See below posts by the artist on the creative process! Approximately one post will be made every week.
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Perfectionism
I’m now reading “Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott, a book about creative writing.* The chapter on Perfectionism was a great one. I liked the way it described perfectionism as “the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die”. I also liked the analogy that…
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Morning Pages
I am listening to a e-book borrowed through the Toronto Public Library system called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron for tips on unleashing creativity. One of the first exercises is to do something called “Morning Pages” which involves handwriting 3 pages of whatever nonsense comes into your head right when you make up. This…
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Learning about Grass
I was reading a bargain book I once picked up of the Practical Encyclopedia of Watercolour and came across a painting I liked. The painting itself was to demonstrate perspective though it caught my eye for other reasons. I wanted to see if I could make grass like that painting. Many artists study others by…
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Identity
I met up with other local artists to learn about how they go about doing their art and promoting it. While we talked about many things, one comment that stuck with me was about how no one comes about and grants you the title of being an artist. I imagined a fairy godmother that jumped…
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Motivation
It is sometimes hard after a long day to find the motivation to keep going. I have found though that I think back to that Neil Gaiman university speech where he repeats his message, “Make Good Art”, to make it on the good days, make it on the bad days, and to just keep on…
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On failure
For every piece that is good enough, there are many more which don’t make the cut. But, I am not discouraged. I am reminded of this striking installation by Clare Twomey called “Piece by Piece” in 2014 at the Gardiner Museum in downtown Toronto. She demonstrated the tension between the artist at their workbench with…