Naomi Rose, Artist:

visual art

music

writing

book developer & creative midwife

All 3 artistic streams come from a single Source.

each stream informs the others.

and all 3 streams help me foster the artistry

of my book-writing clients.

A woman with curly brown hair wearing a black and brown patterned jacket, holding a wooden musical instrument with heart-shaped cutouts.

Naomi Rose with her mountain dulcimer

We All Are Born with Gifts.

Some we cultivate, and some are so much part of us that they take a back seat in our lives, shared (if at all) with intimates, or only oneself (imagine Renee Fleming limiting her singing to the shower).

But then a time comes when the gifts themselves urge their instrument to let them be more widely known.

And so this page on my site is my feasting table. I’ve been blessed with three branches from the creative tree — writing, visual art, and music — and here I get to share them with you.

As a visual artist, musician, and writer, I bring multiple creative perspectives to help my book-writing clients: visual art sensibility for vivid imagery, musical facility for natural rhythm and tone, and my own writing journey to recognize and nurture their unique creative capacities. This integrated approach to book development helps my clients tap into their own creative wellspring and develop their unique voice.

I hope that exploring my three streams of artistry will give you deep enjoyment and cause for reflection. They may even spark the beautiful expression of your own gifts — those you already know about, and those that may be in the wings to come forth and surprise you.

A woman holding a wooden musical instrument with heart-shaped cutouts, standing against a plain background.

Singing while playing the mountain dulcimer is a sweet and intimate joy.

Now I know that, on a subtle level, some version of this takes place. Our lives are so integrally steeped in music that we mostly don't even notice, and think of music as a separate, sometime thing.

When I was singing in one of the half-dozen choruses I was graced to be part of years ago, often the conductor would caution us, "Listen! Listen! Listen to yourself and to each other." At first I had no notion of how to do this; it was hard enough to just learn my part! But after awhile I began to understand. It is listening to ourselves and to each other that allows the music to take wing.

I have been in love with singing all my life, though for much of that time I was too shy to come forth with the voice I longed to have. Secretly believing there was a beautiful sound in me, I didn't know how to connect that possibility with who I thought myself to be. Many times, I thought it was a lost cause, and tried to let it go.

But it didn't want to be let go. It chose me, much as I longed for it. And so by now, singing is not only a part of my sense of myself, it is a straight line to the divine, a healing force, a teacher, a friend, a beloved. On this page, I will share with you some of my insights and experiences of music . . . and some of the actual music, too.  

MUSIC

Music is the heart of life, and I am grateful to have found its heartbeat. Our very breath is part of a vast harmony that courses through our bodies as well as the universe. In my youth, I wanted to live in a world where — as in musicals — people on the bus would burst into joyous song.

Line drawing of two cheerful children hugging each other, a boy and a girl.

VISUAL ART

My father was my first art teacher. At first he supplied me with crayons and paints, and I sat on the floor with my coloring books, exulting in the smell and chiseled dignity of a box of brand-new crayons. Later, he gave me paints, and a copper-tooling kit, and a great deal more. He had enormous respect for craft, and he passed that on to me. Drawing, I especially loved to do.

There was a time before high school when all the drawings and paintings I did had no self-consciousness at all. I was just wanting to be present with what I was making, with no thought of how others might evaluate my efforts. I can still recall drawings of sheets on a clothesline I did in my early teens, and the animateness of the wind billowing out the sheets.

When I applied to an art high-school at the age of 13 -- the High School of Music and Art in New York City -- I had to present a portfolio of my work, and take a test as well. Enough time elapsed between when I applied and when the verdict was announced for me to have three successive nightmares about not getting in, each more ridiculing than the last.

My elation at being accepted was quickly eclipsed by the magnitude of talent all around me. The corridor walls were hung with extraordinary oil paintings by children my own age. The days of doing art just for the pleasure of it were over!

And yet as the years have fallen away, so has my preoccupation with "How am I doing? Am I any good?" Now, I draw and paint for the joy of it; to bring me closer to myself; to understand the subtle world through small details; to be present to the moment and, as T. S. Eliot wrote, "to know the place for the first time."

And so I share with you those creations that have captured my love and interest. Drawings and photos, mostly, at this point. I hope you enjoy them. And if you would like to live with them, or even commission a drawing . . . well, that can be arranged.

Close-up of computer keyboard keys, including 'Q', 'W', 'E', 'A', 'S', and 'D' with illuminated letters.

Writing

I would not presume to help others with writing if I didn't write, myself.

The reason I have such a nuanced understanding of what people can go through around writing — especially something as intricate as a book — is because I have gone through so many knots and seemingly implacable obstacles, myself. It's been through my own inner work and healing process that the breakthroughs and epiphanies have come.

Happily, I have remembered and tracked this healing journey from my own experience so that I can help other people navigate the more oblique passages.

I will share with you some of my own writings — published and unpublished -- to give you the flavor of my ways into deep things. When not writing to educate and guide my clients, I write about especially loved and/or not-yet-thoroughly understood preoccupations of mine. Music, and my relationship with it, is one such beloved preoccupation.

“Naomi Rose is a true artist in every sense of the word; a consummate professional, a skilled writer and editor, and a birther of creativity in those whose lives she touches."

"Naomi sat me down and nurtured out of me ideas I didn't even know I had in me.

“Her technique was very simple and extremely effective. Like a counselor, she asked probing questions, which elicited deep responses from me. And these she wrote down verbatim, touch-typing on her laptop with the lid down and not breaking her stride listening to me empathetically and wholeheartedly.

"What I admire most about Naomi's approach was being able to deal with the unpredictability and uncertain nature of what was to be discussed. I came to her as an open book and she read it, guiding rather than driving the direction of the conversation. It was a very rejuvenating experience to be heard in that way. She understood, as did I for the first time, that my personal conclusion was the thing worth sharing. She was able to show me what was in me, but that to which I'd never given words or any expression whatsoever. Her passion is to help people bring forth their inner treasures in some form. Her fascination is with the entire creative process.”

— Zoe Larkin, photographer and writer


if you're drawn to bringing more artistry into your writing,

I'd love to help you discover the book that's waiting to emerge.

Explore a GIFT SESSION to experience my book-development approach personally.

Repeating pattern of cursive text reading "Writing from the Deeper Self" in pink and green on a cream background.