I am on the island of Moloka’i with 13 artists teaching an ArtLife Workshop. I am constantly amazed at how artists, when they are in dialogue with one another, when they have the opportunity to see one another’s work, their own Art dramatically improves. It is really why workshops are so effective.

I used to wonder why this always happens. But now, during this week, I see it so clearly. It really is quite simple. It’s community.

When we engage with a community of like-minded artists, our own Art is strengthened.

I believe there are 3 primary reasons why.

#1 You are not the only one who feels this way.

Sometimes I find it pretty challenging to be pursuing something so fervently on nothing more than a hunch. The future is never clear. Making Art can lead to questions and emotions that can feel overwhelming. Talking to other artists doesn’t necessarily take those feelings or thoughts away but they do validate them. Knowing others sometimes feel as you do is truly comforting. You just are reminded that this is entirely normal.

#2 Seeing what others make is inspiring.

The more I refine and develop my own work the more I appreciate the work of others. Getting a break from constantly staring at your own work, by looking at what others are making, can be extremely helpful. Seeing Art that is new and different – (without having to do any of the work) is refreshing. Dropping into someone else’s work, even briefly, allows you a new perspective, a new point of reference to gaze back at your own and possibly see it in a new way. Your inspiration can be reignited by someone else’s. Thankfully, inspiration is contagious.

#3 Saying it sometimes makes it so.

This is one of the most interesting, compelling reasons to spend time in dialogue with other artists. Most of the time our ideas and thoughts about our work stay quietly within us. Once we verbalize, actually say it out loud in conversation, it releases it somewhat beyond ourselves. From what I have seen, this simple act then allows your ideas or thoughts about what you are trying to do within your art to occur.

It sounds a little far fetched but when we share, when we say out loud what we want, what we are aiming for, to others, it is almost like we have bolstered, renewed our intentions.

The tide of the universe only seems to shift in our direction when this occurs. It must first clearly hear from you. Even if you are just talking to one person, the universe seems to overhear.

It sometimes is daunting to think of yourself always pushing your work forward alone. I prefer to think of myself as part of a larger, growing community, an immense upward spiral that is carrying everyone towards their own unique creative expression. There are just way too many of us, way too much forward momentum for this not to occur.

What do each of you think about this? What communities are you part of? I would be greatly appreciative to read your responses below.

In gratitude, Nicholas

Do you ever notice that when you are not making your art for a while there is this slight feeling of disconnection, of isolation, that begins to build?

I think this is one of the reasons we make Art. It reconnects us to ourselves, which in turn also reconnects us to the outside world. I am not sure why this is but I do see that when we pay attention to doing the work (whatever that is for each of us) that is most pressing, most personal, the universe just seems to offer us a measure of buoyancy in return. Things just seem to smooth out. Life becomes more about the yes’s than the no’s.

This idea is poignantly illustrated by this remarkable story Paola Lanfranchi – a painter and recent ArtLife Workshop participant – recently shared with me:

“I want to share with you the story of an 83 year old man, my father. He lives in a small village in Italy.

He was a mason. A very simple and hard-working man. After he retired, at 65, he used to spend his time doing crosswords and watching TV. He needed antidepressants to survive his boredom.

At 74, after my mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness, something woke up inside of him. He wanted to build a toy. He says that it was for his grandson, but the truth is, it was just for himself! (Btw, his grandson, my son, wasn’t even born yet!).

So he started walking around the house looking for wood and cardboard. He stole all the knitting needles of my mother. He became more and more excited in seeing the hidden treasures of old and unused stuff he could use for his toy. With about $5 (the cost of a can of glue) he made the most amazing carousel. It was gigantic, 3 stories, and had wheels that turned and activated other wheels and colorful forms.

Since that first experience he has been working non-stop with ever-growing passion, building more and more refined carousels, little houses, and castles. My brother buys him wood and glue. The rest of the materials come from cookie trays, small stones he patiently picks up from the dirt road where he lives, and various materials the neighbors bring to him.

