Dr. Nancy Hillis: Expert in Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy

KSM: This is an amazing book in a series by Nancy Hillis. It has moved my thinking towards discovering my muse and painting from my inner self rather than “for everyone else”. The journey continues….💖🙏🏼🥳

United States on Sep 09, 2023

cecile sullivan: I really like what I'm reading so far! Not disappointed at all with this purchase. :-)

Canada on Sep 08, 2023

ab: This book is well written by a psychiatrist who is also a widely recognized artist.
The book delves into the psychological aspect of the many pitfalls that plague the journey
or creating art. We are all subjected to the many voices of confusion and negative thinking
that hinder our expression. The author takes one on an introspective journey to break through
the blocks that hinder the artist from allowing an open complete abandon of creation.
This leads to not only connection to self but connection to source.

Canada on Oct 21, 2020

A reader: I am a life long painter. I studied painting. I studied the masters. I did not stop painting through the years of raising my family. In the past 10 years I began to watch my paintings becoming more abstract in nature, they were moving away from the representation of what I saw. I was beginning to paint how I felt what I saw. That is not an easy transistion to make. I leads one into new territory, who you knew yourself to be is changing before your eyes.
When a friend shared Nancy Hillis' book I began reading it with some scepticism. Being a bit of a know it all even in unknown territory, I read over the encouraging words letting them touch me ever so lightly....I have heard them so many times.
But that is it. There isn't really much new to say to someone who needs or seeks courage to move forward, to go deeper, to open to the unknown in oneself. So, Nancy hits the nail on the head again and again. She has some concepts that she coins in her own words that are not confusing. If you need pictures of how to do this - this is not the book for you.
This book leads you directly into your own doing. Your own making. You are supported to trust your own responses. The videos that...

United States on Nov 25, 2019

Cobalt: I happened upon this book, though I knew of Nancy Hillis in other contexts. An art book without pictures, how can this be? It is an inspirational guide to ways to energise the creative process, written with considerable input from her experience as a psychiatrist and some very helpful colleagues in her orbit (I am jealous of such a great mix of talent that she has access to, but she shares her insights so freely you feel they are your's too!).

I've studied a lot of the source material she cites, and would agree they are helpful. This book is not a cookbook to abstract painting, but a guide to the inner game of creativity. Drawing on her own professional experience, we are taken for a great journey as she calls it; one is reminded of Milner's psychoanalytic self-analysis of her own creative journey, as Hillis does help people get past the feeling you need to be able to draw -- in this respect, she parts company with the art school rhetoric which values materials and technique, including copying art to learn how to paint. I fear that much money and effort is wasted in art classes (as Henry Peacock has noted).

As an abstract painter myself, I appreciate her efforts to...

France on Jun 21, 2019

Alyss Thomas: Great text and an interesting, engaging and original approach developd by this artist-psychiatrist, definitely worth reading if you are on a creative journey, and struggle with your relationship,to your art, inability to see it clearly, and self criticism. Buying the book is much cheaper than enrolling on one of her courses. There are many good ideas, such as that your ugly paintings are the most important as they contain the seeds of your new direction. Although the book has an attractive square format like an art book, in fact it does not contain any art at all and there is absolutely masses of unused white space on every page. It is a much smaller book than it looks. It does spend a lot of its very limited text on referencing videos on her website that you cannot in fact see, because these are mainly part of paid courses and you cannot access most of them. Her approach is very interesting but she is not as generous as many artists who give a lot more information away.

United Kingdom on Apr 07, 2019

Lisa W: After reading so many books on 'how to get unstuck as an artist', 'overcoming creative block', 'finding your way forward' etc. I've never actually got any further forward in real terms: still stuck, still finding it hard to work out why it's all so difficult, still not producing the work I really want to be producing and still feeling like I haven't properly even got off the ground yet. I was encouraged by reading the reviews to think maybe this book was the one that would actually really help, and it was - the difference in the way I'm working is amazing. I agree with other reviewers that the lack of illustrations is a plus point. Although there are other books out there with beautiful examples of their author's work, which are inspiring to read, it's actually easier to find your own way with this book because although there are practical exercises to follow, there are no examples to distract you or make you start comparing your work to other people's and either losing heart or losing your way. This book is much more about making progress by actually doing; no overthinking, no unnecessary steps - just straight to the heart of the problem and then onward into making the art you...

United Kingdom on Mar 21, 2019

Cheryl Wilson: The media could not be loaded.  But the thought behind Nancy's theory is to learn to understand yourself and what makes you unique. This includes learning to trust yourself and even use those fears and doubts you have in your paintings.

She teaches that you first have to know yourself but go deeper, allow yourself to remove those emotional roadblocks that are there to allow yourself to uncover what could be inside that you can put onto the canvas. IT is this inner dialogue that you need to have dancing with yourself with the mindset that it is OK to explore and play.
Nancy calls it: facing your fears, and learning to trust what you are experiencing to allow that part of you that you might have once abandoned break free.
It is allowing yourself to play.
I found Nancy when I was recovering from the death and long illness of my mother and being there as she took her last breath. Losing my mother was huge for me as she was my best friend. Experiencing her illness (Dementia) and losing her slowly over a period of 6 years seemed to engulf me and create a lot of emotional blockage that I feel was seen in my paintings. I needed to as she says “allow epiphany...

United States on Mar 19, 2019