How An Artist Thinks About Creating Something New

Begin!

An Artist thinks about creating something new as an opportunity to embrace the unknown with courage, explore ways to learn from mistakes and discover the adventure of beginning. As an artist, staring at a fresh, blank canvas can feel exciting and intimidating at the same time. Expressing creatively through art can be a life-giving process, sometimes wrought with pain, but never as painful as not taking the first step. Whether starting a new blog, an art project, or any new endeavor, we begin, when not beginning becomes more painful than staying where we are. At some point, we must begin moving in a new direction.

Let’s just give it a go, shall we?

Take Courage!

Creating something new is like giving birth in a way. It’s an intimate expression wreathed in pain and vulnerability bringing forth new life. Painful, because the struggle requires sacrifice with no assurance of success. Vulnerable, because it is an expression of who we are outside of ourselves for others to either value or devalue. These are reasons why creating art or doing anything new can be quite a fear-inducing process, but they are not reasons we should not try. An artist thinks they are just reasons courage is needed to try.

A dear friend of mine once challenged me to change my thinking pattern about trying something new from “it could be a win or a fail”, to “it could be a win or a learn”! Our failures and pain can be excellent teachers.

Even the most successful artists face failure, rejection, or pain at some point. A perfect example of this is Henri Matisse. A master printmaker, sculptor, and painter, he overcame great suffering and loss in life and yet created some of the most vibrant innovative paintings and collages in history. Quoted as saying “Creativity takes courage” he did not view painting as a means to an end, but rather as a creative adventure in the expression of lines and color.

For examples of work by Henri Matisse, click here.

Explore!

The goal need not be getting to a destination or producing the perfect piece of art. How adventure-squashing would that be? Embrace a learning mindset. How about exploring some new ways to express creatively, grow in artistic ability, and encourage one another in the journey?

As an example, the left painting below was one I completed many years ago and considered a failure. What was needed was a contrast in the trunk and more energy exploding from the branches like confetti. Years later, the added torn hymn book pages and bright pieces of dried acrylic paint added the life and contrast needed to create the New Tree, Acrylic Collage with hymn book pages piece.

Discover!

There is freedom in embracing creating something new as a process or a journey to discover rather than a final destination. Instead of striving for the perfect result following the shortest distance between two points; being open to the idea that when mistakes happen, they can teach us something is valuable. An adventurous mindset prepares us to notice unexpected treasure along the way and avoid the temptation to quit when the unknown looms ahead of us.

When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an adventure is going to happen.”

A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

The best encouragement anyone has ever given me as a beginning artist was to just never quit. That’s the win and where all the learning happens.

Create!

It is my hope in this endeavor to help others do just that…to join in the dance breathed into mankind from the beginning of time. The Bible reveals God as the entire world’s ultimate creator, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27

This verse reminds me that since God created everything we see with a word and formed man with his hands out of dust and breathed life into us, His image-bearers, that we too are able to create. Realizing I have this gift within encourages me…and if you are reading this, I believe the gift is inside you too and hope it encourages you as well. Whether you believe we are created by God or not, the “able to create” part of being human is too precious not to explore and too full of potential not to try. It’s my hope with this blog to embrace that creativity and to nurture and celebrate it as we journey together.