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

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

Staying creative – Tip Nine: Practice Gratitude

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.

I had an idea pop into my head the other day to do a series of blog posts about my experience with keeping the creative juices flowing—or how I do it.

It would be easy to center these posts around “Artist’s Block”. I am no stranger to this as I’ve experienced it many times in the past, and it’s a particular bear when your entire career depends upon you manifesting new and fantastic, amazing designs that impress people continually.

I want to try to focus on the positive here, however. Let’s not focus on blockages. Let’s focus on how to keep the creativity flowing.

The universal Law of Attraction says that in order to “get” you must “give”. If I want to “get” creative, I must “give” it out through doing. You know… Use it or lose it.

So let’s get started, shall we?

Congratulations! You’ve made it through to the last tip in this series of posts!

Tip nine: practice gratitude

How fitting that a post on gratitude makes its appearance the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S. I really didn’t plan it this way, but it’s so freaking cool watching the universe align things into perfect order. Serendipitous, indeed!

You’ve tried all my previous tips in this series and maybe you’re still not feeling that creative mojo.

At this point I want to ask you how grateful are you? I’m not asking if you’re grateful for feeling creatively-blocked. I’m asking how grateful are you for the rest of the things in your life?

Did you know stress is a real creativity-killer?

Sure, there are some artists out there who capitalize on their angst. All the more power to them. But ask yourself – do you really, really want to be unhappy your whole life just to support your art?

If you create amazing things while miserable, think about how amazing your art can be when you’re in a state of joy.

All I can say is that if I’m walking around in a state of anxiety, fear, and cynicism then my art suffers. Big time. In fact, being creative is the last thing I want to do. I want to sit down and mope and try to curl up into a ball and disappear.

Maybe you don’t honestly have any problems going on in your immediate surroundings, but you still feel miserable. It’s the state of the world. These politicians are making you crazy. That commercial reminded you how your teeth should be whiter. Why is your neighbor’s grass always greener than yours? People keep doing horrific, dumb shit on the news.

When you keep focusing on externals, especially on negatives, then that’s what you’re going to continue to bring into your world.

“Oh, that’s just Law of Attraction BS. It’s pseudo-science. It’s not real.”

Really?

I dare you to try it.

If you enjoy the misery, go ahead and focus on that one little thing that’s been nagging you for some time. Do an internet search for other people bothered by the same thing. Converse with them about your shared unhappiness. Remind yourself every day how awful it really is. Sit down and have a pity party. Complain to anyone who will listen to your woes. Watch them either hop on the bandwagon with you and make the problem even more pronounced, or, in turn, upset you by distancing themselves from you because you just complain all the time.

Take notes. How were you feeling and how big was the problem before you decided to give it your laser-like focus? How big is the problem now that you’ve dedicated the majority of your waking hours to it?

Tired of the misery?

Then it’s time to shift focus.

It’s that simple.

What’s a great way to shift focus away from misery?

Gratitude.

Take a new look around you. Take note of all the things that are going right in your world. You have a roof over your head. You get to eat every day. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. Your favorite niece just gave you a huge hug and told you she loves you. You have the eyes to read this. You actually know how to read and write. You have an internet connection that allows you to access this. You have friends and family in your life who love you. You’re living and breathing at the moment.

This list can go on and on.

So now I dare you to try making a gratitude list for the next week. Every day. Pull out a journal or a note pad and write down 10 things you’re grateful for at the beginning of the day and 10 things you’re grateful for at the end of the day. If you want extra brownie points, try not to repeat anything.

Notice how things shift for you. How suddenly you’re starting to become focused on noticing the good things because you want to add them to your list. You start to feel lighter and more free. People are friendlier around you. You actually want to be friendly to them.

Take notes. How were you feeling before starting the week of gratitude and how were you starting to feel after?

If you want to give yourself a leg up on this practice, I also encourage you to not watch or read any news for the duration of the experiment. In fact, if you can manage it, turn off the TV completely for the week. If you really MUST watch or read something, make it something creatively educational and inspirational. (NOT educational in the sense of learning how the planet is coming to an end. Educational in the sense of learning about a new species discovered on a remote island, or how the universe was formed, or how toothbrushes are made, or how to bake a cake. THAT kind of education.) Mute those TV commercials, however – they’re there to convince you that something is wrong with you – that you and your life are incomplete without their products.

