The Two Most Important Things an Artist Needs

Southern Comfort 10 x 8 oil Available here

This week Heather Horton @Heather_Horton shared on twitter that the two most important things an artist needs are peace and time. Ahh  . . . quietness, stillness, serenity and the time to breathe it in.  But life doesn’t always serve up that kind of day or year.

This year has been a year for commotion.  Watching the decline of elderly parents puts aside peace. Participating in decisions for their care--time evaporates. Fortunately, the joy and excitement of a grandchild brings renewal and a sense of forward motion.  But even without turbulent life changes, an artist has many distractions to deal with.  I long to sit on a porch like the one pictured above and take time to reflect (more information here). Each day brings an assault of phone solicitations, advertisements, and tragic world news. I suppose it has always been the same down through the ages for artists.

I realized this past week during a short illness that I had let distractions destroy my peace and squander my time. I wasn’t painting, the very activity that keeps me truly emotionally, (and, I think, physically) healthy and connected to the world. I had gotten myself into a vicious cycle of not feeling peaceful because I wasn’t being creative, and not painting because I wasn’t peaceful!  After painting two paintings in a day at a plein air event in Wilmington this past weekend, I felt rejuvenated.

How are artists to have the peace and time to create?

In my April blog “4 Ways to Restart Your Engine” I listed some suggestions for getting over a “block” (see, I told you this has been a problem this year), but to that list I can now add:

• SCHEDULE or PAY for an event or class.  If you’re as cheap as I am, you won’t skip it.  You’ll have committed yourself to the TIME. I am thankful I sign-up for the plein air event.  What I dreaded because of low energy, lifted me up.
• Change your creative place. Set up where you work in a new location, even if it’s just in a different place in the house or yard.  It seems like a fresh start.
• Prepare your creative materials the day ahead, so all the analytical part is over.  For painters, that may mean do your sketches or thumbnails and materials setup the night before. Start the creative day fresh with no barriers.  Start with excitement!
• Absolutely shut off the phone, commuter and television for the entire day-don’t even think about those for the tiniest little bit! 

 

Sea Lion Lounge 16 x 20 oil Available here

I’ll leave you with a peaceful painting of sea lions lounging on a rock overlooking an ocean view (more information here). Lounge and breathe!

May you have a peaceful day!

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