Following Joy
I was just reading an email by Louise Fletcher Art (www.louisefletcherart.com). And I will admit that I actually found it fascinating. She was talking about the fact that as an artist (I will add creative person) you have to follow your joy. I will admit she did also include creatives. Fact is, she is right!
Louise likes to go to antique shops and quite frankly I can understand why. I would love to go to one and see all the old stuff. I watch programmes where they have or use old things because I love them, too. One day I would seriously love to go to an antique shop and just spend time browsing or visit an auction or something like that. Long term project….and FUN!
Anyway, while she was in the shop, she saw that most of the paintings were lifeless and boring. And she started to wonder why. Then she saw a picture of a cat which although was drawn badly, you could see the joy in the picture. Even though there had been many cross outs and redrawing, the artist had obviously had experienced joy while painting it.
When you’re a creative person you have a particular joy in the creative process. And it is AMAZING when it comes and what you do with it. I will admit that I am now finding great joy in writing at the moment. A suggestion was made to me yesterday by a friend and I thought about it and then realised that if I followed the suggestion, I wouldn’t be able to follow my joy in the blogposts I am writing. So I decided not to go with it.
The good thing is my friend made the suggestion because she thought it would help me. But I have come to realise that any restraint on my writing means that it just dries up, bit by bit. And that is not what she intended or meant for me. And when people make suggestions about your creative process, it’s a good idea to really think about it so that you can decide if it will help you follow your joy or not. And if the answer is negative, do it! Inspiration is a tricky beastie and you need to be able to follow where it takes you.
And, as you have seen, my inspiration at the moment is almost overwhelming in the weight of blogposts I have been writing. It’s not just that I want to be awkward or difficult, but when inspiration strikes, ignore it at your peril. I love the work I do and the feeling that I am free to do so. When you follow the joy of inspiration you discover you go further than you dreamed was possible. You learn more and you develop skills you never thought were possible.
So when you discover the creative side in yourself, it’s good NOT to try to harness it, but see where it takes you. You’re going to find a love for it that you didn’t even realise you had and when you create something, the satisfaction is off the scale. So be encouraged and go and create in the way that YOU find best. My way of creating isn’t yours and vice versa. But following the joy (no matter the discipline) is the same.