Posts: Artist

gray concrete statue of woman

Permission to Create Freely

Seeing writer’s block from a different angle

Jan 10, 2024

I have to say, I don’t always feel like being “self-aware” when I sit down to write. Sometimes I just want the ideas and words to flow without having to go to a deeper place within me. But Victoria argues that making art involves the whole person, all of me. No shortcuts, no sidestepping. This is indeed both a blessing and a curse.

Creative Process Creativity Artist Art Writing

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Because the World Needs Beauty

Thoughts on creative work and why it matters

Jul 16, 2023

Create anyway. This seems to be a buzzword (or “buzzphrase” rather) at the moment, a phrase I’ve been hearing quite a bit in different creative circles. In fact, there is a book that just came out by that very name. The idea is as it sounds—no matter what is going on in your life, or in the world, go ahead and create beautiful things anyway, even if in the larger scheme of things, they’re not essential.

Creativity Creative Process Art Artist Persistence

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Called to Create

Art as a reflection of God’s character

May 14, 2023

Lately writing in and of itself has not felt like enough. In this day and age, it seems to be all about product. I feel an immense pressure to monetize my writing, to package it up into a beautiful box, market it, and sell it. Not just that, but to ensure it stands out among others in order to be valuable. The mere act of writing, of finishing a blog post and publishing it, seems to have lost meaning.

God Creative Process Art Artist Creativity

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The Alchemy of the Written Word

The sacred unity of writer and reader

Mar 11, 2023

I’ve been thinking a lot about “writer identity” lately. How we come to see ourselves as writers. What type of writers we think we are or are not. As much as I don’t want to be boxed in, I also understand that the whole point of branding and self-marketing is, by definition, putting ourselves into some type of recognizable box that readers can connect with.

Writing Artist Art Personal Growth Reflections

woman’s reflection in a puddle

The Reflection Behind the Blank Page

Resistance to doing the work and the courage to persist

Jul 05, 2022

The desk arrived, finally, after four months of waiting. My writing desk, as I call it. Beautiful rustic whitewash finish. I’d like to believe it was the desk not having been delivered yet that kept me from writing, but I know how untrue that is. I’d like to tell myself that I wasn’t writing because my “writing room” was not complete, what with the unfinished walls and all, multiple paint samples next to each other, none making the cut.

Creative Writing Creative Process Personal Development Artist

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The Gift and the Curse of the Artist’s Life

Mar 19, 2021

Sometimes the words don’t come. They stubbornly refuse to show up and be tied down. Perhaps they have better places to be, other writers to visit for the day. Even in the waiting, the silence, I have to trust the process. In the mundane act of holding still, there has to be a sense of conviction that no amount of stillness is ever wasted, if done with presence and purpose.

Artist Inspiration Creativity Self-Awareness Persistence

abstract illustration with an eye in the center

What Our Work Is Really About

Discovering our artistic subject

Jan 20, 2020

18° outside this Sunday evening. Slight headache. Trying to keep it at bay. Thinking about the chocolate chip cookie I’ll have a little later on. With milk. Candle lit on the kitchen counter. Dog is napping. Steven Pressfield’s book The Artist’s Journey sits next to me. In it he says that all artists have a “subject,” what he defines as thematic — “subject is deeper than topic.

Art Creativity Creative Process Artist

crumpled paper

I have nothing to say.

Thoughts on finding our message and the journey to get there

Jan 13, 2020

There are many self-defeating thoughts artists and creators have over the span of their art-making journey. This must be among the top two.

Writing Creativity Life Lessons Artist

black typewriter on table

Creating for Creating’s Sake

Would you keep making art if no one saw it?

Mar 05, 2019

I think the question all writers must ask themselves at some point in their writing journey is this: if no one read my work, would I still write? Would I still show up to the empty page and string words together for the mere pleasure of the act of writing itself? This defines the true artists from the ones doing it simply for profit, or fame, or some other external reward.

Writing Art Artist Motivation Creativity

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The Battle of Creative Resistance

Why it’s so hard to show up for your art

Jan 22, 2019

Let’s talk about resistance. Not the kind at the gym, but the creative type that artists all over the world experience and suffer through when initially faced with their calling to create. The one Steven Pressfield talks endlessly about in his writings. Let’s tackle that beast. Because it’s not talked about enough.

Creativity Art Artist Habits

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What To Do When You’ve Quit Your Creative Pursuit(s) Too Many Times

Oct 01, 2018

This is the quote I turn to when I want to write again but hesitate knowing all too well how often I’ve given it up. Or when I’m lacking creative inspiration because my muse hasn’t come around in a while. I remind myself why my endless attempts to start writing again matter. Because it’s way too easy to give up. To find something else to do.

Creativity Inspiration Dreams Artist Art

illustration of a young girl fishing in lake

Keep Chasing Your Muse

Nov 07, 2016

Creativity happens in the pause between these two moments: feeling sorry for yourself and feeling proud of what you’ve made. And these alternate pretty regularly in the cycle of a creative’s life. Take the 37 minutes prior to me starting this post. They were filled with self-pity, confusion, tears, frustration, and fear of never measuring up.

Writing Art Artist Creativity Inspiration

interior floor of room

On Writing: Filling the Empty Spaces

Sep 12, 2016

There is a reason most writers love coffee shops. It is the perfect place to people watch. And by nature, us writers are people watchers, observers, gazers. We are hoarders of subtlety and nuance. Of movement and emotion. Much of what shows up in our writing we have taken from our environment, from direct experience.

Writing Artist Creative Writing