The Creative Path
by Stefan Baumann
So, you want to be an artist.
What does that mean?
Painting full-time to earn a living as an artist requires discipline. Artists are always on a quest to re-invent their art, and are always searching for ways to bring meaning to it. Often this self-examination and re-evaluation is exhausting, and artists lose the fun and passion that they first had for creating art. The excitement and thrill that we once had for our craft can be lost, and the inspiration and interest for new ideas can leave us when we are trying to make a career of it.
Stefan Baumann
Farmhouse in Mt. Shasta
I suggest that the solution to renew enthusiasm is to visualize new and different possibilities, and to create with a fresh and imaginative perspective.
How can we do this? We can all learn from actors who are able to change their personalities and “become” the characters that they wish to portray. I recently had a discussion with one of my students about a PBS series that she saw called The Impressionists. She was inspired by how Monet, Renoir, and Brazille were so exuberant about painting scenes of light reflecting in nature, that they rushed off the train when they reached their destination in the country to paint. She envisioned herself with that power and enthusiasm at her fingertips. As she painted in her studio, she imagined that she was painting with Monet on location in France. She saw herself dressed in a white sundress sporting a sun umbrella and paint box. As she painted, her brush moved with excitement and freedom, and colors flew off her brush. She had confidence and knowledge that whatever she needed to know to create, she knew. And, voila, she painted a stunning impression of light reflecting across the water on a pond. Awesome!
If you want to be an artist, act like one, and get a beret, a large wooden palette, and pretend that you are an artist. Be eager to see the light as it sparkles and reflects off trees and mountains in the morning light. Be playful, and don’t try too hard to be original because that will come with practice. Imagine that you already know everything that you need to know about painting, and that it is easy.
Here are some other ideas that can move you along the creative path as an artist. Always have an ambitious or complicated work that you are painting in your studio, and make at least one study or sketch of an idea for a new painting every day. If you work in paint, get a lump of clay and sculpt your ideas, and if you are a sculptor, paint. Nothing will change your perspective faster than experimenting with a different medium. Above all, be grateful that you have art in your life because gratitude will inspire you to love whatever you are doing.