A few days ago my brother posted a picture of my father’s work on Facebook. It went viral. Two local public libraries, local cultural associations, schools and a newspaper contacted him. Everybody wants to meet this old man and his castles!

My father lives alone with a dog, a cat and his creations.  He cannot drive anymore, but he really doesn’t need to go anywhere. The world is now coming to him.”

I truly believe that all of us have our own unique work to do. I wonder if it might be one of the primary reasons we are given this life in the first place. I doubt many of us would get to the end of our lives and wish we had spent less time making our Art. On the contrary, it sometimes seems like maybe making our Art is the whole point. Maybe that is why when we see others finding their way, it inspires us to do the same.

Thank you Paola, and especially Piero Lanfranchi, for this poignant reminder. For those of you who would like to check out more of his work, click here.

What drives you to make your art? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

In gratitude, Nicholas

Do you want a new gallery in 2015? It is possible, however it helps if the artist can think in slightly a different way.

Whenever you are trying to sell something, (we are trying to sell the gallery our work so that they in turn can sell our work) it is important to better understand the customer ‘s (the gallery owner) problem. If we can, then we are able to offer a solution. (Our Art!)

Try leaving your role as an artist and just for a minute, put yourself in the shoes of a gallery owner.

Their big problem is that they have no way to generate money, stay in business unless they get involved with this rather disorganized, not entirely understandable group of people called artists…(can you imagine?) The galleries don’t fully understand what work will sell or not ahead of time. All they can do is keep trying things, which is costly. They are always wondering what will be the next thing, but they cannot create it. They can only wait till they see it. They worry they will miss it. Often they do.

They are deluged every day with postcards from artists wanting them to represent them. The artists all want something from them. They want their help. As you can imagine this is pretty tiring and boring. They wonder why they are in this profession that relies upon selling a product that is so totally unpredictable.

Here is what possibly is going through their minds as they sit day after day in their gallery constantly tossing postcards out…

“Don’t these artists understand that I can’t sell something that looks like what everybody else is selling? Why don’t these artists get it? They actually think I would risk my hard earned money and time launching an effort when all I get to go on is a badly reproduced postcard! I can’t even tell what or who these people are from these… So many artists expect me to make their career for them. These people seem lazy. I just don’t feel confident. The only new thing I get to see are these endless postcards in my mail…I have to choose someone or something new for the gallery for 2015– but I don’t see any artists that would fit the bill. Maybe someone different will come along if I just keep waiting.”

Do you see the problem from their perspective? Can you help solve their problem?

So choose a gallery that shows work that is different from yours and when you do send them something, think of it more as a gift from you to them, rather than a plea for help.

Write a short note by hand on the back of a page from your sketchbook or the back of your mom’s apple pie recipe even, take the package of samples you would send them and paint on it! Surprise the gallery owners and fill the package with confetti if you want. Entertain. Make their day! Make them laugh or cry.

Just do something different. They are dying out there. Feel sorry for them. Be creative in how you engage. You only have one shot at this and you won’t even be there.

Make it memorable so when you follow up with a call you at least can say I was the one that when you opened my package it made a mess on your floor with the confetti. Whatever.

Make this moment of them getting your package as personal as possible. Think personal. Make it like you. Always.

These people are somewhat bored and need to make money. They have no solution but you. Leverage authenticity and your creativity. That is the only thing that has ever opened doors. You want to work with people who are like you, so truly show them who you are in your presentation.

But above all else…

Make your Art as personal, as different, as it possibly can be.

Then, instead of your Art being part of the problem, it will be part of the solution.

Have you had any experience with galleries, or with getting out of the role of the artist? To share, please do so below.

Encouragingly, Nicholas

I was painting yesterday and went down one of those dead end roads for about an hour and a half. The problem was that I forgot something very, very important. It has to do with Value (the lightness and darkness of something) and choosing Color.

