Watercolor Painting – and Managing Ego in the Art Studio

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Artist Job Preparations

I’ll be at the San Diego Artwalk and the Sierra Madre Art Fair in back to back weekends, and then off to France the day after Sierra Madre. It’ll be a leap-frog train of destinations squeezed into ten days, so I’m list-making in earnest. Will you be in San Diego or Sierra Madre during the art festivals?

Artist vs Hermit?

...managing a creative career requires a connection to one’s audience as well as a network of relationships with managers, clients, bookers, agents, and other industry personnel.  

~Ryan Holiday

I’ve been thinking about the way artists connect to the world by making and exhibiting art. And I mean all art; writing, music, painting, etc.

The fruit of an artist’s labor is meant to connect with another person, or a whole group of people.

Even if you paint, and only show your spouse, the baseline of our endeavor is to cultivate an understanding and kinship with the viewer of our makings.  We want the audience to “get” what we’ve created, right? 

In order to do that, artists from all genres might benefit from interacting with other people, observing fellow man, experiencing acquaintanceship first hand.

Find your people. You won’t find villages of folks with similar sensibilities, unless you get out and mingle with them.

What Starts Your Art Engine?

There are historical examples of lone artists painting art inspired by dark dreams or conflicted souls. There are other artists who rendered festive observations of everyday life.

But we’d never notice either artist’s creation unless the work resonated with us. People who love art feel something from it, and that’s where the connection comes in.

Dip a Toe in the Water

If you’re feeling blocked, or stuck in your work, perhaps the antidote is to connect with others… to get out and feel a sense of camaraderie with other artists, or friends.

Make a date with someone to see an exhibit, or sit in a public garden with a sketchbook, observing and drawing humanity for a few hours.

Connect with Humanity – Virtually

Big social gatherings or attendance to an event usually fills my creative tanks. Remembered conversations, recollections of people’s faces, and remnants of humanity’s colorful storytelling replay during alone-time.

A desire for solitude and working with my hands is guaranteed after time with a group. Two way community – virtually or real life – is entirely different from the one-way consumption of social media observations.

I work more diligently after I’ve rubbed actual elbows, volleyed two-way conversations, witnessed real laughter and felt the connection of curious eye-contact. How do you fill your tanks before going into the studio?

Arm Wrestling with Ego

In the process of making and sharing our work, there are always considerations related to ego and pride. They are equal parts motivator and trap door.

“From this connection and understanding stem all the other important parts of the puzzle — for instance, we cannot reflect truth if we’re incapable of seeing any. We cannot take or receive feedback if we are too conceited to hear it or if our own reality overpowers the objective standards we need to measure ourselves against. We cannot connect with others if our attitude and approach pushes them away — or pushes us above them. We cannot recognize opportunities — or create them — if instead of seeing what is in front of us, we live inside our own fantasy. We cannot be truly confident unless we have an accurate accounting of our own abilities. And we certainly cannot relate to, reach, motivate or compel other people to follow our lead if we’re not able to grasp their deepest and often hidden human needs.”

Ryan Holiday

Read the full article excerpted above by Ryan Holiday on why ego is the greatest opponent of creativity, and I bet you’ll glean other keepers from his observations like I did.

Big Breath In, and Begin

How do you contain and restrain your ego to make more room for an airier environment in your art-making?

So much of our fear of making art is grounded in the need for praise – from ourselves, and others.

Perhaps a more generous approach involves a plan to just paint or draw for the enjoyment of it. We tend to have expectations of the outcome rooted in a search for being amazing. But here’s the thing: I think it’s amazing to just make something – anything, because it means we made time for that, and we found pleasure in the practice. And hopefully, we found joy and connection in the sharing of that art too.

Here’s wishing you a creative, practiced, connected week!

See you in the next post –

Belinda

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Art Quote

The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone who thinks and feels with us, and who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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