Willowing Arts
Join Us Now! Login
0
Willowing Arts logo
Menu
  • New here?
    • Back
    • Where to start
    • Apply to teach
    • You Matter
    • FAQ
    • Hearing Impaired Support
    • Free Resources
    • Philanthropy
  • Tam
    • Back
    • About
    • Contact
    • Tam’s Books
    • Tam’s Team
    • Meet in person
    • Tam’s Art Gallery
  • A Year of Magic ⭐️
    • Back
    • Join A Year of Magic
  • Creating Cuties
  • Art Classes
    • Back
    • Buy Art Classes
    • Access Your Classes (Member Area)
    • Suggested Art Supplies
    • Free Classes
    • Testimonials
  • Shop
    • Back
    • Everything
    • Calendars
    • Original Art
    • Giclee Prints
    • Tam’s Books
    • gift cards
    • Notebooks
    • Pocket Mirrors
    • Post Cards
    • Stencils
    • Partner Products
  • Blog
  • New here?
    • Where to start
    • Apply to teach
    • You Matter
    • FAQ
    • Hearing Impaired Support
    • Free Resources
    • Philanthropy
  • Tam
    • About
    • Contact
    • Tam’s Books
    • Tam’s Team
    • Meet in person
    • Tam’s Art Gallery
  • A Year of Magic ⭐️
    • Join A Year of Magic
  • Creating Cuties
  • Art Classes
    • Buy Art Classes
    • Access Your Classes (Member Area)
    • Suggested Art Supplies
    • Free Classes
    • Testimonials
  • Shop
    • Everything
    • Calendars
    • Original Art
    • Giclee Prints
    • Tam’s Books
    • gift cards
    • Notebooks
    • Pocket Mirrors
    • Post Cards
    • Stencils
    • Partner Products
  • Blog
March 19, 2018

You are doing the best you can. <3 Love note #16

By Tamara Laporte  |   in love notes  | Tags: love notes , guides for self love , willowing  


♥ Willowing Love Notes to Inspire Self Love & Self Care ♥


Hello sweet friends,

It’s been a while since I sent you a love note. This is because I’ve been battling a particularly nasty flu and some pretty intense emotional challenges over the past 2 to 3 weeks. I can finally feel myself stabilising both physically and emotionally now but it’s been rough. I described it the other day as having been ‘bashed about in a tumble dryer’, one thing after the next came in and knocked me over.

Though I have done a lot of work on self love, self compassion and self care in my life, I noticed how a particularly strong & fairly vicious self judgement voice popped up during the emotional turmoil phase. And I kind of got sucked into it! It was an odd kind of scenario, as if 2 people inhabited me and were in argument with each other. One, the kind, sensible, considerate, compassionate type. The other the, well, let’s just say ‘self-annihilating’ type. She pulled me under that second one. I got lost there for while.

Coming out on the other side through talking with close friends, family and through becoming ‘still’ and finding my compassionate centre again, I came back with one message:

“Be gentle with yourself,
you’re doing the best you can.”

This simple yet powerful message is so important. We have been taught judgement and self judgement in our lives as a way to improve ourselves, but it is my firm belief that judgement, shaming and blaming does not help us grow and transform. Judgement creates so much fear and rigidity, stress and darkness, it does not serve us or the greater good.

Gentle compassion, understanding and kindness even in the face of ‘mistakes/ flaws and problems’ allows for a more open, loving and accepting space to grow, transform and learn.

So this is my little love note and special message for you today:

Even in the face of turmoil, having messed things up, being in misunderstanding, having made mistakes: be gentle, be kind, be compassionate towards yourself and others. <3

And of course:

You are loved my friend
You matter, my friend
You are needed, my friend
You are so important, my friend.

And in case you missed the last love note, here a printable poster for you!

