The Artist’s Way – no, it’s not just “morning pages”

Over the last three months, I decided to finally pick up, read, and participate in Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way.” A book I’m sure quite a bit of you have heard of over the years.

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For some reason, this book has been hitting a new kind of popularity out in the social media-verse. I’ve seen lots of YouTubers talking about doing it or thinking of doing it, etc. After seeing a few of these experiences shared, I remembered I had my own copy of “The Artist’s Way” sitting on my bookshelf. Long forgotten and gathering dust.

I first picked this book up 16 years ago. Good grief, it’s crazy even saying it’s been that long, knowing all that has come to pass during that time frame. A divorce, a move, a new job, and my diving into living a more creative life.

The first time I started “The Artist’s Way”, I only got about three weeks in, then I stopped. For good reason. My life got turned upside down by my ex-husband’s alcoholism. I don’t talk much about my personal life on here, since, really, this is supposed to be an art blog, not an autobiographical accounting of my life.

But after having made it all the way through “The Artist’s Way” this time, 16 years later, I’ve found there’s no arguing that our creative lives are deeply intertwined with our personal lives. We’re human beings, after all. Not robots.

16 years ago, there just was no way I was in any sort of a place to work with “The Artist’s Way”. I was grappling with how to survive around active alcoholism in my life. In hind sight, I feel like my Higher Power was watching out for me and said “No… I’ve got a different path for you right now. We’ll come back to ‘The Artist’s Way’ later.”

I think the timing ended up being just right, because through those years with the alcoholic and eventual divorce from him, I found myself a support network that guided me to find and define a God of my understanding that I could trust and to whom I could give over the care of my life.

That Julia Cameron references 12-step recovery often in the pages of “The Artist’s Way” is quite convenient. I found it easy to entertain her gentle nudges to put my creativity into the hands of a power greater than myself.

In short, the “woo-woo-ness” of this book that many people often complain about didn’t bother me at all. I’m comfortable with my spirituality, and have come a long way from having my hackles rise anytime someone mentions the “G” “O” “D” word around me.

Believe me, I was very adverse to discussions about God in the past, immediately dreading that someone was going to tell me I was going to go to hell because I’m a terrible sinner at my core. This shaming would then immediately be followed up with an announcement that I could find salvation so long as I joined this person’s religion. There’s no faster way to turn me off from something than to tell me I’m a horrible person at my core.

I confirm, there is plenty of discussion about “God” in this book. But then, what should you expect when you pick up a book with a subtitle that says “A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity”?

Julia does not threaten you with damnation, however. She doesn’t tell you her understanding of God is what you should believe. She gently guides you to define what your own Higher Power is supposed to be. And for many of us, that Higher Power isn’t some jealous, vindicitve deity up in the sky. It could be the power of the universe, nature, love, etc. And absolutely, that Higher Power can instead be loving and supportive.

I can honestly say that this book managed to add to my ever-evolving relationship with God, and in good ways. That was an appreciated, unexpected perk.

So now having had this experience of working all the way through this book, I just wanted to touch on a couple common misconceptions about this book.

Often when you see people’s reviews about doing “The Artist’s Way” they magnetize to and get stuck on talking about doing the Morning Pages and the (oft-dreaded) Artist’s Dates.

This 12-week course is way, way more than just writing three pages in your notebook every morning and fretting about what your next Artist’s Date is supposed to be. People tend to hint that those exercises are the true work in the book, but I disagree.

Each week, Julia dives into further and further descriptions, details, and exercises that help you look at yourself and your creativity as a whole, rather than as a separate part of you.

There are many, many more exercises in the book beyond the Morning Pages and Artist’s Dates, where you are encouraged to dive really deep into what makes you tick and what subconscious things, people, behaviors, etc. keep you shying away from spending time being creative.

If you think you can skip all the reading and just dive into doing Morning Pages and Artist’s Dates and reap the benefits of the book that way, you’ll be missing out on a lot.

I blocked out out entire Sunday mornings to dedicate to reading the start of each week’s chapter, and took the time to answer her many questions and participate in her detective work and other suggested exercises throughout the weeks.

One surprising exercise from Week 2 was to list 10 simple changes I’d like to make for myself. (Bonus is that some of these things can absolutely become a future Artist’s Date.) I wrote some things down like “declutter”, “rearrange my bedroom”, and “honor my commitment to have lunch with my parents.” At the end of that list, she tells you to pick one item and do it. Well, ta-da – I had lunch with my parents. And finally, not long after finishing the book, I also got around to rearranging my bedroom.

This book really is about taking action. Tosha Silver writes a suggestion to her readers in her wonderful book “It’s not Your Money”. I’m paraphrasing here, since I have it on Audiobook and it’s difficult to pinpoint the chapters that way, but she says something along the lines that her book is about taking action. Sure, you can choose to just read it and be like a group of people safely sitting on the sidelines, sunning themselves on the side of a riverbank. But you’ll get more out if it if you take action, dive in, and frolic in the cool waters.

I’m looking for positive change in my life, always, and I recognize I need to do the footwork. I can’t just sit back and expect the universe to do everything for me. God, the Creator, the Universe, whatever you want to call it/her/him desires participation. I read a funny quip in another piece of literature not long ago where someone complimented a person on their garden, saying “Wow, God has done such wonderful work on your garden!” The gardener retorted “Really? You should see what it looks like if I only leave it up to God.”

