By: Luke Holden
To begin, I’d like to recognize that I’m not a psychology expert (nor do I aspire to be), but I do feel I have some experiential knowledge to share about the mind in relationship to the artistic process.
We are all our worst critics. Inside of us there is a room of people giving their opinions of our actions. Even the sanest among us experience these often counter productive and contradictory inner dialogs. Your mother and father are in there, your closest friends, mentors, favorite writers and song lyrics. All these voices seek to be heard by the many versions of yourself. Artists often describe this internal dialog as a negotiation with someone else within them, like a wild animal you’d like to cuddle and train, if only you could manage to get it out of the tree is hiding in. Sometimes the creative animal must be coaxed down with sweets, other times it takes a fiery pitchfork. Sometimes what it needs is time, other times a strong push.
There is some solace to be taken from the knowledge of a shared process. It’s comforting to know that even the most prolific and “successful” artists , regardless of how that is measured, experience these internal collaborators
I ask you, our community artists and open-minded readers who hold an interest in the passionate pursuit of creative expression to know that you’re not alone in the struggle to create. It’s your desire to share what’s inside that makes you good enough to keep pushing and loving yourself. The world is big enough for you so be kind and patient with yourself, start with understanding and compassion for your own internal voices. But when the candy doesn’t work, don’t hesitate to get the fiery pitchfork out and START. That is often the best way to get the energy moving in this magnificent process of creation.
For more about this topic see:
- Henri Matisse “Notes of a painter” – http://www.mariabuszek.com/kcai/Expressionism/Readings/MtsseNotes.pdf
