Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

This quarter in The Gathering, we are focused on developing your voice as an artist. So many of my students tell me that they love the slow drawing and botanicals we create, but they struggle to make their own patterns and drawings. They want to make work that is uniquely their own, to express and translate the beauty they see. We have created a cohort so that students can support and help each other to create an idea generation system that works for them. After teaching this month’s Simple Patterns workshop, I wanted to offer some key mindset tips to play like a child and develop ideas like a scientist, as well as another concrete example of pattern iteration to play with this month. I thought it would be fun to share all of this with you too.

You can get the Your Artistic Voice PDF I mention in the video here, it’s free!

I would love to hear what variations you are going to make to the ovals series I’ve shown you here. Use the PDF to give you even more creative insights and let us know your creative plans in the comments below.

Happy creating!

Amy

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Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

How long did that take you?

It’s one of the questions I get most often as an artist, but in a way, I think it’s the wrong question. While students are often genuinely curious about the time the work takes, I think there’s often an embedded assumption that they could never make that kind of time for art.

I wanted to chronicle the process of making this page from start to finish. I share some of my tips and tricks for making time for art, so that you can do it too.

Portable Art Kit Supplies

If you are wondering where to find the supplies that I share for my portable art kit, they are here!

Foldable water cup

#0 Round watercolor brush

#10 Round watercolor brush

Cloth for wiping brush

Daniel Smith portable paint set

Lumos Pro fine tip reusable pen – Use code MINDFULARTSTUDIO to save 10%

Handmade 100% cotton watercolor journal – workshop with instructions on demand in my membership

Playful Poppies Art Journal Page workshop – on demand in my membership, The Gathering

Stackable porcelain watercolor dishes

Tips and Tricks for Making Time for Art

• Prep a small portable art kit for travel.
• Be bold and create in public, really everyone is staring at their phone!
• Leave your work out and in process, even the water, with no set up time, you’ll get started quickly.
• Instead of looking at your phone when you need a break, take a few minutes to work on one small part of the page.

Share Your Ideas

How do you make time for art? What’s in your portable art kit? Do you work on your art pieces in bursts over time, or in one or two long sessions?

I can’t wait to hear about your experience.

Creatively Yours,

Amy

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Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

I know you might not share my opinion, but I love winter. I think it’s an incredibly beautiful time. When we are lucky enough to have snow, everything is coated in a white peacefulness, a stillness. And when you bend down and look closely at the leaves, dried flowers, and seed pods, the vibrant colors of spring, summer, and fall have gone away, leaving a subtle beauty that will reveal itself to you if you take the time to look.

I had picked up a dried leaf a few weeks ago, and was looking forward to using layers of watercolor to depict the various tones of ochre, warm brown, and burnt umber.

Facing Artistic Resistance

But when I sat down to paint yesterday, the thought of having to map out an accurate drawing, complete with test drawings and measurements made me feel like not creating at all. (I don’t usually approach drawing quite this technically, but have been reading a wonderful book by Dianne Sutherland on botanical painting and I was wanting to employ her good advice, but also running into artistic resistance because of it.)

I paused to slow down my thoughts and better notice them. I’m well aware that if I ignore my creative frustration and push through anyway, I’m bound to make something I hate. This would only feed the fears of the inner critic who likes to go searching for evidence that we are not as capable as we thought.

I wondered if I should choose a different activity – painting an abstract watercolor landscape? Or drawing a repetitive pattern in my journal? But I wasn’t in the mood for those things. I wanted to paint. I wanted to study the leaf closely, mix my paint colors, and try to mimic what I saw in front of me. I love watching the pigment sink into the paper, and a form begin to appear, it always feels like a magic trick.

So instead of pushing myself, I asked a “What if?” question. What if I had permission to draw the leaf well, but not get hung up on making it 100% accurate? What if it did not have to be perfect, or nearly perfect? In the words of fellow sketchbook enthusiast Helen Wells, would that make it fun?

And voilà – that was the creative block I had put in my own way: if I was going to paint the leaf, I had to make a well studied, highly accurate drawing. While that might appeal to me some days, that day it sounded onerous and not fun at all. That unspoken “rule” was self-imposed and it was stopping me from even starting.

