The Motivatarian Exchange with Dionne Woods

What if you're not bad at art?
What if you're simply new at it?
In this episode of The Motivatarian Exchange, Dionne Woods sits down with Arizona artist, educator, creative entrepreneur, and Roycycled Treasures founder Royce Hunt Bell for an honest conversation about creative confidence, color theory, artist mindset, neurodivergent learning, resilience, business pivots, faith, and giving yourself permission to become more creative.
Royce has built Roycycled Treasures through mixed media, decoupage, color, creative products, teaching, retreats, and a thriving community of women she affectionately calls her "Besties."
Now her business—and Royce herself—is evolving.
After beginning to take art classes herself, Royce discovered that the distance between the "craft world" and "art world" wasn't nearly as great as many people believe.
That realization has given her a burning mission:
Help more people give themselves permission to say YES.
Yes to learning something new.
Yes to understanding color.
Yes to making art.
Yes to experimenting.
And maybe even yes to finally calling yourself an artist.
Royce shares why she believes art isn't magic or something you have to be born knowing how to do. Through color theory, experimentation, hands-on application, and her own journey from crafter toward more classical art training, she wants people to understand that creativity can be learned.
We also explore why her teaching style resonates with kinetic and neurodivergent learners. Royce doesn't simply want to tell a student WHAT to do—she wants them to understand WHY it works, experiment with it themselves, and build the confidence to use that knowledge independently.
But creative confidence is only part of this conversation.
Royce gets vulnerable about entrepreneurship, including a recent season when this lifelong problem-solver couldn't see a way through a problem.
One honest conversation with a friend presented an option she hadn't considered.
It didn't immediately fix everything.
It gave her hope.
That experience reinforced something both Royce and Dionne believe deeply: creative entrepreneurs need community. Sometimes we need people who understand the highs, lows, challenges, opportunities, and uncertainty of building something of our own—and who can see possibilities we can't see from where we're standing.
Royce and Dionne also talk about the words we carry from childhood, family members, teachers, and other people who convinced us we weren't artistic enough. Royce sees women creating beautiful work every day who still tell her, "But I'm not an artist."
She wants to change that.
In this episode:
• How to build creative confidence
• Why art is teachable
• Moving from "crafter" to "artist"
• Color theory and learning to mix colors confidently
• Why knowledge + application can transform creativity
• Hands-on and kinetic learning
• Teaching neurodivergent creatives differently
• Overcoming "I'm not an artist" beliefs
• Giving yourself permission to experiment
• What happens when other people's words become part of your identity
• Staying motivated when entrepreneurship gets hard
• Finding hope when you can't see the solution
• Why creative entrepreneurs need community
• Pivoting an established creative business
• The power of retreats and learning in person
• Faith, favor, resilience, and pouring from overflow
• Why transformation requires both creativity AND mindset
• Giving yourself permission to be new at something
Royce believes transformation happens when we stop excluding ourselves from experiences we secretly desire simply because we don't believe we belong.
Sometimes the first step isn't a giant leap.
It's a quiet yes.
Because maybe you're not bad at it.
Maybe you're just new at it.
ABOUT ROYCE:
Royce Hunt Bell is the artist, educator, and perpetual experimenter behind Roycycled Treasures.
Through mixed media, decoupage, color, and a healthy dose of "I wonder what would happen if…," Royce helps women rediscover their creativity and trust themselves enough to use it.
Through Roycycled Treasures, Royce designs art papers and creative products, teaches online and in person, hosts creative retreats, and has built a community of women affectionately known as her "Besties."
Royce is also a curator for The Turquoise Iris Journal.
UPCOMING:
Royce's Crafting with Confidence course begins October 6, 2026, with registration open through November 1.
The Roycycled Retreat will be held April 22–25, 2027, in Safford, Arizona, with limited seats remaining at the time of publication.
CONNECT WITH ROYCE:
Website: Roycycled.com
Instagram: @roycycled
Facebook: Roycycled Treasures
YouTube: @Roycycled
Email: royce@roycycled.com

