One of the trickiest parts of being an artist is maintaining momentum. I struggle with this and I also am amazed at how many artists that I work with do too.
The making of Art can be super hard and then it can feel easy and effortless. It is a roller coaster ride that, for the most part, is tolerable. After all, life is like that too. We have good days and bad days.
However, when we add the additional difficulty of just showing up, of trying to squeeze our art practice into our busy life, it all can feel somewhat exhausting. In fact, for many artists, it can derail their ability to make art at all. It just is too overwhelming.
[Tweet “”You don’t have to do it the hard way.” – Nicholas Wilton”]
However, it doesn’t have to be. The key to this is understanding that there are 2 challenges here: the first being the actual garden-variety struggle involved with art making, while the second has to do with creating a sustainable art practice.
Art making always involves a degree of struggle. Getting information about materials, getting clear on what your own art is about takes time. It is an ongoing process. However, fixing the second one, making it easier to actually show up to make the work, is far easier to remedy. It has a lot to do with your thinking. And that can change very quickly.
After years of making art I came to an important realization about my art practice. It has buoyed my art making and has saved me countless hours of time.
It really is quite simple. And it is this:
Changes come more easily when you are making your Art than when you are away and merely thinking about it.
I used to do a lot of worrying and fretting in the middle of the night about whether my work was good enough or how I might fix certain problems. I would spend considerable time looking at other artists’ work to see if maybe the answers might lie there. It wasn’t that worrying and spending time searching the Internet for answers wasn’t helpful, as sometimes it did shed some light onto my challenges. However, it just became tiring to be always thinking about the difficulty in my art 24/7.
I was involved in the struggle of making art even when I wasn’t making art, which was pretty much most of my day. So I stopped. I realized that if I just postponed worrying about the art till I actually was in front of it that I could save myself hours of needless time focusing on trying to solve imagined problems.
And then I found out something wonderful and surprising.
I came to see that solving the problems and improving my art was far easier to do when I was actually in front of it, than when I was out to dinner 5 hours later with friends or even trying to sleep. It seems obvious now but it took me years to figure this out.
Additionally, much to my surprise, rarely were the imagined problems, the ones I was constantly thinking about when I was not making art, as difficult or as complicated as they turned out to be once I was. Things just were not that bad once in my studio listening to Earl Klugh on my Bose headphones and proactively making real changes to my art.
My father used to say to me that our problems, our challenges in life will never look bigger, feel more daunting than they do at 2 am in the silent darkness of a sleepless night. I think there is a lot of truth to this. Context matters.
There is no burning imperative to figure everything out remotely, when you cannot even see your art. You don’t have to do it the hard way. Avoiding this pattern will free up a huge amount of time and energy for when you are actually making art.
Instead of overly thinking everything, spend the time you are not making art doing those things that inspire and make you feel alive. It is, after all, the richness, the quality of the time you spend not making art, that so powerfully and poetically effects the time when you do.
In gratitude, Nicholas
20 Comments
Hi! I’m
Nicholas Wilton
the founder of Art2Life.
With over 20 years experience as a working artist and educator, I’ve developed a systematic approach that brings authenticity, spontaneity and joy back into the creative process.
Join me and artists from all over the world in our Free Art2Life Artists Facebook Group or learn more here about Art2Life.
“Doing things that inspire and make you feel alive” are powerful words to live by. Thank you.
I just spent 2 weeks on the east end of Molokai, and was inspired by the aloha.
Isn’t Molokai amazing!? It is absolutely old Hawaii…that must of been relaxing..
Hope to meet you in the future, working on building a small home on the east end, soon to submit the house plans. Molokai is my Muse.
“Doing things that inspire and make you feel alive” are powerful words to live by. Thank you.
I just spent 2 weeks on the east end of Molokai, and was inspired by the aloha.
Isn’t Molokai amazing!? It is absolutely old Hawaii…that must of been relaxing..
