Today we’d like to introduce you to AImee Combs.
Hi AImee, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My artistic journey took shape in college, where I managed the ceramic department and curated art shows during my work study job. That’s when art started to feel less like a quiet hobby and more like something real, something I was actually good at and could build a life around. This led me to earn a degree in Art Studies at Arizona State University and certification in Art Education.
During my last semester at ASU, I was thoroughly enjoying my printmaking courses. My screen printing teacher suggested the class submit work to a show happening in New York. It was free to enter, which is rare, and she warned us the chances were slim because free submissions tend to draw a huge volume of entries. I figured, what the heck, and submitted one of the pieces I loved most. I ended up getting an acceptance letter. Out of 3,000 submissions, mine was one of 60 selected, at IPCNY. I was in disbelief. My husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, suggested we make the trip to New York for the opening. I’ll never forget that trip. I remember standing in the gallery, so packed with people you could barely walk around, talking to other artists who’d submitted. A lot of them told me it took them two or three tries to finally get in. When I told them it was my first submission, they couldn’t believe it. A few months later, the show announced it would be traveling to Scotland, and my work was selected again, one of 30 out of the original 60. It was such an incredible pivot in my artistic career, and a moment I’m still proud of today.
After college, I soon became a mom and focused on motherhood for quite some time, dabbling in art here and there. But I knew I wanted to use all my credentials in a meaningful way that integrated art somehow. That’s what led me to pursue my Creative Depth Coaching certification and my Art Therapy Practitioner certification, so I could combine everything I’d learned and use it for something that actually mattered. I think being a deeply sensitive person, someone who feels what others are feeling, played a part in this too. I’ve always wanted to help people in some way, and this felt like the right path. Not only could I teach skill-based artistic workshops and courses, but I could also help others use art in a way that’s healing, not necessarily about skill at all.
What really brought me here was something I noticed over and over while teaching. So many kids would say things like, “I’m not good at art,” “I can’t do that,” “this is bad,” so I found ways to help them put the medium down on paper, then step back and actually see what they’d made. The transformations I witnessed were amazing. When I’d talk about this work with other adults, so many of them said the same things kids did: “that’s not for me,” “I can’t even draw a stick person,” “I don’t have a creative bone in my body.” That gap, between what people believed about themselves and what they were actually capable of when given permission to just create, is exactly what led me to where I am today, and why I offer what I offer.
For a long time, I’ve also suffered from nocturnal panic attacks, something I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I’m highly sensitive to medications, so I had to find another way through them. What I discovered was that grabbing a piece of paper and an oil pastel and making intuitive marks worked every single time. I also live with general anxiety disorder, and I’ve found that sitting down for even 5-10 minutes a day to work on a journal page helps me come back to myself. This is part of why I believe so deeply in what art can do, not as performance, but as a real, accessible tool for healing.
I named my business Lotus Creative Healing because the lotus flower represents rebirth. When I turned 40, a dear colleague and friend of mine corrected me when I said “midlife crisis.” She told me it was a rebirth instead, and it instantly shifted the way I was thinking. I knew exactly what she meant. It feels like finally knowing who you are and what you have to offer. I believe we can all carry that mentality if we change the way we think about things, and part of my goal is to help others shift their mindset, to show them that creative expression can be a tool for digging deeper into who they really are.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been smooth, and I don’t think it’s supposed to be. I’ve built everything myself, including all the backend operations like my website, software systems, registration platforms, and payment processing. It actually came naturally to me in a lot of ways, since I spent years as an executive assistant before this, but it was still hard simply because of the sheer volume of it. Doing it all alone, on top of everything else, is a lot to carry.
But honestly, marketing has been the biggest challenge. I’m naturally introverted, and putting myself out there, posting, being on camera, sharing my own story, has been genuinely hard. What I’ve found is that the more I push through that initial discomfort, the easier it gets. Each time I post, it costs me a little less than the time before.
