Making art is a physical activity.

It will feed you in both the doing and increased development of your skillsets. There is a huge satisfaction from engagement in a project and being productive.

Constantly pushing into unconventional areas of thought keeps our minds flexible and striving for new ideas; which equals a better version of us. Through creative pursuits, we have a reason to share ideas, techniques, and experiences with others, which leads to more contact with like-minded people and a broadening of community. In turn, giving us a greater pool of resources and ideas to draw upon.

But I don’t have time

Technology has become an astonishing diversion. We have access to thoroughly engaging entertainments that have us constantly distracted from our own company. Perhaps we have become more fixated on what others are doing rather than what we are doing. If you were to turn off your phone, TV and Internet for a few days you would see, not only how dependent we have become but how much space there actually is for other things. If you could put aside twenty minutes a day you would amass over a hundred hours in a year. In a hundred hours you could….hand make a canoe or restore a motorbike or build a guitar or draw 25 drawings or photograph an online cookbook. Incrementally over time we can achieve an enormous amount but only after we have made the decision to get started. Once you start a really satisfying project your output will propel itself.

Give yourself permission. Don’t get fixated on comparisons or “why” you should. We all need something in our lives that we do for the joy of doing.

Just get out of the way and PLAY!

Also be aware that people people around us can have very fixed ideas about what we should and shouldn’t be doing. You may need to work in isolation if the only feedback available is “You’re not an artist! You cant make art”.

What to do?

A good starting point is to think about what mediums are of interest to you? Not everyone is a painter. Without investing huge amounts of money, try as many different mediums as you can find. The difference between sculpting and watercolours is vast. There is bound to be something out there for you that you will have enough aptitude in to get engaged.

If you end up making beautiful things; fantastic! If not you have devoted part of your life to the soul food that is being a practising artist. Set an achievable goal and start a little project today!