Most of us who make things instinctively understand that play is an important part of the creative process.

Play can be wonderfully generative. It can lead to combining things in unexpected ways, taking risks or stumbling across new paths and possibilities we hadn't considered.

New ideas and discoveries can emerge when we give ourselves the space and the opportunity to mess about.

But knowing that play can be generative can create its own sense of obligation. Sometimes I am guilty of expecting my play to deliver results...which isn't particularly playful, is it? Art is my job and sometimes I let that limit my messing about.

At the beginning of the Summer I was wildly optimistic, I imagined weeks of lovely spaciousness stretching ahead of me. Lots of time to make art, read, wander, play with ideas. play with art materials and generally follow my creative nose.

My imaginary Summer and my actual Summer seemed to diverge quite significantly. The time whizzed by and whilst it has been lovely, my Summer has been busy and not particularly spacious or playful.

This week my diary is unusually clear, so I'm claiming some time for a little personal art play. And I’m trying to limit my ambitions about where it will lead.

If I go into an afternoon of creative play hoping it will lead to a new idea, an exciting discovery or some sort of breakthrough, then I've already turned it into something significantly less playful…

I don't want to carry the expectation or results and outcomes into the playground. I don't want the desire for a revelation to be the reason for doing it.

Notes to self about play

I love writing notes to myself. Writing things down on paper helps me to see those thoughts more clearly. Here are some of my studio notes, the things that occurred to me about play, as I played:

Not everything I create has to be productive or sensible.
Not every creative activity has to lead somewhere. An experiment doesn't have to necessarily become a painting. A sketchbook page doesn't have to be any more than it is.
I can enjoy doing something and not expect it to be a runway to something else.
I can create a thing and it can be interesting, without having to be good. I really like this distinction, a creation can be unresolved, peculiar or weirdly ugly and it can still delight me.
I don't need to extract a lesson or a breakthrough from everything I make. Something interesting may emerge. I may stumble across a new idea, an unexpected connection or something I want to explore further, but I don't want that to be the point of creating.

And finally, the note I wrote to myself in capital letters:

A lovely time can be the point.

This is perhaps the thing I most want to remember. I don't need to enter the playground already thinking about what's on the other side or where my play may lead. I can go in, mess about with art supplies, follow what interests me and enjoy being there. If something useful, important or revelatory comes from it, I'll happily welcome it. But play does not need to purposeful. I can relish a lovely creative time with art supplies. The experience can be the whole point.