I guess by the title of the post you figure…cool he’s gonna tell us how he does it. He’s going to give us the formula behind his artistic process. The fact is …I’m not that nice, and in all actuality…I’m not that good. I have many processes that lead me to an end result. I have many things that inspire me, and I have no real science behind the “process” except for one thing that is always in common with every piece I make.

“The Letting go of Things”

(mentioned in my photo documentary)

I talk to many artists that do what they do because they love it. They are not worried about the time in production, and they don’t really care if you like what they are producing. The fact is…they are producing for themselves. They produce from the heart and are not worried about the saleability of an item. Like Emeril Lagasse says in his popular cooking show….”It’s a food of love thing”

Then you have the other artist who is always concerned that every painting they make, or every page they write must be perfect. They are concerned about the way others will account for their work. They ask themselves, will anyone buy it, will anyone publish it, will they, will they, will they????

Which one sounds like the better situation to you. Thats what I thought, number one…..but is number two really the wrong way about going about it?

Number two will tell you that their livelihood is based on the fact that they sell their work. They sell you on the belief that their work has to have a commercial flare. They will tell you anything too weird, or too off the wall is just taking a risk. This sounds to me like they have taken the “inner child” out of the mix and added way too much practicality.

Hey, those are all valid points, but I would like to counter with this:

Have fun with your work…all the time.

Dont watch the clock except at the start and finish of a project

Don’t worry about “selling the piece”

Tune into your gut, your happy place. Create from a place of peace.

If your body tells you tonight isn’t the night….take a day off.

Don’t pressure yourself to produce more, faster, quicker, more, more, more.

Take yourself for art breaks, creative time with your thoughts. Walk through the woods or down a path.

Don’t be afraid to see art in everything you see, everything you read, and people you come in contact with.

When someone tells you a story…listen.

Last but not least “Let Go” Let your art flow through your heart. Don’t hold on so tight. There are no rules here.

I have heard of this thing called an artist block, or writers block. What in the world is that anyway? Please tell me? Or maybe you shouldn’t. The fact is this, I lie awake at night with enough ideas flowing than I could ever actually produce. This is not to come off as pithy, or snobby. I just don’t get those creative blocks, and I think I know why, but that is another blog post all together. For now, if you are an artist, a podcaster, a writer, a creative being….and you are stressing yourself out over production, what people might think, or what people might say….quit it. Take five minutes to yourself to meditate. Breathe from your solarplexus, and just tap into that gap between the notes. You’ll find that when the art is flowing from your heart rather than flowing from your ego, that you’ll produce better work, in less time, that is more salable to the end buyer because they will feel the love you put into your pieces.

Like that ole 80’s song goes by Bobby McFarren

“Don’t worry be happy”

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 7:41 pm and is filed under Artistic Process. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.