Rikindle Your Inner Artist Child's Imagination

"Our artist is actually our child within, our inner playmate."
~Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

 

Where does our imagination come from? I believe it is a gift inherent within each of us. But as we get older, and bogged down with the responsibilities of adult life, we often forget how to tap into what was once our child-like, creative nature.

I have been feeling less than imaginative lately. So in the spirit of Living The Artist's Way, a 12- month blog series I did throughout 2013 (read about it here), I have resumed my weekly solo artist dates.

Last week I simply went for a walk through a park. It was delightful to watch two young girls chase the shadow of a butterfly kite their grandfather was flying. Hearing their joyful giggles made me feel like a kid again.

 

 

This week's solo artist date was a visit to the gallery at Foothills Art Center in Golden. There was an abundance of imagination stimulating pieces in, "Splinter," their current exhibition of wood art. I enjoyed seeing how other artists have incorporated curves and circles, imagery often found in my work, in their imaginative expressions.

 

 

An artist with seemingly infinite imagination is Canadian artist Laura Hollick!

 

 

In her recent TEDx talk, You Are the Art, Laura shares that she began making art as a child because she wanted to make her imagination real.

 

 

She goes on to tell the story of how she went from being a starving artist to earning a multi-six figure income with her art by imagining that she could create the life and career she dreamed. Watch her inspiring TEDx talk here.

Live creatively,
Marcella

 

www.MarcellaNordbeck.com

 

 

 

 

 

Living TAW - Chapter 12 - Faith

My chapter 12 Living The Artist’s Way video is the final, and most vulnerable, video in this 12-month / 17-post blog series. I share my deepest epiphany, my newfound awareness of what has been my biggest creative block all along.

In the 12th and final month of this journey reading Julia Cameron’s book and writing my daily morning pages, I became aware that I have spent my life exhibiting a pattern of behavior in which I have honored other people’s opinions (one person in particular) of me and my art over my own opinions. Well, not anymore! I am taking my power back. I choose love – for myself, my life, and my art. 

Watch out 2014! I am shinning my light brighter than ever. I am currently working on 3 commissioned paintings, getting ready for a 2-women art exhibition at Sync Gallery in Denver in February, and I am writing a monthly creative lifestyle guest blog post for Gallery24seven.com. None of which would be happening had I not lived Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way for one year.

As I mentioned in the video, to further help me expand into my greatness, after Living The Artist’s Way, I recently signed up for a few creative e-courses. And these days I am reading about novelist Alex Marcoux’s intuitive creative process in her book Lifesigns. 

Below is a list of the 3 e-courses I signed up for and links to where you can sign up too. I hope you’ll join me. If I don’t see you in the virtual classroom, I hope our paths cross somewhere else along our creative journeys. 

Live Creatively,
XO
Marcella

Spotlight Crash Course with Kris Carr

Painted Pages Workshop with Sarah Ahearn Bellemare

Studying Under the Masters with Jeanne Oliver

Living TAW - Chapter 11 - Autonomy

5 weeks into living as a full-time working artist and 11 months into Living The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, chapter 11, “Recovering a Sense of Autonomy,” is the perfect prescription. In this chapter, “We examine the ongoing ways in which we nurture and accept ourselves as artists.”

Julia begins chapter 11 by discussing the importance of not getting stuck in our past success. I couldn’t agree more! In the following video I share how I’m breaking out of my habit of painting spirals by painting pure abstractions for the Sidewalk Series and going from a brunette to a blond to shed my old 9-5 office job image:

In chapter 11 of The Artist’s Way, Julia goes on to discuss the importance of sports (she recommends walking meditations), having an artist’s altar, and says, “Small rituals, self-devised, are good for the soul.”

 

These days I’m working 50-60 hours/week as I work on 3 commissioned paintings and get ready for 2 large upcoming art shows. So I don’t have much time for walking meditations. But I do try to squeeze in a few at home workouts into my schedule each week to keep my body limber and strong so I can reach across 48” canvases. My favorite workout DVD’s are Trudie Styler’s Warrior Yoga and Cindy Crawford’s Shape Your Body.

