Milos Art Residency

I spent two weeks in Milos on an art residency, and it became one of the most transformative experiences I’ve had creatively and personally. Here are some of my key takeaways from my first art residency.

Before arriving in Milos, I felt creatively flat, almost like a deflated balloon. I was constantly trying to squeeze out whatever creativity I had left, even though I was already running on burnout. Nothing was flowing naturally anymore. Instead of creating from impulse or intuition, everything started to feel forced and heavy. I was exhausted and found it difficult to access the creative energy that once came so easily to me.

When I first arrived in Milos, it wasn’t quite how I had imagined it. It was cold and windy, like four layers of clothes windy, and I wondered why I had packed five swimsuits when I might not even use one. But something shifted when I changed my mindset. Instead of resisting it, I thought, “How cool that I’m in a new place, surrounded by a new culture, and able to explore, discover and rest.”

The colder weather ended up being a gift. It allowed for slower mornings, extra sleep and a gentler introduction into the rhythm of the island. Around day four, something small shifted within me. I started taking deeper breaths, noticing simple things and smiling more.

Milos became far more meaningful once I stopped expecting and simply became present. Spending two weeks there meant I had time to truly connect with the island, revisiting places, speaking with locals, hearing stories and immersing myself in the culture through experiences like a local ceramics class and attending a Greek Orthodox Church service.

One of the biggest lessons I learnt was how difficult I initially found rest. Coming straight out of the “rat race” of Sydney, or as some describe it, wood fire, wood fire, I realised I didn’t really know how to slow down. What challenged me most was not having a plan every day. At first, that felt deeply uncomfortable, but eventually it forced me to breathe, let go and simply go with the flow.

There was also something really beautiful about being surrounded by a language I couldn’t fully understand. Without constantly absorbing the conversations and energy around me, I felt mentally quieter and more present within myself. It allowed me to turn inward, reconnect with my own thoughts and feel creativity return in a much deeper way.

Once I surrendered to that slower rhythm, creativity slowly began returning naturally.

I also realised that being in nature is actually my form of rest. To truly connect with a place, I need to feel it, explore it and sit with it. Allowing myself time to wander, swim, share meals, sit in silence and watch the light shift across the landscape became deeply restorative.

Honestly, it wasn’t until the second week that I truly felt that creative spark return. For the first time in a long time, I felt genuine excitement to paint again. The slower Greek lifestyle definitely helped too.

This residency reminded me that inspiration cannot be forced. As artists, we often feel pressure to constantly produce and chase the next thing, but sometimes the most important part of the creative process is simply living, observing, resting and reconnecting with yourself and the world around you.

By the end of my time in Milos, I didn’t just feel creatively refilled, I felt more like myself again.

Since returning home, I feel creatively inspired again, with ideas flowing through ease rather than force. I feel lighter, calmer and far more connected to myself, nature and my creativity. Painting no longer feels purely tied to productivity or income. Instead, it feels intuitive and meaningful again.

The biggest shift I want to carry back into my everyday life is protecting space for stillness and presence, rather than slipping straight back into constant doing. I want time in nature to remain a non negotiable part of my creative process because I now realise it doesn’t take away from my work, it feeds it.

I also want to continue trusting that creativity has its own timing. It doesn’t need to be forced to be valid. Allowing ideas to arrive naturally, and giving myself permission to rest without guilt, feels incredibly important moving forward.

My time at the residency also beautifully overlapped with Kelly being on the island. Sharing conversations, inspiration and witnessing part of her installation process was incredibly special and meaningful. I know we will both carry parts of that experience forward into our own work.

I’m so grateful for the way this residency allowed me to step out of survival mode and reconnect with the deeper reason I create.

My biggest takeaways from this experience were:

1. Creativity cannot be forced

2. Rest is a vital part of the creative process

3. Slowing down reconnects you to yourself

4. Nature is my form of restoration

5. Presence creates inspiration

6. Letting go of control opened creativity again

7. Immersing in culture and place deepened the experience

8. Artists need space away from survival mode

9. Creativity flows more naturally through intuition than pressure