Getting Back to Art after the Easter Holiday: Re-Learning How to Play

Back in the studio today after the Easter holidays, and the first job is to re-learn how to play. Not “create a painting”, not “paint a bird”, not “make something good”. Just play. It’s amazing how much practise it takes, this thing called “playing”. It only works when you let go, and allow yourself to make failures. Because in the letting go, you somehow gain access to a different part of your brain, it feels like a different sort of consciousness.

How to play? Focus on making marks. Loose marks, non-dominant hand marks. New marks you’ve never made before. Then, Look. See what has a spark, preserve that part, obliterate other parts.

An artist’s “output” – the work you see on Instagram or on their website – is only the tip of the iceberg, a tiny percentage of what they make. Because “good” work doesn’t come from sitting down and trying really hard to make a good painting. That NEVER WORKS. Good work – work that speaks to the soul, that connects with the viewer on an emotional level – comes from a place of freedom and playfulness, and a willingness to walk the tightrope between a painting that is a humdinger of a success, and a painting that is a hot, sticky mess.

So, for anyone else out there who is trying to get back into it today: let yourself off the hook, and just play. Allow yourself to make a mess. Something new and exciting might happen, and even if it doesn’t, you will have exercised your creative play muscle for the day.