3. Create an Atmosphere
Big 3 Ideas
Why do you make art? For most, it is because of how it makes us feel. Obvious? There may be more to it.
3 Pillars of a Creative Life:
1. Create an Atmosphere (this episode);
2. Make Decisions (next time); and
3. Walk the Path (upcoming)
Create an atmosphere in your brain, your studio, your business - of creativity, positivity, and support
Why did you become an artist?
Maybe it isn’t something you “become” for you. Maybe you just “are” an artist.
Whatever the case, I can say this with confidence - Most of us make art because of how it makes us FEEL.
When most artists begin - at whatever age, whether as a child exploring a box of 64 colors of crayons, or a teenacger discovering how to draw a frien’d face, or a 50 year old grappling with the concepts of linear perspective or the simplicity of drawing an ink circle with your whole body, the reason that artist wants to continue, wants to be an artist - is because of a feeling.
Because of the feeling that making art brings. When you are in the zone, when everything is flowing.
At first, it may happen by chance. But after a while, you start trying to replicate this feeling. Is it the place? the well-lit studio, the smoky cafe in Paris, is it the cool air on your face as you haul your plein-air box out into a field to catch the morning light? Is it the satisfaction of creating a perfect color wheel, blending cadmium orange and half ultramarine blue and a perfect range of cool greens and warm greys in between?
Whatever it is for you? You’ve felt it. Artists are skilled at creating an atmosphere.
The title of Joan Mitchell's painting Hemlock derives from a passage in a 1916 Wallace Stevens poem titled Domination of Black. It contains several references to hemlock, including: “Out of the window, / I saw how the planets gathered / Like the leaves themselves / Turning in the wind. / I saw how the night came, / Came striding like the color of the / heavy hemlocks. . .”
Sometimes however, the atmosphere we want to create is at odds with the real world. Oh. mugosh. Yes. If only the whole world would get on board with the idea that we need our atmosphere to be jsut right!
Today I’m going to share with you STep one in my 3 steps of Creating an art business and practice you love.
Step 1 is Create An Atmosphere.
In your brain, in your studio, in your business.
with essential ways you can do this for yourself.
Ok. Number 1. Create an Atmosphere in your BRAIN.
This is essential.
We make art because of the feeling it brings us - and feelings come from what? Our body, yes, and our brain, yes. A light goes on wheneever I remember - my BRAIN is INSIDE my BODY!
When I run down the list of emotions art gives me, its delight, self-confidence, joy, calm, flow, - but also there has been a lot of frustration, intense feeling of failure, anxiety. All of these feelings come from my body - AND my brain! There’s a chemical soup in there, and I’ve notices - with both my own art practice, and my clients that
the feelings we get from art are pretty much 50/50. Just like the rest of life. But for some reason, as artists, we are SO ok with the hard part - because the feeling that comes from the good part is so amazing!
And what I’d like to offer today, is that this skill can be used in some very interesting and productive ways in your creative business asl well.
This is Step 1 in the Metaphor Mindset Studio - Create an Atmosphere.
You get to decide what that atmosphere is.
The atmosphere in your studio, the atmosphere in your home, the atmosphere in your business, the atmosphere in your head.
Let’s talk about that.
In Episode 1, we talked about The Setup - how we setup our minds like we set up our art - thinking about every part of it.
When you step back, and decide intentionally to setup , to create an atmosphere in your mind - what would that be?
In recovery, people laugh when they say - my mind is a bad neighborhood - I don’t go there alone.
If your mind is like a bad neighborhood - and you don’t want to venture alone - you know what you don’t want - then, what DO you want? what atmosphere are you creating that you don’t even know about?
Like iI talked about in episode zero - the Setup about MONET’s letters home about the Rouen Cathedral were filled with his anxieties about the project - nightmares - the cathedral literally (well, figuratively) fell on him in his dreams.
He wrote of the impossibiltity of the project.
And yet, he painted 31 versions of the cathedral.
Cezanne painted Mt. Sainte Victoire 55 times - each a little different as he focused on a different aspect of the scene, different palettes, different light.
What Atmosphere do you want to create in your studio in your business?
So how can we create that feeling more often? How can we cultivate an atmosphere in our art lives that helps that feeling - whatever it is for you, calm, joy, flow, excitement - happen whenever you wave your magic brush?
No guarantee, but I do have some suggestions that I’ve been really working on in my art life.
There are 3 areas I’d like to focus on -
Creating an atmosphere in our Brains, in our Studios, and in our Business.
The Studio is an extension of your brain. The Business is an extension of Your Studio.
Kind of an inward to outward movement. Drop a pebble into a pond - your mind, and it ripples out. The ripple effect is so powerful.
So first.
