Because everything else flows from there!
On this episode of the Art with Soul podcast, I offer you a short – and inspiring – creative pep talk to help you remember to do what you love. This is your reminder – and your permission slip – to follow your curiosity and create for yourself first. Everything else follows from there!
You’ll find the transcript {lightly edited for readability} below.
Powered by RedCircle
Do what you love.
Four simple words that can set your creative heart free.
And yet, how often do you get tangled up in shoulds and musts and dos and don’ts?
Should you paint one subject over and over again until you gain mastery over it?
Or should you diversify your subjects so that your work has some breadth?
Do you have an art style?
And if you don’t, can you really call yourself an artist?
(By the way, the answer to that question is yes. If that makes you uncomfortable, call yourself an artist in training. But claim who you are — an artist)
You must paint big — no, bigger.
Or wait, maybe you should paint smaller.
Should you try your hand at mixed media, because everyone seems to be doing it?
Or should you experiment with abstracts, because every time you open Instagram these days, all you see is abstract paintings?
Maybe that’s what everyone likes now…
But the question is: Do you?
What do YOU love?
Do you love to paint realistically?
Do you love portraits?
Do you love figurative paintings, or still life, or landscapes, or something else entirely?
Do you love to experiment?
To move between styles and subjects and supplies like a butterfly fluttering from flower to flower?
Portraits, abstracts, mixed media, watercolors, line drawings, zentangles, stamp carving, candle making, writing, singing, pottery — do you want to do them all?
Then do them!
Don’t worry about what people will think.
If they will be able to pigeon-hole you into a certain style — ah, she’s a portrait painter who loves to use browns.
Well, screw that! {Oh, and pardon my French!}
You’re an artist. A creative. A creatrix.
Allow your creativity to bloom and expand and grow however it wants to grow.
Express yourself in your multitudes.
And if you need a reminder that you are allowed to play with it all,
Remember Picasso: painting, sculpture, ceramics, poetry, stage design, writing
He did it all.
Remember Picasso: you can’t pin down his style and pigeon-hole him into a box.
Instead, what you have is his Blue period; his Rose period, his African period…Cubism, Neoclassicism, Surrealism, he left his stamp on all of them.
Why?
Because he did what he loved!
Which is another way of saying that he was unafraid of following his curiosity.
Your art, your creative expression, needs to make sense to only one person: You.
So follow it where it calls you. You never know what wonders you will discover along the way.
Remember Picasso: he did what he loved. He followed his curiosities where they led. He experimented with it all.
And then, he started incorporating all of it into his paintings, creating a truly eclectic body of work that is, undeniably, Picasso.
Remember Picasso.
And remember to do what you love.
I hope that this creative pep talk nourishes your soul. Please share it generously with all of your creative friends and communities — we need more artists and creatives to remember to do what they love!
If you’d like to follow along on my creative journey, come hang out with me on Instagram!
Let me send you letters
Musings on life, creativity and/or spirituality; along with exclusive access to the secret Wanderers Library, which is filled with lovely ebooks, art prints and more!
thank you for this!
I struggle to call myself an artist or writer or (fill in the blank).
I didn’t know all those things about Picasso.
Maybe when I get stuck, I should ask myself “what would Picasso do?” 😉
I hear you – the struggle is real! But we got to claim the title for ourselves. Starting with artist-in-training is helpful until we feel more confident about owning that title – at least that’s how it worked for me! And yes, “what would Picasso do” is a good question to ask! 😉
We all need this pep talk, Shinjini! This is the best kind of pep talk, really. What I see on IG is everyone doing what everyone else does. I did it too sometime back, but then decided to do something different. something that I liked, something that gave me happiness. It would be different from others’ work and it would have ME all over it. And, ever since, I have enjoyed making those artworks the most! 🙂
Oh I love that, Shilpa! We do need the inspiration from other artists from time to time, but finding what gives you happiness and doing that — that’s the best!!