I was talking with a couple artist friends and one of them started talking about his work – he wasn’t selling a ton of it, and it was started to affect his art practice. Simply put, he wasn’t enjoying making the art as much as he used to.
External forces – things that are outside our control – can really affect our ability to create, so it’s important to make your practice as bulletproof as possible. Here’s how I do it….
How do you stay engaged in your work?
In gratitude, Nicholas
17 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.
Great advice as always Nick. Thanks again for sharing your wisdom and experience so generously.
Hi Shirley! nice to see you here…how have you been ?
I love this. Absence and visitation. Honoring the process, the practice. It really ties into a course I just finished on Coursera, Learning how to Learn – spending time focussed on your project, and then leaving it alone (key component) and allowing the diffuse mode of thinking to work its magic. It all ties together. Beautiful.
Thank you Deidre….N
So true – I always feel resistance if I’ve been away a while and then it’s hard to get going again. Working more often means I always have something to go back to; a springboard. I’m also working out more indirect ways of getting going eg starting with collage instead of direct with paint. Thank you.
Yes, starting with something easier -like collage can help too–good point..N
Certainly true for me. If you focus only on selling then you cannot ‘be’ in the process. It is too easy to think “what does the buyer want?” rather than push yourself to constantly extend your boundaries. I’ve always considered ‘brush mileage’ to be the most important part of progress.
I love brush mileage..great term! glad it resonates Jo–N
Nick, I highly recommend the book FLOW by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. It is not a new book, but still so valid.
The book talks about optimizing your experience and how to learn to do it. Very similar to your comparison
YOGA or being mindful and present. Enjoying the practice for what it is while doing it. During that time not to worry about what or if something sells. I enjoy the book very much, because it is backed by long term studies.
Lena, I will add it to the book list! thanks …
Love this,…..a true and tender way of finding the spiritual in our “practice” removing that from the vagaries of outside forces….I love the comparison to a focused yoga practice,….thank you.
Which reminds me I have to get more yoga in!
Nick– thanks again for your ingenious insights and wisdom. Your blogs always cause me to reflect. So much good here, but I especially am taking away the need to engage more frequently if not for shorter periods of time. As someone who procrastinates until “sufficient” time appears, this is especially relevant to me. Like so many others here, love the concept of “a practice.” Wow! Thank you!
Yes this was a huge shift for me too when I realized this!
Thank you for reminding us as individual artists, to remain strong and empowered.
Thanks for this!It put the focus back where it belongs!
So wonderful to hear another artist talking about the importance of creative practice in such an authentic and sincere way! I like to think of having two separate boxes – one contains the making of our art, the other the selling of it. They are two different things and, you’re right, that first box needs to be armour-plated!