I’m looking to participate in my life, and that means doing all the exercises in “The Artist’s Way”, beyond the Morning Pages and Artists’s Dates. Those are critical, too, but not the backbone of the book, in my humble opinion. If you want to get everything out of what the book has to offer, don’t think you can shortcut it by only doing the writing and taking little field trips.

Get brave and read her essays in relation to the additional work she asks you to do. Sit down and write your answers to the difficult questions. One of my favorites is “what’s your favorite creative block” from Week 4. Yes, we have “favorite” negative behaviors. (For me, that block is sitting and watching television or YouTube for far too many hours of my day. It’s a small wonder that I end each day wondering where the day went and why I feel like I never have any time to take care of important things.)

Did I become creatively unblocked? I’m not so sure about that. But then I’m an artist and practice art a lot of the time, and to be honest, a lot of the discussion in this book seems geared a little bit more towards people who pretty much never practice art for all the reasons she lists: “it’s unpractical”, “there’s no time”, “I’m not good enough”, etc.

I did manage to squeeze in a few illustrations and paintings while actively working through the book. I even shifted gears and made some Coptic stitch sketchbooks for a change of pace. Part of what kept me going there, however, was hosting and participating in World Sketchbook Month. I honestly may have done less were it not for WSBM.

That said, I still felt a bit on the uninspired side, and maybe that’s really only because I just needed to give myself a bit of a break from constantly creating for probably the last nine or so months.

What I DID get out of this book were some valuable exercises on coming back to myself and giving myself the attention I need and deserve. This book guided me towards becoming more available to myself, not just emotionally, but also in just quality time spent with myself.

The Morning Pages and Artist’s Dates help with this, as well as a lot of her other weekly tasks she assigns at the end of each chapter. Identifying areas where we continually block ourselves, toxic relationships, etc.

This book is much more than just “get out a sketchbook and draw” or “sit down and write a new chapter every day”. In fact, it seems she spends little time on pressuring us to actually do specific creative exercises, but instead encourages us to be kinder and gentler to ourselves and clear out the obstacles we have in our lives that prevent us from pursuing our creative dreams.

I’m glad I finally picked this book up and gave it my full attention and participation. I do feel like I’ve grown in positive ways and that I’m a different person now than I was 12 weeks earlier.

I enjoyed the book and the exercises so much, I picked up her second book “Walking in this World” to continue the journey. I’m someone who seems to always require a project to be working on/towards. I’m looking forward to discovering more and more about myself and this beautiful world, and taking part in more purposeful activities that encourage me to take good care of myself, and, in the long run, support my creativity.

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Have you read and done the work in “The Artist’s Way”? How long ago? Have you gone through it multiple times? What did you get out of it? Or have you heard of it but not been interested?

Share your experience in the comments below.

Thanks for dropping by and taking a few moments to read about this experience. I hope it clears up some misconceptions about this book and you feel encouraged to give it a try yourself. Who knows what will come up for you?

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BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS POST:

Contains affiliate links. See disclosure for more info.

“The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron
“Walking in this World” by Julia Cameron
“It’s Not Your Money” by Tosha Silver

Your Sketchbook “Should” be Messy

Are you using your sketchbook wrong?

Lately, I’ve been coming across people sharing strong opinions about what kind of art should be in your sketchbook and what kind of art should be shared from sketchbooks.

The discussion usually goes like this: Your sketchbook is supposed to be a place for experimentation, free of any and all pressure. The trend of artists posting finished pieces from their sketchbooks on social media is misleading because artwork in sketchbooks is supposed to only be messy and unrefined. Sketchbooks are supposed to be used to grow your skills and learn. They are not a place for finished artworks.

There’s an unsaid message there that insinuates that artists who post finished works from their sketchbooks are somehow being disingenuous.

I sympathize that this is a revolt, of sorts, against the perfectionism of social media.

Yes, on social media, the majority of us prefer to display our “best”. Best clothing, best vacation spot, best artwork. But can you blame us? How many of you honestly support and like the gnarly, “imperfect” images of those people who are not big influencers with tens of thousands of followers? Sure, if one such big influencer posts a “real” image where they’re finally tired of trying to be perfect all the time, they get lots of love and kudos from their fans for being brave. But do those fans support the people being real who don’t have tons of followers, or do they only like and support those “normal” people’s best images? Think on that.

Another opinion I see people sharing about sketchbooks is that a sketchbook should no longer be called a “sketchbook” if it’s filled with what they define as finished pieces.

I gotta say I take issue with people laying down “rules” on what’s supposed to be put into a sketchbook, or, for that matter, what’s supposed to be put on a canvas, a pad of paper, or a loose sheet of paper. It’s like we’re back in that annoying place where some uppity art professor thumbs their nose at a student who illustrates amazing Japanese manga art because that’s what they’re intensely interested in. The art professor tells that student “That’s not real art.”

Are we really going to go there now with what kind of artwork should appear in and be shared from sketchbooks?

What I hear when I hear people complain about finished works in a sketchbook is this: “I feel insecure. Your finished artwork exacerbates that feeling. You need to stop so I no longer feel insecure.” Or, when the complaint is coming from an experienced artist, instead the message is: “You are responsible for how other people feel. Your finished pieces in your sketchbook are making new artists insecure. You need to stop sharing finished pieces from your sketchbook so new artists no longer feel insecure.”

