A Woman Discovers Her Voice Through Painting
by Tabby Biddle
Her Own, by Jen Lashua
I am honored to share with you my talented friend and colleague Jen Lashua's first Goddess painting! Jen and I first met through my Goddess clothing line, Lotus Blossom Style (remember that?), a number of years ago and became fast fans of each other. Jen is also a tea maker — founder of the yummy Love & Tea company.
Jen started painting over 15 years ago in a creative women's circle in Oregon. At that time, she had never picked up a paint brush before. While she loved painting, life started to get very busy when she became a mother (to 4 children!) and a business owner and didn't have any committed time for her art anymore. "I gave so much time and energy to my four children, I had no time for me." Jen told me that during this time she felt like she was withering and that something was missing.
One day Jen decided she would make time for HERSELF. She set time each week after her children were tucked into bed to paint. She did this week after week staying up late, in the silence of the night. She said she felt like she was coming back into herself. Even though many nights she would stay up until 2AM and only get a few hours of sleep, she told me that the process nourished her on a level like nothing before. She said she felt renewed. "Art is my medicine. Art nourishes me like no other. I need to paint, it's my voice."
This painting above, called "In Her Own," came to be because Jen wanted to express and honor the Divine Feminine, as the Goddess had taught Jen how to listen to her heart, to celebrate life, to know her beauty and savor it. I want to add here that Jen has a really cool way that she paints with color energetics to provoke spiritual alchemy for the viewer and she also infuses mantra into her paintings. The mantra in this painting symbolizes a woman coming into her own self, expressing from her heart, knowing her truth and her divine power. How awesome is that?!
I'm really happy to share Jen's website with you so you can see more of her work, and maybe it will inspire you to take out your own paintbrush, pull out your guitar, or get your hips moving and DANCE.
Congratulations Jen! You are an inspiration to all of our sleeping artists.
Tabby Biddle is a celebrated women’s leadership coach and well-known voice speaking out for the human rights of women and girls. She is the Co-Director of the Los Angeles Goddess Collective, and is the Creator of the Goddess Leadership Program, a cutting-edge program designed to help emerging women leaders activate their political voice and develop their leadership platform for global healing and socio-political change. Over the last seven years, Tabby has written, lectured and given interviews on the topic of the Divine Feminine and the power of a woman's voice. For tips, inspiration and guidance to strengthen your voice and advance your influence as a feminine leader, sign up here.