The soul never thinks without a picture
Aristotle
My name is Lisa McLoughlin. I have a desire to create beautiful and evocative artwork to help you connect with your own heart and soul. Combining my experience as a physiotherapist and coach, with my intuition as an artist, I create Nature-inspired gifts.
All forms of contact with Nature, direct and indirect, are important to our health and well-being. In our ‘overwhelmed’ world, we are often not reminded of the simple and FREE benefits of being out in the natural world: because it doesn’t make anyone any money. Unfortunately, Nature does not have its own marketing budget to pay for advertising.
So, my mission is to be one of an expanding network of people to fly the marketing flag for Nature: I create art to help YOU be inspired to go outside and feel part of the interconnected web of life.
Finding my skin
Selkies are seals who can shed their skins to become human. Irish and Scottish folklore tell the story of a Selkie who has her sealskin stolen, preventing her from returning to the sea. In her book Women Who Run with the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes presents the story as a lesson to never lose contact with our innermost nature and what our soul most needs. This often happens with work demands, the chaos of modern life, and thinking we don’t deserve or have time to take care of ourselves.When I was 17, I lost my own sealskin, or soulskin.
I had always been happiest spending time engrossed in painting, drawing and crafts, so I made a stand to continue my college studies as an artist. But, being competent in the sciences, I experienced enormous pressure to pursue a ‘proper job’ that offered security and a good income.
So I changed my path. I came ashore, shed my artist skin, and walked the path of Sciences. It became too painful and stressful to continue with my art, as I had to spend ridiculous hours of gruelling studies to continue living up to the ‘A’ star expectations I had established.
And so
So, I carved out a successful career as a physiotherapist, but was deeply unhappy and anxious for many years. I was always left soul-searching, skin-searching, no matter how surface-happy my life had become… In 2010, I burned out completely. I had to answer the loud calling to leave my old life and find a way back to myself. I re-located to London to study coaching psychology. For a short while, I became a Professional Certified Coach. Once again, I was an ‘A’ student, but something was still missing. I still felt uneasy in this skin. Consequently, I instinctively gravitated to doodles and painting as a way to soothe my soul. I noticed how calm I felt and how easily ideas and creations manifested from me. I was more inspired by creating the artwork for my new website and blog posts than by the life coach work itself. People started to notice my artwork and ask if they could purchase it, or if they could commission me to create unique pieces.
Permission
In July 2013, a coaching exercise gave me permission to be an artist for a week. I took up the challenge and haven’t looked back. My soulskin returned to me and I feel completely at home. So this is me: a passionate, deeply-connected woman, slowly carving out a business that is driven by a powerful desire to create beautiful art. Artwork that connects people to Nature. I trust you see this passion reflected in my work. And I trust that you have a skin of your own: one in which you are most yourself, most at home.