I also took a real risk opening a physical location in downtown Phoenix. It would have been safer to stay fully online, but I believed in what this could become in person, and I’m still proving that out one week at a time.
As you know, we’re big fans of Lotus Creative Healing. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Lotus Creative Healing is a boutique creative arts studio in downtown Phoenix offering camps, workshops, and creative grounding programs for preteens and adults. We specialize in art journaling and intuitive, somatic art-making that focuses on process over perfection, no talent or art experience required.
I started building this over a year ago as an online community focused on art journaling and emotional reconnection, mostly for women looking for a creative outlet that wasn’t about skill or perfection. But the more I sat with it, the more I noticed something else: people are craving real community right now, more than ever, and while that can happen online, I knew I wanted to create something in person.
I explored other people’s venues for workshops and camps along the way, but none of them ever felt authentic to what I had to offer. Part of building a physical space, for me, was also about creating an aesthetic and a vibe: something inviting, warm, safe, and cozy. I eventually found the perfect location that checked every one of those boxes, and that’s how Lotus Creative Healing Studio in downtown Phoenix came to be.
What sets us apart is that we don’t separate creativity from healing. We offer skill-based workshops like printmaking, ceramics, layered art journaling, and bring-your-own-wine art nights, alongside creative reset experiences that combine art with yoga, sound baths, and other embodied practices for mind, body, and spirit. We also run youth programs such as summer camps, after-school programs, and youth workshops (ESA approved, ClassWallet accepted), as well as an online membership community for women seeking the same kind of creative, grounded connection in a more accessible format.
A lot of what I teach, both in our online journaling membership and in several workshops, centers on what I call the Layer-by-Layer Method. In today’s busy world, even finding time for creativity can feel impossible, so the goal each week is just one journal page, built in five to ten minute layers whenever you have a pocket of time. If a layer doesn’t get finished, you simply pick it back up later, until an entire art journal page is built with real depth and meaning within it. This is the easiest way I’ve found to keep a creative practice alive without it feeling overwhelming, and it’s exactly how I teach others now too. Reflection prompts are woven throughout, helping people dig deeper into what they actually made and why.
None of this requires being “good” at art. We’ve been fed a lie that you have to be talented or call yourself an artist to be creative. I want to change that. Yes, you can practice and improve your skills, but creativity can also simply be a way to heal, reflect, and go deeper into yourself, no talent required. I’m dedicated to helping people find that kind of healing and growth, and I thrive on the breakthrough that happens when someone sits down, whether it’s collage-making or watercolors, and uses creative expression to understand themselves on a deeper level.
What I’m most proud of is creating a space where people don’t need to call themselves an artist to belong here. This is the place I needed years ago, before I knew art could be a way back to myself instead of something to perform. Now I get to offer that same place to others who need permission to creatively express themselves freely.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a quiet, observant kid, growing up in a small town in Iowa. At the time, I didn’t think much of it, but looking back, there was something really special about it: the freedom to run around outside, real silence, no traffic, and minimal noise. I remember sitting alone in a field or under a tree, just being present with everything around me. I carry a lot of that with me now, living in a city, and it’s still one of the ways I ground myself.
I was also a deeply sensitive kid. I felt what others were feeling around me, sometimes before I even understood why, and I struggled with self-esteem issues that carried into my adulthood in ways I’m still working through. That sensitivity is probably why, even back then, I knew I wanted a career helping others in some way, though I didn’t yet know what that would look like.
I’ve always been drawn to anything pleasing to the eye, noticing the beauty around me as a way to get through anxious thoughts and hard times. As a teenager, poetry became one of my main creative outlets, alongside doodling during school. I actually won a couple of poetry contests back then, though I don’t think I realized at the time that I was already using creativity to process what I was feeling.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lotuscreativehealing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lotus.creative.healing
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555705510209
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LotusCreativeHealing
- Other: https://www.skool.com/lotus-creative-healing/about
