One of the hardest and best things about life as an artist is being creative every day. There is no one overseeing or expecting me to work to a schedule so it can be challenging to be consistent and conscientious.
People often ask how I maintain my creative output and whether I need to feel inspired to work.
All the more in the past couple of years, with long Covid lockdowns, many otherwise creative people have languished in inactivity.
Prompted by these questions and my own experience during this time, I am writing to share my insight on 4 essential ingredients to creativity.
Creating is Not Just Making
Any truly creative process can not be formulaic or simply mechanical.
It is possible to make something like a painting or a piece of writing, without truly engaging your creativity.
When I have had times of creative malaise, I was able to make paintings that involved no risk or departure from safety - in fact, I was unable to do any more.
Akin to cooking with a recipe as opposed to without. Both processes involve gathering ingredients and equipment, but following a recipe requires no innovation and far less risk.
The same would be true for painting a picture according to a set of instructions. Like paint by numbers, it would be simply making rather than creating.
Creativity Requires Vulnerability
It follows that true creativity involves risk and innovation, and requires vulnerability.
Whenever we are engaged in a task that has an undefined result, where we experience challenges and have to employ skills, we are exposed to the possibility of rejection, shaming, failure and embarrassment.
Embracing uncertainty to innovate requires us to lay ourselves on the line - a profoundly vulnerable undertaking.
We Need Freedom to Create
In a society that quantifies and qualifies, that assesses everything according to its utility and profitability, the act of creating is profoundly counter-cultural. How often have we heard that ‘time is money’?
Any creative process uses our valuable time to ‘simply’ pay attention with wonder and to ‘mess around’ without a specific goal. To truly create, we need to feel free to do this. We need the opportunity and willingness to explore, to experience for the sake of experiencing.
Creativity Involves Play
Time seems to disappear, self-consciousness is suspended and we feel successful and present when we play. Playing is essential to human happiness, even for adults. It enhances our joy - providing us with opportunities to engage in a pleasurable activity with complete absorption. It builds self-confidence, belonging and cooperation. It feels intoxicating and all-consuming, meaningful in and of itself.
Being able to play - giving yourself permission to have fun, imagine, dream and believe - is essential to creativity, to letting go, focusing on the process, and being open to new possibilities.
Combining These 4 Essential Ingredients
In summary, when we truly create, each of these four ingredients needs to be added to the mix. Without any one of them, our process lacks vitality and our work lacks zing. The flavour of innovation is lost. Our interest will wane and our motivation will dry up.
That's all very well, but some of this sounds challenging and downright uncomfortable! It begs the question, why bother? Why run the gauntlet of being vulnerable, counter-cultural and childlike?
This is a question we each need to answer for ourselves. My answer may be different to yours. It is that creating art fills my life with meaning, mystery and joy that I couldn't live without.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this... do you long to be creative and if yes, why?
Finally, let me encourage you to explore your playful side, to slow down long enough to wonder and give yourself the freedom to 'run away', into creativity.
Come along to one of my workshops! Enrol here