There’s a much deeper problem here than the type or quality of art people are doing in and sharing from their sketchbooks. The kind of artwork that is going into and being shared from a sketchbook isn’t the problem at all. The problem is people deciding other people around them are responsible for how they feel about themselves. In this case, people are saying other artists are responsible for how they feel about their own artwork.

Happiness is an inside job.

Let that digest while I set that particular issue aside for a moment and split some hairs defining art, because that’s another side of this opinion being shared on social media; that only certain types of artwork are practice pieces and others are finished pieces.

I’m going to say it. You can’t define art.

Don’t try to pigeonhole and simplify it.

Art is subjective. In the case of the sketchbook artwork argument, what one person calls a finished piece may be a practice piece to another.

Example: I cannot accurately freehand humans and human faces. My proportions are always out of whack. But that’s okay, because I know I would get better at it if I practiced. When I see other artists’ freehand figure drawings, I personally feel they look aesthetic and finished. Meanwhile, to that artist, those figure drawings are just practice scribbles.

So who’s right about whether that piece of art is a finished, aesthetic piece, or a practice sketch? Me, the beginner, or the artist who has 20 years of figure drawing experience under their belt?

My rudimentary sketches of a portrait.

What Jess Karp consideres a practice sketch.

To that end, can you imagine the insult you’d put down on someone who worked hard on what they personally defined as a finished piece and you say “Hey! Nice practice sketch!”

I’ve learned over the years through my art journey to not waste time comparing myself to others. Jealousy and insecurity do not leave me feeling creatively inspired.

What does inspire me? Everything! All art is wonderful, and I celebrate it in all its forms. Finished pieces and scribbles alike. I enjoy seeing people’s thumbnails as much as I enjoy seeing 20-foot murals.

I feel better about my art when I don’t get caught up comparing it to other people’s works. I also try to stay away from language like “this is bad” when describing my own work. Staying away from negative language when describing my own art is really just a personal kindness to myself. The perfectionism monster in my head already whispers enough nasty things to me, I don’t need to encourage it with more self-deprecating comments. (This is why I don’t particularly enjoy those posts or videos where artists go back to their old works and give the works a public thrashing. I posted about this a couple years ago on my blog.)

Now, I return to what I said earlier that happiness is an inside job. Artists are not responsible for how other people feel about their own artwork. It is not an artist’s duty to hold other people’s hands and validate them every time a person judges their own work harshly and feels insecure about their abilities. Probably the only exception to this is art teachers, where encouragement goes a long way.

Artists are also not obligated to only share their roughs in order to make less experienced artists feel better. If an artist is proud of their work, be it a “sketch” or a “finished” piece, they have every right to share it or not share it as they see fit, whether it’s in a sketchbook or not.

Each artist must take a deeply personal journey to get to a point where they love and appreciate their own works, whether the work is their definition of “perfect” or not. This journey cannot be accomplished by asking experienced artists to only share their roughs, nor by telling people that the only acceptable place to work on roughs is in a sketchbook.

If you are a new artist, where can you practice your artwork?

Anywhere! You can practice in sketchbooks, on loose sheets of paper, or on a $100 canvas. It’s whatever resonates with you (and what you can afford!) If you feel more confident on napkins, then use napkins. The form your practice surface comes in or on does not matter. And that argument goes for your finished pieces, too. The form your finished piece comes in or on does not matter.

And if you are a new artist, what kind of art is practice? Only pencil line drawings? Only messy blobs of watercolor? Is it no longer a practice piece if you spent time focusing on shading and contrast in a refined composition? Practice is whatever you work on where you learn something from it. Even if the only knowledge you gain from a piece is that you discover that you enjoy making artwork.

Honestly, every piece I put into a sketchbook can be considered practice, whether it actually appears to be a finished piece or not. I learn something from every sketch, every illustration, every painting, every mark, every brushstroke.

What I’d love to see discussed more in the art community is the celebration of people taking time to express their creativity, whether in the form of practice images or completed pieces, regardless of where those pieces are created.

If you haven’t found her already, you might consider checking out Kosje Koone’s YouTube channel. She’s a wonderful, encouraging person who emphasizes that subject matter and “quality” aren’t important. It’s the act of creating that is important. She even wrote a book about it that I definitely recommend. Whether you’re a seasoned artist or a beginner, her refreshing take on the “purpose” of artwork really frees you from the noose of expectations and perfectionism.

Kosje Koone’s amazing book, “Life is Better when You Draw It”

So, is someone is “allowed” to call their sketchbook a “sketchbook” if it’s filled with what they define as finished pieces? Call it whatever you want! I use the name “sketchbook” because that’s the market term for them, and it does not matter if the book is filled with what looks like masterpieces or squiggly scribbles.

I love working in sketchbooks because they’re such a convenient way to store my artwork, and I like taking them around with me and doing on-site sketching. But then, as the creator of “World Sketchbook Month“, of course I’m going to say I love sketchbooks!

If you’ve come across this opinion on what should be shared from sketchbooks, I hope this post frees you up from feeling like you are only allowed to create certain types of artworks in or on certain art surfaces. Ignore the black-and-white definitions some people give of what is and is not art, what is and is not a sketch, what is and is not finished, and whether or not you should be allowed to share your artwork because it’s a “finished” piece in a sketchbook, or a stick figure on a canvas.

You’re free to do what you want, wherever you want. Break free of the “shoulds” and go have some fun!

