Heartsong Studio

Fresh Horses -

Do you keep making things the same old way ? 
If you’d like to turn humdrum into humming, and become
realer, wiser, and deeper as well, check out this article.

“Turning humdrum into humming”

Have you begun to feel that your work is pretty mediocre ? When you start on a new work, do you have a finished picture in mind for how it should look ? Do you set about the same procedure every time ?

This methodical approach is predictable, relatively risk free and safe, but also in time, can become boring as wet cardboard.

Are you ready for more excitement ? Perhaps a little adventure to change from humdrum to humming

Most people have had to drive to work, at one time or another. You usually take the same route every day. Even if you change the route a bit, it still gets you there at the appointed time.

Driving to work is about as predictable and humdrum as it gets. Sometimes your mind runs over something that happened outside work, but mostly you think about what’s happening at work today. The goal’s the thing. Pretty predictable. Just how you’ve been painting with the goal foremost in mind, and your intellect at the wheel.

Do people still take Sunday drives ? It used to be an adventure, in the days before gas prices skyrocketed. You’d jump in the car, and off you’d go with no destination in mind, , other than to discover what’s there you’ve never noticed before. . . a bird’s nest, a hidden beach, a shady path that beckons, an old horse leaning on a fence.

When you’d allowed yourself to follow all the prompts of your curiosity, you returned home refreshed, and often with a new lease on life.

You could use this model of the Sunday drive with your art. How ?

Don’t make art. 

That’s right, don’t make art.

Put aside your usual routine. Get a-hold of some cheap paper or a recycled canvas. Most importantly, forget about any goal or preconceived image. Put the idea of an end product right out of your mind.  

Isn’t that hard to do ?

Here’s a secret. . . It is hard to do, but only at first. It’s only getting started that’s different. But once you’re started, you’ll be surprised at how much fun it is. Because you’re not directing the action with your eyes and mind.

Get Lost. 

Let your paintbrush, chalk or pencil take you on a Sunday drive. Relinquish all control over to your heart. Be a back seat observer.

Suspend all judgment. For a l-o-n-g time, and even afterwards. Possibly forever.  

This is not you illustrating a Sunday drive ! ! !

Instead of focusing on achieving a finished product, keep your mind out of gear. The mind is out of its depth in understanding the unknown. It simply can’t do it.

So, give your mind a job, then it won’t feel antsy. Like you’d give your kids in the back seat a puzzle while you were driving. Your mind’s job is to be a neutral observer. Your hand and heart will direct the show.

* Let your mind be willing to be surprised by what colours your heart chooses today. You may stumble into colours that clash, or colours you hate may insist on being there. Who knows they might find new friends alongside colours you prefer.

* If you normally work fast, try slowing down to a snail’s pace for awhile. If you usually work rather slowly, try speeding up beyond your usual comfort level. Push and pull your pace boundaries.

* If you prefer your right hand, let your left hand have a turn. And, once your non-dominant hand is into the action, dare to let both hands have a go together ! Break all the rules of propriety.

Along the way, you might notice a process which is new for you. You might find you rather enjoy a new colour palette or texture. There might be a feel to the overall rhythm which embodies your individuality in a unique way.

When you’re all spent, all done, keep judgment suspended, and make no conclusions. Not yet. Then —

Try holding it up to a mirror, up close and at a distance.

Upside down and sideways.

Keep witnessing.

Tack it up at the end of a long hall, or in a narrow hall so you have to brush your nose on it to pass.

Show it to your dog or cat.

But above all — DON’T THROW IT AWAY ! You’re not done with it yet.

If you’ve managed to keep your ego mind out of the process this far, please congratulate yourself !

The next day or week or month, you could be surprised at what memories come up from your Sunday drive. What connections are there which you didn’t know you’d be looking for ?

And what you might discover, hidden there, possibly, might be a gentle little sign from deep within your heart. If you decide to discard the whole thing, you’ll squash this tender thing flat as a bug.

Sheltering a newly emerging facet of yourself is delicate, tender work, like nurturing a newly hatched egg.

The process of pushing boundaries challenges your sense of safety. It opens doors that have been shut on facets of your real self for a long time. It’s like pulling off bandaids, or scabs to let the air into old wounds, and let them heal cleanly.

 Patiently allow yourself to trust your heart, that step by step you can heal, and become even realer, wiser, deeper as you continue on your path of creative exploration.

Is it art ?

Could be it is, but chances are it won’t be “art”. But then remember that wasn’t your goal.

Could be it’s very beautiful too.

It is what it is.

