How to Transform Your Life Into a Work of Art

When I first had the thought for the 21 Days In My Art World claiming, I had no clue what information technology would unleash. From the first 24-hour interval, there was a buzz and enthusiasm which made my heart expand equally I watched artists share and connect with each other. There was an openness and willingness to participate that was such a pleasure to witness.

Day ii's prompt was 'Lesson Learned', and the responses had such an bear upon on me I decided to turn them into a blog post. Reading through the stories of what participants had learned during their artist journeys was heartwarming, uplifting, profound, and at times laugh out loud hilarious.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to share everyone'southward lessons learned, merely hither is a {pretty large!} pick. 41 is a lot, I know, but if you let yourself sink into the responses yous tin can't neglect to experience uplifted past the end of it – or at least I do every time I read information technology! May it inspire and delight, and remind you of both what you already know and how connected we all our in our similarities.

And if you'd like to share your ain lessons in the comments, I'd dearest to hear them!

Lessons in Fourth dimension and Space

"I have learned that if you lot don't make time and space to create something then naught happens. It does non actually matter what you exercise but but exercise something, fifty-fifty if it is simply pressing a seed into a pot of earth. Making fourth dimension and space to create is where it all starts and for me that means getting up and writing morning pages, or just cleaning my palette, filling a jar with water, choosing some colours and assuasive myself to go lost in the moment. Music helps but then does silence."

@artistintheshed

"I'm learning that normal life gets in the way of creating. I take 3 children, two dogs, a fat cat, husband, house, school runs…… all the normal stuff that have their own demands. Sometimes that takes up also much time and energy to feel like creating but that's ok too. The everyday normal provides plenty of inspiration and 1 day they volition have all grown upwardly and I will miss the things that bulldoze me mad."

@wherethewoodpeckersits

"In that location is so much to learn, but the biggest lesson I am currently learning is when to cease! The perfectionist in me will go on on going if I allow it and the danger is that the original freshness and flow of the painting gets lost. There's definitely an art to finishing before it's finished!"

@judi.rose

"I've learnt that if you want to be creative the right time will eventually happen. I honestly didn't do much fine art for 30 years only still thought I was a creative person. I just channelled information technology in areas I could, similar making food look and taste bang-up, or putting interesting collections together in our home or exciting volume displays as I was a schoolhouse librarian.

I remember being really hard on myself when I met an artist a few years agone and she said if y'all want to pigment y'all'll just make the time, but I only couldn't detect the mental space with three cute kids and a busy life. Well fast forward ii years ago and our movement to Australia finally gave me the opportunity to live the artistic life I wanted to. Anybody's time is dissimilar. That's all I know."

@kbizoart

Lessons in Post-obit Your Heart

"The lesson I have learned is – no affair what they tell you, you don't accept to stay within the lines. It has been a hard lesson for me as I but discovered it within the final year at the grand age of 51. The photograph is of my granddaughter working on her masterpiece in grandma's studio. I desire her to experience life in total colour right from the beginning. I want her to exist herself and if that means beingness rebellious in how she presents herself to the world, that's fine with me."

@xr21965

"Follow your heart and get with whatever inspires you , you have no thought where that volition lead. For me it's been the joy of running customs art projects, designing signage, ceramic murals, making flags from hot air airship textile! And my beloved seascapes – information technology's all office of me."

@charlotteturnerartist

"My biggest lesson is to stay continued to my work and not to just produce. My art is about feeding my soul while creating artwork that is made with intention. Equally humans nosotros desire/long for connectedness. These connections are made everyday in many different ways but for me to connect to others through my art… is everything. My fine art career transformed when I stopped "producing" for the sake of only a sale.  I allow myself to share my story, my passion and all the "feels" along the way.

Oh and that "Mistakes can be BEAUTIFUL!" That is a lesson I teach in my studio and need to remind both adults and children (and myself) oftentimes."

@kateryckmanart

"The biggest lesson for me is that it has to come from inside y'all. When I outset started painting again I did more straightforward landscapes; painting from inside my own caput was just as well hard. But I've always been interested in what we need effectually us, how we react to our environment, what nosotros cull to accept notice of, how it tin can become a two style procedure between how we experience and the world around us.

Now, the paintings I make may be inspired by the feeling I take of being outside on a windy 24-hour interval, or travelling on a busy London Underground journey… or somehow both combined. They are the sum of my experiences. Information technology'south individual and personal and when information technology resonates with other people that's magical, but really information technology's just a challenge for me. Making fine art is the biggest headf*c€ challenge I've ever washed and I hope never to go to a final answer and feel I've learned the respond."