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Want to see the kind of artwork I share in my sketchbooks? I share all kinds of stuff! Follow my Instagram account @kellyro77 to stay up-to-date on my creative endeavors.

Hunting for red October leaves

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A list of materials can be found at the end of this post. As usual, please note that any links to Amazon products within this post are affiliate links, meaning I make a minute commission should you choose to purchase something via the link. This is at no additional cost to you. That said, I appreciate your patronage by using the links to purchase products. While small, any amount of money helps me to keep making art and sharing it with the world.

Autumn brings up so many mixed feelings for me.

I’ll get the dread and disappointment out of the way first: Autumn means the onset of winter is not far off. I am not a fan of winter. I don’t like being cold. This is a massive change for me because maybe 20 years ago, I felt the opposite, and enjoyed winter. Having lived in Hawaii for 11 years changed that for me, however. If I could have my way, I’d be a Snowbird in a heartbeat.

I don’t like having to scrape thick ice or layers of frost off my car. I don’t like shoveling snow. I don’t like slipping around on ice (I’ve fallen on ice and nearly smacked my head on concrete before. I got lucky and my purse landed behind my head before that happened.)

I don’t like driving on icy roads where, inevitably, I will always get some maniac in a giant SUV tailgating me. (For you snow-virgins out there, there’s a reason people drive slow and leave lots of space between cars on snowy, icy roads. It’s not because our cars have no power. It’s because we want to be able to STOP and not crash into someone. I don’t care if you’re driving a bad-ass SUV with top-of-the-line 4-wheel traction. If you find you need to stop all of a sudden on ice, you WILL slide and that giant vehicle isn’t going to slow your slide for you, either. If you’re tailgating someone then congratulations, you’ve got an accident you’re responsible for.)

Autumn also means no more green, growing things outdoors. No more fresh, home-grown tomatoes. No more bees buzzing around flowers. No more sitting out on the deck enjoying gentle breezes. No more spring and summer birdsong. No more open windows with fresh air coming in.

Sigh…

But there are beautiful things about autumn, too. Especially if you’re experiencing a nice, mild autumn, where the temperatures gradually get cooler and cooler. You still have pleasantly warm days but there are chilly nights that make bundling up under loads of blankets comfy and fun. Your morning cup of hot coffee or tea feels extra cozy. You get to pull out your favorite cardigan and warm, fuzzy slippers. You suddenly find yourself wanting to eat anything with the word “pumpkin” in it.

Most beautiful to me, your resident artist, is the changing of the leaves. Autumn starts early in Colorado, where first, usually mid-through late-September you get the changing of the aspens up in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. You will find entire hillsides awash in brilliant gold. It’s quite a sight to see, attracting leaf-peepers from all over the country.

A favorite spot of mine is Kenosha Pass, where, if you have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, you can escape the massive crowds clogging up the side of Highway 285 and disappear back into the heart of the aspen forest, surrounding yourself in tunnels of gold.

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Pure. Bliss.

And also pure inspiration if you’re an artist or photographer. I take so many photos and end up collecting lots of leaves to use for paintings and illustrations.

The show doesn’t end after the aspens lose all their leaves in the Rockies. In October, autumn starts to touch the leaves in the Colorado Front Range. All the trees in the Denver area and surrounding suburbs start to erupt into their own beautiful colors, ranging from pale greens to burgundy, reds, oranges, and golden yellows.

One of my favorite things to do in the autumn is look for pretty leaves changing colors while on my lunch break walks.

I found myself doing that just the other day. It was fun because I was chatting with my boyfriend on the phone and describing to him how awkward it must be to walk with me when it’s the middle of autumn. I stop every five feet to take photos and yank leaves off of trees and bushes. Sometimes off of trees that are in neighbors’ yards. (I don’t trespass, but any branch hanging over the sidewalk is fair game, as far as I’m concerned.)

This particular day was just great, because I followed an urge to veer down a path I don’t normally take. Lo and behold I was greeted with these beautiful berry-filled trees with gorgeous leaves that were red, burgundy, green, and yellow. Those kinds of leaves are my favorite. The ones with multiple colors.

I happily came home with a small handful of beautiful leaves that I may or may not paint, as well as some gorgeous photographs that might also serve as a future painting or two.

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This has been a wonderful year for fall colors. I definitely found myself some beautiful leaves, including lots of red ones. I’ve seen a quote that says:

“My favorite color is October.”

I couldn’t put it more succinctly.

What’s your favorite time of year for natural inspiration for your own creative outlets?

Be sure to follow my Instagram account @kellyro77 to stay up-to-date on my creative endeavors.

List of materials:

Contains affiliate links. See disclosure for more info.

Leuchtturm1917 Pocket Sketchbook
Sakura Pigma Micron Pens
Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils

Pick your passion through play

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A list of materials can be found at the end of this post. As usual, please note that any links to Amazon products within this post are affiliate links, meaning I make a minute commission should you choose to purchase something via the link. This is at no additional cost to you. That said, I appreciate your patronage by using the links to purchase products. While small, any amount of money helps me to keep making art and sharing it with the world.

In what I call my fairly new journey into the world of fine art, I’ve found myself trying to find what I’d call my own signature style. In some ways, I think I’m still working on it, but when I look at a lot of my recent work, I feel like I’ve started developing a niche.