The alter in my studio is always changing. Currently it is home to photos of my parents and one of my spiritual gurus Louise L. Hay, along with feathers, stones, and other treasures I’ve collected on my journey.

 

My Artist Alter

December will be the last month I post a video blog on Living The Artist’s Way, but I will continue to write a monthly creativity blog for Gallery24seven.com. Read my first G247 guest blog post, Honoring the Creative Call, here: http://blog.gallery24seven.com/honoring-the-creative-call/

Until next time, remember we are all artists – the artist of our lives. What are you creating today?

Chapter 10: Self-Protection

10 months into Living The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and a major change has begun to unfold in my life. Major! I didn’t see it coming, but I should have because when we answer our soul’s higher call, change is inevitable.

I don’t want to spoil the surprise so you’ll have to watch my latest YouTube video to learn what the major change is.

What I will share is I’m learning that no one else can make us happy. We each have to take responsibility for our own happiness. While it is not always easy, it is undeniably necessary. If we are going to live, truly live, we have to live the life that is calling to us. Not the life that is calling to our sister, our neighbor, or old Aunt Mary. The life that is calling to us. For me, it was not the life I was living…

Did I mention it’s a major change? Yeah Baby!

I recently met up with my art mentor Laurie Maves. Witnessing her professional growth and creative achievements serve as tremendous mental equivalents for me. She shows me it can be done, that one can have a successful art career, even in these interesting financial times. But she can’t provide me with a road map. It’s tricky, and often scary, but we must blaze our own creative trails. We’re on our own creative journeys, creating lives and careers that are uniquely our own.

What have you been clinging to? Is your self-protection blocking your creativity?

Chapter 9: Compassion and Creative U-turns

I’m nine months into Living The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron’s, “Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self,” and I am EXHAUSTED! So I’m taking the easy approach today and just writing my blog. Sorry folks… no video this month.

Thank you to EVERYONE who has watched and posted comments on the corresponding YouTube videos since I started posting them as part of this experiment back in April. As I mentioned in last month’s video on chapter 8, this journey has been much harder than I expected. Your words of encouragement have been wind in my sails, helping me to keep moving forward when I want to give up. Which is just about every day.

So it is appropriately timed – as it is each month – that in chapter 9 Julia discusses having compassion for ourselves and offers advice for overcoming creative U-turns. That’s when we reach a certain point in the creative process and then, often as a result of fear, we turn back. I haven’t done a full U-turn yet, but I’m certainly at a cross roads.

The day after my chapter 8 video blog post last month, I got promoted at my day job. That day was my last Wednesday off, the day of the week I had dedicated to my creative pursuits. The following Monday I went from working 32 hours/week back to 40+ hours. Enter exhaustion, coupled with fear that I’m at risk of not honoring my creativity again.

I feel torn. I love my day job. Everything we do there is in complete alignment with my values. It’s why I have worked there almost 5 years, the longest I’ve ever worked anywhere.

But if I don’t make time to make art my soul will shrivel. So how do I do both? Work full-time and make art? HOW?! THAT is what I want to know Julia!

My husband Sean and I play that game, what we would do if we won the lottery. My answer is always the same. Quit my day job, travel around the world, then settle somewhere in the states, preferably near the ocean, and dedicate myself to my art and writing full-time.

So there it is. Quit my day job. But would I really do it if money was no object and I had complete financial freedom to live as I choose? I don’t know. As I mentioned above, everything about my day job is in alignment with my values. I stand behind the work we’re doing in the world and cannot imagine not working there. 

What I am having a hard time imagining is what honoring my creativity looks like. I thought this was the year I would up-level my art business. But it’s my day job that has up-leveled, while making time to make art feels like a struggle.