There are 3 reasons why Value is essential to remember when choosing color.

Reason one

Your Art will change very quickly and easily.

The most noticeable, powerful component of color is VALUE. Make sure you choose your colors based upon their value (lightness and darkness). If you do, then your work will change more rapidly and easily. Lightness and Darkness is what the human eyes sees first—even before color. The shape or area to be colored has to be the right value in the composition. If you want that area to stand out, (high contrast) or remain subtle (low contrast) then choose the right value first, then select any color that is close to that value. Working this way, thinking of color first in terms of value is like hitting color homeruns all day long. And that makes everything way more enjoyable.

Reason Two

It keeps you looking at the whole composition.

The value of the color is a fantastic thing to remember because it forces you to think of the overall composition—“the big picture” when you are choosing colors. Think of it this way…if you are always partially thinking of what changes you are doing to the art and how they effect the greater good—the total painting, it will keep the art improving. Things tend to become diluted when we act with little or no awareness of the whole. Just because we love that orange color and can’t wait to squeeze it out doesn’t mean it is the right color for the place your thinking of putting it. The artist Dan McCaw – who taught me color, among many other things –  used to say that color can be like “fool’s gold”. Don’t be fooled by thinking a favorite color will work just because you love it.

Reason three

You will discover brand new colors!

If you are thinking of color in terms of values and get this working, then it actually makes it way easier to choose colors because almost any color will work if it’s the right value! I know that it is hard to believe but it is true. You get the value part right, then the rest is super easy. When I do this I often end up leaving the arbitrary colors in place that I randomly started with because they just work. I love the fact that unexpected colors end up in my paintings. If your palette is constantly changing then your work will stay fresh and unique.

Making Art has a lot of challenging parts to it. It seems like you have to work at everything so hard. Color shouldn’t be one of them. Try this approach and see if things can get a little easier. It actually makes the color part of art making super fun again.

What has your experience with using Value been? Please share your thoughts and comments below.

In gratitude, Nicholas

I love the new start. Today, is the first day of the new year. I hope to be walking upon the beach for at least part of this day. It is the place where the land meets the sea. The dry grassy hills of Mount Tamalpais finally recede into the rocky margin of the cold Pacific ocean.

It is often the edges of two things, two very different things, coming together to create a contrast that awakens us. These are places of great change. To stand at the edge of 15,000 miles of ocean that miraculously ends right where we are standing, its watery blue slipping into the sand beneath our toes, becoming land, is ultimately a wonder. There is such sameness in the ocean for thousands upon thousands of miles and then everything, in this exact spot, somehow everything changes and the sea becomes land.

I notice how people are drawn to these places. I know I am. I just returned from the ice fields of Patagonia and like so many people who go there found myself standing in front of one of the last actively growing glaciers. The Moreno Glacier is a 15 mile long wall of ice that ever so slowly is descending, gauging and then polishing the mountains beneath its weight, as it moves inch by inch, every day towards the sea. It abruptly ends there, with its 250 ft solid edge of ice breaking and cracking into massive chunks that crash into the ocean. This place too is an edge. Literally. It leaves you awestruck.

These edges, these transitions between two different things pushing upon each other are all around us. The blue sky above a white hot desert, that edge, that transition marked by a mirage upon the horizon, or the patter of falling rain upon a roof, that reminds us that the raindrops have finished their silent falling, or even the first day of spring that awakens us from the cold silence of winter.

I don’t exactly know why these pinpoints of change are so enticing. I do know, however, that this is a big part of why I make art. In many ways, art simply is a personal distillation of this idea; of presenting that moment, that crucial point where one thing gives way to another. A blue field of color shifts into orange, a gestural mark, quiets down into subtlety or the tell tale marks of an artist’s hesitant search finally shifts and is solidly resolved with eventual conviction and intention.

Everything is always in transition. Everything eventually gives way to change.