Now, the key to this, for me, is to not stop after my experiment in gratitude. Keep doing it. Build it into a habit by stretching the exercise out for a whole month. See how you feel after that month. Are you enjoying the results? Then don’t stop. Ever.

I participated in a gratitude experiment last year that asked me to write down 30 things I was grateful for each day for 30 days and to not repeat anything. During that time frame, I also didn’t watch any TV or read any news. I identified my stress triggers and sources of negativity and toxicity and stopped allowing those things into my life. This included un-following friends on Facebook who complained all the time – even if I agreed with their views in principle. The complaining was just not acceptable. I also ceased posting to a message board where inevitably the conversations would turn into fights and complaining.

The gratitude list seemed quite daunting at first. Sometimes I felt like I was sitting with that notebook and pen for quite a long time trying to think of things I was grateful for. I’d even get up from my desk and walk around the house trying to find things I was grateful for.

Staying away from TV and my usual sources of toxicity made me fidgety at first, too. What to do with all that extra time? (Hint, that time often got filled up with… can you guess? Art!)

The changes and gratitude list were difficult at first, but by the end of the exercise, I found the gratitude just flowed.

Sure, I inadvertently repeated a few things through the month, but overall, I came up with almost 900 things I was grateful for that month. 900! And honestly, I bet there were more things I could have been grateful for, too, had I given the exercise more time during my days.

What changed for me? I just felt happier overall. The things that were bothering me lost their importance.

I have a friend who said to me once “All my problems die of neglect.”

That’s what a gratitude practice does for me. It shifts my focus away from my problems and nine times out of ten those “problems” resolve themselves. Whodathunkit? And the other problem that didn’t get resolved? Well I was able to approach it with confidence and calm when I took care of it.

If any of this gratitude stuff sounds intriguing and fun to you, then I also want to take a moment to point you over to the book Thank & Grow Rich by Pam Grout. She’s much more eloquent with her wording (and just crazy funny), and she actually outlines a whole bunch of fun exercises you can do around gratitude beyond a gratitude list. She truly knows how to bring joy into a person’s life.

So how does this help with that creative mojo? Well, you’ll just have to do it and find out.

I just know for me when I’m in a state of joy and gratitude, art comes easier to me. More things inspire me and I just feel like being creative.

I actually feel like daily gratitude is not separate from but an actual part of my creative practice. I know I can say that I am always so thankful for being able to sit down and draw or paint. I’m grateful that I have the skills to do so. I’m grateful for the wonderful materials I have on hand. I’m grateful for the beautiful colors and lines and shapes. I’m grateful for how my work turns out each and every time.

I hope this final tip turns into the “big one” for you, as it has for me with my art.

Do you practice gratitude? What things do you do to bring gratitude into your life each day?

Thanks so much for reading. I hope this series of tips has been helpful for you and you’ve found something that creates the urge to go forth and create!

Happy art-ing, my friends!

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Contains affiliate links. See disclosure for more info.

Staying creative – Tip Eight: Take a break.

I had an idea pop into my head the other day to do a series of blog posts about my experience with keeping the creative juices flowing—or how I do it.

It would be easy to center these posts around “Artist’s Block”. I am no stranger to this as I’ve experienced it many times in the past, and it’s a particular bear when your entire career depends upon you manifesting new and fantastic, amazing designs that impress people continually.

I want to try to focus on the positive here, however. Let’s not focus on blockages. Let’s focus on how to keep the creativity flowing.

The universal Law of Attraction says that in order to “get” you must “give”. If I want to “get” creative, I must “give” it out through doing. You know… Use it or lose it.

So let’s get started, shall we?

(Check back each Friday at noon MST for the continuation of these tips!)

Tip eight: take a break

Sometimes we just need to rest and re-fuel. We’ve been burning the creative candle at both ends, so it’s no small wonder that sometimes we just fizzle out. Even the thought of picking up a sketchbook or paint brush or any other creative tool just sends us into a fit of “Don’t wannas!”

If you’re to that point then you just need to allow yourself a total break.

It’s time to do something different that has absolutely nothing to do with art at all. If possible, however, get that right brain going and do something you don’t usually do.

Sure, if you really want you can sit and binge-watch your favorite series on Netflix (I mean, have you seen the Dark Crystal prequel yet?) But for this tip, we’re looking to expand our horizons a bit beyond the living room couch.

