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Hello everyone, Wherever you are in the world…thank you for subscribing and for being a part of my online artist community. I hope these newsletters offer you some inspiration and support for your artists mindset. When we take care of our inner space – by attending to our needs and honouring our truth – our outer space reflects that level of care and compassion, and our art-making responds in kind. In my most recent blog post I unpack a very common concern faced by many of the artists I work with – how to use influence to support your authentic expression. We find inspiration all around us, and often in other artists’ work. Knowing how to harness this inspiration and make it your own is key. I hope this post is helpful for you and offers you some areas to reflect on as you consider this for yourself. 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. My 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course continues to offer artists insights and tools to cultivate a dedicated and sustainable sketchbook practice – a complement to any art practice. If you’re curious to know more about the course, please visit my information page with all the details. It is a very affordable, content rich course, always available on my website, and you can start anytime. Find out more HERE. Further along in this newsletter, you’ll also find some information about the next release of my signature program, The Artist’s Mindset. I’m so excited to be offering this live online group coaching program again this year, and I hope you’ll take a look to see if my program might be a good fit for you. We start on September 9th, and I hope you’ll join me! Just a note to let you know I will be sending a few more emails than usual to my mailing list as I offer this program to my Insight Creative Subscribers, who always receive first opportunity to register. Please know that this won’t last long and I only do this once a year. I appreciate and value your subscription…thank you in advance for your patience as I share the details about The Artist’s Mindset Program. 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 a link to find previous issues of this newsletter – full of additional resources for you!
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It’s claimed that Pablo Picasso said “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” There is great wisdom in this sharing, regardless of whether Picasso actually said it or not. So much so that the writer Austin Kleon fashioned a wonderful little book called ‘Steal Like an Artist’ on this concept and helped to broaden the understanding of what Picasso may have meant by this quote. Being creative means finding a new undiscovered path, perhaps something that has never been done or seen before. As artists and creators we want our expression to communicate our unique voice and sensibilities. This feels essential for us, and is a deep longing, a driver and a worthy pursuit. For many artists this feeling of wanting to create work from an authentic place can become a preoccupation and can get in the way of utilizing art history, influence, and the broad scope of teachers and guides available to us. But every artist begins to understand who they are as a creative by learning their craft and building on all that is available to them, and all that has come before. We are immersed in art history, and in recent years, social media has immersed us in an endless array of creative work by other artists. We can’t help but look, compare, and feel the powerful role of influence. So how do we harness this influence for our own artistic development? How do we remain clear on what is ours and what we’re taking that goes beyond that influence and treads into the territory of plagiarism? How do we respect the work of others while learning from them? The quickest, most concise answer is to take what has inspired us and make it our own. But let's break this down a bit further to understand the complexity of influence and how we can utilize it for our benefit, while protecting and honouring the creative process of others. It’s essential that we bring our integrity to the process. We can “steal like an artist,” but we shouldn’t take what is not ours to take.
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INSPIRATION FOR YOUR ARTIST’S MINDSET
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STUDIO VLOG : ARTIST MARTIN FINNIN “I have been locked out by my oil paintings,” says artist Martin Finnin. He had been working on these two large oil paintings for months and months, trying to finish them, and then became suddenly blocked and unable to make his idea to complete them work. Haven’t we all been there? The final stages of a painting are always the most risky for us and many of us can get stalled as we crumble under the pressure to add that last necessary detail or passage of paint that the painting needs to feel complete. What I love about these charming studio vlogs by Martin is his sincerity in sharing his creative process and the inherent challenges that come with art-making. As an accomplished and seasoned artist he knows this dance well, and just what to do when he’s shut out of his work – he keeps moving, but somewhere else. He knows that engagement, of any kind, eventually leads us back to working. You can watch another instalment of his studio vlog HERE, where he makes bold moves to cover up work that just isn’t going in the direction he wants.
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SELF COMPASSION : KRISTEN NEFF One of the foundational teachings that I offer my clients and program participants is the practice of mindfulness and self-compassion to support and nurture our artist’s mindset. Much of my understanding about the importance of this practice, and its transformative aspects, came through the teachings of Kristen Neff, an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Her life’s work has been to share the value of self-compassion in our lives, and has many free resources available on this topic, along with books and guided meditations on her website, which you can find HERE. As artists we can be really hard on ourselves, as we struggle with the challenges that naturally arrive through art-making. From perfectionism to self-sabotage, critical voices to avoidance and fear, many of these barriers to our creative expression can be settled when we practice self-compassion. In this TEDX Talk, Kristen breaks down what self-compassion is and the science behind it. She explains that there are three core components: Treating ourselves with kindness, just as we would a dear friend. Acknowledging our common humanity and that imperfection and suffering is a natural part of the human experience and something we all share. And, lastly, that being present through the practice of mindfulness allows us to notice our suffering and respond to it with compassion.
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MAKE MISTAKES : ABANDON YOUR PERFECT LIFE : GREEN RENAISSANCE “The more you fail, the more you succeed. It is only when everything is lost, and instead of giving up you go on, that you experience the momentary prospect of some slight progress. Suddenly you have the feeling, be it an illusion or not, that something new has opened up.” We are beautiful in our brokenness is the overarching message that artist and potter Margy Malan shares in this video that reminds us of the value of failure and how it forms our resiliency and ability to grow and risk. Artists need to have a healthy relationship with failure, reframing it and inviting it into their creative practice. I don’t think we can hear this enough.
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THE ARTIST’S MINDSET : GROUP COACHING PROGRAM My signature online program, The Artist’s Mindset : Group Coaching Program, is being offered once again this September, and I can hardly wait to get started! This program is the highlight of my year and allows me to work with many more artists than I can through individual coaching sessions. This 12-week Online Group Coaching Program focuses exclusively on how to develop a healthy creative mindset that will support your art-making process and allow you to connect deeply with your inner voice and unique authentic expression. The program brings the work I do with my 1 to 1 coaching clients directly to you, in your home or workspace. Through live coaching sessions, video tutorials, experiential assignments and inner explorations, you’ll unlock your creative expression and engage with your art at a much deeper and authentic level, allowing you to easily move past creative blocks and navigate the challenges that artists often face when making their art. As a subscriber you’ll have access to early registration for this program, which opens on August 21st, and we’ll start together on September 9th. The Artist’s Mindset program is only offered once a year and enrolment is limited to ensure the very best experience for the participating artists. I look forward to sharing more about this program in the coming weeks as I open up registration. You’ll find the details about the program and what it offers HERE. If you know of an artist that might want to be notified when registration opens, please forward this newsletter to them. You can also email me at info@insightcreative.ca with your questions or for more info.
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THE ARTISTS MINDSET : INTERVIEW WITH ROBIN OLSEN Please enjoy this wonderful interview that I did with artist, Robin Olsen, about her experience with The Artist’s Mindset : Group Coaching Program. Robin shares how she came to recognize that without a mindset that supported her art-making she couldn't fully show up in her work. This interview is filled with gems of wisdom around how developing and nurturing our mindset skills, through the art of asking good questions, opens us up to take risks and make more authentic work. If you’re considering if this program would be a good fit for you, this interview may offer you some insights into what you can expect and how it can make a difference to your art practice. Thanks for watching, and HUGE thanks to Robin for chatting with me!
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For new subscribers – please enjoy these previous issues of my monthly newsletter. Thank you for subscribing!
Links to additional back issues can be found on the right sidebar of my blog HERE
If you know of any artists that could benefit from these monthly newsletters and/or my 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course, please share this email with them and invite them to have a look. They’ll receive my free PDF download on ‘How to Make a Creativity Journal’ when they do.
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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
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