I was recently on a call with an author in Scotland and we got to talking about creating art. An interesting discussion ensued that I’d like to share with you.
We explored a premise for my upcoming book The Artist’s Journey about the inner journey of creating art:
What if the most important thing you must do to fulfill your destiny as an artist is to first conquer yourself?
And I’m not posing this question just because I’m an existential psychiatrist.
Let this question sink in for a moment.
Perhaps a crucial part of being an artist is grappling with the struggles that creating brings up.
Facing the dark night of the soul of self doubt in the middle of the painting is something you experience ad infinitum and yet you continue your journey into the terra incognito, the unknown territory of your creations.
Meanwhile, you could be seduced by the call of the Sirens beseeching you to paint what’s worked before, what’s sold or what the gallerists want from you. And you could settle for the slippery slope of repeating yourself in your art…
But you know that the moment you become complacent, the moment you give up the fight, is the moment you’re no longer seeking your deepest truth, your most authentic expression in your art.
Said another way, to give up the fight is to settle for no longer searching to express you in your art, but rather settling for the easy, low hanging fruit of the tried and true.
In art, one way this shows up is creating formulaic paintings and repeating yourself. You wager on achieving a “successful” painting by lowering your risk of an “ugly” one emerging, but in so doing you increase your odds of boring yourself with predictable art.
A Thought Experiment
Albert Einstein popularized the notion of thought experiments when he explored hypothetically riding in a train at the speed of light.
Thought experiments are hypotheses posed in your mind to explore the potential consequences of the principle in question. In philosophy, they’ve been around since classical antiquity, pre-dating Socrates.
Here’s a thought experiment for you:
On your death bed, which scenario will bring a smile to your face? The safe paintings or the audacious, risky ones?
Do you want to bite into life? Bite into your art?
Or do you want to be gummed to death?
Better to sink your teeth into your paintings, wrestle them down to the ground and leave some of them raw and “unfinished”.
The Lessons
Great literature teaches us these lessons. In the Bible, Jacob was constantly wrestling with the angel by the river. In The Odyssey, Odysseus’ men lashed him to the mast so he wouldn’t mindlessly succumb to the seductions of the Sirens. In The Divine Comedy, Dante journeyed the depths of hell in search of himself, God and love.
I feel that Dante was ultimately asking the question: Who am I?
I feel that as artists we’re asking this existential question too.
And here’s what I believe:
The transformation of creating your deepest art lives at the edge of your struggle
So the question is:
Will you allow yourself to experiment?
Or will you play it safe and stay on the surface?
Feel the tension between playing it safe versus letting loose with bold strokes or unfamiliar moves.
Notice the feelings that arise when you take risks with your painting, feelings such as uneasiness, frustration or impatience.
Do you quickly retreat to familiar territory (the usual compositions, colors, marks) when this happens?
Do you echo paintings that have gained approval but no longer excite you?
As artists, remember this:
Playing it safe means keeping yourself small and staying on the surface in order to be “acceptable”. Doing this, you unwittingly rob yourself of what’s inside, of the chance to go deeper in your art.
Will you allow yourself to make the invisible visible? To bring forth and express the wondrous, ineffable mystery that lives inside you?
Will you create your deepest, most meaningful work?
Comment below and let me know.
Much love from my studio to yours,
Nancy
P.S. NOW is the perfect time to create.
This is the existential moment- this is the time where we see what our life is about. We notice what is meaningful and alive for us.
You might be thinking…I’m just too blocked, too down, too scared or frozen….or even just shy….
You may be feeling that you can’t create now….
But I say to you that you’re a creator…you’re an artist and artists create.
And there are many ways to create and be creative….
Pair your explorations in your art studio with our Art of the Possible Book Series!
Get The Art of the Possible Book Series HERE.
QR Code- The Art Of The Possible Series
Nancy,
Thank you, I needed this this morning.
I find so much inspirtation and honesty in your posts.
Please never stop.
Daryl
Thank you so much Daryl! You just brightened my day!
I’m 73 and took a creative but more reliable route and became a designer. Now I’ve spent 2 years working on my childhood dream of being an artist. I struggle with finding my own style. I’m often compared to artists l admire and I’m looking for my own true marks. I have to be ok with all of the “l don’ like what your doing” comments from others and myself because I’m clearly on a journey. I often wish I’d started earlier but am trying to quiet that voice and get back to the pure joy of my work. Your words are quite comforting as they remind me I’m not alone.
Dear Kathy,
Reading what you wrote about your childhood dream of being an artist reminded me of the quote by 20th century French philosopher Albert Camus: A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.