Go for a hike on that trail you keep hearing about. Recruit some friends you haven’t seen for a while and go have lunch. Try out that new coffee shop. Take a trip down to the city. Take a trip out of the city. Check out that new mall. Take some salsa lessons. Volunteer your services. Play a board game with the family.

The point is to fill your cup with different experiences and allow your creative mind a chance to rest and regenerate.

Our lives are filled with the necessity to rest. It’s a package deal. Every day our bodies and minds ask us to sleep so they can heal and restore. If you’re familiar with having an exercise routine, you probably know that you need to give your body a break every week for a day or two, and every couple of months to allow yourself an extended rest of several days so your muscles can repair and you can come back stronger and more energetic than before.

We all need vacations from our full-time work or lives where we can just enjoy some down-time with no pressure or responsibilities.

So, too, does our creative muscle need a little rest on occasion.

If you find yourself just feeling overwhelmed or stressed when it comes to art, do yourself a favor and don’t add more pressure by forcing it if you really would rather not. Allow yourself a little break. But do promise yourself you’re not going to stop so long that you don’t come back to your art for another year. If you’re really in tune with your creative muse, I’m pretty sure you’ll hear it whispering in your ear soon enough. If you don’t honor it and you keep suppressing it, it’ll visit you less often. And that’s a real drag when you know you want to make something but have no motivation behind it.

Have some favorite pastimes you do when you need to give your art a break? Share them below.

Staying creative – Tip Seven: Take a Class or Tutorial

I had an idea pop into my head the other day to do a series of blog posts about my experience with keeping the creative juices flowing—or how I do it.

It would be easy to center these posts around “Artist’s Block”. I am no stranger to this as I’ve experienced it many times in the past, and it’s a particular bear when your entire career depends upon you manifesting new and fantastic, amazing designs that impress people continually.

I want to try to focus on the positive here, however. Let’s not focus on blockages. Let’s focus on how to keep the creativity flowing.

The universal Law of Attraction says that in order to “get” you must “give”. If I want to “get” creative, I must “give” it out through doing. You know… Use it or lose it.

So let’s get started, shall we?

(Check back each Friday at noon MST for the continuation of these tips!)

Tip seven: take a class or tutorial

Sometimes when I’m getting burned out or honestly feel like I want to do something creative but have no motivation on a subject I find doing a tutorial or taking a class helps.

The bonus to doing either of these is that I perhaps get to learn something new. A new technique, a new way to use my brushes or pens, a new style, etc.

YouTube is full of amazing free tutorials to start. Find an artist whose style speaks to you and follow along. Or, you can go even further and find an artist whose style is completely different from yours and follow along that way.

A lot of YouTubers also have Patreon accounts where if you join them they have more in-depth classes to share with a subscription. Some also have their own web sites and side businesses where they teach, so be sure to check their web sites outside of just their YouTube and Patreon feeds.

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  Watercolor flower tutorial by Shayda Campbell on YouTube

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  Shayda Campbell’s Patreon page.

Shayda Campbell’s tutorials on YouTube and Patreon

If you’re not finding what you want on YouTube, then Skillshare is the next place to go for online courses. Now, I have no experience with Skillshare. I can only go by what all the YouTubers keep suggesting. But I’d definitely like to try out a course at some point. Note that these are paid courses, although often you’ll find a YouTuber is being sponsored by them so you might find free trial subscriptions that way.

Screen grab of Skillshare web site.

Finally, there’s live, in-person classes you could take. Do a Google search for the kind of course you’re interested in and find one in your local area.

I recently took an in-person watercolor class for a month. While I think it was geared more towards beginners, I did take away a few interesting approaches from the class. The instructor had a more deliberate approach to painting than I typically do, starting very light then building up color (instead of me where I sometimes like to throw down intense near mass-tone color from the get-go.)

I worked on the cute squirrel below as part of my in-person class. I finished him at home.

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Live classes give you the added benefit of socialization. You get to meet new people and also exchange ideas that way.

Don’t feel stuck with not knowing what to do. Take a class or tutorial or several and reap the benefits of being creative while learning at the same time.

What’s your favorite source for tutorials and classes? Leave a comment below.

Staying creative – Tip Six: Copy a Master.