Even time. Within it there is also a boundary, a line that separates the ending and beginning of things. The old gives way to the new. In this transition, this moment, there is the possibility for great change.

It is the end of one year and the beginning of another. I don’t know why it is easier to feel more excited about what hasn’t been seen compared to what has, but it is. This new day, this very new day could be just the potent space between the old and the new, or it could be the actual day that the new arrives. Either way the edge between what was and what might possibly become is upon us all.

There is, again, simply great possibility.

In gratitude, Nicholas

Creativity comes bundled in with the basic operating system of every human being. We all have it.

Sometimes it is not utilized but it is always available. It can be one of the most powerful forces we can harness for change in our lives.

Understanding this fact and then utilizing our own creativity can be tremendously fulfilling. Helping people re engage with this part of themselves is what primarily my ArtLife workshops are all about. Making your Art is a powerful way to demonstrate the deep well of your own creativity. Of course it doesn’t have to be art; it can be your business, or anything actually that you are passionate about.

A few days ago I experienced one of the most dramatic examples of this.

It was the third day of our ArtLife workshop in Sayulita, Mexico. I had arranged an outing to a nearby fishing village to visit “Entreamigos”, a nonprofit community Arts center. I had heard it was many things – recycling center, part community educational center offering guidance in entrepreneurship, academic and business skills to the local population. I even heard it had a theatre circus school.

Upon arrival, I instantly realized it was much, much more than I imagined. The complex of revamped government factory buildings was bustling with young children. Adults, teenagers and parents were coming and going. There was a business computer area, a store full of handmade crafts. A juice bar and café area, a recycled clothing store, screen printing poster shop, woodshop, glass craft area, and a children’s brightly painted play area. In this converted government factory building an enormous tree towered above us made entirely from what looked like repurposed electrical plastic housing, cables and sheet metal.

In fact everything in this vibrant center was repurposed. The lights were made from egg cartons. The thousand shinning lights above the juice bar but turned out to be merely the cut off ends of recycled plastic soda bottles. The table of toys being sold were made entirely of found plastic one gallon containers, the walls and floors covered in colorful paintings, and the benches in the children’s play area was made from an old surfboard atop some old fishing crates. Everything, everywhere was found. Everything was at one time, trash.

Founded nearly 10 years ago by Nicole Swedlow, Entreamigos has become the third largest employer in this small town. Nicole explained how she came here on vacation 10 yrs. ago and fell in love with the people. She saw the influx of modernization, tourism, and knew of course it was not stoppable. Her biggest fear, what she witnessed happening was that the local people would in time become displaced, having no way to economically survive the skyrocketing land, food and housing costs. It was clear that the only possible answer was through some kind of education program. But how?

Not knowing any other way, she simply set a table outside on the street and offered to teach anyone passing by arts and crafts. In exchange she asked of them to teach some kind of Art or Craft too. In no short time this offering of new skills generated by the community began to grow. A building was found and with barely any outside money the same creative ask was utilized in the gigantic effort of constructing and organizing this space into a creative community center, the likes of which had never been done in Mexico.

She had two questions she asked of her growing community in regards to creating this new community canter. What do you desire? And, What can you do?

The first question was always answered easily. Perhaps a swimming pool in this community center or a library with picture books for all the children who had no possibility of going to school, or writing and reading classes…. everyone knew the answer to the first question.

The second question however always gave pause. At first those asked did not perceive they had very much to offer in exchange. But as Nicole energetically said, everyone has something to offer. We all are good at least one thing. Maybe someone only could only offer to make food, but that was helpful for another. Someone else knew a little about plumbing and another said she could help by watching the younger children while their parents contributed their time. It was in this way, a kind of crowd sourcing of skills all traded and leveraged within this tiny fishing community that led to the creation of Entreamigos.

