Do You Trust Your Own Creative Process?
I’ve been an oil painter for about 8 years. And while I don’t consider myself someone who can draw, I am able to use paint to create the shapes needed to make a painting come alive.
Yet, I’ve always longed to be able to sit down and sketch something from my own mind. My natural love for sketching got squelched in third grade when my science teacher sent me into the corner as punishment for laughing. I’d drawn some bold, bodacious, bawdy pictures of three movie stars in my art class and brought them with me into Science. The boys gathered around me and we were all laughing. That’s when the teacher’s need to control us hit the fan and I ended up languishing in the corner on a stool my paintings rolled up on her desk.
For whatever psychological reason, that incident interrupted my ability to draw confidently from my own mind. I never quite got my stride back after her uncalled for punishment.
About a month ago, I decided to give drawing a serious try. I want to do several things with my business that will require me to be able to draw with confidence. I wanted to learn what to see and what to ignore and then take the results and craft it into something new and inspirational.
I bought a great book to assist me on this adventure called Expressive Figure Drawing. It’s more than a book; it’s a series of exercises in learning to see what we want to see and not what we’ve been taught to see. The principles can be applied to anything in life.
Author Bill Buchman tells the reader to “trust the process” and that “the process will make the drawing.” What’s important is to develop your own process, the one that works for you, the one that has meaning for you.
We’re taught at an early age not to trust our own process, not to trust ourselves, and to instead trust some generic unprocess that has nothing to do with who we are or what we feel.
It’s not that I couldn’t draw, I just couldn’t trust myself to let go enough to draw. I’m happy to report that after doing a lot of the letting go/gesturing-type exercises I already feel more confident and free in my drawing.
Bill also says to look for the spirit in what you are drawing and use line and shape to express that aliveness. I’m learning to draw an idea or emotion – not a thing. I’m learning to express my feelings through the drawing. It doesn’t have to be anatomically correct – that’s one of those myths.
It’s not about the product, it’s about the process. Decide before you start what you want to accomplish in terms of feelings. What do you want your viewer to feel?
I experienced a lot of angst when attempting to draw through the post-sit-in-the-corner years because I kept trying to force something onto the page that didn’t even exist, some emotional-less product. It corresponds well with what I’m trying to accomplish with my Muse life shops – to encourage folks to unlearn what you have learned and gravitate toward whatever makes you feel alive and the hell with those who want you to go through life like a zombie.
I’d love to hear about your own creative processes. What works for you?
Muse thx, G.
p.s. check out my first inspirational offering …
RSS
Giulietta, I love this! The first thing that jumped out for me is how you busted the false idea of perfection around your drawing.
I saw something similar when I was a practicing psychotherapist, when clients would compare their lives to some idealized life – without looking closely enough to see that the idealized life wasn’t the way they thought it was.
I’m an art lover and have noticed what you mentioned here about figure drawing not needing to be anatomically correct – many of my favorite paintings include figures who are “off” in some way-not photographically perfect.
The book you mention here sounds like it’d make a great Part II to the Betty Edwards book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain – I’m going to look for it even though I don’t draw – seems like any kind of creative stretching is rewarding.
I’m thinking that what you wrote would apply to writing as well. And what you wrote about how we’re trained – oh! so true, sadly! Great post – it’s sure got me thinking.
Hi Karen,
Fun to see you here again!
The book is worth reading even if you never intend to draw – it had a gaggle of “aha” moments in it.
Yes, writing applies too. Good to point that out.
I’m convinced a lot of the literature greats couldn’t even get published today because they broke a lot of rules that now exist today.
It feels like we’re more perfection-bound than ever. It’s such a societal farce! I know that a lot of parents say their children’s free-flowing art styles got decimated in school.
Thanks! G.
Giulietta,
Really enjoyed your story about recapturing your love of drawing after the childhood incident. It’s wonderful that you found a book that guided you to draw an idea or an emotion, not a thing. Sounds like that was just what you needed to hear! And I can see parallels for writers in that process.
I’ve been in an intense creative phase with my latest screenplay for the past month but now I’ve reached a point where I feel stale. So I’m off to do something else today while I wait for my creative juices to regenerate. I have been trusting my own process and it feels glorious to stretch out inside that place within me.