I had an idea pop into my head the other day to do a series of blog posts about my experience with keeping the creative juices flowing—or how I do it.

It would be easy to center these posts around “Artist’s Block”. I am no stranger to this as I’ve experienced it many times in the past, and it’s a particular bear when your entire career depends upon you manifesting new and fantastic, amazing designs that impress people continually.

I want to try to focus on the positive here, however. Let’s not focus on blockages. Let’s focus on how to keep the creativity flowing.

The universal Law of Attraction says that in order to “get” you must “give”. If I want to “get” creative, I must “give” it out through doing. You know… Use it or lose it.

So let’s get started, shall we?

(Check back each Friday at noon MST for the continuation of these tips!)

Tip six: copy a master

Did I just say “COPY”?

No! Sacrilege! Don’t you DARE copy someone.

REAL artists don’t copy, anyway. They make up everything from their imagination and execute it perfectly. No practice needed.

Believe it or not, that’s some people’s opinion. Usually, I find that kind of opinion comes from people who are NOT artistically inclined or who’ve never made much of an effort to sit down and draw or paint something.

Copying for the sake of learning and practice is perfectly okay. Where it crosses the line is if you copy someone’s work, don’t give any credit to the original artist, and try to pawn it off as your own.

Many fine artists are encouraged to copy a master’s work. It gives them insight and understanding on how the artist achieved certain colors or perspectives or depth or mood.

Image from leonardodavinci.net

Image from rembrandtpainting.net

From https://prints.okeeffemuseum.org

One of my favorite artists is Georgia O’Keeffe. Small wonder since I tend to do a lot of plants.

I love her contemporary style and close perspectives of the botanicals she painted.

I haven’t copied her art exactly, but I do know I’ve done a few pieces that emulate that up-close style.

If you’ve ever taken any kind of an art class, think back to what the teacher had you do occasionally. Yes. Copy.

I even look at drawing and painting from reference photos or even “life” (plein air, urban sketching) as copying because you’re essentially replicating what is already there.

It’s all great practice to get comfortable with your drawing skills, your command of compositions, and use of color and values.

If you’re feeling stuck, look up art from someone you enjoy and try to emulate their work. Copy it exact, even, to gain an understanding of their style and how they perhaps achieved a certain technique or appearance to their work. Or challenge yourself and copy a work that is not your usual style.

Just remember – if you share your copied work, credit the original artist. That means if they have a presence online, link back to their social media feed or web site. But be clear that your work is a copy – not your own concept – and that you’re studying someone whose work you admire.

Be polite, too. The person may or may not be flattered with your sharing a copy of their work. If they ask you to take it down, do so without complaint. Remember. It wasn’t your original idea in the first place.

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It’s no Georgia O’Keeffe, but I enjoy closeup abstracts of plants and flowers.

Have you tried copying favorite artists? Did you feel you learned some valuable skills or knowledge by doing so? Share your experience below.

<< Tip five

tip seven >>

Staying creative – Tip Five: Become a Shutter Bug.

I had an idea pop into my head the other day to do a series of blog posts about my experience with keeping the creative juices flowing—or how I do it.

It would be easy to center these posts around “Artist’s Block”. I am no stranger to this as I’ve experienced it many times in the past, and it’s a particular bear when your entire career depends upon you manifesting new and fantastic, amazing designs that impress people continually.

I want to try to focus on the positive here, however. Let’s not focus on blockages. Let’s focus on how to keep the creativity flowing.

The universal Law of Attraction says that in order to “get” you must “give”. If I want to “get” creative, I must “give” it out through doing. You know… Use it or lose it.

So let’s get started, shall we?

(Check back each Friday at noon MST for the continuation of these tips!)

Tip five: become a shutter bug

If you’ve been following my Staying Creative series of tips, you’ll remember I briefly mentioned nature as a source of inspiration in Tip #4.

This is partially where nature gets to shine as a source of inspiration.

I hope that most of us out there have a smart phone by now that includes a camera. If you don’t, then I do at least hope you have a camera. Because here’s where I’m going to encourage you to take it everywhere with you and use it, regardless if you’ve got professional photography training or not.

I’ll admit I’m one of those people you’ll see walking in the park who suddenly stops and whips out her smart phone to get a picture of a seemingly ordinary bush. But that bush, my friends, had a single leaf on it turning a gorgeous shade of red-orange. And that juxtaposition of the bright orange against the cool greens of the rest of the plant were just mind-blowingly beautiful to me.

