you're ready to develop the fundamental principles of drawing that will truly set you free to draw from imagination, to compose your original artworks, those images that are swirling around in your head, and to stop copying and start creating, I have the right programs that will take you there step by step. But today all you need is the washing line. And if you'd like to take your very first step into your own creative expression right now, you can begin with the gold daisy experience. It's waiting for you. It's a free guided drawing experience, it's gentle and joyful. And where I take you through drawing for your very first daisy, it can be the beginning of your new identity. And that doesn't necessarily have to go on your washing line, but it just might.com forward slash gold-experience and the link is in the description below. Before we finish today, I'd love to hear from you what is your washing line? What is the question, the cause, the creature, the place that you would love to explore through your art? Comment below or write to me personally. And because your answer is so important, I want you to know that it says something profound about who you are. And I have a feeling that the women in this community want to hear it. Thank you for listening to your creative identity transformation. I'll see you in the next episode. Let's keep that creative spark alive.