I first want to say that when you’re just getting into making art, it’s pretty normal to want to do everything. Or at least try it all out. Social media, especially, ends up being a place full of massive amounts of inspiration and new things to try.

I’ve found one of my issues is that I feel inspired by damn near everything I see. From the sketchy contours and line and wash in urban sketches to hyper-realistic colored pencil drawings. I love cute illustrative approaches with bright colors to moody loose watercolors. It all piques my interest and curiosity and I want to try it out to see how it’s done.

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  @parkablogs

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  @marcellobarenghi

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  @fnkdesigns

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  @angelfehr

Artwork pictured above, clockwise from top left: @parkablogs @marcellobarenghi @fnkdesigns @angelfehr

Basically, I see something really cool and I think to myself “I want to do that!”

Playing with these styles and techniques certainly has helped me build my skills. It’s also helped me to start finding my personal style.

My early play has helped me to understand my absolute favorite medium to work in is watercolor. Yes, I’ll also dabble with ink, acrylics, and colored pencil. I’ve even fiddled a bit with gouache. But watercolor, so far, remains to be my favorite medium. I just love how it does the work for me in a lot of cases.

Want something to appear kinda rusty? Just apply a little dab here and there of Quinacridone Gold in wet on wet and watch the paint snake out and form little tendrils, that, once dry, look like rust. Allow the granulation to do the rest.

I achieved the rusty-looking spots in this painting of a bolt with dabs of Quinacridone Gold watercolor.

Watercolor is just so freaking fun, people. I don’t feel like there’s many other mediums out there that move, blend, separate, and granulate quite like watercolor does. It’s a great medium if you’re okay with giving up control. And for me, that’s what play is like sometimes – losing control.

At the same time, watercolor can also be reigned in and you can get insanely detailed and controlled with it, making this medium one that is extremely versatile. Look up any watercolor botanical illustration to get an idea of just how realistic you can make watercolor be.

Artwork by Anna Mason @annamasonart

I find myself enjoying both the wild side and the controlled side of watercolor, and that’s where my passion has been leading me lately. Two types of artwork, in particular. One, is my favorite negative paintings of leafy branches, which takes advantage of watercolor’s wild and free side. The other type of artwork is botanical paintings. Particularly of flowers, and when the season is right, autumn leaves (probably my absolute favorite thing to paint.)

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I’m happy I allowed myself to explore art so much. It’s what brought me to where my artwork is today. That said, I don’t only stick to painting one subject matter in only one medium. I find I need breaks occasionally from my usual. That’s where it’s fun to pick up an ink pen or some colored pencils and play around with something new. Even in those areas, I can eventually find a sort of niche, too.

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If you’re still trying to find your own style and niche, I encourage you to play if you haven’t already. Try different mediums and subjects. Emulate what you see your favorite artists creating. See how they did it and then find your own voice within that work. Above all else, do what you love!

What are you passionate about? What makes you excited when it comes to doing art? Do you like to play with and explore different creative mediums? How did you finally settle on your particular style? Do you have a style? Leave a comment below and share your experience.

Be sure to follow my Instagram account @kellyro77 to stay up-to-date on my creative endeavors.

List of materials:

Contains affiliate links. See disclosure for more info.

Koval Sketchbook Pro
Etchr Sketchbook Hot Press A5
Etchr Sketchbook Cold Press A4
Leuchtturm1917 Pocket Sketchbook
Princeton Neptune watercolor brushes
QoR Watercolors
Finetec Pearlescent Watercolors
Daniel Smith Watercolors
Etchr Mini Palette
Meeden Watercolor Palette
Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils
Sakura Pigma Micron Pens

Give your old art some love

Over the years I’ve been witnessing a trend where artists pull out old sketchbooks and artwork from previous years, perhaps even back to their childhood, then proceed to disparage their past works, bemoaning how awful they were, how rushed, un-refined, un-skilled, etc.

I’ve watched a couple of these on YouTube and I felt disheartened watching them. If I see one of these pop up in my feed now, I ignore it. I’m not going to name names here, as I don’t want this to turn into what could be construed as a personal attack against someone, who, likely at the time, just felt like they were doing something fun or that would get picked up by social media’s algorithms. But do a search and you’ll sure enough find someone out there giving their old artwork a public thrashing.

This behavior bothers me, and here’s why: I believe every person out there is doing the best they can at their current present moment. That means when my 8-year-old self grabbed a piece of ruled writing paper and drew that bad-ass unicorn, I thought I was pretty damn amazing. I enjoyed what I was doing and was happy with what I created right in that moment.

It’s no different from when I drew a dragon flying around a castle for fun in high school. Or when I painted one of my favorite landscapes from a 4-wheeling trip near Breckenridge just a couple years ago. Each time, I was very present in the moment, doing my honest best, and having a wonderful time doing it.

Pulling out my old artwork and exclaiming “ewww!” at it essentially negates my past efforts as an artist. To me, it’s the equivalent of meeting your younger self, giving them a kick in the shin, and telling him or her that they’re terrible and should just give up.

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  A drawing finished during my high school years

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  A painting finished just a couple years ago

Here’s a term I’ve found useful that I repeat to myself often, because in the past I used to hold myself to impossible expectations:

Perfectionism is self-abuse.

Why do I feel this trend of berating your past art is harmful? It’s because it feeds the continuous message out there that you are never, ever enough. The only way to be enough is to receive some kind of external validation from people whom, let’s be honest here, will never be satisfied. Or, it feeds our own eternally-hungry egos in order to feel superior to others. The ego says “If I’m not better than, then I am worthless.”