Today this building has expanded into several. There is a scholarship program that is helping send the local children to school, and even on to college. There is entrepreneurial training, a thriving craft store, a incredible town wide recycling program, the first of its kind ever in this region, a computer business center, used clothing store and now thanks to a chance meeting with the founder of Cirque de Soleill, a full blown circus school!

The possibilities that have been cultivated mostly from the community of this small town are dizzying. Standing in the colorful center of this recycled place one mostly feels hopefulness. There is nothing purchased, nothing that you couldn’t buy or find for more than .69 cents back home, but somehow here in this setting where everything is placed and used with such intention, it feels incredibly inspiring. It is a world re purposed. It wasn’t just recreating the value of things found discarded along roadsides or dumped into the town’s river it was also about renewing and repurposing, re finding the dormant value of the local people.

Today, at Entreamigos, the gift of being taught something, anything that you do not know is still passed forward by teaching someone else something you do. Everyone, including Nicole, must be engaged in learning something from someone in the community whether it is learning to read, cook tamales or to just play a new sport. Then it is required that you teach someone else… offer a class or perhaps simply help a child to read. Entreamigos was born out of this simple idea and it continues to thrive today relying on this very same premise.

On the long bus ride back from this town I couldn’t help wonder how on Earth this extraordinary place had been accomplished, especially without any major financial resources. And then it hit me. All Nicole had was creativity. This was what she had used. The very same kind of thing that goes into making one’s art, the same kind of thing that can personally shift, enrich one’s own life had in this remarkable case has been leveraged to effect an entire town.

It left me feeling so hopeful and inspired. It also left me thinking about one question about myself, about those in need in my own community.

What helpful thing can I do?

A question that always seems too big, too complicated to answer. But now, it seems easily answered.

To learn more about Entreamigos, to visit or to help support please go to http://entreamigos.org.mx/

In gratitude, Nicholas

I am in Sayulita, Mexico teaching a workshop in the beautiful hillside retreat hideaway called Haramara. Our days begin with making Art outside in an open air “shala” and close with the sun slipping behind the sea. It is a short walk down the hill to the candle lit tree house-like-dining area where dinner is served. There is no electricity, nowhere really to go, nor reason to leave so our dinners are long. Conversations wind around all manner of subjects. However, the other night, we wound up, for a good portion of the evening, trying to answer a single question.

It related to the feelings of self-indulgence that sometimes arise around making one’s Art. After all, what exactly are we doing except pleasing ourselves? No one really is benefiting from our indulgence, except maybe the art store. It is not like we are saving some small part of the world, or helping to eradicate some virus somewhere. Might there be more something a little more beneficial to be doing with our time?

At times I have wondered this as well. But in no short time my answer comes back solidly in favor of pursuing one’s art. I feel it is tremendously valuable.

There are three primary reasons why.

Making Your Art brings you Alive.

I don’t know of any other activity that so powerfully chronicles an individual’s journey of becoming more like themselves than their Art. I believe this life we have been blessed with is to be lived fully. We are supposed to figure out what brings us alive. There are many obstacles in our way, of course, but Art isn’t one of them. Making Art is the telltale sign that we are on the right path. Our path. It offers us visual evidence of who we are and more importantly who we are becoming. It is simply a thoroughly, worthwhile undertaking. It takes courage, discipline and a degree of optimism to continue making Art. It is our own personal story of coming alive.

Making Your Art creates Abundance.

Following what truly your heart asks of you is a tremendous act of self-love. For many people, the siren song of their art must be answered. If it can be, there often follows a tremendous lift and a spiritual prosperity. Our Art fills our life and quenches us in a way that few things in life can. It literally completes us. This, in turn, catalyzes a new generosity of spirit that overflows to those around us. Happiness and well-being tend to spread. Finding joy in what you spend your time doing is just the first step towards serving others. This can take many forms but I see again and again that when someone is personally fulfilled they then naturally turn towards giving back. I know first hand how my own art making has given me boundless energy to help others with theirs. This is just my way, but there are countless others. When you answer your Art it creates a spirit of abundance not just for yourself but others as well.

