Stepping away from art
Is an intense gaze as necessary as we think?
Michael mentioned to me over dinner the other night that while in class that day, he told his class to take a break, and none of the students budged. They just kept working.
This led us to analyze whether breaks are necessary because my first words were,
"It's good that they stayed put so they didn't break the flow,"
We both agreed it can be hard to find your way back "in," especially if the break is mismanaged.
If you talk to someone who makes you stressed or read something that makes you feel helpless, all these small movements can affect your energy and be distracting. We even remembered reading that you can fall out of the creative "flow state " by stepping away for as little as 8 minutes. Sigh, now I have to set a timer?!
We carried this conversation out over the next several days, commenting about how it can be challenging to leave the studio for extended periods, especially when it involves something not at all art-related. (Which ends up being just about everything in daily life.)
Upon that thought, I must remind myself, You are what you think. You are in charge of your beliefs.
If you think taking a break or stepping out of the studio makes it hard to get back "in," naturally, it will be more challenging. If you think it's a good thing, you deserve the break, or even if it is HELPFUL, then that's how it will be set up for you.
What if all your daily activities become informative? What if small breaks and also longer ones help you "gather" what you need to enable you to look at your work in a more informed and fresh way?
Every time I finish the day with a painting session, I snap a photo of the work's progress on my phone, and then, over a cup of hot coffee in the morning, I open up my phone and just sit with it as I catch up on my reading and journaling. I don't analyze or criticize; I just leave it open. I am allowing the work to communicate with me differently.
Stepping away can also take on different meanings.
You can ask yourself,
Are you stepping away from this singular piece of art?
Are you stepping away from this body of work?
Or are you stepping away from this idea as a whole?
When I returned from Los Angeles, I knew I did not want to step away from the body of work I was building before I left. I felt like I had much more to explore, and my hand was just getting to a loose enough place to express it.
Understanding that the ideas I had percolated were staying with me, I needed to frame it up for myself with the pieces I felt I had succeeded with before I left, letting my own work inform me as I created more. Since many of those pieces sold at the Fair, I printed images of them out and pinned them up next to my workstation in the studio. I then rounded out my mood board with ideas and "moods" informing my work for some time. Old and new, just how I like it.
I could write an entire article on the importance of focus. But as the last few weeks have played out, I am writing to make a case for you (and myself) on adjusting the intense gaze of focus by stepping away to help relax and tease new ideas into reality.
~Until next time, Monica
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Flow is such an interesting topic. Everything I do here at PC is done in bursts, or so it’s very rare that I get into a long, creative flow. I probably work an hour or so every morning and then a little bit again at night if I can fit it in. Maybe I do some of the writing at lunch time.
I have certainly been in that flow before, and it’s fantastic. And sure, you don’t want to get out of it. But IRL, it’s tougher to come by!
Great post Monica! It is such a balance of replenishing the "creative well" with small breaks and maintaining a flow after life interruptions. I agree, our perspective on breaks can be really informative and help create a positive frame of mind if viewed in a productive way. Thanks for sharing! xx