SO WHAT IS IT ?

A record of a personal journey you undertook, a process you experienced, that one time.

Depending on how well you managed to turn over controls to your hands and heart, this could be a precious, one time only record.  You might be tempted to “fix” it later, to change the end result, in the light of your very particular intellect/ego.

Or, you might decide to honour your tender, tentative venture. I hope you will honour it, whatever you do. 

You can always put away your Sunday car and drive to work on Monday as usual. If you want the comfort of safety, and sameness. And no one needs to know what you did in that stolen hour. No one needs be any the wiser.

Except, you are wiser. You’ll have observed some things about your deeper self, and you can’t give it back.

Instead of judging it, accept it, appreciate it, run with it, enjoy it.

It’s you in all your perfection.

And I’ll bet you anything, it isn’t humdrum.

 

Liked the article ? Disturbed by it ? Drop me a line.

 

Celeste Varley
“Oh ! for a horse with wings.” Shakespeare
Let our hearts sing and take flight !
http://www.heartsongstudio.com

                                                        

                            

             

      

   

 

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Fresh Horses -

Do you believe that talent is something you’re either born with or not ?  Check out this article, as it shows you’re already half right. 

“What if I have no talent?”

What is talent, anyway ?

Is it something you’re born with . . . or not ? One dictionary says: “A mental or physical aptitude; specific natural or acquired ability….”

A friend told me recently :”I learned to be so embarrassed by my efforts to draw or paint when young that I stopped doing it long ago.”

Another wrote :”There is so much fear that comes up for me at the thought of making art , because I had absolutely no art education at all.”

Yet another said : “Whenever we had art at school, the teacher told me to do embroidery instead.”

My first reaction was — That’s criminal !

Do you know anybody who didn’t acquire the natural ability (talent) to speak ?

Image making is as natural a human activity as speaking.

Think of prehistoric cave paintings, as fresh and lively as any drawings today. Image making and speech are both necessities to communicate with the world. Both are ways to touch, explore, and create the world.

Both verbal and visual language develop very early in life. Just as verbal language is a generic function of the human brain, so is visual thinking an organic function. All normally functioning people, having once learned to speak, go on speaking the rest of their lives. Yet, very few people continue making images.

—What happened to so many people ?

It seems one factor must be how we’ve been taught to make images as children ; to be embarrassed for not “measuring up”. (Measuring up to what ? According to who’s measure ?) In cases where we have learned to be inept and robbed of our own visual expressions, is it any wonder that we simply stop doing it at all ?

Only our dreaming minds keep making images all our lives, though we erase them on awakening.

You may be surprised to know that even “educated” and successful artists have varying amounts of fear about such things as: What is the purpose of art ? Where do you begin ? How do I know if it’s good enough ? Does this look like anything ? How can I paint like Monet ? Will anyone want to look at this ? What is my style ? What should I do next ?

—The good news is that these losses can be regained . These talents are only dormant.

Though many of us have been deprived of a significant and natural means of expression to some degree, there is hope.

—Keys to reclaiming your natural visual expression:

First, be grateful for having listened to your heart’s longing, even to have read this far, and in many cases to be already involved in some form of image making in spite of your beliefs about lacking talent. We have such fears.

Your heart is your connection to regaining your lost birthright. Above anyone else’s knowledge, your heart knows best what your visual language talents are. Learn to trust it.

* Play. Try this : Combine stuff — any stuff such as torn paper, scraps of wood, bits of cloth or string. Drop all your expectations of making any particular thing. Once upon a time, when we were very young, every moment of our day was filled with novel events and combinations of things. We toyed, we played, we broke things, we put things in irreverent places.

If we have lost our ability to play, we have lost the cutting edge of our creativity. So, when it’s safe, and there aren’t any other adults around, play !

Getting to the heart of the matter:Our thinking minds are enormously powerful; a great gift, but a double-edged sword. The mind tends to overshadow the heart so much that it may take time to develop a relationship with your heart.

Our thinking minds are enormously powerful; a great gift, but a double-edged sword. The mind tends to overshadow the heart so much that it may take time to develop a relationship with your heart.

Letting go our hold on beliefs, expectations, and preoccupation with the end product is difficult to do alone, without a safe, supportive environment. In order to leap a chasm, you need to know that it’s perfectly safe, but leap you must if you are to discover what seems to be missing.

Liked the article ? Hated it ? Questions ?

Celeste Varley
“Oh ! for a horse with wings.” Shakespeare
Let our hearts sing and take flight !
http://www.heartsongstudio.com

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