If you’ve been around the art-world long enough, you’ll learn two truths:

1. You are always better than someone out there.
2. You are always worse than someone else out there.

But this whole better- and worse-than attitude is what eventually destroys us and our creativity. Why? Because at its root you’re doing art not for yourself, but to impress or please others. I’ve learned that a quick way to kill my passion for art is to do it only for the purpose of seeking praise and approval from others.

“Wait!” you say, “What about constructive criticism?” Yes, there is value in reviewing what you’ve done previously and applying constructive criticism to it. “I drew her eyes too close together.” can serve as a learning tool to continue practicing your proportions, for example. But you don’t have to look at a drawing with incorrect proportions, exclaim “Oh my God, that’s horrible!” and call it a piece of garbage. I’m pretty certain when you did that first disproportionate draft, you were trying your absolute best.

All of my artworks are “drafts”, or simply practice, from which I am continually learning and adapting. If I’m lucky, I keep getting better and better. Sometimes I actually backslide, but that’s okay, too. I’ll say one thing, however, if I put myself under the pressure of expecting absolute perfection, I am sure to fail. I am a human being, after all. Perfection just isn’t in the cards.

Perfectionism is a real beast, too, in the realm of creativity. Perfectionism actually stops people from making anything at all. They worry if they can’t do it perfect, then why bother trying. Those scathing reviews by artists of their past art just feeds the Perfectionism Beast.

Have you watched artists verbally tear down their past art? How do you feel when they do it?

Here’s an exercise to try some day. Find some of your really old art, pull it out, and instead of looking at it with embarrassment and criticism, acknowledge your past efforts with praise and gratitude.

Don’t “Should” on Me

Do art for YOU, not others.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A list of materials can be found at the end of this post. As usual, please note that any links to Amazon products within this post are affiliate links, meaning I make a minute commission should you choose to purchase something via the link. This is at no additional cost to you. That said, I appreciate your patronage by using the links to purchase products. While small, any amount of money helps me to keep making art and sharing it with the world.

A couple of years ago I was reviewing some goals I’d set for myself that ended up falling through. I came to an important realization about a couple of those goals, which I’ll summarize shortly. But first, let’s look at those failed goals, shall we?

One goal was to work on a set of large flower paintings with a theme to them. I never made it happen, save for just one painting. This was actually an idea a friend suggested I do, and while I still think her idea is and was beautiful and had a lot of important meaning to it (it was more than just about pretty flower paintings), I came to personally feel like it didn’t fit me well and that I wasn’t the right person to make that project happen. I’ve since lovingly let the idea go and hopefully it will alight itself into the right person’s mind at some other time, and they’ll make it happen. (If you want to buy the original painting for the start of that series, you can purchase it here.)

This beautiful carnation painting, while originally intended to be part of a series, is available for sale. See my shop to purchase.

I had another goal to do some large acrylic paintings on canvas and sell them. Didn’t happen, either. Even though I purchased an easel to support the goal, as well as a set of acrylic paints and some decent acrylic brushes. I’ve been too obsessed with watercolor in sketchbooks to want to jump into giant paintings in a different medium. And here’s the thing… the large paintings was another idea from yet another friend that ended up just not gelling with me. (The bonus is that I’m well equipped to do such work whenever the bug finally bites me. I do find that I end up using stuff I bought, even if it’s not for a couple years after the fact.)

Are you seeing a pattern here? These goals I set? They were, in the long run, other people’s goals. Not mine. So no wonder they didn’t come to pass.

This was an important lesson to me, and I’m hoping it’s one that you consider for yourself and your creative talents. I started to really ask myself if I’m doing something because I want to do it, or if I’m doing something because a well-meaning friend suggested it to me.

When I do art for myself, there’s little suprise in that I actually see it through. When I start doing art at the suggestion of well-meaning “others”, I’m more likely to lose interest and not bother. The only exception to this is commissioned work, but even then, I’ve learned to be picky and only do commissions on subjects that truly interest me and fit with my style and aesthetics. For instance, I don’t paint race cars or illustrate manga.

I’ll admit here that, more and more, I feel slightly irritated when an acquaintance tells me “you should sell your art!”

First, such people who suggest these things never buy the art themselves. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people I know say “I want to buy that!” and when it’s available to purchase, they never do.

Second, over the years I’ve really started to get resentful when people “should” all over me. This “should-ing” isn’t just related to art, either. Someone out there always has some great idea on how you “should” live your life.

To the “shoulders”, I say, be honest here – you don’t live in someone else’s shoes. Stop trying to live their lives for them. Instead, turn those creative ideas inward and and start making your own brilliant ideas happen by your own efforts.

Finally, when someone says “you should do X, Y, or Z”, I now ask myself “Really? SHOULD I?” More often than not, after some thought, my answer is usually “No.”

This realization has led me to a place of even deeper authenticity to myself and with my art. I don’t have to do something just because a loving friend, family member, or stranger in a social media post told me I “should” do it.

Before I close, I want to point out here that there’s a difference in “shoulds” from someone with whom you’re actively seeking counsel versus “shoulds” from people who just dump them on you from out of nowhere. The former is sought-after advice in which I’m in a place of willingness to attempt. Take yesterday’s post about writing a blog post every day as part of the exercises in “Art and Soul, Reloaded” by Pam Grout.

