I made a commitment to myself to paint one painting every week — or at least one every second week, for a year. Thought I’d post my progress to keep me honest. :-)

Week 1: “The Garden Door”; acrylic on board; 3’ x 4’ (yes, four feet high!)

As an artist (writer/dancer/singer/actor etc.) you’ve no doubt had people say that you are so fortunate to be born with such a creative gift, that they couldn’t possibly even try to do what you do.  Most people, I expect, are meaning to be complimentary with this statement.  But although I appreciate the sentiment, I can’t help wondering if it diminishes the effort it took to do the work. Perhaps some of us are born with a propensity toward certain abilities, but there is no magical power that makes it all easy for anyone. It takes a lot of work for a prodigy to become a prodigy. Art is like anything else, you have to work at it. And work and work and work in order for it to “work”.

I also believe this is why so many people think they have no artistic ability.  They quit too early. No one, no one, composes a perfect first draft. A book is the product of many rewrites.  A performance is the result of hours upon hours of rehearsal. A violin is played exquisitely only after years of study and practice. If people could quiet their inner critics during their first attempts and keep trying, eventually they also will be stunned to hear people admiring their “innate talent”. And there’d be more artists of every sort in the world.  Imagine that!

Ira Glass, author and radio host, explains it perfectly in this short clip:

Artists of all kind claim they’re merely the instrument for the creative muse and the only credit they’ll take about their work is that they showed up to receive it. Whether you believe this to be humility or false modesty, it certainly is an interesting perspective. You can’t take credit if the work turns out brilliant and you can’t take the blame if it doesn’t. Sound like a cop-out? I think it sounds like health.

When you present your art to the world you risk being shot down with brutal force or being praised as the saviour of the universe. Having either experience can lead to thoughts such as “What’s the point of creating? They’re right, I have no talent” or “I could never create anything that’s that good again, there’s no point in trying.”

But what if there was some magical muse surrounding you and it’s their responsibility to tell you exactly what to do? It’d keep you humble as well as take the pressure off. And imagine how much fun it’d be to play with such an imaginary friend!

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the best seller, Eat, Pray, Love, explains in the TED Talk below that the idea of spirits guiding artists has been around for eons.  It’s a very thought-provoking presentation, and I’m sure you’ll find it inspirational. It might even get you to introduce yourself to that muse hovering around you….

In case you’ve not heard the Post-it Note story…Spencer Silver, an organic chemist, was trying to create a superglue but instead invented a reusable glue. He knew it had the potential to be useful but couldn’t quite imagine in what way. A scientist named Arthur Fry was attending a seminar about the new glue. An avid church choir singer, Fry was often frustrated when the scraps of paper he used as bookmarks escaped from his hymnal. The two men got together and you can guess the rest of the story. The point is that the “aha moment” was the result of Fry connecting seemingly dissimilar interests: science and music.

Unfortunately, by the second year of university students are strongly encouraged to pick a major and stop pursuing subjects unrelated to their discipline. I completely understand how time constraints can prohibit detailed study in areas outside of a particular field, and I respect the need for specialization, especially in certain professions.  Yet we all know it’s important not to forsake all interests, and to keep developing new ones. But not just for health reasons.

Daniel H. Pink, author of the highly successful, “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers will Rule the Future” says that if we want to be successful we need to “understand the connections between diverse, and seemingly separate, disciplines. (We) must know how to link apparently unconnected elements to create something new.” And that’s the essence of creativity: making connections between two or more seemingly unrelated thoughts.

But the making of art can sometimes mean day after day in front of a canvas or hour upon hour at a potters wheel.  Our passion for our art can sometimes be at the expense of all other interests.  We can forget that if our art s to be worth doing, we need to occasionally not do it. The more wide the scope of your interests, the greater the opportunity for inspiration. Just a friendly reminder!

If you’d like to hear more about the Post-it Note story, take a look at this:

Are you an introvert? Many artists are. Many of us would turn down a party invitation in favor of sitting alone at home to work on a creative project. Unfortunately, in this world where extroversion seems to be favored, introverts can feel like there’s something wrong with the core of who they are. Yet, as Susan Cain explains in her book, “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking”, it’s often the introverts, with their quiet persistence, that have changed the world. Think of Ghandi, Rosa Parks, Lewis Carroll, Albert Einstein, Vincent van Gogh, George Orwell, Charles Darwin, Marie Currie, and more recent world-shakers like J.K. Rowling, Steve Wozniak, Steven Spielberg, Charles Schultz….the list goes on and on. There is, of course, a place for the extrovert, but as Cain says, the world needs our contemplative, calm, sensitive natures, even though western society tries to squash those characteristics from the time we enter nursery school and throughout our careers.

