The Spiritual Artist Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Dallas-based painter Matt Kaplinsky captures the spirit of place through a warm, folksy impressionism that blends nature, memory, and imagination. A self-taught artist inspired by Matisse, Van Gogh, and Bonnard, Matt paints with curiosity and flow—allowing each brushstroke to reveal where Creative Intelligence wants to go next.

In this conversation, Matt and CJ explore how the path of least resistance guides both art and life. Matt shares how his work continually “veers off,” and instead of fighting it, he listens to the subtle energies leading him downstream. From vivid cowboy scenes to delicate garden still lifes, each painting becomes a dialogue between effort and surrender.

Together, they discuss how art acts as a lens—not transparent like glasses, but a spiritual way of seeing. Through that lens, we glimpse a shared universe, where making and viewing art allows us to perceive more than the surface of things.

Matt reminds us: the best paintings happen when we stop forcing the outcome and simply flow with what is.

“If you’re alive and you can take in art, for a moment your brain is looking through the lens of the artist and glancing into a different sense of our shared reality.”

Learn more about Matt at www.mattkaplinsky.com and find him on Instagram @mattkaplinsky.

Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

Today’s guest is Tina Jacobson, a lifelong artist and spiritual explorer from Australia whose creative journey weaves art, intuition, and healing. Raised on an animal-filled farm by creative parents, Tina has spent her life immersed in design, murals, and illustration. Her coloring books, including The Colorful Life Colouring Book, invite readers to reconnect with creativity as a gentle, spiritual practice rather than a task to complete.

Through years of self-discovery, Tina learned that healing begins by watching the mind. Once trapped in cycles of self-criticism and dark thoughts, she discovered that thoughts aren’t truth—they’re passing waves. Influenced by teachers like Michael Singer and Byron Katie, Tina began observing her thoughts instead of believing them, noticing how they affected her body. She reminds us, if you can bring that fear back to your body and feel at ease, you can’t change anything—but when you’re in your body, you’re closer to your intuition, and it will give you ideas on what to do. Fix yourself, heal the world. Use your body to bring dark thoughts to light.

Our conversation explores how coloring, movement, and awareness of the body can return us to presence and Creative Intelligence. Tina reminds us that love doesn’t mind when things fall apart—it simply observes. When we witness our thoughts without judgment, they lose their grip, and creativity becomes a path to freedom.

For more information, visit www.spiritualartisttoday.com.
CJ Miller’s books, The Spiritual Artist and Spiritual Parable as a Daily Practice, are available on Amazon.

You can follow Tina Jacobson on Instagram at: tinaacobsonart

Purchase Tina’s book here: https://www.winterandmann.com.au/product/tina-jacobson-colourful-life/

Tina’s new surf book is available here: https://www.stunno.com.au/ 

Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

What does it mean to create your own personal theology? In this episode, CJ Miller sits down with author and spiritual explorer Larry Jordan to review and unpack his book The Way and to discuss the journey of questioning, searching, and embracing a wide spectrum of wisdom traditions.

Raised Catholic in Western Pennsylvania, Larry found himself in midlife asking life’s biggest questions: Why are we here? Where do we go when we die? His search led him through Christianity, mysticism, Eastern faiths, and even science—discovering along the way that no single tradition holds all the answers.

Together, CJ and Larry explore:

• Why holding beliefs lightly opens space for deeper truth.
• The surprising ways East and West have influenced each other.
• How mystics, quantum physics, and prayer all point toward oneness.
• The difference between faith as certainty and faith as curiosity.
• Larry’s eclectic spiritual practice—drawing from Zen, Quaker meetings, and interspiritual communities.

At the heart of the conversation is Larry’s invitation: “You Might Be Right.” Instead of rigid dogma, he calls for dialogue, openness, and humility in the face of mystery.

If you’ve ever wondered how to honor your roots while remaining open to other traditions, or if you’re curious about blending science, mysticism, and spirituality into your own practice, this conversation will expand your perspective.