I made a printable poster for you that you can print out and hang up to remind you how to practise self love:

Download the high resolution version of this poster here. You can print out for personal use. Feel free to forward to friends. <3 Download it by right-clicking on the image above and choose ‘save target as’ or download from this link:
GuidelinestoSelfLove.jpg

Much love,
xoox
Tam x


PS. If you want to work more on self love & self acceptance AND develop your creative skills whilst having tons of fun, please consider joining Life Book 2018. We started in January but you can absolutely still join us!

Life Book has been joined by over 19,500+ people since it first began in 2012. It’s had roaring success through teaching participants creativity and personal development skills.

People send us daily message expressing their gratitude and how much Life Book has helped them both creatively and personally. :) I  feel so blessed to be able to host such a powerful and life-enriching course each year! This year has started with an incredible BANG and YOU can still join now problem. :) It’s not too late, you get access to all previous content, get life long access AND you can download everything too, so you have the content for year to come! :) Hope to see you there!
xoox

The Willowing Love Notes Series aims to send you a love note every 1 – 2 weeks.
Its mission is to support you on your self love and self care journey.
I hope you enjoy it. <3

From my heart to yours:
you are truly loved.

Big hugs!


You may also like:

  • Get 20% off! -> Ever After 2018 – Registration Now Open!

  • Rainbow Unicorn Give Away #1 – Yay!

  • Creating a Tam Dreamboard

Comments:

New Courses!
Sponsors
Blog Categories
  • art workshops
  • online art courses
  • mixed media
  • life book
  • artist interviews
  • free stuff
  • parenting

Join my newsletter to access the

Latest Courses & Discounts

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Your data will be used with unicorn care. It will not be passed on to 3rd parties and will only be used to send you Tam's magical love notes and Willowing Arts products and news. To learn more about how we protect your data check out our 'care and privacy policy' here.

Instagram

Tamara Laporte

willowing

4,889 48,986

Mixed media artist, teacher and author. I don’t see all IG msgs. For enq pls email hello@willowing.org - Join A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales:

Posting this one again now that I`ve properly scanned it! --> I’ve been playing with chiaroscuro lately — that dramatic dance between light and dark you see in old black-and-white portraits. Never painted just in black and white before (well, a little indigo crept in 👀). I love how moody it feels!

Open
Posting this one again now that I've properly scanned it! --> I’ve been playing with chiaroscuro lately — that dramatic dance between light and dark you see in old black-and-white portraits. Never painted just in black and white before (well, a little indigo crept in 👀). I love how moody it feels!

For my next Year of Light lesson we are exploring `chiaroscuro` (which is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition). I`ve always loved the black and white photos of people like Marlene Ditriech and wanted to try achieve that type of effect in a painting! I don`t think I`ve EVER painted just in black and white before, but really loved doing it! (Well, I say black and white, but this also contains indigo blue and paynes gray). 😊 Really pleased with it, it has such a `vibe` (as my teen kids would say haha). ♥️♥️♥️

Open
For my next Year of Light lesson we are exploring 'chiaroscuro' (which is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition). I've always loved the black and white photos of people like Marlene Ditriech and wanted to try achieve that type of effect in a painting! I don't think I've EVER painted just in black and white before, but really loved doing it! (Well, I say black and white, but this also contains indigo blue and paynes gray). 😊 Really pleased with it, it has such a 'vibe' (as my teen kids would say haha). ♥️♥️♥️

The wonderful Jennifer (@therapistsanctuary) and I filmed another episode for our series on the tubes (up soon!). Here are some of the pages that came out of that session for me. 😊 Loved working with fluorescent pink and in the end adding in the teal! 😍😍😍

Open
The wonderful Jennifer (@therapistsanctuary) and I filmed another episode for our series on the tubes (up soon!). Here are some of the pages that came out of that session for me. 😊 Loved working with fluorescent pink and in the end adding in the teal! 😍😍😍

Art Oasis! Another fun free art event!

Hello my friends! Exciting news!

