Trust the Process

If you are an artist or creative type, you would probably be familiar with the 'paralyzed with fear' feeling that comes sometimes at even the thought of beginning a creation.

In my post yesterday I asked this question.. "How often do we miss the experiences of the ''journey' because we are so concerned with ending up at the destination?"

I was thinking more about this today, and I realised that it is just the same with our creative journey. Often when we are planning an artwork, we have a vision in our mind of what we want to achieve. We see the colours, the textures and can close our eyes and visualize the artwork as a finished product. We can already see how it will look hanging on that wall, or sitting on that shelf.

We focus so much on this final artwork, and our vision of what it 'will be' that the creative process that actually leads to our vision can easily become daunting! We are overcome with fears that it won't be as we imagined, and we doubt our ability to actually produce what we were able to visualize.

I love this amazing and inspirational post by Ashley at 31 Experiment, and the painting below that inspired her words. In her post Ashley also quotes Julia Cameron on why we struggle to start sometimes.. "Our ego plays this little trick to keep us from getting started. Instead of allowing ourselves a creative journey, we focus on the length of the trip. "It's such a long way, we tell ourselves".

Such a long way, and we're not even sure where we're going, or if we'll even end up where we want to. The reality is, often things don't turn out as we imagined. But I have found when we do trust the process and show up at the easel with our paint and brush, often it turns completely different and perhaps even better than we could have imagined.

As Ashely puts it, "Creativity lies not in the DONE but in the DOING". Such a simple concept, but how easily we forget! Trust the process! Believe in yourself!

Letting Go

I wonder sometimes, at what I have missed out on experiencing because I have been held back by fear. Undue fear at that. By nature I worry - if there is something to worry about, or even if there isn't - you can always count on me to worry about it!

I learnt a valuable lesson over the weekend. We had an amazingweekend, one of those ones where you don't make any plans and just do whatever seems like a good idea at the time!

Late on Friday afternoon we decided to pack up and go camping. With no real plan in place, and without a map we just drove.. It was well and truly dark when we finally found somewhere to camp. We could hear water running but other than that we had no clues as to what we would find when we woke up in the morning. So, imagine my suprise (and delight) when I sat up and saw this...

How many times do we let fear hold us back? "What if we can't find somewhere to camp? What if we get lost? What if it storms?" So many fears that would normally slow me down and make me think twice. Letting go is sometimes scary, some of us like to be in control.

How often do we miss the experiences of a 'journey' because we are so concerned with ending up at our planned destination? When you take away that destination, when you don't know where it will end - all you have to experience is the journey, and you can be entirely in the moment.

We couldn't find anywhere to camp for quite some time, we did get lost - many times, and it did rain. However while we were lost, we saw some amazing things and found places we would otherwise never have found. We laughed a lot. We slept under the stars, and when the clouds covered us and it started to rain we put a cover over us and snuggled closer.

On My Easel

Here is another painting in progress! It's a slow progress now I'm back at work, but there is one coming along!

His and Her

This treasury was actually my husband's idea, titled His and Her.

A Cute Find

Hello there, look what I found! I thought they were too cute not to share - even on the weekend! These little creations are by gypsy and twink, and there are lots more to be found here!

Shades of Romance

The sun has set in golden skies, it's a perfect evening for romance..

Something to tell you..

Hello dear readers.. I have a little sad news today. I've been putting off this moment where I share my latest for too long already. So here it is.. Today, my dreams of making a career out of my artwork have been put on hold, as I started back at a full time office job this morning. There are quite a few reasons why I needed to take the position, I won't go into it all now. It is just a temporary position, but I don't think I will be able to be back here creating full time for a while. I may be able to have Friday's off, and I'll be painting where I can.. in fact, after a day in the office today I just can't wait to be able to sit down at my easel again. I will blog as often as I have time for, so please keep dropping in - Art and handmade is my passion, I won't be going far away!

Looking Forward by Shirae