Everything. Everything in our society/culture fights every element of art and its importance tooth and nail. Productivity is the “goal” and when I finally was able to “stop being a productive human” it took a long arsed time to lose the “must, should, ought” that poisons our souls (yes, we gots ‘em, still) and made my art want to be perfect etc., etc., and on a schedule, and and and… hooooey. Good luck making art, right? That was my thinking, too. Now I approach it from the child in me aspect. I have fun. It’s just like reading a book. Taking a walk. Making a nice lunch. Once I allowed it that freedom, then it became all of the things in the above article. Hmmm. And then some, even…. Thank you for such an informative article!
Elizabeth, your comment made my day. 🥲 Being a creative in a capitalist world is so hard. And it's only just gotten harder with the work and productivity worship culture we've got now. I'm slowly learning to detach myself from the idea that the likes/ranking/followers/money metrics are the north star. I keep returning to the image of the early humans scratching a few drawings on a cave wall... there's something so pure about that. We've deviated a bit too far from that instinct in this era. I'm so gald to hear you're in touch with your inner child when creating. That's all there is to it. It's quite simple when you really think about it. (Oh, and "Unproductive human" had me 😭😭😭) Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughts.
Love this. My issue is that when life gets busy, my creative projects are the first thing to hit the back burner. This is a great reminder to prioritize them, and a big takeaway for me is that any contribution to art (even 10 minutes a day) is better than none!
I totally agree... These days, I'm all about small creative moments as well - even if they don't look perfect, it's all about the process. Thanks for the reminder Jay!
Thank you for this Dawn! Roughly over the past 5 years until late last year, I made every excuse under the sun for why I wasn't creating. I missed it but at the same time, what I was blaming was material and really missing the point...perhaps guided by echoes of events passed though. But then I took myself to the shop, surrounded the buying of a new sketchbook with pomp and ceremony to tell my brain that the buck stops here, and slowly but surely what I was consuming in life ended up either here, on canvas or in said sketchbook! Absolutely liberating. If I were to compare myself in moments of prolific creativity and moments in survival mode, I could tick off everything you've just written about.
Really appreciate you for reading and sharing your experience Zoe. I have often used creative slumps as a reason for new notebooks/pens/art supplies 🤭 as you said, creativity is liberating. We all need regular breaks from survival mode. Even our oldest ancestors took a break from hunting to draw on a cave wall!
Everything. Everything in our society/culture fights every element of art and its importance tooth and nail. Productivity is the “goal” and when I finally was able to “stop being a productive human” it took a long arsed time to lose the “must, should, ought” that poisons our souls (yes, we gots ‘em, still) and made my art want to be perfect etc., etc., and on a schedule, and and and… hooooey. Good luck making art, right? That was my thinking, too. Now I approach it from the child in me aspect. I have fun. It’s just like reading a book. Taking a walk. Making a nice lunch. Once I allowed it that freedom, then it became all of the things in the above article. Hmmm. And then some, even…. Thank you for such an informative article!
With Love,
An Unproductive Human 🥰
Elizabeth, your comment made my day. 🥲 Being a creative in a capitalist world is so hard. And it's only just gotten harder with the work and productivity worship culture we've got now. I'm slowly learning to detach myself from the idea that the likes/ranking/followers/money metrics are the north star. I keep returning to the image of the early humans scratching a few drawings on a cave wall... there's something so pure about that. We've deviated a bit too far from that instinct in this era. I'm so gald to hear you're in touch with your inner child when creating. That's all there is to it. It's quite simple when you really think about it. (Oh, and "Unproductive human" had me 😭😭😭) Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughts.
Love this. My issue is that when life gets busy, my creative projects are the first thing to hit the back burner. This is a great reminder to prioritize them, and a big takeaway for me is that any contribution to art (even 10 minutes a day) is better than none!
I totally agree... These days, I'm all about small creative moments as well - even if they don't look perfect, it's all about the process. Thanks for the reminder Jay!
Thank you for this Dawn! Roughly over the past 5 years until late last year, I made every excuse under the sun for why I wasn't creating. I missed it but at the same time, what I was blaming was material and really missing the point...perhaps guided by echoes of events passed though. But then I took myself to the shop, surrounded the buying of a new sketchbook with pomp and ceremony to tell my brain that the buck stops here, and slowly but surely what I was consuming in life ended up either here, on canvas or in said sketchbook! Absolutely liberating. If I were to compare myself in moments of prolific creativity and moments in survival mode, I could tick off everything you've just written about.
Really appreciate you for reading and sharing your experience Zoe. I have often used creative slumps as a reason for new notebooks/pens/art supplies 🤭 as you said, creativity is liberating. We all need regular breaks from survival mode. Even our oldest ancestors took a break from hunting to draw on a cave wall!
Haha true dat! Because it’s a natural process, just as it is breathing in and breathing out
This is very interesting.
Thank you for reading!