The latter, however? The people dumping their “shoulds” all over you? Well, that falls under the category of giving unsolicited advice.

What “shoulds” have you found yourself subjected to? Did you try to follow through with them? Did you have success or did you meet with frustration? Leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful day creating the things that you love in the format and for the reasons that you prefer!

Be sure to follow my Instagram account @kellyro77 to stay up-to-date on my creative endeavors.

List of materials:

Contains affiliate links. See disclosure for more info.

Arches Watercolor Block, Cold Press
QoR Watercolors
“Art and Soul, Reloaded” by Pam Grout

A Blog Post A Day

Experiments in nurturing creativity

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A list of materials can be found at the end of this post. As usual, please note that any links to Amazon products within this post are affiliate links, meaning I make a minute commission should you choose to purchase something via the link. This is at no additional cost to you. That said, I appreciate your patronage by using the links to purchase products. While small, any amount of money helps me to keep making art and sharing it with the world.

About six weeks ago, I decided to start reading and working on the exercises in the book “Art and Soul, Reloaded” by Pam Grout. The subtitle of the book is “A yearlong apprenticeship for summoning the muses and reclaiming your bold, audacious, creative side.” Now, that’s a mouthful!

I’ve mentioned Pam in the past. Particularly in reference to her book “Thank and Grow Rich” in the final post in a series I made a couple years ago about different techniques to staying creative. That post in particular was all about gratitude and Pam’s book was a favorite of mine that I still recommend to those looking for fun ways to incorporate gratitude into their lives.

At some point, “Art and Soul, Reloaded” ended up popping up on my radar. I purchased a copy of the book a couple years ago. It sat on my bookshelf all that time, until last month when I decided to work on a reset for myself and return to taking better care of my mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

Unsurprisingly, over the last year and a half, I fell off the wagon with some of my important daily self-care practices. One of those practices was not watching the news regularly. Of course, with all the upheaval the world had in 2020 and through 2021, I ended up finding myself checking the news daily, several times a day, even. At the beginning it was to find out what was closed now, what new restrictions were in place… who had toilet paper… Fairly acceptable things, I’d say, for which to have reason to be checking the news frequently. It was a situation of fast and continuous changes that directly affected myself and my loved ones.

But then, my news consumption started to deteriorate into watching content beyond what was directly affecting me. It deteriorated from actual news stories into watching opinion segments and other content that really only served to make me feel angry or self-righteous.

Unsurprisingly, I started feeling less grateful, and I also stopped feeling creative.

After a wonderful, much-needed vacation in August this year, which helped me gain some new perspective, I decided to do a reset for myself and go back to those things that supported my mental, emotional, and spiritual health. These things, when in better balance, foster creativity for me.

I challenged myself again to write down 30 things I was grateful for each day and not repeat them through the whole of September.

I cut off my screen time two hours before bed again (and my, that made me fidgety at least the first few days!) And, most important, I stopped watching and reading the news. I had to have faith that the world would continue to turn on its axis whether I knew what was happening out there or not. I trusted that if something really, really important was happening, I’d hear about it in due time from my loved ones.

With all that free time, I started working on art more, and also felt it was time to pick up and read some quality material. For instance, on audiobook, I’ve listened to “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert and “Rising Strong” by Brené Brown. For fun fantasy entertainment, I started chewing through the “Dune” saga by Frank Herbert (currently on “Dune, Messiah” right now. If you’re wondering, yes, I really want to see the movie remake coming out later this month, although I will un-ashamedly admit that I loved the 1980’s film). And, finally, I spied “Art and Soul, Reloaded” sitting on my bookshelf. A book with exercises for creativity? Well, why not?

So what’s the point of mentioning this book? It’s not a review. I’m only six weeks in on what’s supposed to be a yearlong, 52-week book.

I’m here today because her exercise for week six is to start a blog and write a blog post every day this week.

When I first read “start a blog” I was thinking smugly to myself “Ha! Already there. Neener neener.” But then I read the fine print of posting every single day… at least for the week.

So, here I am. Writing.

Part of me wants to opt out on this because this exercise feels more like it’s aimed at those in pursuit of writing as a creative outlet. I thought to myself, “I’m a visual artist. I’ll just paint something daily instead.”

Writing’s not my primary interest, after all. Yes, I blog… occasionally… but it’s not exactly to share random thoughts with the world. It’s to share about my journey with art. Usually sticking to safe subjects like product reviews.

I do not picture myself as a writer. I’m sure many people studied in Journalism and, hell, basic English, can point out hundreds of frustrating, pet-peeve-triggering mistakes in my writing. Run-on sentences, improper use of grammar and punctuation… And I’ll bet you there’s probably at least 10 to 20 instances of “their” being used where it should have been “there” (or vice-versa) smattered throughout this blog. (And yes, I DO know the difference between “their” and “there”, but my fingers apparently work faster than my brain when it comes to typing out the word, and my proofreading skills leave much to be desired.)

I thought about my urges to skip the assignment more, however, and remembered one of my other posts a couple years ago in that Staying Creative series. It was about trying something new. Just because I picture myself as a visual artist doesn’t mean I should turn my nose up at other expressions of creativity. An exercise in writing a few blog posts just might set up some new neuro-pathways that could benefit my primary creative interest, after all.

