ART AND ADAPTATION

Hello everyone…and a warm welcome to new subscribers.

Thank you for being here, reading and enjoying this content – that I created just for you. In this busy, noisy, and often complex world, our art-making can be an oasis for us. It can offer us an escape from the tensions, the uncertainties, and bring us into the present moment.

In this month’s blog I am considering how what we notice in the world around us and in our art itself informs our creative vision and is the building blocks of our artist’s voice. This, along with a focus on process over outcome, helps us to develop our creative work.

In this newsletter I am also updating you – my subscribers – on my offerings for this fall, including The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course. Scroll down for the details and to learn more.

This is me adapting to what has arrived for me this year and being willing to accept change. And, truthfully, this hasn’t always been easy for me to do. Thankfully, I have my art-making to teach me these very essential mindset skills, which help me to meet myself with compassion as I pivot and adjust.

And just a reminder that my monthly blog post is also offered as an audio recording, allowing you to listen rather than read. To listen to the recording just click on the READ MORE OR LISTEN button in the ‘FROM THE BLOG’ section of this newsletter and you’ll find the MP3 file on my website at the bottom of my written post.

If you have any feedback for me, I always love hearing from you. Thank you for reading and sharing this newsletter…it truly is appreciated.

PS: For those of you that are new subscribers I have included some links to previous issues of this newsletter – full of additional resources for you!

FROM THE BLOG

DETAILS AND THE BIG PICTURE

It is in the details where I find information about what is important to me. As I make my work I notice the areas that really draw me in, usually taking a photo to crop that section from the bigger painting. I know that this selective composing is information about what I am seeking in my work. I’m paying attention to what I am noticing and asking myself what is occurring here and how I can take that further into the overall painting. I’m studying relationships and interactions – deep looking.

One of the opportunities this presents for me, which in the past actually became a challenge, is to notice these details and not become attached to them. While they provide useful information for me, and are a source of inspiration and a connection to my vision for my work, they may not remain in the piece I am in process with, simply because they no longer contribute to the whole of that piece.

I really noticed the benefit of capturing these details when I was doing my 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge in the spring of 2020. As I photographed the work each day to share with the community of artists that were joining me in this challenge, I would also take several detail shots to include. I noticed that I was often more engaged with these found compositions than with the page as a whole. So I began to ask myself questions about what I was responding to and why. The next day’s work would be informed by that investigation and I would get closer to what I was discovering through this deeper inquiry I was making – building on what has come before through observation and assimilation.

In art-making we are often in pursuit of something – a vision, a feeling, an evocation of something intangible. This is particularly true in abstraction, where the subject matter is not drawn from the external world in the way it might if we were working representationally. As my mentor, artist Bill Porteous often says, “If representational painting is explicit description, then abstraction is implicit suggestion.” In abstraction our subject matter is not directly related to a person, place or thing, but rather an internalized awareness of these externals, reinterpreted into form, colour, line – all evoking meaning for us as we choose our own way of expressing this nebulous space. Is it any wonder we find it challenging to know a path forward with our work, or how to determine it is finished?

What helps us to find the solid ground to meet this place? What can we offer ourselves as artists that can support the deep dive we often take as we bring forward our internalized vision for our work?

INSPIRATION FOR YOUR ARTIST’S MINDSET

IN THE ARTIST’S STUDIO : SAM HEWITT

Figurative painter Sam Hewitt candidly shares some of the internal workings of his creative process as he develops his paintings, which he describes as being all about people and their shadows. He describes how vulnerability is necessary, along with allowing our impulses to have a voice.

In this second short video, Sam Hewitt – The Artist Inspired by HDR, you’ll get a further glimpse into how photography plays a role in his process. He explains how the work he does in other mediums informs his painting.

SHANTELL MARTIN : HOW DRAWING CAN SET YOU FREE

Who are you? This powerful question led artist Shantell Martin to follow her pen and eventually find her own place in the New York art scene. She found freedom in being herself and trusting her heart.

This visual TED talk will inspire you to follow where you are being led through your art-making. Shantell invites us to pick up a pen, see where it takes you, and to open yourself up to truly seeing the world around you.

NPR : HERE’S HOW MAKING ART HELPS YOUR BRAIN

Many of us know instinctively that art-making is essential to our wellbeing. We just feel better when we’re creating. And, sometimes, it can be a struggle getting to our creative work. Busy schedules, lack of inspiration, and overcoming our resistance can get in the way all too often. It can be strangely unsettling that something we love to do can be so hard to get to at times.

This NPR article, recently shared in another newsletter I subscribe to, intrigued me enough to re-share it here. It outlines what is actually happening to our brains and bodies when we make art. When we can recognize that art-making serves as a valuable tool towards good physical and mental health, perhaps we can be more inspired to carve out the time to just engage with some creative play, without the pressure of having to “make” anything.

If you were to make a list of all the reasons why you want to make your art, this article offers you a few more important reasons to add to that list, especially as we face these challenging times.

INSIGHT CREATIVE : UPDATES AND OFFERINGS : FALL 2021

Since I began offering 1 to 1 Creativity Coaching to individuals, I recognized the limitations of time and how that impacts my ability to serve those that need help and support for their creative work. And I am passionate about helping artists to make their work and find more peace in the process.

This is why I started the The Artist’s Mindset Group Coaching Program – to reach more artists and leverage the benefit of a group learning environment. We learn so much from each other.

I was able to offer this Program in the spring of 2019 and 2020, but this year so much has changed for me that I am not able to offer the Program this fall as I had hoped. Between moving, renovations, and family health issues, I have made the tough decision to delay the launch of this intensive 12-week Group Coaching Program until next year. I will always be dedicated to providing the very best support to those that join me for this program, so I trust this is the right decision.

But what I am pleased to share with you today is that I do have two offerings coming out this fall – one of which I am able to tell you more about.

In September I am launching The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course. This is a self-directed online course based on my experience with running the 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge last year, which I hosted through Instagram and Facebook and with many of you joining me.

I gained so much from doing this challenge and unpacking all of its gifts, that I had thought I’d create a book to capture it all. But as I began to write it I realized that an online course could offer so much more, really deepening the experience though the quality of the content I could include.

The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course will be an affordable, but content rich course that guides you through developing a consistent and personal sketchbook practice to enhance your art-making and mindset skills. With daily prompts, reflective questions for gaining further insights, and pre-recorded video sessions, there will be tons of support for artists as they nurture and connect with their artist's mindset.

I’m really excited about this offering and it will be available on my website in late September. Being a stand alone, self-guided course it can be accessed at any time and the content is always available.

As always my subscribers will be the first to know about its launch and how to find out all the details.

I am so looking forward to sharing this content with you very soon!

PAST ISSUES OF THIS NEWSLETTER

For new subscribers – please enjoy these previous issues of my monthly newsletter. Thank you for subscribing!

May/June 2021
March/April 2021
February 2021
January 2021
November/December 2020

Links to additional back issues can be found on my website HERE

If you know of any Artists that could benefit from these monthly newsletters, please share and invite them to subscribe. They’ll receive my free PDF download on ‘How to Make a Creativity Journal’ when they do.

STRONGER TOGETHER

Art-making is such a personal experience, always calling us forth and asking us to be more of ourselves, to trust more deeply and to show up for the work.

When we develop a healthy and resilient attitude towards the struggles we may be facing, we feel more balanced and set ourselves up for success.

I hope this newsletter gives you some tools to help guide yourself towards more trust and awareness around your creative process.

Thanks for being here…wishing you abundant creativity today and every day!
Warmly,
Cheryl Taves
info@insightcreative.ca
h: 250.360.1453
c: 250.818.3239