Creating art for ourselves

I had a wonderful little lunch date with my friend and fellow artist Gina last week. Gina is a pottery maker extraordinaire whom I met last year at a local fair where she was selling her work.

Over sushi, seaweed salad, and green tea we talked about many different art, health, personal growth and spiritually related topics. What stayed with me the most was our conversation about creating art for ourselves.

For a while now the two of us have been completely disinterested in producing with the intention of selling but rather more inspired to make things for ourselves. Gina was telling me how she hadn’t been at her pottery kiln for weeks now (or was it months?) and had no interest in continuing to sell her work at fairs and other venues. I could totally relate.

When I was participating weekly at the Santa Barbara Art Walk I found those entire days displaying and selling my work absolutely exhausting and draining.

After describing her disinterest in making any pottery lately she then alluded to a small piece she did make for her house. How she went to her studio and made it immediately with joy. It was possible for her to delight in the making of this small piece for herself.

I can so relate to this! It’s as though at a deep level we need to fill our own cups first and give ourselves permission to create for ourselves first before putting our work into the world whether just to show it or sell it. I went home after our talk and thought about that second painting I’d like to create for my bathroom.

Bathrooms are generally in terms of Feng Shui where a lot of our energy is drained away from our home – literally energy down the drain. To slow down the drain we can decorate with light and uplifting colors and art.

Up until now I’d put two temporary paintings in our bathroom – both with lots of blue – the worst colors for the bathroom which encourage more water and hence drainage! So I decided to make some art for myself that was uplifting and bright using layers of bright oranges, yellows, golds and whites. They turned out beautifully and completely uplift the energy in the bathroom.

When I get a new digital camera (the last one broke) I will post a photo of these two new pieces.

Here’s to making art for ourselves first! Thank you Gina.