ROOTMIX [life-as-art]: November 2012

Over at Janice Tanton's blog, she's written out 10 nice tips to focus on if wanting to develop your artist lifestyle. I sure do, so let's take a look at what she suggests and where I'm at currently (you join in too at the comments!).

I think I first started adopting #5 (eliminate success and failure) some time ago, maybe in a smaller scale. But I sure do just enjoy the process of making art now, not having any judgement on the outcome. It means I had to step away from predetermining a finished product being for sale. That make sense because great artists don't get into this field to make money. They've simply got to express themselves. And that's the part of me that I get to connect with when I eliminate "failure" and "success". Sometimes I say ugly things. Sometimes my expression is petite and cute. But always I'm finding ways to learn about myself and be in the moment with my paint and page. Showing up means I win.

Well, that check-in bled over to item #6 (focus on process, not outcome) as well. I see it as getting to be surprised by the outcome, not having a point-by-point plan I've got to worry about following and fulfilling. I get to be a sort of audience member and be delighted by what shows up on my page. Makes me remember I may be delighted by what shows up in me.

#8 (explore) would be more of a hindrance for me at this time. I've already spent a great deal of my last few years getting away. I've found I now need to hunker down. I've seen museums across the world, dug around the local ones, looked online, been inspired. Now it's my time to crack open that inspiration and stop saving it for a special occasion, and stop trying to horde more of it. I think if I work a lot on #4 and start producing stuff and build that habit of art, I can see where #8 will be a higher priority to me again. Once I have developed my artist's style and voice, it'd be fascinating to see how that voice interacts with a specific foreign community. Change my circumstances and outlook and see what comes to the surface.

The hardest for me to embrace on Janice's list would have to be #9 (share). To share, share, share. I'm aware of the benefits. I'd love the freeing feeling it would produce to know I have enough creative breath in me to sustain a lifetime of development and discovery. I hate the clutching, clinging feeling of monitoring where my ideas go. I've even stifled myself from developing the next layer of creation, insight, expression because I'm more concerned with everything but just the pure act of creating.

Do you hold your breath because you want to conserve air or think you're body can't automate the maneuver again? Only if you are in a sealed box or injured by drastic trauma. And that is not the state in which I wish to view my artistic passions.

This is definitely a list I will choose to come back to and check in on to see how I've developed. Thanks for sharing these insights and habits with us, Janice!