In addition to Living The Artist’s Way, I began reading Gabrielle Bernstein’s latest book, May Cause Miracles: A 40-Day Guidebook of Subtle Shifts for Radical Change and Unlimited Happiness. It causes miracles all right! I was just a matter of days into the book when I got promoted at work to a position I have wanted for the 4-1/2 years I have worked there.

Early into, May Cause Miracles, Gabby offers the affirmation:

I have forgiven my past,

released my future,

and shown up for the present with love and faith.

 

I have the affirmation written on a post-it note on my bathroom mirror. It serves as a reminder to me that every day is a miracle – an opportunity to shift my perceptions and have the courage to change. Change behaviors that no longer serve me. And change ideas about my future that no longer excite me. 

 

At the beginning of the Living TAW journey I thought my goal was working towards becoming a full-time working artist. But today I am realizing that my goal is simply to learn how to honor the various facets of myself while living in the present moment.

 

I also thought Living TAW for a year was going to help me cultivate the discipline necessary to become a successful full-time working artist. But in chapter 9, Julia says that, “…discipline is dangerous…. The discipline itself, not the creative outflow, becomes the point.”

 

She goes on to say, “Over any extended period of time, being an artist requires enthusiasm more than discipline. Enthusiasm is not an emotional state. It is a spiritual commitment, a loving surrender to our creative process, a loving recognition of all the creativity around us.”

 

Throughout this nine month journey I have allowed my spiritual practice to evolve. I am disciplined in that every day I do something to support myself spiritually, whether it’s do yoga, meditate, write my pages, or all of the above. But I’m not so rigid that I do the same thing every day. I check in with myself each morning, ask myself what I need, and respond appropriately.

 

It’s dawning on me that if were to approach my artistic practice the same way I approach my spiritual practice – with flexibility and patience with myself – I just may find the balance, and self-compassion, I have been searching for. And avoid a creative U-turn in the process.

Chapter 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength

Living The Artist’s Way for 12 months has been a LOT harder than I thought it would be. For starters, I didn’t anticipate encountering a massive creative block 8 months into the project.  

 

I finally got back into the studio today and started painting again. But it’s been an emotional journey, since last month’s video blog, of questioning everything in my life from my creative routines to my spiritual practices.

When I started this project in January I naively thought this would be the year I took my art business to the next level. That was my initial motivation for doing The Artist’s Way again. But instead, the year has been less about creative expansion and more about spiritual growth.  
 

Watch the video to hear more about my journey and the breakthrough I had last night…

 

 

What would our lives look like if we chose to live from a place of trust…?

One of my reasons for not painting for a few weeks is because my husband Sean and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary camping in Grand Mesa National Forest in South West Colorado. We had a magical time reconnecting with our Spirits and each other in Mother Nature's paradise.

 



Entrance to Grand Mesa National Forest in South West Colorado

 

Our campsite nestled in the National Forest

 

 

Enjoying a meadow of wildflowers

 

Two Columbines - the Colorado State Flower

  

Above the heart shaped lake

 

The heart shaped lake

  

On a hike



Chapter 7: Perfectionism, Risk & Jealousy

Are you thinking of ditching The Artist’s Way?  I’ll admit it – I was. Or you did ditch it, but you’re thinking of giving it another go? Jump back in with me this month as I review chapter 7, “Recovering a Sense of Connection.” 

If you’re like me, and you’ve been full of insecurity and doubt lately about where you are on your creative journey, chapter 7 is the perfect read. In it, Julia discusses perfectionism, risk, jealously and the “practice of right attitude for creativity.”

How does Julia know exactly what we need to read, exactly when we need to read it? It’s a mystery to me. But I guess that’s why she’s the Queen of Creativity!

Just Because - A Bonus Blog

My next Living The Artist’s Way blog post on chapter 6 isn’t scheduled until next week. But I’m feeling called to share things with you this week. So this is a bonus blog!