In Your Brain
Manage Your Mind - What thoughts come up for you when you enter the studio? You might even bring your journal and sit down next time you enter the studio to work and just write down what is in youe mind - For instance, Are your thought: I’m so excited - I get to work on this new painting today! Or, OMG, how am I going to fix this painting? See the difference? When your throughts are creating a feeling of excitement, you will flow with that excitement. But if you are putting yourself down, or agonizing over details, your brain shuts down.
Metaphor Mindset - I love to think of my studio as if it were in a garret in Paris, or a Thames River warehouse, rather than a garage in Friday Harbor! When I can get my imagination going this way - put my music on, get my lighting right, get the SETUP right - it gets my brain creating the good chemicals. and Ripples out, I enjoy “conteplative gaps,” of time to process, read, think.
Disrupt Your Patterns - so between these first two ideas - manage your mind, and think in metaphors, You may see patterns rise. Our brains love pattern - in fact, of course, we paint and create in patterns - you may love lines, or circles, triangles or swirls. WHatever your visual patterns, our aptterns of thinking are SO important - If you notice that your thoughts laways turn to fear or judgement when you enter the studio - try to establish a different pattern - break it up - dirupt the pattern. If you always wear the same shirt to paint in, get a new one - go to a thrift store and buy a beautifuyl gown or wear a tux. Use a different format or paint on the floor or upsdie down. All of these things just help our brains break out. And break the ingrained patterns of negative thinking, self judegement and complacenty
In Your Studio
Since our studios are an extension of our brains - and hearts and souls, it makes sense that when I get started, I always want to putter, set things in place. So my first step for creating an atmosphere in my studio is to:
Love on your space - Rearrange, set up little dioramas, I have a comfortable chair to sit with mu coffee and do tarot as I look at my paintings.
Clarity of Purpose - Iwhen you do your setup, i love it when artists have different work spaces - for dry and wet projects, for different paper projects so they don’t mess up the other projects….
Take care of your tools - My dad was big on this one. He spent endless hours sharpening knives, wiping down shovels, organizing his tools - I guess it wore off on me - and since my tools are my livelihood - does that mean I should clean my brushes more? I’m always forgetting to clean my brushes and ruining brushes. I have a few friends who have incredibly clean well -organized, beautiful brushses - this is where I need to put some more etime into it. I’ll keep you posted.
And finally, from the brain to the studio to the business. How do we create an atmosphere we love in our business?
In Your Business
Have your own back - Having your own back means that as you learn, ad go down this road of business, you won’t be mean to yourself, you won’t beat yourself up and keep telling yourself your are not good at business - If you do have this thought - you might find that this thought isn’t serving you.
If you were to have a thought - a belief that you can paint on your wall today - what would it be? Please write it in the comments on the Show notes page or in a review of this episode - here’s my latest one. I have my own back because I am getting better at not scheduling too many things. I am coming to trust myself because I know that when I DO put something on my schedule, I will put in my best effort to follow through, despite the discomfort I feel. I’ll set a timer to sit down and do a job that I dread - like finances - For instance, with finances - thios should be the fun part, right? MOney - when you get paid, it should be fun! So I turn on music, get a strong cup of coffee, and set a timer for 25 minutes - I used ht pomodoro method. You’ll hear me talk about that a fair amount. I do the job. So I have my own back. If I schedule too many things one week and I find I can’t finish them, then I schedule fewer things next week, and don’t beat myself up about it. I have my own back. Amd this leads me to the next way you can create an atmosphere in. your business:
Constraint clarifies - When you have constraint, and narrow your focus or do one out of 10 ideas, then you can do that thing better. I know this may seem hard for artists - I like to see it as a Green Room - like in a play - I have SOOO many ideas - the ones that I send to the Green ROom are like Actors - they sit around, practiceing their lines, doing voice exercises ELeven Elevated Elephants, eating green emm&Ms, drinking Perrier. Whatever! I know they are there, and when they are ready - I will invite them to come on stage. But for now, I have just TWO things. Maybe one is back stage, getting really ready to come on stage, and one is ON stage - I’m focused on that idea, until it exits stage left, and the next idea is ready.
Like Dr. Horrible says - It’s not a PERFECT metaphor, but you get the idea. It creates a huge sense of relief in my when I realized that it was not My obligation to the world and to the Muse 0 to dcomplete EVERY idea she gave me.Baby Steps and Breakthroughs - In business, just liek in art - there will be hard slogs, and easier times. So I take one from Bob in What About Bob. Baby Steps! I have made this my mantra - and you can steal it, or make up your own - Baby Steps and Breakthroughs. We keep taking the baby steps and then sometimes, the breakthrough comes.
So today I’ve given you a few ways to Create an Atmosphere in your Art Life:
In Your Brain
Manage Your Mind
Metaphor Mindset
Mind Your Patterns
In Your Studio
Love on your space
Clarity of Purpose
Take care of your tools
In Your Business
Allow Discomfort
Baby Steps and Breakthroughs
Constraint Clarifies
I hope you have a great week!