Once I released myself from my self-imposed artistic block, I was able to begin with a sense of fun instead of frustration. With a new sense of looseness, I drew my “close enough” version of my leaf, and quickly began adding in the first layers of paint.

The drawing happened relatively quickly, and I was able to dig into painting. I especially enjoyed creating the little holes in the leaf and the crinkly, jagged edges with the stains around them. These are the “imperfections” that I find really beautiful. After a couple of hours yesterday, I had to move onto other projects.

The first session with this painting had gone well. I was pleased with what had emerged so far. So today, coming back after this promising beginning was scary. This is what I think about as “the tyranny of a good piece.” In this case, a different kind of what if question can sometimes emerge:

What if I mess it up?

What if I can’t pick up where I left off?

What if yesterday was a fluke and I can’t do it as well today?

For me, one of the things that helps me go back into an art piece is telling myself that it’s important to focus on process, and that it’s not yet as good as it could be, so I have nothing to lose. More often than not, I improve the piece, and even if I make a mistake, or push it too far, I haven’t ruined anything, because I will have learned so much that I will apply to the next art piece.

So I pressed on, inviting myself to paint with some loose, intuitive strokes that felt free, and only pulling out a magnifying glass to better understand what I was seeing. I enjoyed finding the dark areas around the veins of the leaf and on the leaf edges, and all the little dots. The last step was the drop shadows. These always scare me a bit, but again, I told myself I could only improve this painting or learn for the next, so I pressed on, enjoying hugging the side of my leaf with my grayish paint mix.

In the end I spent two very enjoyable mornings painting, that would have been lost if I hadn’t paused to examine what was getting in the way of me creating. This is the gift that slow drawing and slow art has given me – an ability to pause and consider what I’m thinking and feeling, to ask what if questions and see if I can find a happier way to live. What else can we ask for from our art process?

Share Your Experience in the Comments

What artistic blocks get in the way for you? How do you clear them? We would love to hear about it in the comments!

Creatively Yours,

Amy

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Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

I have a fabulous treat for you today. I’ve been chatting with artist Helen Wells (author of Expressive Sketchbooks) for some time, looking for an opportunity to collaborate because her art and sensibilities speak to my heart. We decided that it would be fun to interview each other, so today I’m bringing you her inspiring words and art. I think you will be just as delighted to read it as I was. You’ll find a wonderful free class she is offering my readers, and here is a link to my interview on Helen’s site.

Helen Wells is a professional artist, author, and teacher. She creates vibrant, expressive artworks that blend intuitive marks with thoughtful design. Nature, vintage textiles, and everyday beauty inspire her playful mix of rhythm, repetition and color. Her work appears in diverse spaces and places, from cruise ships to book covers, magazines, architecture, clothing and packaging. She’s the author of Expressive Sketchbooks Developing Creative Skills, Courage and Confidence (Quarry, 2020). Teaching thousands of students worldwide, Helen shares her passion for sketchbooks and creative exploration from her tiny studio on the South Coast of England. She became a professional artist later in life and credits her use of sketchbooks for this career pivot. 

What is magical about your art practice?

The most magical thing, I think, is the joy and freedom I have found in my sketchbook practice. It’s a complete pendulum swing; my sketchbook practice used to feel like judgement and failure.

When I came back to art making as an adult I was both intimidated and scared by sketchbooks. I knew I should keep a sketchbook, that it would help me develop as an artist, but knowing that and doing that were two different things. I put a lot of weight on the end result, every page felt like it was a performance which I was failing. I somehow convinced myself that everything I created needed to look a certain way, to be good or perfect, or show-worthy to prove to myself I had talent.  It was paralysing. The irony is not lost on me, that I wanted to improve as an artist but the pressure I put on myself had the exact opposite effect. 

Now, I feel differently. I’ve learned to lower the pressure and my own expectations. I’ve allowed my sketchbook pages to hold less importance and more imperfection.

My sketchbook practice is now lots of fun. I often ask myself “what would help me to enjoy this more?” Or “what energy do I want to bring to this?” The answer is nearly always a permutation of  “be less attached to the outcome. And do more of that thing

you love.” We often know what is best for us. Listening to my internal artistic wisdom rather than my internal critic is a practice I keep having to return to, re-learn and remember. 