Some may see dull and boring tree bark. I see fabulous texture and contrast.

Inspiration is most definitely all around us. From beautiful sunrises and sunsets to birds singing in trees, flowers blooming, even leaves dying. There’s something amazing and interesting everywhere if you take a moment to actually really look. Having a camera on hand helps you capture that moment immediately and indefinitely.

One day I was doing an exercise in just trying to notice at least five things I’d never seen before on one of my lunch walks. One of the things I noticed was a vine curling up around some wiring along a bridge. I’d never paid attention to it before. It was only shin-high to me. But when I spotted it I took a picture because some day I might feel like it’ll be a great painting subject or help make up part of a painting in some way or shape.

Maybe nature isn’t your thing. That’s perfectly acceptable. There’s still a lot of inspiration out there if you like to lean more towards industry and architecture. Take your camera with you and take shots of the strip mall. A big interesting snow-bank in the parking lot. The towering buildings downtown. That hot Lamborghini you came across…

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I used a photo I took while in downtown Denver for a painting.

If architecture and industry aren’t your thing, there’s also people. Now, I have very limited experience with photographing people. Meaning if there’s people in my photos they’re people I already know, or they’re a part of a crowd, etc. that’s in front of my primary object of focus. Like say I’m taking a picture of an interesting statue and there’s people milling around its base.

If you’re going to get in close enough to get someone’s features, then the polite thing to do is ask their permission. If you plan to draw or paint their likeness and sell it, you also need to get a signed release from them. Since I’m not the expert on these kinds of things, it’s best you do an internet search around photographing people to make sure you have your bases covered and you don’t end up with a lawsuit, a black eye, or at the very least, a grumpy person telling you to delete that photo you took of them right now.

The fun thing about taking photos, too, is that you start to learn to apply composition to them. If you’re thinking about how that flower’s going to fit onto your painting, you take care to make sure its framed right in your photograph.

If you’re just really uncomfortable with taking photos, meaning you feel like you don’t have any skill at all, watch some tutorials on basic photography skills. If you have a very specific camera app on your phone, that app may also have some pointers and tutorials for you.

My Camera+ app on my iPhone offers a multitude of free tutorials on getting amazing photos by using their apps.

The best thing about taking photos is that ultimately they are your own – they are your property and unique to you. You can be pretty sure no one or not many people took the same photo as you from your same perspective (unless you’re taking a photograph of a famous landmark.) Essentially your photos are free for you to use, to copy exactly, even, and sell if you wish to do so.

So keep your eyes open and your camera/smartphone ready at all times. Who knows when that next beautiful, inspiring scene is going to come across your path. If you think it’s beautiful, then take a picture so you can come back to it in the future when working on your art.

<< TIP FOUR

TIP SIX >>

Completed Moleskine pocket sketchbook Flip-through

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.

At long last and well over a year of use, I finally finished filling in my second Moleskine pocket sketchbook. I can’t believe how long it took me to complete the sketchbook from cover-to-cover.

To be fair, if I’d put every piece of art I’ve worked on over the past year into it I would have finished that sucker up in like a couple of months. However, I keep alternating between sketchbooks and art journals, depending on my mood and what mediums I’m using.

What finally pushed me to fill it was jumping in on another daily art challenge on Instagram. This one is for the month of April by Tori Weyers of @drawriot, a very gifted mixed-media artist whose completed sketchbook/art journal collection is a thing of envy.

Her challenge for the month was various flowers every single day. I decided to join in since flowers are not too intimidating and because they’re just plain pretty.

Not much else to say about this one. It was great to close up another sketchbook for good. Always a great sense of accomplishment in doing so.

Watch the flip-through below, and I’ve included some various still shots of the work I put in it since October of 2016.

I hope you feel inspired and the art brings a smile to your face!

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

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List of materials:

Contains affiliate links. See disclosure for more info.

Moleskine Art Plus Sketchbook, Pocket
Sakura Brush Pen
Sakura Micron Pen
Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolors
Mission Gold Watercolors
Daniel Smith Watercolors
QoR High Chroma Watercolors
Schmincke Horadam Aquarell Watercolors
Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bombay India Ink
Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils
Pentel Aquash Water Brushes