Creating Art Consistently
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I thought today would be another one of those where I got so caught up in other things, that I end up not having made enough time for my art.
However I remembered a podcast episode by Amie Mcnee from @inspiredtowrite on Instagram, that helped me today. She was discussing with her husband James Winestock, how Consistency is the Antidote to Hustle and that really resonated with me.
One of the things they talked about was how just showing up for 5/10 minutes everyday or however much time you have, is so important. It doesn't matter that your work is going slowly or that its not particularly good, the main thing is that you worked on it. If you show up and do it again tomorrow, then that consistency should turn into a wonderful positive habit that can only benefit you. What was great to hear as well was that this advice can be applied to any of the arts, whether you are a writer, painter, actor or musician. Thinking about it even more, this advice can be applied to anything that you want to do, any passion or hobby or positive change you want to make a habit of, especially if perfectionism often gets in the way.
So today I showed up. I'm not sure what I'll produce or make progress with, but I'm here and I'm trying to prioritise it despite how late in the day I think it is.
I have a large pile of unfinished artworks that I need to get through and one of my goals this year is to not start any new works until I've worked my way through some of my unfinished ones and then kind of alternate between the two. I'm hoping by the end of the year, I'll have more new work than unfinished work.
Above is my current pile of unfinished works that I keep in an old gift box and is about to really overflow.
Maybe curbing my habit of running after every new idea that pops into my head may be good for me and teach me how to finish what I start more consistently than before. I do think as artists we need to capture those ideas somewhere before they fade away, but I reckon I could use my sketchbook for capturing until I can revisit those ideas.
I don't know if this will work or whether having a pile of unfinished work is even a bad thing, but I'm keen to try different ways of working to shake things up a bit in my art practise and keep my well of creativity full.