Nurturing the Inner Artist

Being an artist can be challenging, frustrating, nerve wracking and at the same time rewarding, addictive, delighting, satisfying, dazzling and breathtaking. Every professional artist goes through ups and downs in life. As an artist, it is not unusual to be at the high of your muse while at the same time you’re at the low in your life. Making the best out of every situation, being led by passion and motivated by the need to do music no matter what is what makes professional artists unstoppable. Today’s singing tip is about tips to nurture your inner artist and thrive as a musician, singer and songwriter. Professional Artists DO NOT: - Wait for Inspiration - Work until something else comes up - Constantly change their focus - Judge their art while it is in development - Believe that success will come quickly - Start and stop their work over and over again - Stop if someone criticized them Professional Artists DO: - Take their art seriously - Work on their art every single day - Continue to work until their muse has used up every last bit of creative energy in their body - Focus their time and energy on practicing and honing their craft - Know that there is more to being an artist then simply creating art - Know that their art is a process and nothing they create will be perfect - Know that there will always be more to learn but that does not stop them from making the mistakes and learning as they go along - Take time for their art to develop - Surround themselves with the work of other artists and also the artists themselves - “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”  ~Stephen King Here’s what you can do: 1. Create an environment conducive to creating. I know this sounds fairly obvious, but I don’t just mean clearing your desk of old paperwork. I was amazed what a change of lighting and rearrangement of furniture could do for my motivation. 2. Get in the rhythm. There’s a rhythm not just in music but in everything in life as well, and that includes work. I’m sure you are familiar with the terms “getting into the zone” or “getting your groove on”. You should still set aside a project timeline, but make it flexible. 3. Inspire yourself Steven Spielberg was inspired when he was driving his car, other people get inspired when they cook, traveling to unknown places awakens my muse, what inspires you? While we can sit around all day waiting for the muse to inspire us, remember that this supposed muse resides within ourselves. You know yourself more than anyone in this world, and you know precisely what external stimuli stimulate your creative capacity. 4. Don’t judge your work from the beginning on Often we tend to abandon ideas while they are still in development, the inner critic is telling us that our idea and work is not good enough but how can this inner critic know that when we are still in the development process and haven’t finished yet. Do not let Ms. Critic and Ms. Creative in the room at the same time. Until you are a very practiced artist, Ms. Critic and Ms. Creative should never be present at the same time. When you create, suspend all worries, judgments and attempts to evaluate your work. Later in the process, when it's time to tweak the painting, look at it through Ms. Critic's eyes. 5. Minimize distractions. Do your best to set aside a time and place for those distractions so you can get your fix, then establish a distraction-free zone in which you put away the Internet, the smart phone, and send your kids out to play. Since people can be just as distracting as technology, make it clear to all that even though you are engaging in the infinitely fun activity of creating art, you are also doing serious work 6. Take yourself on artist dates and honor yourself Spending time by yourself with no cell phone, computer or other distraction can be very inspiring, take a walk in nature or pick your perfect spot and just sit quietly. Honor your courage. Honor the spark in you that loves to create. Take time to hear the child in you, thanking you so heartily for giving him or her back the joy of creative play.