@alicesheridanstudio

"The more than I try a variety of styles on and meet what fits and what doesn't, the closer I get to an accurate offer. As I change, abound and develop, so does the kind of art I capeesh and make."

@janeinbloom

Lessons in Taking Action

"Collecting masses of expert material doesn't make good pictures. Simply DOING, PRACTICING and even Declining does. I have to produce more "bad" art in order to become ameliorate. Someone told me "Buy the all-time material y'all can afford, and give yourself the assart to use information technology wastefully." I'm good at No. 1, but nonetheless have to learn No. two."

@meinkathelier

"Y'all don't need to confine yourself to simply one form of creative expression. My background is sculpture, simply I've spent 12 years also making books, printmaking, illustrating and shooting film and alternative photography. I've never painted. When people asked me what sort of art I make I would say "anything but paint."

These past few years I've generally stuck to photography but I was feeling burnout. Lately life has been all about what I can manage, simple and easy, a little daily watercolour sketch and the growth of my #prussianblueproject which I'1000 completely in love with! Whodathunk?"

@suziechaney

"Put pen/pencil/brush to paper every twenty-four hours. Words, encephalon dump, to do listing, ideas, a quick putter, anything to keep the creative process flowing. The days or weeks that I did not, [I had] frustration and artists block and wondered why! And so now I go along a periodical."

@seawytchery

Lessons in Practical Tools and Techniques

"Abstruse is so challenging, especially for a Virgo who craves the detail.???? I reused the tape from the concluding painting and matched the colours to where they appeared on the tape, then worked into the heart. This allowed me to think less about the detail and just get the color down. Once the newspaper was completely covered I looked to run into what it wanted to exist?

I have painted a few, using my new method, "from the outside in". When finished, they definitely feel every bit though they came from the inside… out.????"

@tracywaitecreative

"When making ginger tea, don't forget to set a timer before going into the studio. . . Totally forgot almost it until my husband asked what that scent was. Merely for your information, burnt ginger root smells a lot like roasted rosemary. Who knew?!"

@wabisabimami

"1. You don't have anything to prove to anyone. I find that when I'm trying hard to testify something , information technology's because I'm non doing the right matter for me.

two. Airbrush medium is genius when you want to give a watery feel to acrylics on canvas. Information technology is almost as fluid as water and makes the pigment stick to the canvas and so y'all can pigment over it without difficulties. Since I heard about this trick I want to tell everyone in the world, I guess this is my take a chance!"

@demerssarah

"I've learned that going to retrospectives lets yous run across how artists piece of work things out, over time, just like we all do."

@thedailytourist

"I accept learned to put my excess paint in a sketchbook. So when I take a few swipes of pigment I try to figure out a composition and "finish" it. This challenges me to pigment my way out of the corner!"

@leemclart

"There'southward no one 'right' style to paint with watercolours! A number of years agone I attended a watercolour workshop with a prominent Australian watercolour painter. Early in the workshop he walked past me, looked at my supplies and scowled "How can you paint! Those brushes are besides small! And that'due south too small. You lot tin can't mix colours in that." He said pointing to my messy palette. I left the workshop early, feeling embarrassed, angry and humiliated.

I didn't paint for 6 months and questioned my power to pigment and my skill as a watercolour painter and instead focused on pen and ink drawings. But, I missed colour. Screw him, I thought, in that location's lots of different ways to work with watercolours. I loved my footling brushes, I'thou skilful at painting detail (even though sometimes information technology drives me crazy!) and people liked (and bought) my paintings. Though I still strive to improve, I paint the way that works for me and I love what I do."

@dschess_art

"Never expect until you've finished your chores before you showtime work/play in the studio. Why? Because housework is never finished – I'd rather brand art!"

@juleshorn101

"Sometimes when a sail is non cooperating it feels very liberating to just pigment over everything and get a fresh offset."

@karincutlerart

Lessons from the Little Ones

"I've learned a lot of things in my fine art journeying over the years, the most recent is from my granddaughter who has had a lot of stuff happen in her petty life. She is always smiling, doing fine art in one form or another. She knows she's an artist and she shares her creativity with anybody. She sees things she wants to learn and she does information technology. She doesn't let things stop her from expressing herself.

