The habit of creativity

In his book 'Atomic Habits', James Clear writes:

'The most effective form of motivation is progress'

Often we want to be creative but get caught in a trap of our own making.

We feel our work's not good enough, so we don't make work.

We don't make work, so our work doesn't improve.

So when we do, finally, make something, it's not good enough.

Creative paralysis.

You pick up the guitar once a month and hate that you can't play how you want to.

You draw a picture and it's shapeless and dull.

You write a poem and it doesn't resonate.

So you stop.

I paint a lot these days. I sell my paintings online and at art fairs (Fanad Art: John Britton). It's a passion that is also a profession.

The other day I decided to explore working in charcoal. Partly because I like charcoal, partly because want to do some block printing, and working in charcoal is a way to prepare.

So I decided to draw a fox from a photo.

You know what?

The first attempt was awful.

So was the second.

The third was pretty lousy.

The fourth and fifth were a lot better.

The evident improvement motivated me to continue.

'The most effective form of motivation is progress'

It's pretty simple: if you want a creative aspect to your daily life, create a habit of creativity. Day-by-day improvment becomes its own motivation.

The photo below is of some of my later fox sketches. I'll not show the early ones. Why? Because they're private: just like the sounds from your guitar when you first pick it up, or the first draft of a poem. Creativity is a private place that - if we choose - we later share with the world.

Beauty

I name five beliefs that underpin my paintings: beauty, connection, kindness, nature, service.

I want to write here a short piece about beauty.

It’s a word that evokes strong reactions. People fight to prove their vision of what’s beautiful is superior to other people’s. It’s futile. We see the world differently.

I’d like to keep things pretty simple. The origins of the word I most value are ‘attractive’, ‘pleasing to the senses’, and ‘suggesting goodness’.

‘Attractive’ describes something or someone that captures and holds our attention. We linger on the attractive. In a world that profits from our distractedness, objects that hold - for an extended period - our attention are challenging and important. Art encourages us to stop flitting from place to place, seeking the junk-food of instant gratification. Art, instead, invites us to linger in the moment.

‘Pleasing to the senses’ is an interesting phrase. It contains the need for contrast. Something is pleasing to the sense when contrasted with other things. Sweet things please our sense of taste. Too much sweetness nauseates. We balance pleasures against one another. Art contains elements of contrast and tension. Beauty comes from the relationship within a piece of work and between the piece of work and the viewer’s world. Without tension or contrast, it becomes bland: pretty rather than beautiful. Decorative and ultimately ignorable.

‘Suggesting goodness’. This is perhaps the hardest to capture. What is goodness? It’s highly subjective. So is beauty of course: it is famously ‘in the eye of the beholder’. I’m suspicious of any notion of a universal standard of beauty. Art, though, can remind us of types of ‘goodness’ we too easily forget, (a tree, a face, a pattern) and help us to see how goodness loos through someone else’s eye. I am profoundly suspicious of the oil industry, yet, seeing a picture of oil derricks in the Texas desert helps me understand what ‘goodness’ means to someone who sees the world differently to me.

Putting these three meanings together brings me towards how I think of art. It’s holds our focus, embodies contrast and complexity, and helps us see what is ‘good’ through the eyes of someone else (a fundamental of empathy and compassion).

I don’t always like other people’s art. Nor do I expect (or even want) everyone to like what I create. However I believe passionately in the role of art in encouraging focus, complexity and the ability to see other perspectives.

That, for me, is beautiful.

Art isn’t an idea….

We become what we do.

If you write 500 words, you're writing.

Do it every day and you're a writer.

If you draw a picture, you're drawing.

If you draw every day, you're an artist.

If you play the piano, you're playing the piano.

Play every day, you're a musician.

If you dedicate a small amount of time each day to creativity - you're creative.

It's really hard to change by saying: 'I want to be an artist/creative'. What you're really saying is 'I'm not an artist, but I want to be'.

It's easier to change by taking practical steps: by 'doing art'.

Change what you do and you change who you are.

You can start today.

It doesn't have to be for hours on end. It simply has to be regular enough to become who you are.

Step by step your creative work will improve.

Step by step your identity will change.

After a few months you'll be unrecognisable to yourself.

That's the core of 'Creative Soulwork'.

In each session we will do some guided creative work. Then we'll look at what you can do to make that easier and more sustainable so you can continue being an artist after our work together has finished.

It's practical, hands-on, transformational.

Be in touch if you're tired of thinking change and you're ready to start doing change.

https://youtu.be/fEblouoL3CY?si=AiADDF_WBlRMfzkK

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Nurturing Creativity.

Guiding you to put creative time at the centre of life.

Thirty years an artist & performer - at your service.

For coaching and conversation - be in touch

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Being An Artist

People say to me, a little sadly or defensively, 'You see I'm not 'really' an actor/performer/dancer/creative.....'

They explain:

'I didn't train....'

'My parents didn't approve and pushed me towards teaching/engineering/medicine......'

'I got married...'

'I didn't know what I wanted back then....'

'I trained, but it was too hard to make a living, so I gave up....'

'I thought I'd do something else for a while to earn some money, but never got back to it, now it's too late....'

'I had kids...'

'I wasn't confident enough....'

'I never felt like I belonged with the 'arty' people....'

There's other reasons too.

They all lead to the same conclusion:

'I'm not really an artist....'

I understand. I've told myself a lot of these stories too, over the years. About not belonging, having low self-confidence, not being 'properly' trained.

Does that make me not an artist?

No.

Bullshit.

The question is never: 'Am I an artist?'

The question is: 'How am I an artist and how can I do my art?'

We can all be artists, performers, creatives.

We each have to find our own way.

We bring being a mother or father to our art.

We bring our training in other fields to our art.

We bring our struggles with low self-confidence to our art.

We bring our negotiation with parental or social disapproval to our art.

We bring everything we are to our art, and, through our art express everything we are.

There's a thousand skills and disciplines in every art form. No one knows them all. We can study them in institutions. or pick them up as we go along.

What's undeniable is this: you're not an artist or performer because you have a certificate that says you are.

You're an artist when you make art.

You're a performer when you perform.

You're creative when you create.

You need no one's permission to do any of these things - except your own.

So if you find yourself thinking "I'm not really an Artist', shift perspective. Ask yourself 'How am I an artist?' and 'How can I share my art?'.