Why won’t I print my photographs and finally mount them?
Why don’t I blog more?
Why haven’t I done anything to start selling those lovelies that I make?
Why does a paint brush scare me?
Why is my manuscript still not complete?
Why am I scared to open my lemonade stand?
The voices of fear. I’m sure they’re all too familiar. {They are to me.}
Fear is the silver bullet for creativity. All its super powers dissolve and Art is never born.
“The fear that you’re only pretending to do art is the (readily predictable consquence of doubting your own artistic credentials. . . When you act out of fear, your fears come true.”
{Fear doesn’t leave. Sad but true. Art must be made in spite of its presence. Quickly to be used as motivation at moments.}
Is ‘it’ creative if it only resides in your mind? I say yes.
Is it art? Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, no.
Art has to be labored and birthed like a child. Long hopes, growing, waiting, working & then pushing until the art is born. And just like the curve of a cheek, the prints on a finger, the sound of footsteps, the only kind of Art is breathing, with seeds of creativity born in each. Needing to make art again.
And isn’t that what we all wanted to be when we were children? Artists? To express all the creativity bubbling inside in unique ways so the world can enjoy it, we might receive accolades & be encouraged to make more.
I would have raised my hand if asked at a young age. It was on my list with Choreographer & Teacher. {What was on your list as a kid? Astronaut? Baker? Rock Star?}
Then somewhere along the way an adult in our lives taught us about the ‘real world.’ The idea of Artist wasn’t realistic. ‘Where would you work? What would you do for money?’ Starving Artist. No thanks.
But with that moment, we also allowed someone to tell us what Art is {and what it is not.} Art doesn’t require colors, a degree, design savvy, canvas, camera, or the ability to showcase your work in a gallery or sell it.
“Because making art is hard! What you end up caring about is what you do, not whether the doing came hard or easy . . The best you can do is make art that you care about – and lots of it! The rest is up to perseverance.”
Art is the flourishing of your creative seeds blooming into what The Artist’s palette needs. Art is living the life in obedience with the design you were given. Art is confidently doing what you love, beautifully. Art is saying ‘No!’ to perfection, performance, pretending and the voice that keeps telling you everyone else already knows that, does that. {They don’t.}
“And it’s true, most artists don’t daydream about making great art — they daydream about having made great art. What artist has not experienced the feverish euphoria of composing the perfect thumbnail sketch, first draft, negative or melody — only to run headlong into a stone wall trying to convert that tantalizing hint into the finished mural, novel, photograph, sonata. The artist’s life is frustrating not because the passage is slow, but because he imagines it to be fast.”
But be encouraged, if you’re in between the now and the finished piece, it’s “a test of correspondence between imagination and execution.” Continue on with fear by your side, your mind focused on the imaginative & dirty your hands of the work of today.
What art will you make today?
* Quotes are from a wonderful little book called Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (& Rewards) of Artmaking
It was the summer of ’85.