…She loves coming to my Art room and she loves creating with me. I've also discovered that art is not limited to only painting, and I've tried to teach her that. Art is gardening, taking care of animals, dance, music, home arts, and the list goes on and on…"

@mycraftingroom

"I'm a pace mom and when my kiddo was a bit younger he often drew these wonderful characters. He gives them and so much life. Back then I didn't paint nigh as often or freely as I practise now. 1 of the major things that got me to loosen up was painting my kiddo's drawings. It was a bang-up style for us to connect. I translated them to canvas and worked with him to choose colors. He taught me to allow go and see painting with a childlike wonder once more."

@jessicawynne.art

Lessons in Experimenting

"I suppose my nigh recent lesson is that I won't know unless I try. For a long while I had the desire to accept my work to another place, a different type of experience. A few attempts at abstraction in watercolor mostly left me dissatisfied.

So late last fall, feeling things go a chip stale with my process and tired of making pretty pictures, I got out some old acrylics and some cheap newspaper for what was to be a few quick experimental paintings. I had no idea I'd notwithstanding be traveling this path over 30 paintings later on if I hadn't taken those first attempts."

@nemcoskyart

"One fun lesson I've learned lately (besides "Keep Learning") is to not be afraid to try new things…like challenges, or even competitions. When you jump in without any force per unit area or expectation, yous ordinarily stop upwards having a lot of fun, and learning more well-nigh yourself.

This was one of my entries in the almanac #rijksstudioaward this year. While I didn't fifty-fifty go in the height 100, I had a great time creating something I wouldn't take otherwise, I got to know more of this wonderful museum's collection, and learning more almost my process, and my limitations."

@buttonlove.ca

Lessons in Play

"I have learned that I need the discussion play in my life. It reminds me to have fun with what I'm doing. If it isn't fun and so I move on and exercise​ my best to explore to find what is."

@cfcallier

"I endeavor to heed to what my heart wants to practice and explore questions that come to listen.

I've learned in that location is an interplay that crosses among dissimilar interests I explore. Things I larn doing photography, drawing, pastel, ink art, and painting all help teach me something and keep me from getting blocked or burned out.

Don't exist afraid to let yourself "play"…try new mediums, new sizes, new tools, and new techniques! ????"

@portlandtheresa

"My favorite lesson learned is definitely the realization that no one is making me do art, information technology'southward only me holding myself accountable to make this stuff and so why wouldn't I go far the most enjoyable process? Why would I make information technology a struggle when there'south already so much that's difficult?

For me so much of my practice is making sure I'm enjoying the things I make, and if I observe that I'thousand not I figure out how to shift information technology to make information technology more exciting and f u north; it's important for art to be fun and for me to be excited near it because no one is making me exercise this!!

It's not a problem that has to exist solved in a specific way following this specific formula, it's anything you want it to be, so why non make it the matter that makes your heart race and your eyes calorie-free upward?"

@linedwithsilver

"This seems so obvious – the idea that not everything I create has to be a masterpiece, and for me all that actually means is warranting a photo. But when I FELT this lesson finally, it inverse things for me. Just very recently.

Play, doodle, experiment, effort different mediums, take things likewise far on purpose, scribble, make marks. This is where the liberty is and where I am finding the 'happy accidents'. More play on the agenda as a result."

@tara.friesen

Lessons in Process

"Always make many to give room to accept a conversation with the work and permit for something to ascent upwardly."

@ab.fetzer

"1. Practice exercise practise.
2. Share what you know.
three. Acquire from others.
4. Always deport a sketchbook.
5. Take a pause and get for a walk without your device. You will observe more things!
6. Be curious.
7. Experiment e'er.
8. When you go on working, the negative chatter loses its power.
9. Not anybody needs to similar what you do (seems simple to me!)
x. Enjoy making!"

@mariongriese

"My most recent lesson was that at that place are going to exist some layers that I just absolutely hate. BUT, it's always worth it to have the time and work through it–it all works out eventually! (Some pieces might just have a thicker layer of paint on them than others.)

Oh, and bonus "lesson"/discovery: the messier/"uglier" the painting, the more I like it. I'm certain that says something about me, but let'south not examine what that something is."

@artistshope

"…I have come to a betoken many times where I just don't know what to practice next. When this stage comes,I've learned that rather than berating my artistic self or getting frustrated, I have a pause.I get take a coffee, read a magazine or talk to a friend then when I come dorsum to the painting I will know what to add together in or take away next. My lesson to share – always accept a pause."

