“Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale ’til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
What Emerson touches on in that quote is amazingly profound. For artists, it not only offers encouragement, it shows us our responsibility to our art. This article is not about PR, or marketing, or promoting, it’s about the act of creation, about making your art.
Only Fitzgerald could have created Gatsby, or Edith Wharton Ethan Frome, or Rembrandt the Night Watch, or Miles Davis Sketches of Spain, or…you get my drift here. You can keep that list going with all of the artists who have somehow touched your life. If they hadn’t done perceived and done their work, your life and your world would be the poorer for it.
Reading fiction is one of my greatest pleasures and I wonder what my life and world view would be if the novels I’ve read through my life had not been written. My life would be very different indeed.
And the same is true with your work. What you do or don’t create is going to impact (or not) people you’ll never meet, never know. Your art could be the magic that touches them, speaks to them, transforms them.
This is why as artists it’s so important to acknowledge and then put to rest all of the issues, judgments and barriers that come at us. You know the ones.
I can’t do my art because:
It’s a waste of time.
It’s not realistic.
I need to grow up.
I can never support myself through your art.
I’ll be criticized.
I’ll be judged.
No one will like it.
No fine art gallery will host it.
I don’t have time.
I won’t know what to do with it once I create it.
And that list is just for starters. I’m sure you could build on it.
Actually writing out a why-you-can’t-do-your-art list is a useful exercise.
So, do it.
Write out all of the reasons you can’t, won’t or shouldn’t create. Now make a separate list of all the reasons that hold you back from creating. Include everything from procrastination, to time management (or lack of it) or being such a harsh self-critic that you won’t get out of your way and let yourself create.
There are dozens of reasons that you can come up with explaining why you can’t, don’t shouldn’t, or won’t do your art. Every artist has to battle with his or her own demon list, but most of us share many of the same ones.
Alternatively, there are also a list of reason why creating your art is so important and why you can’t afford not to create. As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to why to practice your art, Emerson hit on the most important reason of all.
Only you can create the art you create.
Give that some time.
Let that sink in.
That’s actually pretty amazing.
No other person or creature on earth can write the stories, paint the paintings, create the songs or make the films that you can. If you don’t do it, the world will never see, read or hear it. It’s that simple.
And what, if, as Emerson says, your creation is waiting for you to set it free? What if it’s waiting for you to actually bring it to life?
Now there’s a responsibility. But a wonderful one.
Read aloud the lists of why you can’t or won’t practice your art.
Good.
Now burn them.
Exorcise them.
Let them go.
And
Create.
Copyright © Mora Communications 2014