My sketchbooks are now anti-perfect and anti-pristine. They are where I get to mess about, try things out, tune-in to what I love in my own art.  I now welcome in some mistakes and missteps because they usually mean I’m trying new things. 

What is boring or frustrating about your art practice?

I’ve managed to build an art practice and a career doing what I love, later in life and that’s a brilliant privilege. I really appreciate that I used to work in an office and now I’m an artist. And because I’ve built my career slowly around the things I love to do, there aren’t too many things that I find frustrating.  But if I’m pushed, the fact I work from a very small studio space and have a lot of kit can be limiting and frustrating. I have to be creative about how I juggle filming with painting, how I organise the space, chaos can sometimes creep in. I’m basically always moving piles of paintings, sketchbooks and art supplies around and around. 

There’s also the admin side of running a creative business that can feel like it pulls me away from the making part, sometimes I have to really work at carving out enough time for the most important part…creating, but I wouldn’t call it a big frustration. It’s just the reality of art being my livelihood.

And then, of course, there’s the self-doubt, the worry, the questioning of self. I don’t think this ever fully goes away, it just changes shape. Even after years of making, teaching, publishing a book, there are still days when I wonder if what I’m doing is good enough, am I good enough? But I’ve learned that this doubt is just here for the ride and as long as it’s in the backseat it can come along on the journey.

Oh, and cleaning brushes, that’s always fairly boring.

What does your inner voice say on a good day?

It says: “Go for it. Be bolder. Be braver. Be unapologetically you. You don’t have to make something perfect, just make something. Have fun. Love the process. It’s only paint and paper. Be weirder, be more wonderful. Lean in with your whole heart.” Basically it’s like a really kind encouraging cheerleader who says “You’re allowed to take up space here. Go on…”

What does your inner voice say on a bad day?

On a bad day my internal monologue is critical, mean and mockingly cruel. It tells me the work isn’t good enough, I’m not good enough. That no one cares. It says things like “does the internet really need to see a frizzy haired, 50 year old woman painting with a stick?” It offers a snarky snear-filled critique. It can take effort to acknowledge that what it says is not fact or truth… I’ve mostly learned to notice it without believing it now. To acknowledge it, to welcome it even, know that it’s trying to protect me and is just part of my creative vulnerability.  

Art making can often feel exposing. We’re trying new things, stepping out of our comfort zone, attempting things we haven’t done before or trying things we don’t yet know how to do. Every time we get near these edges our internal critic can get really loud. I’ve named it Nigel and it seems to help. It allows me some objectivity and space around the negative thought to play with it. It allows me to better see it for what it is and I can sort of debate with it. “Yes, Nigel, I do actually believe that the world needs more creative women with untameable hair, creating with wild abandon…”.

What’s a small thing that delights you?

I’m easily delighted by tiny things and I’m so pleased that this is part of my personality,  as I think it generally makes for a more interesting life. I love a sharp pencil. The sensory delight of nice paper. Collecting colour references as I go about my day. Weird shadows. Noticing shapes and patterns in unexpected places.  The way art supplies layer and combine. A pencil mark over a smear of paint. The quality of a line made by a twig dipped in ink. Interesting torn edges. A full sketchbook. A weed growing up a wall. Coffee in a nice mug. A box of buttons…Noticing tiny moments of delight fuels my art practice and makes life more beautiful.

What’s a big thing that scares you?

There are many things on the world stage which scare me at the moment, but If I’m keeping this personal rather than political, I would say my main fear is ill health.  

I have had a health struggle with chronic fatigue and long covid in recent years and it completely upended my life. It changed my sense of self and what I was able to achieve, but it also left me with a renewed connection to my creativity. 

My sketchbook became more of a refuge or a balm for a weary soul. A small safe harbour when my health was poor. I could do something tiny in my sketchbook from bed and it felt like a thread back to my old life…

Even though I’m so much better now, I carry that experience with me. It changed me.