Hope to meet you in the future, working on building a small home on the east end, soon to submit the house plans. Molokai is my Muse.
Oh my goodness. This was so timely. I needed to be reminded of these concepts. Those distractions you speak of, like dinner with friends and sleepless nights, hit home. All unnecessary diversions! A very helpful reminder.
I’ve been evaluating the importance of motivation and inspiration ( and trying to be clear on the difference) during this internal struggle with my studio practice. Thank you so much for your wisdom to help guide us.
I’m looking forward to participating in one of your workshops soon!
Lorraine
Well glad it hit home…looking forward to meeting you one day soon–thanks
Oh my goodness. This was so timely. I needed to be reminded of these concepts. Those distractions you speak of, like dinner with friends and sleepless nights, hit home. All unnecessary diversions! A very helpful reminder.
I’ve been evaluating the importance of motivation and inspiration ( and trying to be clear on the difference) during this internal struggle with my studio practice. Thank you so much for your wisdom to help guide us.
I’m looking forward to participating in one of your workshops soon!
Lorraine
Well glad it hit home…looking forward to meeting you one day soon–thanks
A timely post indeed. I have a major distraction right now, a 6 month old baby who demands a lot of my energy & attention.
I was worried motherhood would hinder my creative spirit & stifle me. Au contraire! Lillie gives me a lot of energy & gives me strength to preservere & move forward.
I do have less time, this is true.
For now I am teaching 2 classes twice a week which enables me some much needed time away from home & in the class room where I can share my ideas & passions with my students.
I stay after class to work on my paintings, & for now this is what i need to keep up my practice.
As long as I hold a brush in my hand several times a week & do something, I feel better about things.
You are absolutely right, worrying about it & overthinking things & stressing while I am away from the practice does nothing other than upset me. Or in some cases worrying will make feel i am underachieving or stuck.
I am trying my best to focus on getting the most out of my time in the studio & moving forward rather than worry about where I am not or what I am unable to do.
A work in progress… as always. 🙂 thanks for your post.
Hadas- man 6 months old already! what an adjustment…and yes kids are inspiring but I remember how much time it takes…if it is any consolation, I think the best thing I ever made by far was bringing my two daughters up in the world–everything else is secondary…
Agreed!
A timely post indeed. I have a major distraction right now, a 6 month old baby who demands a lot of my energy & attention.
I was worried motherhood would hinder my creative spirit & stifle me. Au contraire! Lillie gives me a lot of energy & gives me strength to preservere & move forward.
I do have less time, this is true.
For now I am teaching 2 classes twice a week which enables me some much needed time away from home & in the class room where I can share my ideas & passions with my students.
I stay after class to work on my paintings, & for now this is what i need to keep up my practice.
As long as I hold a brush in my hand several times a week & do something, I feel better about things.
You are absolutely right, worrying about it & overthinking things & stressing while I am away from the practice does nothing other than upset me. Or in some cases worrying will make feel i am underachieving or stuck.
I am trying my best to focus on getting the most out of my time in the studio & moving forward rather than worry about where I am not or what I am unable to do.
A work in progress… as always. 🙂 thanks for your post.
Hadas- man 6 months old already! what an adjustment…and yes kids are inspiring but I remember how much time it takes…if it is any consolation, I think the best thing I ever made by far was bringing my two daughters up in the world–everything else is secondary…
Agreed!
Exactly what I needed to read today. I have been preparing for my first solo gallery show in the spring and suddenly, everything came to a halt. I didn’t like anything I was working on, Worrying over everything. Avoiding. And I KNOW the work happens when you actually, well…work. So, thank you. I’m going back to the studio 🙂
Exactly what I needed to read today. I have been preparing for my first solo gallery show in the spring and suddenly, everything came to a halt. I didn’t like anything I was working on, Worrying over everything. Avoiding. And I KNOW the work happens when you actually, well…work. So, thank you. I’m going back to the studio 🙂
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. Picasso
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. Picasso