I know we’ve literally just finished the tasters for A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales but I wanted to let you know about another amazing free art event I’m sure you’d love to join and it’s starting in only 2 days! 😊

So, I’m super excited to let you know that I am part of Art Oasis, a FREE online creative retreat starting October 18 2025. Yay! 🥳🎉🎊 (organised by the amazing Jessica Swift).

For 7 days, artists (including me!) will be sharing lessons, stories, and creative inspiration to help you slow down, refill your creative well, and remember how good it feels to make art just for YOU.

Here’s what you can expect each day:

💕 Fresh, inspiring art lessons (all levels welcome)
💕 Cozy Conversations – real, heartfelt chats with artists about our creative journeys
💕 Daily creative prompts to keep your ideas flowing
💕A friendly, global, online community of fellow creatives

How It Works

🎨 Watch online – anytime, anywhere, at your own pace. Watch one lesson or all of them – there are no rules and no risk. It’s completely FREE!
🎨 Fit it into your schedule however works best for you!
🎨 Grab inspiring free gifts from the featured artists.
🎨 Want to extend your stay in the Oasis? Grab the VIP Pass!

I’ll be teaching a session on ‘play and the inner child’! Attached is the painting you`ll make with me (or something like it) 😊

… and I’d love for you to join me! ♥️

To join click here:

https://bit.ly/ArtOasisTamx (or find link in story/ bio/ linktree)

This event is all about permission; to play, to explore, to create without pressure. If you’re craving that kind of creative joy, I hope I’ll see you inside the Oasis!

Much Love,

Tam 💕

PS – After you sign up, you’ll have the option to upgrade to the VIP Pass – this gives you forever access to every lesson (including mine!) and some incredible bonus content. If you grab it during registration, you’ll get the lowest price.

Open
Art Oasis! Another fun free art event! 

Hello my friends! Exciting news! 

I know we’ve literally just finished the tasters for A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales but I wanted to let you know about another amazing free art event I’m sure you’d love to join and it’s starting in only 2 days! 😊

So, I’m super excited to let you know that I am part of Art Oasis, a FREE online creative retreat starting October 18 2025. Yay! 🥳🎉🎊 (organised by the amazing Jessica Swift). 

For 7 days, artists (including me!) will be sharing lessons, stories, and creative inspiration to help you slow down, refill your creative well, and remember how good it feels to make art just for YOU.

Here’s what you can expect each day:

💕 Fresh, inspiring art lessons (all levels welcome)
💕 Cozy Conversations – real, heartfelt chats with artists about our creative journeys
💕 Daily creative prompts to keep your ideas flowing
💕A friendly, global, online community of fellow creatives

How It Works

🎨 Watch online – anytime, anywhere, at your own pace. Watch one lesson or all of them – there are no rules and no risk. It’s completely FREE!
🎨 Fit it into your schedule however works best for you!
🎨 Grab inspiring free gifts from the featured artists.
🎨 Want to extend your stay in the Oasis? Grab the VIP Pass!

I’ll be teaching a session on ‘play and the inner child’! Attached is the painting you'll make with me (or something like it) 😊 

… and I’d love for you to join me! ♥️

To join click here: 

https://bit.ly/ArtOasisTamx (or find link in story/ bio/ linktree) 

This event is all about permission; to play, to explore, to create without pressure. If you’re craving that kind of creative joy, I hope I’ll see you inside the Oasis!

Much Love,

Tam 💕 

PS – After you sign up, you’ll have the option to upgrade to the VIP Pass – this gives you forever access to every lesson (including mine!) and some incredible bonus content. If you grab it during registration, you’ll get the lowest price.

Haven’t done any abstract in a while and it called me this evening! I’m loving the combination of red and teal! 😍😍😍

Open
Haven’t done any abstract in a while and it called me this evening! I’m loving the combination of red and teal! 😍😍😍
Load More… Follow on Instagram
©WILLOWING ARTS   |  Terms & Conditions   |   PRIVACY POLICY
DESIGN COLLABORATION BY WILLOWING ARTS & IRENE SOLER   |