Get to Know

My Creative Process

Being viewed by others as unconventional used to freak me out a little.
Now I revel in it. My creative development is my hero’s journey.

I imagine a world where everyone experiences their own creativity daily, which boosts clarity, increases passion, and solves a lot of the world’s problems.

In the flashes of creativity and flights of imagination I am more present than at any other time. I can find that presence in singing, sitting on the beach, listening to great music by great composers, walking meditations in the woods, finding the perfect word, getting an idea for a new song, creating a great recipe, connecting with a new friend, deciding on a new colour scheme, implementing a new design, arranging flowers for my house.

In the creative process I experience:
Imagination and Dreams
Inspirations and Insights

Creativity and Art
I’ve been making music since was five and singing since I was eight. After graduating from U of T’s Faculty of Music, I took a job teaching elementary school. The best times I had were when I used my music and drama training to write and direct kids in musical theatre productions. Still I knew there was much more musical creativity in store for me.

Eventually I opened a voice studio and for ten years I worked with singers. I learned a tremendous amount from some amazing creative partnerships and still I knew there was much more musical creativity in store for me.

As a singer I continually searched for repertoire that felt like it was coming from my heart. I finally found the ‘form’ when I began writing my own songs. Writing music is the closest I can come to pure spirit while in a physical body. On the last day of my life, I want to be writing, composing or singing.

In the relationship between creativity and art, I experience:
Artistic Ability
Bringing Essence into Form

Living a Creative Life
A diversity of life experiences led me to a conscious awareness of my own power to create my life.

My first story starts with a trip to New York to visit a friend. She encouraged me to take a lesson with her voice teacher, Michael Warren. During my first lesson he helped me unlock some hidden power in my voice and suddenly it burst free. My reaction was very emotional – a mixture of joy for the discovery and grief for wasted years.

On my way to my second lesson, I absentmindedly took a wrong turn and ended up on the ‘wrong’ Manhattan subway line. After a momentary panic, I knew I could find my way and I got on the first train that came along. As I sat on the train, my eye was caught by a poster on the opposite wall. A simple message in white script on a black background. “It’s never too late to be what you could have been.” Not the wrong subway after all!

My second story is more recent and started with a song I wrote called Flying Away. The lyrics talk about living by the mountains and the ocean. The call to move was stronger than any resistance I had. To take an exploratory trip to Vancouver, I was synchronistically offered free accommodation at a luxury hotel on the waterfront, and help with the cost of an airline ticket.

As a result, I was able to manage all the challenges I faced in the decision and in 2006 I moved. Every day I look out my window to see mountains and ocean.

In living a creative life I experience:
Constant Clarification of my Vision
Using my Unique Gifts
Making a Difference in the World

Katherine