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| "Queen of Diamonds" 20 x 20 mixed media on canvas |
If your paintings could talk, what would they say? I think mine would want me to set them
free! They would want me to let loose
instead of trying to control every move. We’ve all been taught to think
carefully before we make a brush stroke and to know what we’re going to do
before it happens. But that creates anxiety doesn’t it? If you’re like me my
hand begins to shake and I stress over “getting it right.”
“The moment you
doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” Jon Barrie,
author of Peter Pan from Jan. 2015 Woman’s Day.
Those doubts tighten
your muscles, the flow of paint, and the release of energy that makes your composition exciting. Having a well thought out plan is one thing. Allowing
spontaneity to occur and to alter your initial concept is when the “magic”
happens.
“A watched pot
never boils.” When you keep too tight a reign on every stroke, every
composition, or you over analyze your progress, you may miss out on something
enchanting and remarkable. Let it happen! Just do it.
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| "Cafe' Costa Rica" 20 x 20 acrylic on canvas |
If your paints
could talk, what would they say? Mine would be angry with the disorganized
mess, with the damaged caps from using a nut cracker to get them off, and the
crimped twisted tubes, etc. A neat freak I’m not! I get so caught up in
painting I sometimes forget that a neater pallet and a more organized paint box
would actually make my job easier.
Recently I
subscribed to Eric Maisel’s “Sunday Newsletter: Emotional Healing”. With my
free subscription, Eric had a free gift: “The 97 Best Creativity Tips Ever” by
Eric Maisel, 2011 all rights reserved.
I’m going to
share with you the first 10 tips on Eric’s list.
1. Be consistent in showing up. Getting to your
creative work only once in a while won’t keep it alive. Make “routine” and
“regularity” sacred words!
2. Who knows how many artists fail because the
light that shines through them is refracted in a thousand directions and not
concentrated in a single beam? Pick projects and complete them! It is not
really possible to work on a thousand things at once.
3. One of the best ways to help yourself create
every day is to craft a starting ritual that you begin to use regularly and routinely.
When your ritual becomes habitual you will find yourself moving effortlessly
from not creating to creating.
4. Make the following pledge: “I will do some
creative work every day, if only for fifteen or twenty minutes.” Honor your
pledge for the next two weeks and spend fourteen consecutive days creating.
5. Looking for only the perfect time to create?
Forget about it! You are always in the middle of something so it is right in the
middle of things that your creating must also happen.
6. Even small amounts of time can be used for
creating. Do you make use of fifteen minutes here and twenty minutes there?
7. Are you good at capturing your own creative
thoughts? Or do you let them slip away by telling yourself that they weren’t really
all that good or all that important? Stop that! Start right now doing a better
job of capturing and recording your ideas.
8. You must reckon with your own character.
Creativity requires curiosity. Are you curious enough? Creativity requires
risk-taking. Are you willing to risk? Creativity requires energy. Can you
marshal and unleash your energy? Creativity requires patience. Have you
cultivated that quality? Turn yourself into the artist you need to be!
9. Telling our truth can bring us pain and get
us into trouble, but worse pain and worse trouble await us if we keep silent. Tell
your truth—carefully, artfully, and courageously!
10. Say yes to your creative work! Avoid maybe
like the plague. Maybe is a state that takes you right to the edge of
meaninglessness. Maybe plays to your weaknesses, your anxieties, and your
doubts. Maybe frustrates you and disappoints you. Avoid the maybe trap!
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