For the past few days I’ve been feeling full of self-doubt and insecurity. I’ve been wondering where my art fits in among so many talented and inspiring artists leaving their creative mark on the world. I’m not the only artist with the message to love yourself, honor your creativity, and to follow your dreams. So how do I stand out? How do I shine my light within a community of so many other bright lights?

 

I took my feelings and questions into meditation this morning. I set my alarm for 20 minutes. But before it went off I was tying my shoe laces as I listened to my intuition to go for a walking meditation outside.

 

Here in Colorado the wild flowers are just now in bloom. As I walked, I admired (and collected) a variety of wild flowers. There were SO many colors, shapes, and sizes – just in my back yard. Imagine the variety of flowers throughout Colorado, the United States, and the world!

 

 

That’s when I got it! That God/Spirit/Higher Power (whatever you chose to call “it”) didn’t stop at just one flower. The variety of flowers is boundless. With hybrids, the variety of flowers is infinite. So if it’s true for flowers, and if you believe in Oneness like I do, than creative expression must also be infinite.

 



Following are some other thoughts that dropped into my consciousness during my walk:

 

Stop Comparing. Each and every one of us is a unique expression of Spirit and on our own path. No one else has lived your life or had your sequence of experiences that made you the person you are today. Your wisdom, your insights, your expression, your ART, are yours and yours alone. 

 

Redefine Your Definition of Success. It’s easy to beat ourselves up if our career, art or otherwise, isn’t as far along or as profitable as someone else’s. But we can’t define our success based on what others are doing or have achieved. 

 

What are your hopes and dreams for your art? Do you continue to experiment, play, and try new things? Do you challenge yourself to take risks and do things that scare you? 

 

Also, think about where you and your art were this time last year, five years ago, even ten years ago. I’m willing to bet, if you stop to think about it, that you have grown, expanded, and have a lot to be proud of.

 

Make Art Just Because. Don’t make art with the sole intention of marketing and selling it. Make art just for you. Make art that you find beautiful and inspiring. Then you may share it with the world. But not because you have to, because you want to. 

 

A bonus blog deserves a bonus creativity prompt!

Bonus Creativity Prompt: Mini Vision/Inspiration Boards

 

Feeling creatively blocked or uninspired? I know if I go a few days without getting into my studio I get stage freight at the idea of putting paint to canvas. To get my creative juices flowing again I’ve started to make mini vision/inspiration boards.  

 

 

What You Will Need:

2-3 old magazines. A variety is best.
Scissors (or you can use your hands).
One 8-1/2 x 11” sheet of paper. I like to work with colored construction paper.
Glue or other adhesive. I use Tombow MONO Adhesive, permanent bond.
A timer. I use the alarm on my cell phone.
1 hour of uninterrupted time.

How it works: 

Set your timer for 20 minutes.

Grab a magazine and turn it upside down. Yep, you read that right – upside down. The objective here is to get a different perspective. 

Start quickly flipping through the pages. Don’t think, just feel. Tear out anything and everything that appeals to you and evokes a positive emotion. It might be a color, a pattern, a word, or the (upside down) composition. Don’t judge. Just tear! 

Continue to flip through your upside down magazines and set tear-outs aside until your alarm goes off. 

 

Once your alarm does go off, set magazines aside and reset your timer for 20 more minutes.

Spread your tear-outs of images and words in front of you, turning them right side up. Notice if there are any themes. This is when you can start to edit, keeping only those images and words that most appeal to you. 

Start trimming the images and words with scissors. Or, you might feel called to tear the pages with your hands, leaving the raw edges. 

When your timer goes off it’s time to start gluing, so re-set your timer for the last 20 minute increment. 

Grab your 8-1/2 x 11” sheet of paper. White will do, but I find it fun to use a piece of colored construction paper. You’ll also need your glue or other adhesive. 

Arrange and glue your torn out and trimmed images and words onto your paper.  

Once you’re done, you will have created a mini vision/inspiration board that is unique and beautiful – just like YOU!