Making anyway

There’s scaffolding going up outside my studio. We have folk working on our roof, noise, drilling…

It strikes me this is a good metaphor for modern life, there is always noise and distraction, always something loud going on right outside our window…how do we create and make art despite of this? 

This week’s video is about creativity as a decision and finding small ways to lower the stakes and allow art making to be fun when life gets in the way.  It’s about ‘making anyway’ in the middle of mess, noise, and distraction.

It’s a decision

I’ve learned this over and over again: Creativity doesn’t have to wait for perfect conditions. Sometimes making art is a decision. A small act of rebellion against life’s everyday difficulty and frustrations.

I think the key is to make it as easy for yourself as possible. Keep your expectations low, keep your ambitions low. You don’t always have to make something of significance. Make something simple. Make something fun.

So this week I made a tiny, scrappy art-book. Made from one piece of paper which was painted on both sides with smears of acrylic paint. Cut some wonky windows. Glued it together. Added some bits of collage, doodles, and a few stitches of embroidery. Nothing fancy. Just… something.

Notes to self

And as I played, I copied a few “notes to self” from my journal and stuck them in:

Seek out surprise and delight
Treasure small things
Make art-making fun
Cutting and sticking is cool

It was sort of silly. Not for sale. Not for a project. But it gave me exactly what I needed; a window of calm. A little creative joy. A little playfulness. A pause from the minor irritations of life.

Creativity as a way to come back to ourselves

Because when life feels scattered and decidedly un-playful, creativity helps me come back to myself. It’s how I walk myself home.

Reaching towards beauty

There’s a quote I love from The Mill on the Floss, the book by George Eliot published in 1860:

“We can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.”

This quote is about human nature and the fact that longing isn’t a weakness but part of aliveness. To me, it also sums up why art-making matters. When we create, we’re reaching toward beauty, a hunger for something good, however small, however fleeting. And that reaching is its own kind of hope.

Maybe I’m getting too deep. Just go make something for fun.

Make something unimportant

Go cut and stick something. Go make something unimportant for the joy of making. It really is good for the soul. Sometimes the point isn’t what you make it’s what that making gives you…

Links and resources

If you'd like to make your own tiny art-book, I’ve got a blog and tutorial here about how to fold and cut it.
If you want a whole week of creative play you may like this free Art Oasis online retreat that I am teaching in
And if you're feeling the pull to go a little deeper in your creative practice, you might like to explore one of my self-paced classes they're full of ideas, encouragement and gentle art experimentation.

Walking myself home: creativity amid the chaos