Creativity and Faith...

[Dan Goodwin]

What part does faith play in your creative life?

I'm not talking exclusively about a spiritual or religious faith, though for some that's a significant element of creating, and life.

Do you have faith in your own abilities to create what you hope to create?

Do you have faith that given time, and space and the right attention that your creative projects will evolve exactly as they need to?

Do you have faith that there will be a receptive audience to what you create?

Do you have faith that you will always be able to create?

Share your thoughts to these questions and any other related ideas with us here...

[DJ]

Is having or not having faith in one's art a sign of trust issues? Or confidence issues?

If we don't share our products, do we not have faith in others' reception of our work?

Sometimes, for me, every brushstroke is a prayer. Sometimes, just putting words on paper is an act of faith. My fears try to discourage me, but my passion wins. I must create.

[Dan Goodwin]

Faith in one's art in what sense DJ? Faith that it will be any "good"? Faith that we will be able to create a project from start to finish? Faith that we will have all the ideas and inspiration we need?

About sharing art, I think it can be very intimidating to do, mostly because it's hard to find people who will "get" not just what we create, but also that we HAVE to create.

I love your words: "every brushstroke is a prayer", that's beautiful.

[DJ]

Thank you, Dan. (I'll have to title my memoirs with that phrase one day. *grin)

As for faith in which sense, I feel it's a huge step of faith to create. For me, I feel the questions are entertwined. Do we trust in ourselves to do / complete / please ...?
So many artists struggle with artist's block, and isn't that fear? We take a step...so do we trust ourselves to create what we want to convey? So we have faith that we will complete the work?
I guess I wonder about different artists and their level of confidence. Some produce without a thought, and others struggle to approach the page/canvas/clay/dance floor/microphone.
What makes it easy for some, and not for others?
All of these questions and more run through our minds, in the form of doubt, at some point. ( or many points :-)

[Dan Goodwin]

That would be a wonderful title for your memoirs!

So you mean if we don't believe that we will finish a project, if we don't have that faith in ourselves, we don't even start because we don't want to add another unfinished project to that growing pile of unfinished projects in our closets?

Trusting ourselves to convey what we want to convey is a big area. It also brings in the notion of whether we are prepared to create and let it evolve into what it needs to evolve into. Even if we start by wanting to write a short poem about our dog and it evolves into a novel about the beauty of friendship. Foe example.

Or whether we have to stick rigidly to a fixed pre-planned concept of exactly what it is we'll create. Creating freely and spontaneously as opposed to creating to a specific brief (our own or someone else's).

This must be a key part to how confidently we create, and surely it's tied in with our own expectations of what we create? It must also depend on how much your creativity is influenced or required by others. If we're painting freely to our heart's content at home, it's different to coming up with a design for a new website where the client has very specific demands, for example.

I think I may have asked more questions than answered!

[Wendy]

You ask a lot of important questions, here! For myself, I have no answers yet as I'm just beginning the exploration. I totally identify with what you have said about faith vs. fear. Right now I have much more of fear than faith. I don't think I will always eel that way - but it's where I'm starting from now.

Ummm...I guess that would be fears regarding much of what Dan has touched upon - faith about an ability to create, of having a receptive audience, of always having the inspiration that I need...

I love what you said about brushstrokes and prayers, too :)

Thanks for starting this discussion, Dan!!

[DJ]

Hmmm...about the issue of "always being able to create"
I haven't thought about that, really...perhaps it has to do with the fact that I've wanted to be an artist since childhood...
Others discover their creative side later in life.
Do they think they will "lose it", since they "found it"?
I'm intrigued: I wonder what others have to say about this...??

[Doreen]

I really don't think it can be lost. I think it may get "rusty" from not being used, but really, if you think about it, creativity can encompass so much.. probably the most important thing I have learned from this group!!!!

[Dan Goodwin]

I think it's impossible NOT to create. I think two things happen:

1. Our creativity evolves and writhes into different forms and different manifestations. Whilst we're gazing in despair at the blank page of the novel we're been trying to write for the last 3 months, measuring our creative "success" (or lack of, in this case) only by that, we overlook the 5 paintings around us we've created in the meantime.

2. We don't acknowledge how many different ways our creativity is constantly at work, and how our minds are at work. I was talking to some friends last night, we all worked together years ago, and we were trying to remember the name of someone. I had no clue who they were talking about, even when they remembered the name. I forgot about it for the rest of the evening and today. Then a couple of hours ago, some 12 hours later, the face of this woman suddenly appeared in my head, the woman they had been trying to remember, and it all became clear. I could picture her as if she was stood right in front of me. Our minds are always at work!

[Susan Hosken]

Dan, When you say it is impossible not to create. What creating is taking place when the mind isn't coming up with interesting ideas and is just on about simple daily chores and activities. Where is the creativity then?
Lots of love from susan in australia

[Dan Goodwin]

Simply because your mind is always flowing and creating. If I said think of a girl in a red coat with a magic car, you would instantly have images of that in your mind. If I said what kind of car is it, what does it look like, how old is she, why is the car magic, what sort of adventures does she have, who are her friends, do they have magic cars, etc, etc, your mind will start to flow with all these images and ideas. You couldn't NOT do that, it's impossible.

Even when you're "just" doing simple daily chores and activities, you're still nurturing yourself and your life, creating a calm and comfortable place that will allow you to create many art projects in future...

[Susan Hosken]

Dan, You are so often comforting with your responses to many of my comments. I learn such a lot from you.
I loved the way you wrote about the girl with the magic car. Again I am so inspired. At the moment my car is at the panel beaters (auto shop for you americans) and I haven't been able to use a car. It has taught me so much about how dependent I am on my car for my life and adventures. I am suddenly aware of all the adventures my car has taken me on and will take me on. I am inspired to write a little book about the girl with the magic car....thanks Dan...she has a red car to match her red coat.
Lots of love from susan in australia

[Dan Goodwin]

Brilliant to hear you're inspired Susan! Let us know how your story of the girl on the re coat develops... : )