The path of the creative is alternately delightful and devastating.
Just when you feel you might be getting the hang of something, you return to your project and find you can’t grind your way through it! What happened?
As artists we can find ourselves clinging to what has been successful, when the creative energy really demands that we continually look to new ways of expressing. As a result, if we resist change when it is calling, the creative process may become stiff and dreary.
Traveling in the “wayback machine” to the early nineties when I was painting watercolor landscapes and I became quite stuck (now I know I was seeking to perpetually re-create what I knew was working) an artist friend suggested… “just paint squares for awhile”
Initially resistant, I started to play around with that idea (key word here is PLAY), the blocks disappeared, and I was off in a new and different creative direction.
I have been waiting for the right way to express the importance of experimentation and play to you and voila! The message in my Dove chocolate today gave me the answer!
“Are you brave enough to be bad at something new?”
After I had finished drafting this blog, I was reminded of a video I made in May 2021, showing how I worked through a creative block by experimenting with acrylic paints and stencils.
It starts as an abstract and whilst I expected it to end up as a bird of some kind, I simply allowed the creative process to guide me. (You can see the end result under the video).
It’s a perfect illustration of the ‘go for it’ message of this blog and I hope it inspires you to do just that!
Video Project Supply List
12″ X 12″ Panel from Jerry’s Artarama
Grumbacher Gesso: https://amzn.to/344NVkF
Golden High Flow Acylics – Carbon Black: https://amzn.to/3bHzJ5h
Golden High Flow Acylics – Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold (available in the set and the set is WORTH IT): https://amzn.to/3v8HZmt
Golden High Flow Acrylics – Phthalo Blue – Green Shade (also available in the set): https://amzn.to/3v8HZmt
Golden Fluid Acrylics – White: https://amzn.to/3fxddxc
Marabu Art Spray – Cocoa: https://amzn.to/3wnqdMI
Distress Oxide Spray – Carved Pumpkin: https://amzn.to/3hKLuvw
Chair Caning Stencil [57563] from: Joggles.com
Afraid to experiment because you might fail?
An experiment is never a failure as it’s always going to show you what works, or, what doesn’t. We are continually learning.
What about the thrill of realizing one of your experiments is working out GREAT!
Time to repeat my favorite quote from the book Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland
What separates artists from ex-artists is that those who challenge their fears, continue; those who don’t, quit. Tolerance for uncertainty is the prerequisite to succeeding.
You are an artist…be brave!
Try something new…and FUN!
I think you will be thrilled with the results.