Larry Jordan is the author of The Way, contributor to the Patheos column You Might Be Right, and an interspiritual teacher encouraging seekers to ask questions and embrace wonder. Learn more at larryjordanauthor.com.

Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

In this episode, host CJ Miller questions Peace and Human Rights Activist Hadi Jawad on ways each of us can promote peace in our communities. How does someone promote Human rights and Peace on an individual scale? Hadi encourages the listener to familiarize themselves with the 30 principles of the Univeral Declaration of Human Rights and begin looking at news articles through the Human Rights lens. 

Podcast Host CJMiller met Hadi Jawad while serving on an Interfaith Panel with a diverse group of Christians, Muslims, and Jews and quickly became friends. According to Hadi, it is ingrained in the human spirit to love and be kind to each other. 

Hadi is a Dallas peace, justice, and human rights activist. He is a follower of the principles of non-violent resistance, as exemplified by the Reverend Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, and he opposes militarism and war. He served on the board of the Dallas Peace Center as an organizer from 1997 to 2015, chairing their Middle East Peace Committee and media spokesperson. He led efforts to organize protests against the US invasion of Iraq that culminated in the largest anti-war demonstration in Dallas history on February 15, 2003.   

Hadi comes from a culture steeped in oral tradition and values the importance of storytelling and shares a story from his youth playing in his neighborhood. A wandering Sufi walked by and engaged him. The Sufi was dressed in traditional clothes and holding a begging bowl. At the end of the conversation, the Sufi stabs the dirt with his stick and picks something up. He motions for Hadi to put it in his mouth. In his memory, Hadi tasted the sweetest candy that he had ever had in the whole world and recognized the mysticism of the world.  

The future activist was always gravitating to finding the good and miraculous in relationships. While Hadi was passionate about mathematics, he didn't want to enter the arms industry as an engineer, and instead, he pursued managing and owning a forklift business. Only years later did he listen to his true calling and decide to be an advocate for Peace and nonviolence. 

According to Hadi, Judaism is the root of a tree, the trunk and the branches are Christianity, and Islam/Sufism is the foliage. Hadi explains some principles of Sufism. Sufis believe that anything material and non-material is one being, regardless of the question: Love is the answer. He defines this as the unity of being. 

How do you stay in the centeredness of Peace: 

1. When you're heart is being pierced, feel the pain and stay true to yourself. We are connected through our suffering. 
2. Reach out to others. 
3. Express gratitude for being alive.  

Hadi is drawn to helping the underserved. He tends to look for opportunities to help those who have fallen through the cracks, and he believes that comes from his mystical side. He's drawn to mysticism and mystical thought and believes that love is mysticism.  

According to Hadi, mystics understand that many of our desires are counterfeit coins and that mystics know where to find the real gold. Hadi shares a story about a villager who demands a diamond from a mystic. The diamond is represented as a rock, and the villager returns it the next day and says, "Give me the wealth that made it so easy for you to give the largest diamond in the world away." 

Hadi believes that mystics know where the wealth is. It's not in your car. It's not in your relationships. It's not in a mansion. It's in our hearts. It's in love. 

Hadi is working with  Rick Halpern, Director of the Human Rights Program at SMU, to make the City of Dallas a Human Rights City that supports the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document is uploaded to the Spiritual Artist Today website and can be found in the practice guides section. 

He concludes the inter

Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

CJ interviews Dan about his current one-person show, "Pollinator / Not Pollinator (But mostly Bees)," at the Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park until April 28, and about the challenges of a solo show. Dan shares how he considered many different aspects when theming his show: 

• The Texas Discovery Gardens location 
• His attraction to drawing insects 
• His environmental consciousness 
• His poetry 
• A bit of humor  

He explains how producing a solo show differs significantly from submitting to a group show. It forces you to focus on your message, quality, and intent. A solo show expresses a unique aspect of you; who are you?  

Environmental awareness is a strong message for Dan's show. Art has a responsibility to express the existential issues that we face today. You cannot find a place on the earth that doesn't have evidence of human beings.  

