2 Ways to Work as an Artist
I read the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron close to twenty years ago. While some of her ideas were a little too gooey for me, I did come away with two practices that I regularly use to stimulate my writing.
One is morning pages. While I don’t write in my journal every morning, I do write EVERY day . . . Here are some things I count as creative writing:
- freewriting with my students
- writing a blog entry
- writing an email message that describes
- responding to a blog with a comment the extends the conversation
- writing a review on GoodReads
- creating a greeting card (birthday, anniversary, congratulations)
- business correspondence that uses colorful examples to make my point
- writing love notes to my sweetie that go in her lunch box
The second thing I learned from Cameron is making artist dates, i.e. creating opportunities to nurture my creative consciousness. Since I’m fascinated by imagery, I often look toward the visual artists to feed this element of my creativity. Visual artists have taught me much about:
- focal point
- juxtaposition
- color
- perspective
- depth
Films are particularly good at serving up wonderful studies in visual imagery. I recently watched a Japanese film that was a marvelous eye feast in which the imagery fed the message: Love My Life. (It got a lousy review on Rotten Tomatoes, but I thought the filming was amazing and happened to like the story very much.)
And here is an amazing visual collage on YouTube that made me want to take a videography class. I watched this clip 5 times ever marveling at the way these images work together and with the music.
These are two ways I work to stimulate my writing life. What do you do to keep your art alive?
Wow- this really made me stop and think about how I am NOT keeping MY art alive. It’s one thing to dabble here and there, but I have fallen back into a pattern I had once when I absolutely couldn’t bring myself to step into my studio for 10 years- where all I do now is dream about painting and drawing- literally daydreaming about it when I am driving to and from school/work.
I see a sunset with a band of gold between two strips of indigo sky that covers it top and bottom and in the middle of this thin band of gold, pink and brown hangs a crescent moon of the thinnest shell- like the delicate edge of an eggshell hanging in the sky.
I try to take pictures with my cell phone, darnit I left my ever-present camera at home, but I can’t get an image.
So I burn it into my brain- the colors, the placement of the moon. I vow to go home and sketch it out.
I get home and fall into an exhausted stupor at the computer and forget about it.
What can I do to keep my art alive? It is crying out from inside of me-”please please stop ignoring us!!!
It’s been too long, too long, don’t you see? Can’t you see the pooling of the colors in your dreams? They run down your canvases in the night and you toss and turn. Wake up, wake up dammit and PAINT!!”
So there you have it Patricia. I am crying inside for my art. I can teach you videography at your house if you want. Or you can take a class at the college. Cord will be teaching VP I and II next year- Melissa is out of it. She, being the DEC, has no time..
Sigh.
Jana,
First of all stay tuned. I’m writing a follow up post with an idea about how I intend to work on keeping the artist alive. And thanks for the offer about videography. I might just take you p on it as it fits in with my plan to keep the artist alive. Who is Cord? I don’t think I’ve met him.
My visual art is reading the notes my sweetie writes to me…:) They are quite artistic, with drawings and stickers. I also get the benefits of watching those movies with you…yes, I’m the sweetie she talks about writing the morning messages to. I usually don’t like foreign films because of having trouble keeping up with reading, but I really enjoyed the above mentioned film too. Great blog, Patricia!
hi Patricia,
Thought that I should finally write a comment here. I have been following your blog all along. I particularly enjoyed “Coining a Word.” “2 Ways to Work as an Artist” has served to reawaken concepts I learned when reading a couple of Julia Cameron’s books.
For me, solitude is vital to my endeavors. Seems it must come before all my other practices, which whither away without quietude.
The quality and faceted nature of your practice consistently impresses me. Thank you for the reminder of Julia Cameron.
mic
Hey Mic
Thanks for speaking up here. Ahhhh SOLITUDE!! No doubt that is an essential component in this artist’s way. I remember when I was at Antioch and I “religiously” started my writing practice at 5am. That time of dreamy solitude has continued to be when my best work happens . . . before I open my mouth, before my eyes move too far away from sleepy visions.
ph
My greatest inspiration continues to be the children in my life. Whenever I need peace, I focus on my late son Micah. He takes me so many places, is always there when I need him. Amazing really, how his beautiful face, his contagious laugh still thrill me beyond expectation. And Nick, my youngest son, watching him work through our past hurts and his present glories with his own writing style — he’s a lyricist — writing to rap beats obsessively and as often as he can.
This weekend I had my great nephews, Evan and Bradley, come to play. We hunted for frogs in the rain, giggled and laughed, slipped and fell in the mud along the creek (well I did anyway), and had an overall glorious time. We visited the Christmas Store in downtown Sonora, and I saw the many decorations through their little eyes as they picked out the perfect one for Mommy and Daddy and Grandma Jan and Uncle Nick. We got a donut (a rare occurrence) at the donut store and I listened intently as they described what they smelled and watched their enthusiasm about the variety of sprinkles and glaze and ‘warm sticky sweetness’ on ‘new baked cake’.
It’s not always easy to find those precious minutes to write, but with images such as these its easy to stay committed to keeping a journal, writing a history, making a story.
Just my two cents!
Shelley
Shelley, You have certainly hit on a wonderful way to stimulate the artist, i.e. spending time with kids and seeing things through there senses which are sometimes so much more open than ours. Thanks for piping in with your two cents.
ph