I think at first we look around and emulate the work of artists we admire. Eventually, new expressions of our own inevitably emerge as we allow ourselves to experiment deeply. To do this, we’ve got to trust ourselves and be willing to create “ugly” paintings along the way. We’re not going to love everything we paint and that’s ok, in fact, it’s essential to the process of innovation. We’ve got to be able to tolerate “failed” paintings, experiments, exploration, messy, “ugly” works and works we love. We lose our way and find ourselves again and again. It’s just like life. Indeed, painting is a mirror of our lives.
Thank you for writing. I’m delighted that my words are helpful and comforting.
Interestingly, I take lots of risks every single day in my Mixed Media work but don’t trust myself in my oils.
Looking to take the monthly course but I am not sure if the course is designed for oil painters.
Hi Bela,
Yes, you can use oils in the course.
Spot on for me this summer! I am producing ugly paintings at an alarming rate even though my galleries are needing more work and I know what I was doing sells. I’m convinced that I am doing exactly what I should be doing and am just now getting glimpses of things that are exciting. I appreciate this post more than you know.
Thank you so much Mary Ann. It delights me to hear this and reading your comment inspires me! Thank you so much.
Like Shawnee, I am retired, focusing on my painting for the first time in my life and I almost feel that everything else I’ve done with my life is irrelevant. Of course, it isn’t, as it made me who I am and brought me here, to this point, where I can express myself. And I can truly say I have never been happier and more content. That doesn’t mean that I don’t experience frustration or get stuck, but I feel centred and grounded and don’t worry about things as I used to. My whole perspective on life has changed and I am so pleased to be a journeyer.
Playing it safe means keeping yourself small and staying on the surface in order to be “acceptable”. Doing this, you unwittingly rob yourself of what’s inside, of the chance to go deeper in your….art? self? life? humanity? If you can’t take it with it you, it’s of little value. Will the Almighty God judge us on our *Art*? or Our *Education*? or Our *Job*? or How *successful our children are*? or Our *grandchildren*? or Our *pets*? Who exactly are you living for? How exactly have you developed your *character*? What kind of *Person* are you really?
Hi, I loved this article, even 2 years after it was first published. I have always loved art and also I am a perfectionist. I believe that that hinders my art and I have to learn to let go. To be willing to make “bad” art, to make “mistakes” and reading this article made me realise those things so, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I also wanted to say something about Robin Jane’s comment. She starts off by quoting you and then says in reference to your life and dying “If you can’t take it with you it’s of little value” and “will our Almighty God judge is on our art, education… children…grandchildren etc etc”.
I’m not going to say whether I am “a believer” or not. I will say I disagree that you can’t take those things with you. You may not be able to take your actual pieces of art with you but you can take the life lessons making it taught you. You can leave a legacy behind that benefits others. The same goes for all other areas of our lives. Spiritually, when our lives end, I sincerely believe that we take with us all the knowledge we’ve gained from all areas of our lives.
Talking about The Almighty judging us… well, first who are we to say what we will or won’t be judged on as indeed it is not up to us to judge, right!?!
Ultimately, I’m not quite sure what Robin was trying to say but her comment came across to me as trying to say “what’s the point in going deeper into yourself, your art etc” because you can’t take it with you etc etc. You CAN take your spiritual growth with you and everything you do in life is linked to that one way or another. Your art, education, how you raise your children, how you are in your workplace etc etc etc and God is a God of Love and I honestly believe that it’s our hearts and what’s in it, our motivations and intentions that will be judged…
I apologise for the length of my comment but as a struggling artist I felt compelled to respond to that particular comment. Thank you again for this wonderful and very insightful blog. I am 110% sure it has helped me!
Hi Angela,
Thank you so much for your lovely and thoughtful reply. You do not have to apologize for the length of your comment. It is meaningful and I enjoyed it immensely. I appreciate you!
Warmly,
Nancy
Hi Nancy! You know what I just did? I covered up several smallish canvases from the last 10 years because they are the ‘old me’. The works no longer excite me. …the ‘tried and true’ formulas I used before I studied the wonderful marks and color values you have presented in the Artist Journey. I realized now how dark my work had been before. Colorful, yes, but saturated. Always working from photos. This has been a freeing experience for me and I am much happier with the ‘new me’.!!
Making art is definitely my existential struggle. It seems to be the meaning of my life. I feel it is my gift I am meant to leave in the world. And now that I am retired and have all that time to paint, I’m really facing my biggest life challenge. Everything else feels like it has been tangential, at times. It can often be terrifying and lonely. I am so grateful to have a community of artists on FB. Thank you for being my art psychiatrist!