4 Reasons to Change Your Art and Your Life
Cartwheels on the Lawn 28” X 24” Hand dyed, Hand Woven, Overdyed & Cotton Batiks with Vintage Buttons Framed in Solid Wood Vintage Frame
People, as a general rule, resist change. They feel very comfortable with their habits. If you try to get them to give up coffee, or wine they give you every reason why they should keep up the habit. Take a moment and think about what habits you have and consider your arguments for keeping them exactly as they are.
As creatives it serves us to have certain habits but, it helps us grow if we can embrace new ways of making our work. Here are a few reasons people change their art (and their lives).
The first reason we change how we create is because it hurts enough that we have to. The stiff back of the potter over the wheel, the arthritis of the woodworker from years of carving and hammering, the vision of the painter diminishes. The pain hurts enough that change is the only way to continue. There’s the emotional pain too. The sadness of wanting to create art and not letting yourself explore. The frustration of wanting to be in your studio but feeling stuck. The regret that you have let time go by and the art practice has slipped away. The best to improve any of these situations is to change what you are doing or how you are doing it. If you create art long enough you will experience a pain that hurts so much that you will change how you create.
The second reason that people change their lives and their art is they see something that inspires them to make a change. The person who wants to start making art meets the person who is a parent, full-time employee and running a household and still carves out time to create. A visit to a museum, gallery, art show or beautiful place seeps into them and what they see there sends them home with a myriad of ideas and inspiration for a new direction or creative venture. Excuses fall away and are replaced be a creative spark and the creativity changes the person and therefore changes their art.
A third reason people change is because they learn something and they want to change. This is a really sweet spot for artists. You take a workshop, find a really great book, meet someone who shares their process or learn something you didn’t know or hadn’t thought of and it gives you the opportunity to expand your art in some way. You learn something that makes your health, lifestyle, home or opportunities better. Once you learn new information, you want to act on it. This is the easiest and perhaps the most welcomed form of change.
The fourth reason people change their art and life is they receive enough that are able to make a change for the better. It can be a financial windfall that allows you to get supplies, a generous artist shares something that opens up opportunities, or we can ask for something and receive it. I’ve heard people say that they wish they could make art, if only they had the time, space, money or whatever. These same people never ask for it. Perhaps they don’t actually want to be creating art or they don’t believe they can have what they need. We stop ourselves from asking for some time and space. I did this for a while and then I changed my limiting belief that I could only do small things because I didn’t have the room to work bigger. I looked at our house and asked how can we use this place more efficiently? What rooms are being underused or aren’t serving our current lifestyle. My formal living room had no purpose. We moved the exercise equipment in there (donated the furniture to people who could use it) and voila - I created a big space to expand and work larger. I curated my supplies and really focused on where to direct my time and energy. It helped me make progress in the directions I cared about most. It also helped me save money to buy the supplies that serve me best right now. If you want to make art and you can’t seem to get going, ask yourself “What do I need to get started?” Ask for it or figure out how you can get it. It’s often a lot easier than we make it out to be in our minds.
I hope that you are inspired to create something beautiful in your life. Don’t wait until it hurts so much that you have to. Take some time and think about what you want. What would be the most logical or most practical first step to setting yourself up to receive what you need? Where would you look for inspiration? Your library, bookstore, local workshop, YouTube? There’s never been more information available as there is right now. Curating what you want to know is what helps get you started.
Thank you for getting through this lengthy post, I hope it gave you some food for thought. I hope those thoughts create positive change for you.
Spring’s Arrival 20” X 20” Hand dyed, Hand Woven, Overdyed & Cotton Batiks with Vintage Buttons Framed in Solid Wood Vintage Frame