Making Your Art gives others Permission.

Making your Art is not a solitary endeavor. It only seems that way because often there is no one to follow. Your work is, in the end, your work. The path in front of you is never clear. It is just not well worn because no one has walked there before. However, behind you is a different story. Your actions serve as inspiration for people in your life. If you can do this then so can they. Your art serves as a permission slip for others to possibly pursue their desires too. The tremendous value of your efforts, your courageousness is sometimes easy to overlook, but it is vitally important for the creative development for others around you.

In the end, your art might, at fist blush, seem entirely for yourself. But make no mistake, this small pebble of creative effort, once dropped into the still waters of your life radiates far, farther out than you can possibly imagine.

What has your journey been with Art making? Why do you make your Art?

With gratitude, Nicholas

Are you an artist? Are you a crafter? Are you a fireman who likes to draw? A Mom who makes Art but only with your kids? Are you an illustrator? Are you a fine artist? Are you someone who secretly thinks they have some artistic ability but are afraid to demonstrate it? Are you not calling yourself an artist even though everyone else does?

We can spend a lot of time trying to sort out the tittle for ourselves. I am not sure if the category or the title is more important for the individual or those standing around looking at the individual.

I used to think a lot about what I was in life. I thought of myself as a commercial illustrator. I wasn’t comfortable with this label, but I chose to use it. I had ideas about fine artists and how much more noble of a pursuit that was compared to mine. I definitely put myself in a box that limited not only how I thought about myself but also the kind of work I believed I could make. Looking back, I see what a big waste of time it was trying to figure out the label I was comfortable stenciling on my forehead. Today, I believe it barely matters what you or others call yourself.

Here are some reasons why.

1 The only thing that matters is what you do.

If you need a label to help make what you do more enjoyable you probably aren’t doing what you most desire. Needing tons of outside affirmation to bolster your self up is so tiring because there isn’t always a consistent stream of it. Instead let the activity, the art that is in front of you dictate how you feel about yourself. That is more reliable and not based upon perceptions other than your own.

2 What is an Artist anyway?

I had to redefine “artist” for myself.

For me, an artist is anyone who doesn’t fit or feel all the way comfortable with a preconceived label about who they are or what they are doing. Artists make things any way they want. Artists need no reason, specific education, permission, license, or even a plan of what they are going to do. To be an artist is to be part of a tribe of people who are bound by the wonderfully delicious, spacious, open idea that anything is possible. Artist is not a label. It is just the magic word that grants you tremendous freedom and possibility.

3 Be wary of those who need to label

If you are excited about trying something new, making something you never have before, then it is helpful to find others who share this passion. It is a little hard to find them as they are often working away in the corners, on the sidelines of mainstream society. What is much more prevalent however are people who tend to live within a prescribed boundary they have assigned to themselves. Which is fine, of course, it just gets difficult when this mindset is projected upon others. Especially you. Therefore, it is important that you seek out and spend some time with those who operate from a place of possibility rather than prescribed limits. Remember that making art is the exception, the path less taken and is often at first blush not entirely apparent even to you that the course your on is right. We need friends around who think like us, who know better and can nod in approval when uncertainty arrives.

4 It doesn’t matter anyway

Nobody cares but you. It is kind of sad in a way, once you realize how little you actually matter. It is such a shame to spend even 20 minutes of precious time worrying about what others might think about what you are or are not doing.

What helped me a lot was a something my father used to say to me.

“In a hundred years there will be all new people”

It kind of helps keep things in perspective, at least in terms of the relative importance of oneself.

Now back to making Art!

Has anyone else struggled with titles? If you would like to share, please comment below.