It taught me how fragile things can be, how quickly life can shrink. But also the importance of creativity, for joy, for expression, for connection to self and as a route back to myself. 

What would your 85-year-old self say about the way you’re living your life?

She’d say, “Girl, play bigger, be bolder, be braver.. Take yourself seriously, but not too seriously.” She’d probably also say, “be kinder to yourself, dance more, keep smiling, be more weird. Don’t listen to criticism from strangers. Enjoy the journey. You only get one go at this wild ride, you might as well try and enjoy it…”

It’s such a powerful question which we could all usefully invite into our own creative practice. What advice would my future self give me at this moment? It’s a fast-track to big picture perspective and tuning in to inner wisdom. 

What would your 12-year-old self say about the way you’re living your life?

She’d be just thrilled. When I was 12, I wanted to be a textile designer. I was obsessed with pattern, colour and all things decorative. I think she’d squeal in delight to know I now get to make art for a living, that I spend my days wrapped in colour, pattern and art supplies.

She’d be proud that I didn’t give up, that I got where I was going eventually,

even if it was via a circuitous route.  And I think she’d be pretty chuffed to see my shelves full of sketchbooks. She’d be so excited and amazed that I have a whole room just for art making and would probably tell me off for not being grateful enough and moaning about its size…

Free class!

Curious to try Helen’s playful, process-led approach for yourself?

Helen is offering my readers a free experimental mixed media sketchbook class. Here’s the link if you’d like to find out more:

https://helenwellsartist.com/signup-amy

I hope you enjoyed this little creative adventure with Helen. You can find my interview on her blog. And let us know in the comments what reading about our experiences has sparked for you!

Creatively Yours,

Amy

The post Self-Doubt and Taking Up Space As An Artist appeared first on Mindful Art Studio®.

Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

I’m talking about the joy of simple art because we have a free challenge coming up, but also because it’s one of the principles that has set me free as an artist.

Having permission to do the simplest thing is about having permission to do what feels good. It means I can do what feels full of ease and fun. And since we are making art for own our pleasure and well-being, it seems to me that honoring what feels good is pretty darn important.

It also happens to clear away my resistance and frustration faster than you can eat a small twist Oreo blizzard from DQ. (Not that I’ve ever done that.🍦)

Last weekend while I was hiking in New Hampshire, in our down time, I wanted to make art, but I didn’t want to create anything that required too much planning or conceptualizing because we had limited chunks of time. I decided to draw a series of slender leaves.

My only goal was to enjoy myself. That’s it. And I did!

Then today I returned to the page, and when I filled in most of the leaves with lines, the page felt like it needed some contrast, so I played with some flower ideas on separate sheets to clarify my ideas – and then this happened…

I’m having great fun with it. I don’t know if I will add more flowers, watercolor, or something else. But I’m having fun, and after all, isn’t that the point?

I’d love to have you join The Simplest Thing Challenge to get you creating more. It’s a free 5-day challenge where I’ll email you a word prompt and photo inspiration to help you create something simple in your sketchbook every day for 5 days. You can sign up for free here!

Do You Find Simplicity Freeing?

Is there a “simple” piece of art that you really love? How does it feel when you make simple art? Tell us what you find freeing about simplicity in the comments. We’d love to hear your ideas.

Creatively Yours,

Amy

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Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

I know that you struggle to make time for art. You think about it frequently, and yet it’s hard to make it happen. There are a lot of things that get in the way. There’s work, chores, errands, and people to take care of. Hundreds of students every year tell me that they want to make art, but they “don’t have time.”  I get it. I’m a mom, in the sandwich generation, and running my own art classes and membership. I too struggle to put my art making first sometimes – there’s always a million to do’s– and they seem more important or urgent than my art practice. But at the same time, we make time for the things that matter to us.

It’s a question of how to fit art into our day, and I want to share some tricks for how to do that. For most of us, there’s one thing that sucks up our free time more than anything else: the phone. The phone also removes our ability to get bored, let our mind wander, and percolate about new ideas. You might be probably holding in your hands right now – the phone.

