My Artistic Journey

As a little girl, I always loved to sing and act. I was known as the “ham,” (okay, yes, I’m still known as a ham.) For years, I begged my mother to take me on auditions in New York. My parents were not the type to indulge such an expensive, all-consuming hobby though, particularly one with so little chance of success. Given the way things turned out for me, I’m happy they didn’t.

As I entered middle school, and through high school, I dabbled in drawing, but found I could pour my heart onto the written page and make art from it. That was magic. Much like being on stage where I channeled my emotions into a character, I found a much needed catharsis in my journal. Still, while I certainly thought of myself as a performer, and somewhat a writer, I never had the opportunity to dive fully into my artistic life.

I suppose if I had been raised in a more artistic family I might have grown up an “artsier” kid. It wasn’t that my parents discouraged it in any way, but I’m not sure they really “got it.”

Once I got out on my own, I had a lot more freedom and opportunity to explore. I had a life-long dream to do photography. My sophomore year in college, I met Alex, a photographer, and when I told him I wanted to learn, he gave up his old camera, and I found I had a lot to say on film.

I couldn’t spend enough hours shooting and working in the dark room. I was lit afire by the work of Edward Weston, Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothea Dix, Sebastiao Salgado, Sally Mann, Diane Arbus, and Ansel Adams, and I soaked up books and exhibits everywhere I could.

For the first time, I was an artist. I was a part of a world I’d always wanted to be in, but never knew existed. Alex would take me to the old converted school house where they taught art lessons. The heady scent of oil paint and linseed oil filled my lungs as I learned to make the light and composition tell the stories of my choice. I was learning the magic of visual art. I was hooked and wanted more.

A happy artist does two things a frustrated artist doesn't: she tells her inner critic to take a hike and feeds her creative self. Click To Tweet

Upon graduation, suddenly having my own money and more free time, I continued writing and photographing, but found I wanted to explore many other art forms too. I took up guitar, modern dance, pottery, creative writing, and joined the Saturday night drum circles at the dance studio.

At the drum circles, I learned how my voice, my music, and my movement would merge with the group, connecting and filling me, and transforming the energy flowing through me in mysterious and wonderful ways. It was the most clear experience of being a “channel” for the art I had ever had. I remember participating in an exercise called the “vocal cone” for the first time. At the end of the circle, we stood in the dark in concentric circles, shoulder to shoulder, and closed our eyes. We hummed our lowest note in unison, the idea being that without our communicating about it, the note would slowly climb in pitch.

With my sight cut off, I could focus on the auditory and physical sensations. My voice vibrated in my body, but with everyone surrounding me, their voices were there too. The note began climbing, I was smiling with the excitement, and before I knew it, we slid the note all the way to the highest pitch. For a moment I thought someone had turned the lights on, but when I opened my eyes, it was still dark.

While I might have delved more deeply into the arts as a child, I have no regrets. My particular path lead me to learn about the soul of the art before the technique, and I’m very grateful for that.

During this time of artistic explosion, I came across Cathy Malchiodi’s seminal book, Art Therapy Sourcebook* and realized that art and expressive therapy would be my life’s work. To prepare for grad school, I took classes in drawing, painting, and sculpture, and found another passion for painting. I was called back to those earlier days in the school house.(*The link for the book I’ve provided is an affiliate link. If you decide to click on it and purchase something, I’ll receive a small commission.)

I’ve continued to explore and stretch as an artist in the years since – joining and creating new artist communities, taking classes, pushing my comfort zones, and writing this blog. What is your artistic story? What inspired you? Lit your creative fires?

Let’s create until we are 93, until we have to work large because we can’t see, and until we take our last breaths dancing. Let’s talk about how to feed your inner artist.

 Read blogs about art

Part of how I find artistic inspiration and beat the inner critic is by drooling over the amazing art I find online. A steady diet of blogs on art journaling, painting, drawing, and design keep my little inner artist fed and ready to create.

Art Journalist on Overcoming Fear and Perfectionism in Art Journaling

Michael Nobbs, an artist who struggles with energy, shares 20 Things You Can Do in 20 Minutes

Artist Amy Ng shares 1000 Things to Draw with a fun little randomizer feature

For some plain old, inspiring, delicious images, check out Lisa Cogdon’s blog.

A fun, freeing, and funky blog for artists, check out this post on art journaling from Doodler’s Anonymous

This is an inspiring post about sewing in your art journal with plenty of how to’s and great images from Daisy Yellow.

I can never get enough of Carla Sonheim’s amazing, wild art tutorials, like this Alligator Coloring Tutorial, or this one, “Go Blob Hunting.” Carla really knows how to let the inner artist out to play!

Lisa Mitchell at Inner Canvas is an art therapist and blogger, her art therapy invitations are also great art projects to do at home. I really liked the one on Open HeARTed Art.

Your job as an artist is not to make something perfect, it's to show up, do your part, and take some chances. Click To Tweet

For a list of my favorite art books, click here. And here you’ll find my favorite art journaling supplies.

 

Take Care of Your Inner Critic

We talked about this during the 5 for 5 Self-Care Challenge: Write. Try this exercise on listening to and conquering the inner critic. It’s an excerpt from my upcoming e-book, Starting Your Art Journal. Click the link, scroll midway down the page, and you’ll find it!

And for the ultimate exercise in working out the fears of your inner critic, try the exercises in Freeing the Muse – they are so light hearted and fun, your critic won’t realize you are “making art.”

There is no perfect in art. The sooner you let that go, the sooner you flow with creativity. Click To Tweet

5 for 5 Self-Care Challenge Winners

You are probably wondering when the heck is Amy going to announce the winners from the Self-Care Challenge. Right now! As you remember, the winners were chosen randomly from amongst all the comments. While I’m psyched to offer these three lovely souls more tools for their art and self-care, my hope is that participating in the challenge has helped you to experience how helpful and fun 5 minutes of daily self-care is.

Two of our lucky winners will receive a copy of Starting Your Art Journal (which is on pre-sale for just $3 right here.) One lucky winner will receive a portable art kit, worth $40.

And the winners of Starting Your Art Journal are…

Tayla Naden

and

Barbara Shelton

And the portable art kit winner is…

Joy Simon!

Thank you everyone for making the challenge so fun and meaningful with your heartfelt comments and consistent participation.

Comments

How do you stay inspired to be creative and make art? What great art blogs, books, and movies have I missed? Tell us about that and more in the comments please, and if you liked this post, spread the love on social media. 🙂