“Quiet” is a well-researched and very well-written book. I had it on loan so I was hoping I’d read it quickly, but found the book far too engaging to simply whizz through. If you’ve ever felt you are “less” because you hate small talk or don’t participate in meetings as much as your collegues, read this book. And if you’re an extrovert, you’ll find invaluable insight in the book about yourself (the book is not down on extroverts!).

Take a look at what Susan Cain has to say:

Don’t you just love imaginary people? If you’ve wandered through my website you may have noticed I’m quite fond of them.  The video below is a TED Talk by Shea Hembrey, a man who became an imaginary person. Became 100 imaginary artists, actually. What imagination!

Not only is this video inspirational, but I see it as a lesson in how to get through difficult times like writers block. Having trouble writing music that reflects heartache? Can’t quite get that sculpture to express fear? Struggling with pairing that abstract? Pretend you’re someone else! How would they create what you’re trying to create? Just the act of pretending like this will get the creative juices flowing.

Take a look at this humorous and inspirational video!

I’m learning a new software drawing program these days. It does not involve throwing around paint, taking a pencil for a walk around a piece of paper, nor following a story in my head. No, learning a new software program involves coloring between the lines, pretty much.  Not a lot of room for creativity. Pressing #***%^ instead of Shift+Command isn’t going to yield similar results no matter how much prettier those keys are.

I’m getting tired of staring at this screen.  But I’ve made a commitment to myself that I’ll stay at this desk for at least an hour. So I’ve been staring at my keyboard instead.

That’s when I noticed the keys “Escape”, “Option”, “Shift”, and “Control”. And I hear: If you want to Escape this frustration, you always have the Option to Shift the Control from your frustrated mind to that quiet place inside.

What a desperate attempt at making myself more comfortable!  Yet I find myself taking a deep breath and just relaxing. And suddenly my desire to chuck the computer across the room has subsided, and ideas about how it will help me create come flooding in.

Of course, I’ve seen those keys probably a million times in my life. But it took it took a minute of rest to combine them into something new. Most of us, including myself of course, don’t “take a moment” enough. But that’s where creativity lives. In the relaxed, free-associating mind.

Take a breath. Pay attention to your senses. Let what you hear play with what you smell. Watch where your mind takes you.

What makes some people seemingly more creative than others?  I think it much of it has to do with how much time they spend in their imagination. In the video below, Raphael DiLuzio, an artist who survived nine brain injuries and is a  tenured Professor of Art and New Media at the University of Maine, says “Artists operate in a fearlessness of their imagination”.  What a great statement.

Some of us fear our imagination, knowing that sometimes it can take us to scary places.  So we get stuck in the so-called “safe” world of reality, busying ourselves with mundane tasks. But it’s important to bravely go to that magical place where ideas are born. That’s where the answers are, where the impossible is possible, where all the fun is!  And should it lead you to something scary, you can escape into a strong fortress, have a knight in shining armour fight it away, or just tell the scary thing that it’s really very silly. (I recognize this may not always be easy to do, particularly if you have a mental illness.) What a magical place to live! And the more often we go and the longer we spend there, the stronger our imagination becomes, and the more room we have to play in it.

So take a look at what Raphael DiLuzoio has to say in “Seven Steps to Creative Thinking”, below. I think you’ll find it inspiring.

Have you ever been doing something creative — planting a garden, painting a picture, composing a song — and have someone suggest you’re wasting your time? I cannot imagine anything being further from the truth. Creativity, in all its forms, is who we are as humans. If there is any reason for us to be here, in my opinion, it’s to express our own uniqueness — that’s why we’re all so different! You not only have a right to be yourself, you have a responsibility to be yourself — to let life express itself through you in all that you create. The only time you waste is the time spent listening to the person who’s telling you to stop creating.

Some people think doodling is a waste of time. But sometimes it’s where you doodled — the boring meeting — that was the waste of time!