Ann Tudor has been "at the torch" — turning molten glass into beads, jewelry, and even sculptural pieces (including an aquarium made entirely of glass, no water required). But in this episode of The Motivatarian Exchange, Dionne and Ann go far beyond the craft.
Ann shares her path from a 30-year dental career to full-time lampwork glass artist, her more recent pivot into palette knife painting, and her decades as a knitting instructor — now making stitch markers instead of beads.
She also talks candidly about her husband, Mark — and about losing him three years ago. She shares the RV trip they'd bought together not long before his passing, and the quote that's carried her through since: "Life will be what I make it, and I can't just stay stuck in my house."
Growing up a tomboy just blocks from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Ann never took a formal art class — she's entirely self-taught, and only recently returned to showing her work publicly. She now paints intuitive portraits of women she simply calls "ladies," each one carrying its own message, and is a longtime advocate for art journaling as a creative practice anyone can start.
In this episode:
What it means to be "at the torch" — lampwork glass explained
The baby grand piano she and Mark turned into a bookcase
Rebuilding a creative life after loss
From glass beads to stitch markers: 35 years of knitting
Painting intuitive "ladies" and the messages they carry
Why art journaling belongs in everyone's creative practice
Ann's mantra: "What you think about, you bring about"
Connect with Ann Tudor:
Website: anntudor.com 
Instagram: @anntudorstudio 
Facebook: Ann Tudor Studio 
YouTube: The Knitting Tudor 
Email: contactme@anntudor.com
The Motivatarian Exchange with Dionne Woods — conversations that spark courageous expression, curious exploration, and connected growth.
 
lampwork glass artist, glass beadmaking, stitch markers, knitting instructor, art journaling, intuitive painting, palette knife painting, creative reinvention, grief and creativity, self-taught artist, Indiana artist, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, women creatives podcast

What if some of your most meaningful creative work is still ahead of you?
In this episode of The Motivatarian Exchange, Dionne Woods sits down with Amy Keever, a professional artist, mosaicist, and sculptor from Northwest Arkansas, for a conversation about creative confidence, reinvention, self-worth, faith, and continuing to become at every stage of life.
For more than 26 years, Amy has built a creative life around curiosity, continual learning, and a willingness to push beyond traditional boundaries. Her work combines materials ranging from welded steel and stained glass to Italian smalti, filati, precious metals, paint, and collage—all rooted in her belief that art has the power to transform not only materials, but people.
Amy shares how her creative journey began at a young age and how the confidence to simply try led her into new mediums and unexpected opportunities. We talk about her first mosaic project, inspired by a European church; her memorable Maverick project; her exploration of micro-mosaics; and an artist residency in Ireland that profoundly changed her.
But this conversation goes much deeper than technique.
Amy and Dionne talk honestly about pricing your artwork, separating your price from your self-worth, creative confidence, hope, resilience, and the courage required to begin again.
One word captures much of Amy's philosophy:
Conduit.
She has the word tattooed on her arm as a reminder to remain open—to creativity, faith, encouragement, connection, and whatever may be trying to move through her into the world.
In this episode:
Building creative confidence
Pricing your art without attaching the price to your worth
Stained glass, mosaics, micro-mosaics, sculpture, and collage
Amy's transformative artist residency in Ireland
Faith, creativity, and recognizing the "God things"
Following curiosity instead of needing all the answers
Pushing beyond your creative comfort zone
Encouraging others and helping people feel seen
Reinvention and beginning again
Using creativity to bring hope and connection
Why some of our most meaningful work may still be ahead of us
At 55, Amy is especially interested in the idea that our lives can continue to expand as we grow older. Through Journey of a Wildflower, she explores creativity, nourishment, reinvention, and the courage to keep imagining what might still be possible.
Amy's work has been featured in Where Women Create, The Turquoise Iris Journal, Where Women Create's The Art of Studio book, and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She has exhibited and received recognition nationally, with upcoming 2027 shows including Art Expo New York, Art Expo Santa Fe, and Spectrum Chicago, along with micro-mosaic teaching dates.
If you're an artist, creative entrepreneur, or someone navigating a new season, this episode is a beautiful reminder:
Becoming is not something we finish.
Stay curious. Keep creating. Keep imagining what else might be possible.
Connect with Amy Keever
Amy Keever's website Instagram — Amy Keever Gallery Facebook — Amy Keever YouTube — Amy Keever Gallery

Nothing Has Been Wasted: It's Never Too Late to Become More | Deborah Andress
What if not a single chapter of your life has been wasted?
In Episode 25 of The Motivatarian Exchange, Dionne Woods sits down with Deborah Watson Andress, founder of The Tattered Artist, for an inspiring conversation about creativity, faith, resilience, family, legacy, and continuing to become at every age.
Now in her 70s, Deborah has a message she especially wants women over 55 to hear:
God has not wasted a single chapter of your story.
From her home studio in South Alabama, Deborah creates mixed-media art inspired by the waterways, countryside, wildflowers, everyday people, and ordinary beauty around her. Using worn papers, bits of fabric, texture, and story, her work reflects what she believes about life itself: beauty can grow from the tattered places.
And Deborah knows something about those places.
After more than 20 surgeries throughout her life—including three in the past year and a half—she refuses to allow hardship to define her. She's still creating, dreaming, leading, learning, speaking, traveling, and finding plenty of reasons to have fun.
In this episode, we talk about:
Why your hardships don't define you

