Like many, my journey into the world of fiber arts was passed on to me by my grandmother. She taught me to crochet before I started school. At age eight, I learned to knit as my first 4-H project. It did not take me long to learn that fiber arts were like those mystery chocolates we used to get for Valentine’s Day. You just had to keep trying one after another, with each one more delectable than the last. Now, 35 years later, I have an impressive list of different techniques in many mediums, most of which I learned by dabbling…..and there is nothing wrong with that. I still like to dabble, only now it is with purpose, and I think it has made me better as an artist.
Discovering Our Passions
When we were younger, we were encouraged to dabble as a way to explore our world. We were encouraged to color pictures of all kinds and to build things with clay. Schools typically offer a wide selection of extra-curricular activities that allow students to dabble and try things out to see what they like. Dabbling is an expected part of childhood. We are not expected to perfect our skills or choose between them. We are simply allowed to try them to see if they bring us joy.
The Dream: Turning Our Passions Into a Business
Enter adulthood. Adults are not supposed to dabble anymore. We are expected to choose a pursuit and commit to a particular path. We tend to lose the spark for things that used to bring us endless hours of joy. This is especially true for artists. We are expected to choose a style, technique, or medium. We need to do this to brand ourselves and market our creative endeavors. Somewhere in the business of being an artist, we lose the reason why we wanted to choose this as a career in the first place.
Then, it happens, we find ourselves burned out on those techniques and marketable concepts. We want to explore new ideas or concepts, but no matter how hard we try, the ideas just won’t come. When they do come, we find ourselves evaluating their value and marketability. We no longer just allow ourselves to create for the joy of creating.
Wait, what happened? I wanted to become an artist so I could do the thing I love and turn it into a career. This is not as much fun as you thought it would be, is it? Before you chuck your paint brushes into the trash can and go apply for a job in a fast-food restaurant, let’s try something first……
Reigniting the Passion
Think back to that first box of crayons or your first paint set. Did you sit there and just admire them? Did you think about the masterpiece you would create and whether it would ever get into a juried show? Did you think about how you would price what you created? No, you didn’t. You grabbed those bright colors and started spreading them across the paper with wild abandon.
Then, before you were finished with that one, you set it aside and started another one. Soon, you were surrounded by partially finished projects, and the ideas just kept coming. Then, you spotted that lonely Lego set in the corner and left your unfinished works to languish until you returned later to finish them…..or maybe not, but that is not the point.
The point was not to finish a masterpiece, but it was to simply create in the moment with joy. The point was to experience, and through this experience, you grew as an artist. Whether you knew it or not, you grew. We can still take this same approach as an adult…and we should! As a matter of fact, we should set aside dedicated time for it in our busy schedules.
10,000 Hours
They say it takes 10,000 hours to master any craft or anything else we want to learn. Yes, practice makes perfect, but it does not mean that we necessarily enjoy it. As artists, we seem to set ourselves up for failure with unrealistic expectations of our skill development, or we set self-imposed pressure to become experts in our craft. We also tend to set ourselves up as creatures of habit, afraid to try something new. This leads to extensive bodies of work, but it always seems to lead to the same or a similar outcome.
It has been said that growth only occurs when we step outside our comfort zone, and that goes for our artwork, too. Maybe it is time to make a date with yourself this Friday night to give yourself permission to play with your art. Get a nice glass of wine, put on some music, and just see what your mind creates, but there are a few rules:
- Remember that no one is looking and what you create is between you and your medium. No one has to see it unless you want them to.
- Keep an open mind as you work. Don’t judge and try to apply rules to your work. Just like when you were a child, there are no rules. Just dive right in.
- Be sure to ask yourself, “What if…..” at least once. Allow yourself to explore possibilities. What if I use a different material? What if I start from a different point?
- You don’t have to like what you create. That is what experimentation is about. Even if you chuck it in the trash when you are finished, you learned something that you can carry to your next “serious” piece of artwork. We learn as much from our mistakes as from our successes.
- Unfinished work is OK. You can finish it later, or not. This is about the process.
Bonus tip: Set a timer and make a rule that you cannot stop creating until the timer goes off.
Make a date with yourself for dabbling with your artwork. You will be glad you did.