@bouchebabe

"The biggest lesson I've learned about making art is to have patience with the process. When I first started painting once again subsequently college I'd work a slice to decease when it stopped making sense and end the twenty-four hours in a terrible mood. It can be tempting to become frustrated when the do isn't going as planned, but I've realized that taking breaks are way more than productive. Non every day is a dream though. Merely, having an awareness has changed the style I approach and react to the work.

Other things I've learned about making art:
1. Too much tv or lack of movement kills my motivation
2. Painting in a bad mood will make for a bad painting feel
three. Music, good information, big concepts, the macro – all drag my emotional state. I experience connected and grateful.
iv. Fine art is not precious. It can always change form."

@emilymwatts

"At the beginning of this year I joined a weekly art studio morn run past an amazing artist whom I admire and respect. In a few short months I have learned so much from her both in terms of technicalities and also how I approach my art and my artistic process. A few of the lessons I accept learned are:

ane. Do!
2. Be patient!
3. Exist kind to yourself!
4. Experiment!
5. Make marks!
6. Never throw anything away!
7. Don't be in a rush to cease a painting!
8. Continue standing back from your work.
9. Talk to other artists and larn from their processes.
ten. Report the piece of work of other artists – really look at the marks they make, their brush strokes. Visit art galleries and exhibitions.
I'thousand working on all of the higher up!"

@kiwiblue.sydney

"Information technology's the journeying that matters, not how skillful yous are."

@genieartyology

"If there is something that I learned in the by few years it is that I should trust the procedure (even so more than often). Non thinking most the outcome. Just painting. Art is not about results (for me) only nearly making it. If I only beginning my painting without much planning, there will always exist a state of flow – at some point where the painting just shows itself to my brushes and paints. And this applies to so many more than situations in life.
So lesson learned: Trust. Allow go. Enjoy the process.

@diana_linsse

"I call back the best lesson I've learned is to 'work through the ugly'. Lots of pieces accept an 'ugly' stage and I've learned to put it away for a while – days; weeks; months! The break gives you new eyes to await at it. I work a lot in art journals and using a bound one enforces this. Information technology'due south like shooting fish in a barrel to tear a page out of a spiral bound periodical and bin it, but in a bound one you have to go along at it. Having said that, a few remain ugly, but you have to live with that!"

@sujorg

"I used to create hyper realistic art. Portraits, landscapes, and notwithstanding lifes, where I would agonize over every eyelash and leaf. It was a fantastic escape and I'd lose myself into whatever I was creating for hours… BUT, I learned a while back that it no longer served me and fed the wrong side of me. I would literally concur my jiff while creating these pieces because absolute perfection was the goal and animate could make my arm move. So I vowed about 5 years ago to never make hold-your-jiff-art again. Now I strive for loose art. Both are difficult in their own unique means."

@jennpotterart

Lessons in Kindness

"I could have this one of several ways simply I'k feeling that i of the bang-up lessons is there will exist bad days.⠀
Days you're non feeling it, you don't like anything you exercise, you tear up your canvas, overpaint it to it's death, think you lot are the worst of the worst, wonder why you are doing this, be too tired, bromidic and rethink the whole thing!"

@xoj9creative

"Exist kind to yourself. I t'southward okay to starting time something a agglomeration of times, it'due south okay to non end something you aren't feeling, it'due south okay to put it all away until tomorrow, and it's okay to savor information technology when information technology turns out like you hoped."

@acrylicsandink

"I felt very frustrated and stressed out when I started working with acrylics again a few days ago – and with the added force per unit area of a testify coming very soon! I had to figure out how the pigment behaved and, more chiefly, what I wanted information technology to say; whereas with watercolors, I really don't even have to think about information technology anymore!

The stress and frustration really came from my fright that I wouldn't exist able to create anything good or that no 1 would similar my work. However, I told myself to accept a deep breath; that really, all that e'er matters is that you give it your best and that you listen to what'south inside yous. Stress hurts you every bit an creative person and equally a person. If you're happy with the work yous've put in, cipher anyone else thinks can add to or subtract from its intrinsic merit."

@gracerajendran

If you'd like to see some of the fantastic shares for the challenge, you can bank check out the posts here.

braylowas1966.blogspot.com

Source: https://taraleaver.com/2017/05/41-lessons-transform-life-as-an-artist/

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