Can you create with what you have?

Each morning I explode out of bed like Evel Knievel with the belief that anything is possible. I’ve yet to be proven wrong, though, on occasion, I’ve misjudged the timeline and the distance.

“To be an artist is to believe in life.” – Henry Moore

At breakfast, I still believe anything’s possible. That’s because I’m an artist (and I don’t watch the news). I look forward to the start of every day. After a hearty bowl of oatmeal with raisins, I’m ready to jump fourteen Greyhound buses.  I’m never more alive than when I’m flying past my limitations. The act of creating is like guzzling Redbulls face-to-face with your new lover while riding a wheelie into an apocalyptic sunset.  It’s scary. It’s beautiful. It’s epic. That’s the 750cc air-cooled V-twin that drives me. The real success of an artist can only be defined by the love of what they are doing..

That’s a lot of horse-power.

For many of us, becoming an artist isn’t an intentional career move. Starting out, I wasn’t too focused on the career aspect. I started painting to get the ideas out of my head and it evolved into “fine art”. Some of my friends started painting to put something up on their walls, and then that evolved into “fine art”. Art is not about how much you can get, it’s about how much you can create with what you have. It’s an important distinction. Art is about asking the question “what is possible?“ And then, it’s about answering that question again, and again, and again in new ways with different answers.

Art is really about the act of feeling alive. Everything is art when you approach it with passion. Some artists are passionate about sales. Some artists are passionate about color. For others, it’s all about expression. Passion shows up as a meditation, it shows up in community and solitude. We are all unique in what we love. This is an image of art at its most luminous. A scratch-n-sniff rainbow of possibility. But I’m well aware that it’s not all rainbows and motorcycles.

This is where it gets hairy. You can believe, devoutly in your art, and in the creative process, but somedays you get sludge. Your colors are mud and your bike doesn’t clear the bus. Your love for what you are doing can begin to feel like quicksand. I have found myself teetering on the edge of that abyss quite a few times and it doesn’t feel good. It can feel a little dysfunctional.

But it also feels like life. Unpredictable, and ever-changing. And I love my life. Art is about discovery, innovation, rejection and frustration. It’s the whole package. So when we step into the studio and begin to paint, instead of looking for solutions in certainties, let’s make discoveries and open up possibilities. The solutions will come, but creativity is about risk and challenging ourselves to stick with it, even when it’s uncomfortable. Go for that 15th bus. You’re going to nail it.

When did your art make you feel uncomfortable?

When did your art make you feel alive?

What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken with your art?