Wow, such a great article thank you. I did a degree in fine art and none of this was ever touched on. Seemingly to provide the space and resources was enough. I remember being provided with a studio in an arts centre as part of the course and floundering around in it for much of the time. It seems that creative ‘freedom’ is nourished by constraint or discipline. My good friend Les Jones talks of the power of working with a tightly limited source of material in collage making and the way that can unleash creativity.
I am a child of the sixties and ‘freedom’ of all kinds was a goal for many. Looking back it had a frisson of superficiality about it although it had big impacts in certain areas of life.
The tone of your article seems to resonate with ancient Chinese philosophy.
What a beautiful articulation of the creative paradox—the way routine, far from stifling us, actually gives our work its real wings. There’s something comforting (and magical) about the idea that showing up at the same time each day can quietly invite inspiration to join you, even on the tough days. Thank you for reframing routine as a kind of gentle discipline—one that protects, rather than confines, the creative spirit.
Thanks Sunshine! Creativity is a practice of freedom. People are always talking about freedom but freedom is a lot of work. It takes personal discipline to actually enjoy freedom. It is a personal responsibility to get value out of freedom. Artists, if they get a chance to work full time just in the studio, the first while is full of floundering and can even feel paralyzing. What do you do? how do you organize your time? How do you get the work shown? Given a full time schedule, what do you do once you have gotten all of the work done that you had fantasized about? What do you do when you have come to a dead end? How do you keep yourself motivated to keep going every day? etc. and so on. You have to develop discipline, organization, forethought, strategies, logistics and fortitude to keep going. Then there is the development of your philosophy, your understanding of the history and context of your area and what you are bringing to that conversation. Also the mental and emotional attitudes that need to be developed, the struggle with one's ego to not beat yourself up or limit your ability to unlock your creativity. To learn how to overcome your internal resistance and frictions that can use up incredible amounts of energy. Building the bones, the structure takes time and setting routines and practicing them daily is what eventually gives the confidence and resilience to get comfortable enough in walking into the every morning full of enthusiasm. A reason to wake up every day and jump out of bed. That is all established through disciple and routine and ritual. Damn that's enough to make another article. watch for that later. Or did I already say all of that in this article?
Thank you for sharing your perspective so openly—your passion for the artistic path is clear and inspiring. You capture so well how much discipline and intention it takes to actually enjoy the freedom creativity offers, and the way you articulate the inner challenges and rituals of an artist’s life really strikes a chord. I think you have so much valuable insight to offer—another article on this would definitely be welcome. It’s always a pleasure to read your thoughts.
Timely essay! I was thinking this morning about routine vs ritual. Depending on my mood, the idea of Routine can easily bore me, make me feel as if I'm in a rut of the same o same o. But if I change that perspective to that of Ritual...then it becomes a necessary "habit" or rather a mindful thing that I must do in order to do what follows and that is usually "do whatever I feel like doing" as a reward-like thing that makes doing the Whatever more meaningful.......like creating art, or organizing stuff, even cleaning the house, writing a letter to someone, etc. I've gotten the ritual taken care of (or the routine over and done with) and can now look forward to doing anything else I want to.
Yeah Annette. The routine part is just keeping the bones in place. The activity of staying engaged so that inspiration, when it comes, finds your mind muscles in good enough shape to do stuff. It builds endurance and fluidity. Hence reducing frustration because you are prepared and remember where your stuff is!
Wow, such a great article thank you. I did a degree in fine art and none of this was ever touched on. Seemingly to provide the space and resources was enough. I remember being provided with a studio in an arts centre as part of the course and floundering around in it for much of the time. It seems that creative ‘freedom’ is nourished by constraint or discipline. My good friend Les Jones talks of the power of working with a tightly limited source of material in collage making and the way that can unleash creativity.
I am a child of the sixties and ‘freedom’ of all kinds was a goal for many. Looking back it had a frisson of superficiality about it although it had big impacts in certain areas of life.
The tone of your article seems to resonate with ancient Chinese philosophy.
yes I like that approach from Les. I don't know if you saw it but I wrote an article on that idea here: https://www.touchonian.com/p/the-freedom-in-limitations
What a beautiful articulation of the creative paradox—the way routine, far from stifling us, actually gives our work its real wings. There’s something comforting (and magical) about the idea that showing up at the same time each day can quietly invite inspiration to join you, even on the tough days. Thank you for reframing routine as a kind of gentle discipline—one that protects, rather than confines, the creative spirit.
Thanks Sunshine! Creativity is a practice of freedom. People are always talking about freedom but freedom is a lot of work. It takes personal discipline to actually enjoy freedom. It is a personal responsibility to get value out of freedom. Artists, if they get a chance to work full time just in the studio, the first while is full of floundering and can even feel paralyzing. What do you do? how do you organize your time? How do you get the work shown? Given a full time schedule, what do you do once you have gotten all of the work done that you had fantasized about? What do you do when you have come to a dead end? How do you keep yourself motivated to keep going every day? etc. and so on. You have to develop discipline, organization, forethought, strategies, logistics and fortitude to keep going. Then there is the development of your philosophy, your understanding of the history and context of your area and what you are bringing to that conversation. Also the mental and emotional attitudes that need to be developed, the struggle with one's ego to not beat yourself up or limit your ability to unlock your creativity. To learn how to overcome your internal resistance and frictions that can use up incredible amounts of energy. Building the bones, the structure takes time and setting routines and practicing them daily is what eventually gives the confidence and resilience to get comfortable enough in walking into the every morning full of enthusiasm. A reason to wake up every day and jump out of bed. That is all established through disciple and routine and ritual. Damn that's enough to make another article. watch for that later. Or did I already say all of that in this article?
Thank you for sharing your perspective so openly—your passion for the artistic path is clear and inspiring. You capture so well how much discipline and intention it takes to actually enjoy the freedom creativity offers, and the way you articulate the inner challenges and rituals of an artist’s life really strikes a chord. I think you have so much valuable insight to offer—another article on this would definitely be welcome. It’s always a pleasure to read your thoughts.
As always, love your writing.
I have been practicing this for 20 years now, since my retirement, and inspiration comes every day. What a marvelous medium is collage !
Yes, it is wonderful for carrying an ongoing conversation with the materials and yourself.
Timely essay! I was thinking this morning about routine vs ritual. Depending on my mood, the idea of Routine can easily bore me, make me feel as if I'm in a rut of the same o same o. But if I change that perspective to that of Ritual...then it becomes a necessary "habit" or rather a mindful thing that I must do in order to do what follows and that is usually "do whatever I feel like doing" as a reward-like thing that makes doing the Whatever more meaningful.......like creating art, or organizing stuff, even cleaning the house, writing a letter to someone, etc. I've gotten the ritual taken care of (or the routine over and done with) and can now look forward to doing anything else I want to.
Yeah Annette. The routine part is just keeping the bones in place. The activity of staying engaged so that inspiration, when it comes, finds your mind muscles in good enough shape to do stuff. It builds endurance and fluidity. Hence reducing frustration because you are prepared and remember where your stuff is!