Please read: Creative Practices is not a painting course. This is not a how-to or a step-by-step. This is a course intended to help you break new ground for yourself by developing your individual creativity. This is a series of self-guided exercises, practices, strategies, and rituals to help you be a more creative individual and artist.

Too many artists treat their art practice like another item on a to-do list: walk the dog, schedule the electrician, go to the grocery store, paint something, email that person back…

It is very true that being an artist requires some degree of discipline, focus, and time management. And if you are working on those things then you are absolutely engaging with your artistic practice. Great work!

But you are really missing out if you think that’s all there is to it. 

So many artists I meet do not need productivity tips. They are already super productive! They already know how to manage time and discipline themselves. They are highly accomplished and often have happy families and thriving careers. Many of them, however, don’t know how to play and be creative. And, (here’s a big secret) if you can’t play and be creative then your art practice probably won’t be sustainable. 

I know you may be thinking “Not creative! I draw and paint every day. Of course, I am creative!” But drawing and painting are not the same thing as being creative. It is totally possible to study technical skills and develop draftsmanship without doing any creative work. Lots of artists work this way, in fact. Being creative requires patience, vulnerability, and introspection. And, artists (just like anyone else!) don’t always like doing those things. It’s scary! But, fear is often a sign that what you are resisting is necessary. 

I truly believe that engaging with your creativity, your intuition, and your deep self, is a sure way to make your creative practice sustaining and meaningful. “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasures you seek,” as Joseph Campbell would say. 

In my experience, artists do not need productivity tips. They need meaning-making tips. They need soul-accessing tips.

In this course, I hope to offer you some strategies, tools, and exercises to help you direct your mindset and actions toward a deeper and more intuitive creative life. You can implement these things whether you are an experienced artist or new in your artistic journey.

Whatever your experience level, I encourage you to give the assignments in this course time to work on you. While it might not take long to go through this entire course, the methods described really won't work to their fullest possibility without the investment of significant time. As with all creative and artistic ventures, the secret ingredient is time. Go slowly and be patient with yourself. You are allowed to question the wisdom of the process. You are allowed to think it is all stupid. Do it, anyway. Trust the process, and I think you will find that the results speak for themselves.

I hope you enjoy this course. Best of luck on your creative journey!

- Catherine

In part one of this course, we will:

• Understand and identify our sustainable and unsustainable habits.

• Identify our personal and artistic values.

• Build awareness so we can align our behaviors to match our values in a more sustainable and fulfilling way.

Enjoy!

Catherine

In part two of this course, we will:

• Investigate the importance of ritual to the creative practice.

• Identify the elements of a sustaining creativity ritual.

• Develop and begin to implement a morning creativity ritual.

Enjoy!

Catherine

In part three of this course, we will:

• Learn to build awareness of our inner critic and its triggers.

• Develop some strategies for confronting and quieting our inner critics.

• Learn some coping skills for building resilience against inner critics and other negative voices.

Enjoy!

Catherine

In part four of this course, we will:

• Continue our discussion of ritual and its place in the creative practice.

• Identify some exercises and tools for developing creativity.

• Implement these strategies and exercises as part of a creativity ritual or general artistic practice.

Enjoy!

Catherine

In part five of this course, we will:

• Work on some simple exercises as part of a morning creativity ritual.

• Explore using tools such as metaphoric associative cards to spark ideas.

• Practice intuitive, automatic drawing while combining materials and tools.

Enjoy!

Catherine