Dear Wonderful Creative You,
One of the most important questions you can ask yourself is why you’re making art. What’s your purpose? What goal are you trying to meet?
Most of my students enjoy the practice of slow drawing and slow painting in my workshops each week. It provides a rhythm of creating that is predictable, sustainable, and happens in supportive community. Very often, students will ask, “I’m doing this this prompt this way.… Is that right?” The answer to that question depends on what brings you to this practice.
Some students attend simply because they need a way to find grounding and calm. Other folks are here because they love art and want to improve their skills and find their own creativity. (This in turn, brings a feeling of both joy and grounding.)
So I would ask you right now – Why do you attend slow drawing and painting? (And by the way, there’s no wrong answer.) Do you want to copy what I’ve done and sink into the moment mindfully? In this case, I would say if you feel grounded and calm, then no matter the outcome on the paper, you’re doing it right. People in this category will find it important to be more and less precise, and there’s no right or wrong about that. Or do you want to find calm through drawing and painting slowly, allowing your work to morph from my prompt into your creative vision? If your goal is to carve out your own creative path, then over time, I hope that you go from asking, “Is this right?” to asking, “Is this right for me?”
In the Gather tier of my membership, The Gathering, we’ve focused this quarter on what it means to find your voice as an artist. In addition to our workshops and journaling prompts, I’ve been infusing the slow drawing lessons with some extra nudges to help students experiment with changing my prompts using what-if questions.
One of my goals with slow drawing and painting has been to provide a flexible structure within which you can explore your own ideas. In my experience, we feel the most joy when we tap into our own creative font. The joy you feel in the process of trial and error, frustration, and discovery is what drives you to continue creating – you don’t need inspiration to get started because you’re curious and keep pushing and experimenting with new iterations of your ideas. Given that, I hope you go off script, so to speak, when we create together in slow drawing and slow painting workshops.
So as you ask yourself “what if” questions with each week’s drawing or painting, don’t dismiss the ideas that you believe are too different, weird, or off-topic. If you’re interested in developing your own voice as an artist, you have to start to trust your ideas, even the ones that seem bad.
Being an artist is about opening up the faucet of creative flow. It’s important to let everything through. Don’t edit or try to filter the ideas, let them out. You’ll see that the more ideas you welcome, the more you’ll get. When you try to filter them as they’re coming through, they get scared and stop coming. This is the inner critic at work, and it makes people think they don’t even have ideas, but I know that that’s not the case.
I’ve worked with enough students to know that some people are so quick to filter and edit their ideas that it seems as though they don’t have any ideas because their inner critic cuts them off before they can even have a fully formed thought. Those inner critics are not terrible, they’re just scared. They need your reassurance that it’s okay for them to sit back and relax a bit. Stop editing your ideas. Even if the art is “bad,” nothing bad is going to happen. The art police are not going to come knocking down your door. This is about having time for yourself to create as a self-care practice.
Let’s look at how this might translate. I want to give you an example from last week’s slow drawing. We began with the Crush pattern, which is beautifully simple and invites tons of modifications. You could easily begin by making the “Crush” pattern once, twice, or even several times as you warm up. (Yes, warming up is important, just like in sports and music.) After a while, little ideas might start to emerge as you draw. That’s when you pull out your what-if list and start noting down ideas. As you’re ready to move on to new slow drawing cards, you can experiment with these ideas and iterations. Little by little, it’ll start to take you further and further away so that your starting piece and your end point have one or two elements in common, but are quite different.
How does that kind of experimentation sound to you? Does it excite and invigorate you, or seem intimidating?
What’s your experience with trusting your voice?
I’d love to hear about your experience trusting your voice. I’d also love to know what brings you to the slow drawing practice. Tell us about it in the comments.
Creatively Yours,
Amy
I need to slow down and be more patient to drawing and life in general
I hear you Mayra, I have to remind myself all the time too!
Hello! I come to the slow drawing & painting for all the above and to build skill in all the above that you mentioned- slowing down, calm, recognition, seeing how I could push the envelope with , “What if…?” , etc…
Summertime has derailed me a bit here and there, usually not getting in the project room and doing projects…so I have to look at that.
Thank you for all you do!
Karolyne
Karolyne: yes, it’s funny how life can derail us from time to time, and it takes a little reminder to get us back on track. I totally get that. It happens to me often. Happy creating!
Dear Amy, I have finally made friends with my art critic! I am sure this could also change at any time… I am learning to trust my voice and I am dipping my toes in the experimentation pool. The meditation really helps me stay in the moment, it doesn’t need to be long, just enough to settle and then the flow of ideas often begins. The best question is that “What if?”
Thanks very much! I continue to be excited to play, draw and paint.
Barbara, that’s so thrilling to hear, and you have done amazing work in the membership! It’s wonderful to see you pushing past boundaries and having a great time. xo
I want to slow down. Find my inner calm. Let go of inner critic. I also want to get better at my own drawing.
Hi Kelly,
These are wonderful goals. Cheers.
I just love your calmness and slow approach…
I’m so happy it resonates with you, Marietta.
Yes, that experimentation that you talk about is very exciting. Intimidating? Not as much now, I’m more confident; and I do it for me, for the joy.
Your slow drawing method is waking up my senses and feeding my deep desire to create with pen and ink/color, allowing me to explore possibilities. The process: slow movement, the pausing to reflect on the evolving image, the “What if” and prompts, helps nudge ideas out, even when they feel so far away, blank at times.
The results so far— I’m more confident. Ideas may still come slowly, but I see my world differently, pausing more for the colors, lines, circles, details…possibilities.
I now live in the What If zone in many areas of my life. I’ve been drawing on everything, a mark here and there. I’m sometimes merging and combining slow drawing images, drawing over “practice” cards, making note cards, bookmarks. As a fiber/textile creative, I find myself asking, “What if” my slow drawings were reflected in my slow stitching designs and vis versa. More possibilities.
I feel that I’m moving toward my goal of developing a drawing habit/practice that is second nature, that feeds and satisfies my soul every day, because it’s who I am now.
What I make is not as important as the making, and hopefully, inspiring those around me to express themselves creatively through whatever medium speaks to them.
Thank you, Amy.
What I make is not as important as the making. That could not be more true. I’m so pleased that you’ve found such an amazing way to embrace the process, Vicki. This really is the absolute key. Once you’re in love with the process, there’s no stopping you from developing your work further and further. How exciting! xo
Hi Amy,
I have found myself greatly inspired by the work you are doing and sharing with us.
It has helped me on many occasions and on many levels to circumvent the inner critic and inspire the larger art voice.
The Inches in particularly, are a wonderful tool to gather calm and focus for me.
Hi Cathia! Oh, this makes me so happy to hear. I assume you’re all signed up for the Inchie Challenge that starts August 1st? Can’t wait to create with you.
I’m new to slow drawing, but I feel I may have found a happy art home. Over decades I’ve experimented with various crafts, drawing classes, and several years of watercolor classes … but nothing has touched my soul until I discovered your amazing world of mindful art making. The quiet, the small, the simple, the meditative aspects suit me perfectly. And I’m taking it day by day … no plans or expectations. Thankful for the exploration and joy. Your presence has opened a doorway I never thought to find.
Janet, it sounds like you are absolutely in the right place. I’m so happy you’re here.