With gratitude, Nicholas

Gratitude doesn’t have any requirements. It is unconditional. It just presently states what is true. It is the currency of the heart and is accepted without resistance whenever expressed. No one argues with gratitude. It is kindness, awareness, humility and appreciation born of a consciousness that is expanding and it is the ultimate gift when it is bestowed upon us.

However there is also a valuable shift that occurs when the upwelling of thankfulness rises within us. When we step outside of ourselves, even momentarily, objectivity occurs.

And this state, this pause, this opening of awareness is when our Art can be seen and then changed in a new way.

Coming back into the studio after a day off, squinting your eyes when you are looking at what you are making so your view is obscured or even closing your eyes when the paintbrush touches the canvas so you can be freed of how you habitually mark the canvas – all these motions are after the same kind of objectivity. If we can see our Art clearly, without prejudice, without forcing it into the prescription of how we always need it to be and instead let it have some breathing room, then there is the distinct possibility that it can become something new and different. It can change.

Our Art is meant to chronicle our present moments, freed of our tendency for repetitiveness. Of course it is difficult to always do but nonetheless we are aiming to be operating fully in the present as much as possible. This is why, when we make Art, often the stresses and concerns that persistently follow us around in the day, subside.

Objectivity, being in that state that is not entirely about ourselves, brings with it a level of sensitivity that becomes freshly demonstrated in the art that is developing before us. That breakthrough piece that just seemed to magically happen often comes in part because we were approaching it differently.

It doesn’t happen all the time. In fact it rarely does. Mostly things are pushed along in the same old way. We are creatures of habit. But there are those moments, those times when our awareness seems to expand a bit to accommodate a fresh perspective, an objectivity and a generosity of spirit with ourselves and each other.

When this occurs remarkable art sometimes does too. It is these moments, when you know you have crossed a threshold, stepped into a new arena, unfamiliar but wondrous, that make it all worthwhile. These moments are often experienced alone, in your studio, surrounded by all your previous efforts.

But this does not matter. It really is a private victory anyway. It is a win for that part of you that let go, the part of you that intuitively knew where you were headed before the rest of you did. The Art that is made from these moments reminds us again and again of the limitless creative potential of us all. Sometimes it seems too good to be true. And for this fact alone, especially today, we can surely be thankful.

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” Paulo Coelho

In Gratitude, Nicholas

The process of creating is up and down. In my practice, one minute I feel everything is going well then upon closer examination it can seem like whatever I am working on has taken a turn for the worst. I have grown accustomed to this choppy kind of inquiry. It just seems par the course whenever you are pushing into areas that are unexplored. This is how it feels to wander into foreign terrain. It is also why I think most of us stick with this practice. Creating Art is incredibly informative. I always learn so much in the process.

There is one emotional piece however, that I never get used to feeling. It has to do with a different kind of unease. I am talking about the restlessness, the gradual negative shift that occurs, over time, when you are not making your Art. This happens sometimes when you are burnt out and you just need to take a break or possibly you have been away on vacation. Of course there is nothing wrong with leaving your practice. That is just life. But what I consistently have found is that when I do, within a few days, my memory of how I felt about my work when I was involved with it diminishes. As time passes I begin to feel less and less sure of my current work. I actually like it less even though I am not even around it.

I become less and less sure the longer I wait to return to my Art. This of course, is a vicious cycle. It doesn’t feel good when you think about your Art, which leads to staying away longer till you do. For me that day never really comes. I just get more involved with other things, more distracted and start settling into a mild case of procrastination.

“You owe it to all of us all get on with what you’re good at.” W.H. Auden

But finally, one way or another, I just make my self go back. It feels so forced, but I just begin. Within 30 minutes that sinking feeling of not seeing the potential in my work just leaves. The glass is half full again. Buoyancy returns and I am back in it.

So the next time you are feeling low about your Art, check in whether or not you are actually making it. You might be surprised to see, as I was, that most of the time you are not. If so then just simply remember the positive shift you might be looking for is waiting for you in your practice. You just need to return.

In gratitude, Nicholas