What constraints do I need to have in place so that I can do my best creative work and produce images I’m proud of?
Author: Matt Shanks
Keeping warm
Why is it more difficult to make creative work when I’ve rested all day? Shouldn’t the energy I’ve saved through rest be fuel to maximise creative output?
Feeding off in-person energy
If something feeds the soul and something else drains it, why is it so difficult to prioiritise the thing that’s good for us?
Permission to be done
How do we know when something is done and what’s the value of calling something done even if we’re not happy with how it turned out?
A confident line over a competent line
A line can be one of two things: confident or competent. Can it ever be both?
I have to work today
What if, on the days we don’t feel like making art, we do anyway? In the same way that we show up to our day jobs when we don’t fee like it?
Scared of progress
The problem with progress is that we’re likely to learn that we’re either not good enough or not ambitious enough. But maybe there’s no other way?
What’s a chair for?
If a chair is for sitting, what’s sitting for? Why sit at all?
The ancestors are speaking
What might we be able to tell ourselves and listen for in order to provoke more positive energy and action in our art practice?
Can I do this?
Where does the motivation for beginning mark making come from? Why would I even try in the first place?