{"id":346,"date":"2014-01-09T01:29:59","date_gmt":"2014-01-09T01:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laurelantur.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/09\/2014-1-5-5-reasons-to-make-art-you-hate\/"},"modified":"2014-01-09T01:29:59","modified_gmt":"2014-01-09T01:29:59","slug":"2014-1-5-5-reasons-to-make-art-you-hate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/09\/2014-1-5-5-reasons-to-make-art-you-hate\/","title":{"rendered":"5 reasons to make art you hate"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a sort of “workout” I do. I get some tempera paints and big cheap paper set up, put on some music and do some movement, and then I paint intuitively. <\/p>\n

Actually, I really hate it. It is not artistic bliss. I usually hate the paintings that result from the process, I don’t really like painting with tempera paints, and I don’t like painting large.  <\/p>\n

Painting that way pisses me off. But here are five reasons why I do it anyway. <\/p>\n

It forces a conversation with my inner critic.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

And by conversation, I mean a dysfunctional one in which I ignore what the Critic is saying, or agree with it pathetically, or argue with it and feel angry and defensive. It’s a confrontation that allows me to externalize the voice and be more objective about what it is saying.<\/p>\n

It helps with my artistic identity.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Okay, this is a biggie.<\/p>\n

When I paint something that doesn’t feel like “me,” that I don’t love or feel proud of, it gives me a sense of direction. Why do I hate it?  The materials? The colors? The content? The process?<\/p>\n

More importantly, what do I not allow myself to do as an artist<\/em>? <\/p>\n

Let me repeat that:<\/p>\n

What do I NOT allow myself to do as an artist<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is an entry into a deeper connection with Source. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

You’d think a connection with Source, whatever that is to you, would be all flowy and blissful. Man, it ain’t<\/em>. It’s awkward. It brings up all my resistance. It brings up my cynicism and bitterness.<\/p>\n

That is the only way to the gift, the treasure, the glimpse, the path, the guide.  And I don’t see that treasure when I am actually creating the intuitive painting. I see it later, after I have looked away from the image for a while, or have re-worked the symbol in other ways like drawing or writing. After I have finished all the internal debate about how I should<\/em> be making art.<\/p>\n

When I play with a symbol delivered to me through an intuitive painting, it evolves. I get to know it, what it represent in my life. The intuitive painting is just the beginning. The flow comes when I do this later work. Overtime, this practice opens up that deeper connection to Source.<\/p>\n

This makes my art practice my spiritual practice.<\/p>\n

It helps me appreciate my usual medium. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

I hate painting with tempera. I have to put<\/em> it everywhere, instead of it just flowing around like watercolors do. I also hate painting big – it takes longer and I have to look at what I have created longer and since I usually dislike it, painting big prolongs that uncomfortable confrontation with self doubt. <\/p>\n

I love painting with inks and water colors because it is a dance. The ink and water color do their own thing, and create a beauty I don’t have any control over. It is such a pleasure to work with, just watching the lines spread and spiral, the colors blend.  <\/p>\n

I enjoy that flowy fun more when I am redoing an image that first appeared in an intuitive tempera painting.  I’m not sure why that is, but when I work with ink, and I know what image I am going to create, and I can have fun with the lack of control. When I don’t have that clear image to work with, I just make a big mess. That’s okay too.<\/p>\n

Glitter and Sparkles!<\/h3>\n

When I paint with tempera, I always, ALWAYS allow myself to use glitter, metallic, fluorescent or any other fun paint colors. You can’t take yourself too seriously if you are painting with hot pink and silver sparkles. <\/p>\n

Of course, the real<\/em> artist in me would never<\/em> use such childish<\/em> materials. But since I hate the intuitive painting process anyway, what do I have to loose?<\/p>\n

Yay! Fairy dust!<\/p>\n

Be Kind to Your Self<\/h3>\n

I know these five reasons don’t make sense for all approaches to creativity, but I do hope you’ll see that art making isn’t always fun and relaxing, and it is definitely not always easy.<\/p>\n

If you are a beginner artist, or in artistic recovery, be kind to yourself. Like any discipline, the rewards come with practice over time, and that means you have to make some crap. <\/p>\n

And sometimes we can’t see the beauty in what we’ve created because we are comparing ourselves to who knows what – some idea in our head. <\/p>\n

Take care my beauties!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Intuitive
Intuitive Painting, tempera paint, 2006 or so. Look at all that fluorescent paint!!!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Circa
Circa 2006<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2012
2012 – I made this during a workshop I was leading, and had so many layers of paint, the paper felt like ti was going to fall apart. I was immensely frustrated and hated it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2013
2013 Blech, I HATE this one<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2013
2013 – I made this during \u00a0different workshop I was leading. I was inspired by one of the participant’s painting. She was not enjoying her painting at all. I felt like I was copying her, which I confessed to doing, and then I think she saw what I saw in her work, and later wrote to me that she loved her painting.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a sort of “workout” I do. I get some tempera paints and big cheap paper set up, put on some music and do some movement, and then I paint intuitively. <\/span><\/p>\n

Actually, I really hate it. It is not artistic bliss. I usually hate the paintings that result from the process, I don’t really like painting with tempera paints, and I don’t like painting large.  <\/p>\n

Painting that way pisses me off. But here are five reasons why I do it anyway. <\/p>\n

It forces a conversation with my inner critic.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

And by conversation, I mean a dysfunctional one in which I ignore what the Critic is saying, or agree with it pathetically, or argue with it and feel angry and defensive. It’s a confrontation that allows me to externalize the voice and be more objective about what it is saying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticalexpressivearts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}