Bold Beautiful Art
Welcome!
I am Nicola McKenna and I make Outsider art for the sensitives.
‘Sensitive’ has often been a slur, a shaming and hurtful word used against us. When we are criticised for being who we are, what we are, we can think our very selves unacceptable. Expressing our boundaries is fraught with backlash, and exercising them near-impossible.
True feelings are hidden. Feelings like fear, self-loathing, or rage:
- we hide them, mask them, swallow them down;
- we put up, shut up, and just keep going because that’s what we’ve been told to do.
In my life, parts of me were ridiculed, rejected, and attacked by others, and brought me to my knees; believing it, I joined in.
My shame and self-loathing were intense, long-lasting, and brought me to my lowest…
But….
Just in time, I found The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I worked hard to uncover my creativity and my self. I took the difficult feelings - fear, self-loathing, rage - and used them to recover, reconnect and re-show those parts of me.
Making Raw Brut Outsider art to express what I couldn’t say;
Making this kind of art to learn about me and embrace it;
Making art to reconnect to my self.
Making art to stop the cycle of shame and self-loathing.
Making art to serve others.
Making art that reject perfectionism and the resulting paralysis.
Making art that promotes self-acceptance and self-compassion, things that I needed so desperately for so long.
Now
Imagine reconnecting with what lights you up
Imagine believing you are enough as you are
Imagine healing. Once and for all
Whether you are drawn to colourful abstracts like ‘Pink Strands’ or the wild figurative portraits of ‘Before They Were Famous’ collection,
let these works reconnect you to who and what you are.