So here I am. You’re going to hear from me frequently. At least this week. No promises after the week is over. I honestly don’t know how much stuff I can write about that will remain in keeping with the primary purpose of my blog.

That said, I appreciate those of you willing to read through my random posts this week. Hopefully I’ll provide something worthwhile for you.

Wish me luck. In the meantime, if you’ve read and participated in “Art and Soul, Reloaded”, leave a comment below.

Be sure to follow my Instagram account @kellyro77 to stay up-to-date on my creative endeavors.

List of materials:

Contains affiliate links. See disclosure for more info.

“Art and Soul, Reloaded” by Pam Grout
“Thank and Grow Rich” by Pam Grout
“Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert
“Rising Strong” by Brené Brown
“Dune” saga by Frank Herbert

Are your art supplies better than you?

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A list of materials can be found at the end of this post. As usual, please note that any links to Amazon products within this post are affiliate links, meaning I make a minute commission should you choose to purchase something via the link. This is at no additional cost to you. That said, I appreciate your patronage by using the links to purchase products. While small, any amount of money helps me to keep making art and sharing it with the world.

Using a mix of premium and standard art materials just for play. I didn’t know how this piece would turn out, and I have no intentions of selling it or imagining this ending up in some special collector’s art wing. I just enjoyed using the materials because they were there for me to use.

Getting past the “precious” block.

Really often, when it comes to using art supplies, especially quality ones I see people purchase something that’s a premium item then decide not to use it because it’s “too precious” – ie: it looks too nice, they’re afraid their skills won’t do the supply justice, it felt like an over-the-top purchase, etc.

I’ve been hearing more and more over the years about “lack mentality” and I feel this sort of falls under that umbrella.

Think about it.

If you scrounged up the money to buy a new car, would you leave it in the garage because it’s just too nice to take out and use?

Would you enjoy giving a beautiful journal to a friend as a gift only to find out they stuffed it in a dark drawer somewhere because it’s just too pretty – they’re afraid they’re going to ruin it?

Where does this fall under “lack mentality”? It’s because you think, somehow, that you are undeserving of something so nice, or that your skills aren’t up to par with the material, or you spent too much of your hard-earned money to risk possibly ruining the special supply. That, perhaps, the supply – this inanimate object – is somehow, in some way superior to you and your art.

You are “not enough.”

Consider also, that this line of thinking creates subconscious stress on yourself with your current art. That whatever it is you’re making now just sucks and that you’ll never get any better so stick with the cheap stuff.

Let’s get this straight – I’m all for staying within the budget you’re comfortable with. I’m not saying you have to break the bank and go beyond your financial means because some chick wrote a blog post about people refusing to use premium art supplies.

What I am saying is if you do decide to splurge on a nice sketchbook, some nice paper, some nice paints, pencils, pastels, what have you, please don’t put them on a shelf or in a drawer somewhere to gather dust because it’s just “too precious” to use. Consider this: You’re wasting your money by not using those materials.

Art supplies are made to be used, not put on some sort of a mental pedestal to only be used when you’re finally worthy of using them, or only for special occasions.

This makes me think of the china cabinet packed with the expensive, super-special dishes that are only to be used for special guests, who, let’s be honest, maybe only visit once every five or six years. The rest of the time, those dishes just take up space in your home and collect dust and/or waste your time because you spend hours dusting and polishing them every year.

If you’re doing this you’re putting far too much value on inanimate objects, material possessions, instead of experiencing them for what they’re made for – being used.

Sure, there’s collector’s items, and things that are designed specifically to be admired, not played with.

But art supplies? No. Unless they’re some rare ancient find from Rembrandt’s own personal stash that needs to be preserved, art supplies are to be used and enjoyed in order to create, learn, and play. More so they exist to help you make something wonderful to share with your friends, family, heck, even the world.

I used to think that I needed to stick with just the student grade art materials because I just wasn’t good enough and that my artist grade materials should only be reserved for “serious” pursuits or extra-special paintings. Of course then WHAT was an extra-special painting? Only portraits? Only landscapes? Only flowers? Only images of kingfishers mid-dive with a green background during sunset? My head could come up with a million excuses to rationalize why some painting I wanted to do just wasn’t good enough to use my artist grade materials.

Finally, however, one day I thought to myself how utterly ridiculous that was, and what an incredible waste of money (sometimes my friends’ and family’s money as some materials were gifts) to have these nice supplies on hand and not use them or only use them once every few months.

I’m here to encourage you and tell you that you are good enough and deserving enough to use those expensive supplies you or your loved ones bought for you a year ago but you haven’t had the courage to utilize. It’s just paint. It’s just paper. It’s just (fill in the blank for whatever supply you’re over-valuing.)

Live your life fearlessly, friends. Don’t worry if you don’t create a masterpiece with that special supply. More supplies will be made, and more will make their way to you. Hoarding and over-valuing material things isn’t healthy. It puts far too much importance on externals than on what’s really valuable – YOU, and in the context of this post, your art.

Have you overcome the “precious” block? What thoughts can you share around it? Leave your comments below.

For more art, be sure to follow my Instagram account @kellyro77 to stay up-to-date on my creative endeavors.

materials pictured in this post:

Contains affiliate links. See disclosure for more info.

Arches Aquarelle Watercolor Block
Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils
Prismacolor Premier NuPastel Firm Pastels
Mijello Mission Gold Watercolors
Martin Mijello Watercolor Palette