Dan's show features paintings of insects and animals, all represented in a square format. Dan chose to present each creature abstractly to make an environmental statement. Additionally, he wanted to challenge himself compositionally by working within the confines of a small square. This exhibition showcases Dan's unique artistic style and his commitment to environmental awareness.  

Dan uses writing and fine art separately as well as together. CJ and Dan discuss how he included poetry in his show and agree that artists don't have to "stay in our lane." We can mix different artistic disciplines.   

Dan Collins, the local Dallas artist and poet, has maintained an artistic practice his entire life, participating recently in group shows such as Fresh Faces 2 x 2 at the White Rock Bath House and community art events such as the White Rock Studio Tour. He is co-owner of Tree House Studio with his wife, Rebecca, where they offer classes and workshops. His poetry has been published in various print journals and online. He is a commercial printer by profession. Now that he is closing in on retirement, he is looking forward to devoting all his time to visual and literary creative pursuits. He has contributed to and participated in the local literary scene in various capacities for over a decade. 

For more information on CJ, visit www.spiritualartisttoday.com.
Instagram: cjmillerart, thespiritualartistpodcast 
TikTok: spiritualartist123 
YouTube: spiritualartist123 
Facebook: @thespiritualartistpodcast

Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

Podcast Host CJ Miller sits down with writer, artist, and podcaster Sally Jean Fox to discuss her new book, "Meeting the Muse After Midlife, a memoir about finding hope and meaning after 50"– mainly through creative expression. 

Sally's journey includes releasing limiting beliefs, tapping into her intuition, and listening to the guidance of two muses, Isabel and Marco. She explains that aging is not all doom and gloom, nor a bed of roses, but the ideal place to take creative risks. We keep our imagination and creative power throughout our entire lives. 

CJ opens the podcast by asking Sally to unpack one chapter of her book, “Finding the Girl in Madras." Sally explains how the "girl in Madras" is her own younger self and shares how two boys teased and humiliated her in fourth grade. She carried the shame of the experience for many years. As she began her muse-led journey, she released the pain caused by their comments and accepted herself. 

Part of her healing included drawing faces and realizing that there are no ugly faces for an artist. Ultimately, it became a healing journey. CJ encourages listeners to find a childhood photo, re-examine it with fresh eyes, and send love to their youthful selves. Sally recommends drawing the photo, writing about it in your journal, or even singing a song about it. 

Sally originally hesitated to share the concept of her muses, subtle personified presence that came into her life for guidance. Her first muse, Isabel, was gentle and maternal. Her second Muse, Marco, had a stronger, encouraging voice. While she wrestled with the question of their source, she decided it didn't matter; her muses rebuffed her inner critic and provided a counterweight. Approval is seductive, she emphasizes, but ultimately, we should enjoy the freedom to be ourselves. 

Sally refers to some of Father Richard Rohr's teachings: the first half of our life is about building infrastructure, ego, and financial gain; the second half is an opportunity to embrace our spirituality. 

Ultimately, she encourages the listener by issuing this challenge, "Do you help people in life? Do you forgive? Do you seek joy? Do you want to eliminate suffering in the world? Those are the things that speak to me." 

The writer holds an MBA and PhD from Fielding Graduate University and lives with her horse and husband on an island near Seattle. For more information, visit her site, www.engagingpresence.com, and follow her Engaging Presence blog, or listen to her podcast, "Vital Presence."  

For more information on CJ's book, podcast, or Spiritual Artist Retreats, visit www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His book, "The Spiritual Artist," can be found on Amazon. 

Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

How do we use our perceived disabilities and turn them into assets? In this episode, Host CJ Miller interviews Photo Realism Artist and Art Educator Leonard Buscemi (Lenny) on a unique gridding system that has propelled his students to win state and national awards. 

Born with ADD and dyslexia, Lenny was raised in a "disability-aware" household and forced to discover fresh ways to navigate his artistic skills. He's developed a precise method of gridding to create stunning works of photorealism, leading to a life-long passion for helping those with mental handicaps and disabilities. 

