The Artist's Trail: How To Develop & Keep In The Habit Of Creating Art

One of the difficulties individuals face when trying to express themselves through art is the challenge of dealing with an overflow of emotions. It can be a challenge, because in the midst of these emotions we cannot, as the saying goes, “see the forest for the trees.”

In the light of my last post, I believe this challenge is the perfect topic for my current post. And so, in this post that is exactly what we will discuss. Here are a few steps that can be used to get you started on your path to expressing yourself through art:

1. Be determined to stick with this task of self-expression no matter what.

If you don’t start out a project with the thought in mind that you will finish it no matter what, you will more than likely not finish it. This means that you are more likely to have an emotional block that will prevent you from completing your project, because your set response is not to finish it. And, even though you have the thought in mind to finish the project as a way to relieve stress or emotional difficulty, if this set response is not in place, it becomes more work than anything else.

1. Determine a set time or set amount of time to dedicate to your art.

In order to help make a task a habit, it helps to make it a pattern in your daily life. This is part of the process of the one we discussed just previously. One of the ways you are sure to stick with something no matter what is by devoting time to it, and even if the amount of time that you devote to something is shorter such as 15 minutes to half an hour, the point is that you’re setting aside time that is devoted specifically to this process.

1. Try different types of art to see what best fits you.

Not all art is painting or sketching or even photography, (forms of art that I happen to take part in, but which are not necessarily the cup of tea of every budding or aspiring artist). Sometimes art is creating things from paper such as paper mâché or even origami and sometimes it is pottery or making crafts from Popsicle sticks. The important thing is to find the form of art that calls to you and that gives you pleasure and delve into it, learning about it, participating in and even forming crafts and projects of your own. In this way you will not only learn more about different styles of art, but you will also learn more about yourself and who you are as an individual.

1. Locate the people in your life who encourage you and can hold you accountable for devoting time to art, even if there is only a certain amount of time they are holding you accountable for.

Often in television and movies and even with ourselves or children that we know, we recognize this desire in the young to be acknowledged for the skills and abilities that they possess. And, while some of us may like to think that these are characteristics specific to children, the fact is that they are not. They simply change in the way that they are expressed. We do well in our jobs and aim for higher profile jobs, not necessarily only because of this desire, but it is definitely a part of the mix if we are completely honest with ourselves. We are enabled to do this in healthy ways though because of the standardization of processes. Another reason for having people to encourage us and hold us accountable is that, when we deal with some of the steps listed above, this support network makes these processes easier to handle.