This past weekend I drove up the coast with a friend for a spot of whale watching. As we looked out over the Pacific Ocean our conversation veered towards our current creative projects – writing for her and visual arts for me – and our respective creative processes.
As we chatted it became clear that we are both feeling a little stuck as we have been creating with an audience in mind. For her this is thanks to the emphasis on workshopping manuscripts in the writing world and for me sharing my artwork with on-line communities.
The problem with the sharing trend is that it keeps us overly concerned on how our creative work is received, rather than being open to create whatever needs to come through. By constantly comparing ourselves to others and wondering if our work is good enough, we cut ourselves off from our authentic creative self. Also, to be honest, not all our creative work is fit for public consumption.
It made me wonder if this is a trend for all creatives?
I suspect it is with social networking sharing and reality TV on the rise. It is almost as if we expect every detail of our life to be in front of a live audience – critiquing our every move.
My concern is this emphasis on sharing is undercutting our natural creativity outputs. We need to create a lot of mediocre work before getting to our most authentic creations.
And nobody wants to be judged by their blah creations, right?
Ira Glass of This American Life explains this far more eloquently than I in this piece:
I want to encourage you to create more and judge less.
Make bad art. Sing out of tune. Write poetry riddled with clichés. Dance with two left feet.
Create like no-one is watching.
Create for you.
Create to feel alive.
Create to get it out.
Create to connect to the divine.
Create, and then create some more.
Your best work is yet to come. I promise.
{ 28 comments }
Thank you so much for posting this. I am trying my best to be creative with my business and try to make it feel friendly. But I know that my art isn’t as great as it could be. This inspires me to keep working and follow the voice that tells me not to use clipart, it will get better. And then my website will feel the way I want, because it will be personal.
Sarah, I’m happy to inspire you to continue creating and producing your art. Making artwork for our websites is so tricky as we get caught up in thinking that it has be perfect off the bat. I like to view branding as a living organism that keeps growing and emerging. Good luck on your venture!
Exactly! I have a BA in Art and have over 20 years experience as a graphic design professional. One evening I was at a meeting with fellow volunteers at the women’s center in my area. Instead of a formal meeting we were doing a craft project – painting ceramic pots. Everyone was painting carefully and beautifully except for me. My need in that moment was not to create a beautiful pot but just to enjoy the feel of the paint. When we were finished we all put all our pots on a table for viewing. I was smiling inside because it was clear that my pot was the least interesting, but I had given myself the experience I needed. Love this Jo!
Thank you Linnette for sharing this experience of putting your own creative process before production. It’s amazing how when we fling our full selves into the tactile and visceral act of creating, all judgement falls away. An important lesson!
You make some really good points Jo. I think that alot of people create with an audience in mind and loose touch with what they really need to express.
Their art therefore looses their own unique “voice”. Or worse the “blah” art which you refer to is discounted and ignored when it too has an important role to play in one’s creative expression.
I believe you have to be willing accept & honor the “mess” before you can move on to finding your voice to get to the “good stuff”.
You’re so right in how we discount all the “blah” art along the way. I think of all the retrospective exhibitions I’ve gone to and how I love to see the progress over time of an artist finding their authentic style – for many it seemed like a lifetime. It’s good for us to put that in perspective before we judge our (and others) creations.
What a lovely and perceptive post Jo, I completely agree. The most liberating and memorable experience I’ve ever had with art was after reading Michele Casou’s Life Paint Passion where she suggests that it’s Ok to paint something ugly. The joy of allowing ugliness to emerge was life changing xx
Thank you Jackie. I have put that book on my “must read” list as I can certainly do with a reminder or too that ugly is good
I agree! Comparison is a creativity passion killer for sure. I still struggle sometimes with the idea of making ‘bad’ art in my journal, but I find it’s good to have a balance. A focus on product can help our skills improve. A focus on process allows for the inner transformation and healing of creativity.
One of the things I have loved about art journalling as a form is that I can just turn the page (literally!) if I create a so-so piece. I love your take on process vs. product and the need for balance. Thanks for stopping by.
love this Jo……’create like no one’s watching’….woohoo……..that’s what I’m gonna do!
Yay! Go Gina go!
Wise words, Jo, and they’re OH-so-hard for me to practice. Whenever I create something, I want to share it immediately. I want the feedback and the… validation, I guess. I think maybe writing my morning pages are really good for me, in that they’re writing that’s purely and totally for me and me alone. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to extend that out to other forms of art in my life?
Blessings
TANJA
Seeking validation – yes that hits the nail on the head. The great thing about morning pages and other free form creativity exercises is that the intention from the get go is to produce not perform. More of that is sure to seep into all your creativity.
Exactly Jo, I so hear you on this. Creating for an audience but somehow forgetting to check in with yourself if it’s really what you want to do. And not only in art, but in everything we lil’ business owners do (also creation, right?)
Listening to yourself first is such an important step…in everything – esp. our business creations as well. If it doesn’t resonate with our inner selves, the way it is received by others is bound to disappoint.
as a process over product kind of artist, i love this post Jo
it pains me to think of what we might miss by being overly focused on the product
awhile back i ran some workshops on how to beat creative block and one of the steps is to stop creating work for everyone else and start creating something just for you, just because, just for fun
Thank you so much for stopping by Kel. I love that we’re on the same wavelength of creating for ourselves before anyone else – so much more fun!
Yes, yes, Yes!! Most importantly just create and be alive! Great post, Jo!
Just create and be alive is a mantra I can certainly get behind!
A lot of the people in my personal network are certainly feeling stifled in their creativity, but that has largely been due to the fact that these people are trying to sell their creations. As online sellers, we spend a lot of time trying to create something that will sell, rather than what we actually enjoy creating. I totally understand where you are coming from here, though. When you see yourself as an artist, you have to let your true creativity shine through.
Thanks for this post! I will certainly be sharing it with a few people I know…
Sunfire, you bring up a very important dilemma for working artists and craftspeople who need to keep their customers in mind as they create products. I know this is incredibly hard and at times stifles the creative juices – other times our customers can inspire a whole new line of creations. I guess it’s just important to make sure that you are being fed through your creations in more ways than just how much income they generate. Wishing you all the best for your business.
this is beautiful, Jo… thank you so much, this is so going to help get my juices flowing! I’ve been feeling a bit blocked myself and you’ve helped me put my finger on why. For me, when I DON’T create like no one is watching it’s particularly silly because it’s not like I ever know how stuff will be received anyway. xoxo
Thanks Marla – happy to bring you a little inspiration to get your creative flow on!
YES! Thanks to reality tv and social networking, there is no gestation time, either. People make something and put it right out there and expect some sort of pay back for something that is perhaps still in “rough draft” stage.
Getting rid of the “gatekeepers,” like big house publishers, etc., is good. Freedom of access is good, but there are definitely consequences to high culture.
Gestation period – I like that analogy. It is tricky to know how to share and promote your creations without rushing the formulation and growth needed in our crafts. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Oh I can so relate to this Jo. In fact I actually have a hanging on my wall that reminds me to ‘dance like no-one’s watching’. I’m doing a course in intuitive painting at the moment and it’s really helping me with this issue, she encourages us to make a mess, do it wrong, leave it unfinished, paint over everything, anything goes – it’s so freeing and the funny thing is when I do manage to show it to people they love it, go figure!
Isn’t that always the case – that when we center ourselves and create from our intuitive core, the work we produce is always fit for sharing
Enjoy exploring!
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