Sometimes even artists forget that they are allowed to let their creativity roam. Most high-functioning creatives (yours truly, being one) often forget that it's an option to spend time creating without purpose or direction. How do we forget that?
Well, we forget because it is human to get caught up in our drive to know the outcome, to meet a goal, to get somewhere else. This weekend I worked with a group of professional artists who want to "uplevel" their engagement in their creative work and life.
They want to provoke a change in their direction so that they can realize a bigger vision. When we want to change, the impulse is to throw everything we have at change; to wrangle it from its wild and unruly unknowns and bend it to our will. But it is the function of change is TO BE UNRULY and WILD. Sometimes it's best to give up the reigns for a while and spend time DISCOVERING what our next step will be. A woman in our group had just recently retired from her teaching career. She was celebrating her newly "open space." She acknowledged that although there was a small voice that wanted her to rush to fill that space with striving, there was a much stronger intuitive wisdom that knew that doing her "art for pleasure," and allowing time for "unproductive play," was paramount. That insight and the energy that accompanied her words, caused the rest of us to pause. Honestly, none of us need worry that allowing ourselves time to play with art for pleasure will disrupt our progress forward. Maybe this is exactly the time to mess around with space, materials, music, collaborators, or techniques and let our creativity roam wild and free.
