Don’t Start Just Yet, You’re Not Ready.

The title is a hint at the irony of the statement, because when are we ever going to be ready?

I have had questions from individuals who wanted to begin an art practice or an art career. Where should they start? When would they be ready? And there is only the one answer to each. Start exactly where you are, not one day ahead or one day behind, you are right on schedule, start now. And when will you be ready? Probably never and that is ok because that has got zero to do with beginning.

You see life is pretty simple when we dare to take off the layers of complexity we have bundled over it. You want to start something, then begin. You want to be an artist, then create something, anything, a little bit, every day. Show up, which you do by the very fact that you arose and are alive today, so that is that ticked off the to do list. And then begin. Pick up the pencil, draw a line and then repeat, repeatedly. Over and over again. Month after month, year upon year. Doesn’t sound glamourous or mysterious at all does it?

There is no mystery behind creating or being an artist. The truth behind it is all very ordinary and it is taking part in the creative process which is putting pencil/paintbrush/pen/ink or medium of choice to paper. And doing it daily, like flossing your teeth and for all those that don’t floss, brushing your teeth and for those that don’t brush, you need to get that down to a fine art first and then worry about the paintbrush.

So in the sheer ordinariness of showing up every day and doing the work comes out the fruition of any labour that has been undertaken and it will show. The hours will show and the time will show and the dedication and it will turn up in a piece of work that looks effortless and flows as though it was easy as taking a breath. And that is what you want, make it look so simple that anyone could do it and they can; if they show up every single day and commit to the very act of creation without any excuses. Relentlessly with no fanfare or audience, just a silent space which awaits your arrival and stay