~ Milli
P.S. Loved your “Let Go And Enjoy The Ride” notepad!
Hi Milli,
So many friends are writing screenplays. Sounds delicious. Congrats for trusting your creative process and knowing that to unstale yourself you need to get some new input.
Appreciate your kind comment on the notepad!
Thx G.
Love. This. “It’s not about the product, it’s about the process.” Love it. One of the most enjoyable parts or writing my ms was/is discovering my “process”. That required learning to accept that I don’t do things according to the norms or the schedules attached to stereotypes. The process has been more valuable than anything that might come out of actually publishing.
m
Hey Michael,
Embarking on a book writing adventure must reveal a lot about who you are, what you value, how you work best, what you are willing and not willing to do. Most valuable! Thank you, G.
Very nice and touching post Giulietta. You really cheer me up. I was painting myself too, but now I have to “touch” painting brush for over 10-15 years.
Your post remind me the old days, and maybe I’ll go to find my old painting equipment.
Thanks Giulietta!
Hi Nick,
I love everything outdoors! Fresh air out there in them woods. If you’ve got the time, please do get back in touch with your painting. Lots of outdoor scenes to paint. Appreciate the visit. G.
Hi Giulietta,
“I’m learning to draw an idea or emotion – not a thing. I’m learning to express my feelings through the drawing.”
That’s exactly what I am trying to do with my writing. A really interesting post, thanks for sharing 🙂
Rebekah
Hi Rebekah,
Welcome to Take Back Your Life!
Once we stop trying to create a thing, it gets a whole lot easier to actually create the thing. It’s more of a by-product of living your life to the fullest. Thanks! G.
Having just completed my book (happy happy) I can now take a birds eye view of my process. My big challenge is not knowing where something is going. This makes me crazy. I wish I could have told myself to simply trust it. I couldn’t understand then, but now I do. So my point is, we can’t know our process until we’ve experienced it fully. We have to keep going and finish what we’ve started… then look back and go, ahh.
To answer more specifically… my process begins with intuitive “flashes” — scenes, random memories. I have to get them down on paper. Once I’ve done all I can do, I shift to “the method”… trying to put the pieces together and create some type of structure.
Then I discover big holes in the work and I procrastinate and avoid the hard-to-write parts. And then finally, I sit down and plow through it. I stop thinking about structure and dive in and let it lead me.
Then I take a another step back and edit.
And then one day, the picture comes in focus. And it’s utterly awesome. 🙂
I’m so excited for you and this creative venture. There’s no doubt you’ll bring your business vision to life and be able to “draw with confidence.”
Hope we can phone chat soon. So sorry about yesterday. A
Angie,
Congrats on finishing your book! Quite a feat. I look forward to purchasing a copy.
Love your intuitive flashes and the need to get them down. It’s so true about avoiding the hard-to-write parts in anything. When I played piano all those years, I tried to avoid practicing the hard parts and my teacher would say, “you need to play them the most.”
We can share all of this when we talk!
Thank you … G.
I’m glad that with the help of Bill Buchman’s book, you are finding your way back to drawing. Your stupid teacher probably had no idea what damage she inflicted that day, just as many teachers have no idea of what damage they inflict when they squelch budding creativity.
Yes, we have to trust the process, that is, our process and not the one forced on us by other people’s rules and opinions. For example, in writing books, there are a multitude of style and technique rules than can give fresh, unfettered talent a copy cat style. (This is particularly noticeable with Americans though not so much with our English counterparts who are more free flowing.) If it suits your process and talent, break the rules. The best writers do.
When I wrote the first chapter of what I think is my best book, the teacher told me that was fine if I wanted to write “that kind of book” and thus demeaning it. I wrote another twenty five first chapters, none right, and unfortunately missed some great opportunities to be published. I returned after years to that original first chapter and it has won three “Best first chapter” awards.
Stick to what you believe in and not what others would like you to think.
Penelope,
What a story about your chapter writing experience. Congrats on the awards. Didn’t know that. I will talk to you more about that. Yes, break the rules after all if they aren’t your rules or my rules, who cares?
Thanks! G.