Art in your Everyday

Smell those flowers and see the beauty in things around you. It may inspire some art!

Injecting art into my everyday is a huge personal challenge at present. Right now I’m trying to come up with a list of ideas to help me realize this goal.

1. Remember a little action often is better than no action at all! I have been wistful about all of the time “I used to have” to make my art. Those chunks of available time now feel fewer and further between. But something small every day or every other day moves me closer to completing a larger project.
2. Doodle. Some days I’m not sure what I want to do so I just doodle and sketch. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, doodling is a great skill to practice because it can help with ideation and thinking through projects you are working on or developing.
3. Read. While its not exactly making art, my reading choices can help me think about art and reflect on my practice, which will inform any art I do make when I have the time.
4. Play. I can be really bad about this. All of my work needs to be finished, feel finished, be with purpose. But often the best work and ideas can come from play. I’m doodling and doing small sketches, while trying hard to remove any judgement of the work from my mind. Play opens doors to amazing art!
5. Accept my time limitation. I have to accept my time is more limited and be grateful when I do squeeze in some art time in my day. Be grateful for what I did do, not what more I wish I could!
6. Allow time to disconnect. After my vacation, I realized I spend a lot of my free time feeling guilty or worrying about what else I should be doing. It’s so important to give yourself that down time! It’s okay to use your free time for things other than chores or projects. Slow down and smell the roses! Or here in Dubai, my favorite are Frangipangi. 🙂
7. Make time. In the new year my friend and I have scheduled art dates where we will take turns in our apartments treating it as a day in the studio where we work on art and our creative projects, period. If we dedicate one day per month to a longer time for our projects, maybe with all of my little actions every day I can really use that time well and CREATE!!
8. Take photos everywhere. I don’t always bring my camera with me but I do have an iPhone. I take photos everywhere I see something that makes me smile or I think its beautiful; the image could be a great creative resource later. I also think its good practice to be looking at life in an artful way.
9. Find competitions. Deadlines are not the bane of an artist’s existence, they help us create a framework and structure in which to work. They can challenge us to push further or think differently about our work and how we make art. Even if you don’t finish in time, working on idea development and sketching out your ideas is great artist practice.
10. Find people who make art too. It’s really important to work with others. I just watched the PBS Documentary on Andy Warhol. And it made me realize how much of his work was completely determined and fed to him through others. People gave him his inspiration. Friends would suggest ideas that he could then turn into his own. We have to share in our process because that makes us stronger and more informed in our artist production.

One of my photos from my car sunroof while I was waiting at a stoplight on my drive home. Look at that sky! I would have missed out without my iPhone.

BE COURAGEOUSLY CREATIVE: Do you have suggestions for incorporating art into your everyday? Big or small, what is a strategy you use?