I owe a lot to Julia Cameron for the workbook ‘Artist’s Way’. I am on my third round and I get something new from the experience every-time. If you ve not used it, two main tools to help your creativity flow are ‘Morning Pages’ and ‘Artist’s Dates’. I am great at getting up and unloading a stream of conscious- ness on to a few sides of A4…. I always wake up with thoughts buzzing around my head. This also helps before a meditation session as a head clearer.
The dates are more tricky for a workaholic but I am calling my morning playtime my dates for now which helps me stay loose about my experimentation. I deliberately built a ‘beach hut/play’ room in my studio (a year ago!) and its increasing starting to feel like my teenage bedroom… a good thing because I feel this was my freest time (pre-art education).
What stuffs me up is looking to an end when I am working on the beginning. Focusing on an out come, picturing an audience seems to distort my desired authenticity.
Julia Cameron wrote ‘Focused on process, our creative life retains a sense of adventure. Focused on product, the same creative life can feel foolish or barren.’
I am not too caught up on outcome right now but when finding ways to motivate myself to keep turning up; for example setting a deadlines/goals I can feel a sort of constriction, an up-tightening. I am trying to apply some yoga mind to this… not applying force or control, just letting things flow.
Busy ‘work’ week this week so very little time for play. I looked up a lot when walking the dog to keep in touch with the bigger picture. I managed a couple of hours early Monday morning which really paid off with a nice breakthrough. I ve been hankering after 3d drawing and this little sketch came together (wire & paper). Also been trying to restrict myself to only the materials I have … I have a theme of using-up/recycling/ reusing.
I feel that as the more sensitive/thoughtful corner of society surely artists should be concerned about the ‘real cost’ of their practice…? I am turned off by the skips and skips of materials that leave our studios…. it was the same when I worked at Brighton uni. This troubles me and increases my fears of the superficial in the art world – Art should surely be so much more than fashion? Looking forward to more time this week.
Practice & Persistence. Getting started has been a slow and painful process. That in itself I find sad. However, it does make the triumph of finally getting going all the more sweet. A blissful relief when the ideas start flowing again. It has amazed me how important the practical house keeping side of things are….. like finding perfect growing conditions for that sensitive orchid I have had to create a the perfect space and discover the ideal time to actually do the work.
One of the greatest challenges being ‘work’ verses ‘My Work’. By which I mean, earning money for paying the rent verses doing what I feel deep down I was put on the earth to do.
Survival becomes tougher in this climate and the mantra of responsibility drummed in from a young age weighs heavy on my soul. Paradoxically I have worked hard to create time for the play that is the essential ingredient to producing.
So now I get up super early every other day and go to play in my space. Early works because I am a morning person and because there is nobody around to interrupt….. a problem when ‘work’ & ‘My Work’ are supposed to happen in the same space.
In The Spider, The Mistress and The Tangerine, Louise Bourgeois talks of ‘the first state of affairs is I react to the quality of the silence. When I have adjusted to the silence I can adjust to the concentration’. This spoke to me. I ve been working on some origami I named ‘Head-space’ the making process being a warm up for creative thought. The repetitive, meditative folding soothed the angst and made space for reflection and room for ideas. I use it now to fill the gap when I am not sure if there is work in me on a ‘play session’. All I have to do now is make sure I keep turning up.