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” – Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

We are in an epidemic of phone and screen addiction. I fall prey the temptations of screen time dopamine hits just as much as the next person, but if we want to make time for art, or anything else that matters to us, it’s important to take stock of how we are spending our days. I feel we don’t talk about it enough as artists, so here’s a little self-assessment of my phone usage. I hope it might help you to think about your own, and I have an exercise below to spur you on.

Phone triggers:

• I’m waiting for news about something I’m excited about. This is a huge trigger for me. I can tend to check my email way too often when I’m waiting for an answer about something.
• I need a break or a pause in my work.
• I’ve shared something on socials or in my membership that is meaningful to me and I want to see your responses.
• I’m bored or tired. These are moments when I would be much better served by making art or taking a walk, but checking my phone sometimes seems “easier.” (That’s not even always true!)
• I’m anxious. A particularly big trigger is when I’m anxious about something that troubles me socially or politically. I start looking up news articles instead of just doing my once a day check in on news. This obviously makes me feel worse rather than better most times.
• I’m a passenger on a long car trip with my family. Often while we are listening to a podcast, I spend at least an hour indulging in scrolling Instagram, doing work email, and researching personal tasks, rather than fully engaging in what we are listening to as a family so I can be a part of the conversation later.
• The mindless thumb. I notice there is a typical pathway that my thumb navigates – I click on my work email, then Instagram, then personal email, and if I don’t see anything exciting, sometimes I will mindlessly go around again!

Even as I write this post, when I paused to think, I realized I picked up my phone! I am pointing this out because I know that most of us struggle with the phone. It offers us incredible tools, but also the danger of missing out on life that is happening right here and now. Bringing awareness to our mindless habits is part of the key to breaking them.

Phone Successes:

• I have notifications silenced. This, admittedly, is easy for me. I hate dinging interruptions. They drive me nuts.
• Our family has a no phones at the table rule.
• I typically don’t pick up my phone when I’m socializing with friends or family.
• I put down the phone when I’m away from home. I see it as an opportunity to unplug and tune into the moment.
• I stay off my phone between 8 pm – bed. This has really helped me relax my mind and body for sleep.
• I have time limits set on apps.
• I pay attention to my screen time reports and adjust my behavior to stay off more.

I have a lot of room for improvement, and I use my phone too much. Can you identify with that? But we can all take steps to live our lives in an intentional way.

When people tell me they don’t have time to make art, I know one or two genuinely don’t have time because they are working two jobs while also taking care of others. For most of us, though, we have time, we just need some tools to help us figure out how to fit art into our days, just like we fit checking the phone into them.  

With that in mind, I thought it would be helpful to think about taking this in small chunks of time instead of a radical change.

Here’s how to swap screen time for art time in 10 minutes a day:

• Make a list of your phone triggers and phone successes. See where you can scale back your phone usage.

• Make two portable art kits – one for home, and one for on the go. Don’t carry much: A waterproof pen and a small journal or small bits of watercolor paper. For inspiration, include a little cheat sheet with a few patterns or drawings you like. Keep one kit at home, and one in your bag. And if you are wondering, my favorite supplies are here.

• Make Art at Home: Leave a kit out at home where you hang out most – perhaps the kitchen or the living room. Put the kit on top of your phone. When you want to pick up the phone out of boredom or anxiety, instead draw for 5 minutes. If you have my book, Draw Yourself Calm, leave that out with the kit too – you can page through for instruction and inspiration.
• Making art on the go: Carry your portable art kit in your bag. Any time you are waiting – in a parked car, in a waiting room – pull out your kit and draw for a few minutes, using your pattern cheat sheet as inspiration.
• Need Art Ideas? Give yourself permission to do mindful art – draw something simple and repetitive, and do it slowly. There’s a lot of research showing the calming effects of art making and mindfulness activities. When you combine both, that’s can be a powerful balm for your nervous system. Consider drawing circles, ovals, triangles, lines, or waves. Even the most simple drawings can be both soothing and beautiful if you give yourself permission to enjoy yourself and take your time.

Looking for More Information on Reducing Screen Time?

This Georgetown University psychology professor has some great suggestions.

Share Your Art Time Suggestions

What are your best tricks for making time for art? What’s your best tool for managing phone and screen time? Tell us about it in the comments.

Creatively Yours,

Amy

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