Finding My Creative Flow

If you’ve been reading my newsletters, you’ll know that I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting, learning, reflecting, and writing this year, following a soft yet persistent whisper that’s been calling me to learn the things I need to learn so I can make the art that my soul wants to make. The thing is, despite a lot of art-making and a lot of learning this year, the art I’ve made has been all over the show, I haven’t made much art that I love, and I haven’t had the foggiest idea what this “art that my soul wants to make” looks like!

Listening for the water

If you’re ever lost while walking in the wilderness, nature offers many ways to help you find your way again. One way is to follow water. If you’re on a coastline and can see the water, staying close to the coastline and keeping the water on the same side of you will keep you going in the right direction. If you can’t see water but you can hear it, following the sound of water will bring you to its source, which will nourish you and offer you further clues about your location. In nature, water will always run downhill and usually towards greater bodies of water, like a lake or the sea, so noticing the direction the water is flowing in will be another helpful clue for finding your way.

The song of the sea

This Summer I spent a glorious week holidaying in Cornwall, UK. I crammed the week full of things I love to do… making art, gallery-hopping and talking art with other wonderful artists, strolling through small character-filled fishing villages, hiking across beautiful natural landscapes, swimming in crystal clear amazing blue seas, and enjoying laughter and relaxed conversations about all the important things with friends. It was all so nourishing and joyful, but perhaps the most special was a day spent hiking with my friend, Rhona, from Porthgwara beach to Nanjizal beach, where we swam in the famous “Song of the Sea” cave.

I felt so alive, so full of delight and vitality that day, taking in those incredible blues, clambering over the big, glistening boulders to get to the pools, and floating in the crystal clear, luminous turquoise water.

Vitality

“Vitality” is the word I chose to guide me this year, to remind me to do more of the things that give me that feeling (and less of the things that steal that feeling). My Cornish holiday was me, following the water. Both literally and metaphorically. It nourished me, helped me locate myself, and offered me more clues for the way forward, both for my art and my life in general.

The sound of water… coming from my sketchbook

Back home in my studio in the Netherlands, reminiscing on our swim at Nanjizal beach, I created this in my sketchbook.

I’ve had this sketchbook up on a shelf in my studio and open to this page so that I can see it everyday. I love it so much and every time I look at it, I can feel that feeling of vitality all over again.

Perhaps most exciting of all is that I’ve realised that this little sketchbook artwork is the soft and distant, yet clear and encouraging sound of trickling water in the wilderness, validating that I’m getting close to making the art my soul wants to make, calling me to keep moving towards it, and promising to nourish me and show me the next direction when I get there.