While waiting for his father during a sales call, Lenny found a book with an art activity where you draw as you look at a grid overlay on an original image. Later, he read about Johannes Vermeer and the use of a camera obscura. A camera obscura is a box, tent, or room with a small hole in one side or the top. Light from an external scene passes through the hole. The artist used a projector to trace the image. Lenny was experimenting with these techniques when his teacher emphasized the imp 

His art mentor often said, "It doesn't matter how you get to the result with artwork. It's the result that matters. You don't walk around a museum and say, "How did they do that." 

Lenny discusses how to make a grid for painting to help his students with their process. He found a way to use the system without leaving marks on the art and recommends starting with black-and-white projects before moving on to color.  Lenny references the book by Betty Edwards, "Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain," as good reference material. He recommends breaking the art process down into bite-sized pieces. 

CJ and Lenny discuss the importance of honoring art students by displaying their work at home and in schools to encourage creativity. He believes in positive reinforcement. Lenny says, "Inspiration is for amateurs. It's about doing the work." 

Lenny paraphrases Romans 8:28, "All things work together for those who love the Lord." 

According to the art educator, "We can experience bad things and say they destroyed us, or we could say that they created character in us so we can assist others." 

Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

In this podcast, CJ Miller explores and unpacks the effects of trauma and creativity with psychotherapist Dr. Don St. John.  

Dr. Don has spent a lifetime exploring healing modalities after being raised by a physically and verbally abusive mother and an "almost non-existent" father. His recently revised book, "Healing the Wounds of Childhood and Culture," is available on Amazon. He has been engaging the four pillars of wholeness for almost 60 years: the Somatic, the Psycho-emotional, the Relational, and the Spiritual," and has taught and presented to the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Brazil. 

CJ shares how he often asks his art students to reflect on their lives and see how their artwork was received as a child. He has found that moving past these situations can release new levels of creativity. 

Dr. Don explains that his first response to the abuse was to freeze and live in a fantasy world. It wasn't until his early twenties that he recognized a need for healing. "Trauma affects your entire being, even your very tissues," said Dr. Don.  "It affects our ability to relate to each other and our capacity for love." There is a creative aspect in turning those wounds into gold. 

The interview includes the importance of listening to ourselves and others, addressing stored trauma in the body through the Continuum Consciousness movement, reexamining cultural belief systems, expressing gratitude, and listening to that internal voice for guidance.  

Dr. Don reminds us to view trauma resolution as an "adventure of a lifetime" and recognize that you're having this moment because of everything that came before. 

Dr. Don is certified as a Continuum Consciousness Teacher and believes in releasing trauma through the body. Trauma keeps us from living in the present because we are trying to protect ourselves from the wounds of the past. He assists people in fluid movement explorations to release trauma and resistance. 

Continuum is an approach to exploring how we live in and move through our bodies. Continuum is a portal to a deeper awareness of, and connection to, embodiment, movement, learning, growth, well-being, and creativity. Attention to internal experience through breath, sound, meditative awareness, and fluid movement expands our experience of embodiment. Listeners can find local teachers for this modality by visiting www.continuumteachers.com. 

In conclusion, Dr. Don encourages listeners to embark on their healing journey and become lifelong learners. He encourages everyone to be aware of the benefits of therapy and concludes the interview by asking, "Can you let love in? Can you increase your capacity for love?" 

For more information on Dr. Don St. John, visit https://pathsofconnection.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/don.s.john.90
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/don-st-john-36636a55
For more information on CJ Miller, visit https://spiritualartisttoday.com 

Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

Crystal Nelson is a mixed-media artist based in the DFW area. She studied printmaking and painting at the University of Texas El Paso and recently retired from teaching art for over 25 years. 

In this college artist interview, Crystal shares seven ways to make shapes. Crystal often starts her work with collages by working out the color, shape, and textures. She uses a variety of methods to create exciting shapes in her work.