Finding purpose and possibility after 55

Believing that no part of your story has been wasted

Creativity and faith through difficult seasons

Learning to believe in yourself

Using your voice later in life

Choosing kindness and compassion

Social media as another form of creative expression

Creating family traditions and leaving a meaningful legacy

Why life is too short not to have fun

Family and legacy are at the heart of Deborah's story. For 14 years, she has hosted Nana's Camp for her grandchildren, intentionally creating traditions and memories through art, scavenger hunts, talent shows, and time together. Even physical setbacks haven't stopped her from showing up.
And she's far from finished.
Deborah is stepping further into writing, speaking, leadership, workshops, and her new role as a curator for The Turquoise Iris Journal.
I often tease Deborah that I want to be her when I grow up.
Because this conversation isn't really about getting older.
It's about becoming more fully yourself because you've lived long enough to understand what matters.
If you're wondering whether it's too late to begin again, use your voice, pursue your creativity, or discover a new purpose for your life, this episode is for you.
You are not finished. And your tattered places aren't wasted.
About Deborah Watson Andress
Deborah Watson Andress is the founder of The Tattered Artist, where she encourages women—especially those over 55—to believe God has not wasted a single chapter of their story. Through mixed-media art, writing, speaking, leadership, and storytelling, she encourages women to value the lives they've already lived and courageously step into what's next.
Connect with Deborah
Website: The Tattered Artist
Facebook: The Tattered Artist aka Deborah W Andress
Instagram: @thetatteredartist
YouTube: youtube.com/thetatteredartist

What if the life you're dreaming about is waiting on the other side of one brave decision?
In this episode of The Motivatarian Exchange, Dionne Woods sits down with artist, educator, and entrepreneur Deb Kraska for a heartfelt conversation about courage, creativity, reinvention, and learning to trust yourself through life's transitions.
For more than 26 years, Deb has inspired students as an eighth-grade computer science teacher. At the same time, she spent nearly a decade building a thriving brick-and-mortar creative business before making the difficult decision to close its doors—not because it had failed, but because she had grown. She was ready to make space for the next chapter.
That decision came with excitement, uncertainty, and one fear many of us know all too well:
"What will people think?"
Deb shares how she worked through that fear, embraced her identity as an artist, and discovered that sometimes the hardest part of growth isn't changing your life—it's giving yourself permission to do it.
As an educator, Deb has also witnessed a dramatic shift in today's students. She explains why motivation looks different than it did a decade ago and shares the simple mindset practice she teaches every year:
Add one word.
Yet.
"I can't do this"... yet.
That single word changes the conversation from defeat to possibility—for her students and for all of us.
In this conversation, Dionne and Deb discuss:
Why perfectionism keeps us from taking the first step
The surprising fear behind closing a successful business
How to stop worrying about what other people think
The power of adding "yet" to your mindset
Why creative communities help us become braver
Building confidence through consistent action
The connection between computer science and creativity
Learning to ask for help during seasons of grief and transition
Creating healthy routines that support your mind, body, and creativity
Redefining success from achievement to peace
Following curiosity instead of forcing a perfect plan
Deb also shares how Lake Michigan inspires her newest body of artwork, why she's developing the Restyle DIY app to help others confidently tackle creative projects, and how talking directly to her audience has transformed the way she shows up online.
Whether you're an artist, entrepreneur, teacher, parent, or someone standing at the edge of a new season, this episode is a reminder that growth rarely begins with certainty.
It begins with one small decision.
One brave step.
And sometimes...
One simple word.
Yet.
Connect with Deb Kraska
🌐 Website: https://debrakart.com
📸 Instagram: @debrakart
📘 Facebook: Debra K Art
▶️ YouTube: @debrakart
About Deb Kraska
Deb Kraska is an artist, educator, and entrepreneur behind Debra K Art. Inspired by the beauty of Lake Michigan, wildflowers, and the textures of everyday life, she creates expressive abstract artwork while encouraging others to let go of perfectionism and embrace creativity with confidence.
By day, she teaches eighth-grade computer science, where she intentionally incorporates growth mindset into her classroom. She also teaches art workshops, is developing the Restyle DIY app, and continues to inspire others through her art, teaching, and authentic storytelling.
About The Motivatarian Exchange
Hosted by Dionne Woods, The Motivatarian Exchange features conversations with remarkable women who are creating meaningful lives through courage, creativity, leadership, and personal growth. Together, these stories remind us that motivation isn't one-size-fits-all—and that our greatest transformations often begin with a single conversation.