Blog

This is part three of a twelve part blog series on how to bring the practice of art-making back into your life, after a hiatus. I am a painter, but this can really apply to any creative person, e.g. a musician,sculptor, or writer. 


Be Real.

When you haven't taken action on something you want to do, you sometimes find yourself stagnating. Then you find yourself procrastinating. You go from actually moving yourself, your hands andyour body, to escaping somewhere in your head. 
You read about painting, you buy books, you buy supplies, you do everything BUT paint! (or sing, write, dance, etc..)

What holds you back?

Perfectionism. That really is the culprit, and believe me, perfectionism is a creativity KILLER. The longer you sit and think and do research, the more grandiose your dreams become. You spend hours of your precious time studying other artists (hey, you are learning right???) and somehow you think that yes, you could paint like that, right NOW. You start painting, and because you are rusty, your paintings don't measure up. So you give up. Your impatient ego just cannot take it.

Embrace some humility and get back into your groove! Make it a goal to experience as much failure as you can. Have fun with it! Have you met your mistake quota for the day? The sooner you make your mistakes, the faster you can correct them. 

So often, it feels just like work. You are pushing that paint around on your canvas, or trying to find the right word, and it all feels so effortful. This isn't what you imagined creativity to be like! 

A huge thing I have learned about feeling in the flow is that you cannot control it. You cannot say "inspiration, I'm painting at 10 AM, come meet me in the studio today!"  

Imagine if your muse could talk to you. It would probably say "Inspiration is going to show up somewhere between 12 and 2 PM this afternoon. I'm not going to say exactly when, but you better be in your studio working when I arrive!" I spent YEARS stuck in this pattern.

My error was that I thought inspiration was an act of the will. Nope. 

So how do you shake off this egoic monkey on your back? 

Embrace faith. You will find yourself in a territory where you must keep your eye fixed on what you want to achieve, but at the same time accept yourself where you are. This is the rub, and faith will get you where you need to go. You must completely believe that you WILL get there. Fall even deeper in love with the visions you are striving to emulate. 

Its a painful place to be, I will admit. Really painful. You see the other artists creating masterpieces, and you are stuck here in sucksville. But if you throw yourself into your work, the pain will disappear. Remember, you are an artist, and every day you choose not to paint, you are depriving the world of the message only you can deliver. So be generous.

Humility. Faith. Belief. Generosity. Every great artist embraced these qualities! I'm sure of it. 

Go grab that sketchbook, get your guitar, open your notebook, put on your dance clothes...and be real.