Crystal recognized that she has a limited visual vocabulary after realizing she tends to repeat the same shape repeatedly and has investigated novel ways to discover new shapes. 

Number 1: Look at the packaging in your recycling bin and examine it for new shapes.

Number 2: Cut plastic letter stencils in half to create fresh shapes.

Number 3: Explore negative space around letter forms on stencils.

Number 4: Before glazing, move the layer of transparent shapes around to see if they reveal a 3rd shape. 

Number 5: Paint your tissue paper with watered-down Golden Fluid and gel medium, and let it dry before using your stencils to cut out new shapes.

Number 6: Use cheap Sulphite drawing paper and paint with sample house paint. Both paints are latex and work together. Extra tip: Use pre-painted Sulphite drawing paper to test placement. 

Number 7: Cut your shapes of old newsprint or porous book pages. According to Crystal, creating a story, whether layered or textured, is essential. Painting is a dance of adding and subtracting. At the end of the episode, Crystal reminds the listener, "In creativity, there is getting attention and paying attention," and there's room for both. 

Crystal has created art as long as she can remember, but for the last 4-5 years, she has primarily focused on making process-driven abstract art. She loves exploring intuitive abstract acrylic painting through textures, shapes, and color and finding the story within her surfaces. 

She teaches mixed media and Gelli printing workshops and recently curated the Deconstructed Exhibit for the Visual Arts League of Lewisville at the Lewisville Grand Theater. Crystal's motto is "Seek Beauty, Seek Truth". 

For more information, follow Crystal Nelson on Instagram @crysdnelson. For more information on CJ, follow him on Instagram @thespiritualartistpodcast or @cjmillerart 

Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

In this podcast, Chris and Jennifer Roig Francoli discuss her new book, "Make Great Music with Ease! The Secret to Smarter Practice, Confident Performance, and Living a Happier Life." The book is now available on Amazon. Jennifer Roig-Francolí is a prize-winning violinist, certified Alexander Technique teacher, and creator of The Art of Freedom® Method for conscious living and masterful artistry. 

Jennifer and Chris share the importance of the body when creating music and art. Jennifer shares how she overcame her mind/body split caused by her upbringing through a traditional religion, which denied the body. She unconsciously believed that the mind was more important than the body, but now she knows that is entirely wrong. We are one undivided self: mind, body, and spirit. 

How does the body come into play? According to Jennifer, what is happening in the body correlates with what is occurring mentally and emotionally inside of us. You must get to the source of the problem, which is how you think. When we have thoughts of judgment, fear, or anxiety, it affects our bodies. As children, we often develop fears of the creative process. When we introduce anxiety or fear into the equation, it is translated as tension in our body. It reveals itself in our artistry when we grip our bodies or grind our teeth. 

According to Jennifer, art is a minimalist process, a subtractive technique. When you get all the excess stuff out of the way and leave only you, you allow the ideas to come through you. They will be shaped by the container that you are in. When musicians play, it is never the same way twice. 

Jennifer emphasizes the importance of recognizing that you don't know what is coming through you, but you are open to discovering it. Her process involves the whole self, mind, body, and spirit. If we do not examine our whole selves, then unpleasant habits creep in. 

She emphasizes the importance of being carefree instead of being too careful or careless. It is the middle space where we find our freedom. Jennifer reviews her "Art of Freedom Method," which has five life pillars: purpose, mind, body, spirit, and artistry. 

She describes this as a conscious awareness or being the witness to ourselves. It's about being present with curiosity. Jennifer and Chris agree that the creative process involves letting oneself become an instrument of something more significant than our little self. Jennifer reminds the listener that we become open to experiencing our artistry when curious and aware.  

For more information on Jennifer, visit her Facebook community https://www.facebook.com/groups/J30DPC/ or her website at www.ArttofFreedom.me. Her unique and inspiring online coaching programs empower musicians of all kinds to break through personal blockages to healing, joy, and musical success. 

Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.