Embracing the Process as Beautiful

Want to know one of the most transforming shifts I have experienced in my own creative journey? One that has allowed me to taste creative freedom, yet continually need to come back to it again and again (because it’s amazing how quickly I forget).

It's this... Shifting my mindset to approaching painting and the creative journey like a process instead of something to be mastered or arrived at; simply letting the outcome unfold. Sounds almost cliché doesn’t it? It is easy to speak the words that "the process matters" and while still creating as if the outcome is most important.

Engaging the process helps me to let go of the need for my value to be wrapped up solely in what I am able to produce. I am learning over and over again to see the process less like a monologue and more like a beautiful conversation. I truly believe that when we embrace the journey, honoring the little steps along the way, we are actually more equipped to create art from within; art that connects our own hearts to others through beauty. It sounds simple, embrace the process, but it has proven to be challenging, but more beautiful, freeing, transforming, and completely worth it. Just like any other good and worthy endeavor, this requires remembering and consistently looking back at where the process has led and reminding ourselves that the next step is a beautiful one even if it feels seemingly unproductive.

These last few weeks I have felt the pull to believe productivity defines me more than engaging in the process; showing up with fear that what I might create will be a failure before I even begin. So I am reminding myself of these truths and fighting to create from a place that allows space for exploring, making something I don’t love, learning, taking the next step, and letting that be enough.

So lets take a deep breath and take one simple step toward engaging the process, letting it be enough. For me this weekend it will look like traveling with a small art journal and creating 5 minute sketches with charcoal and water.

So, I hope that if you needed this reminder like I did, that you will be encouraged as we enter the weekend. Here's to honoring the process and being faithful in the small moments of the journey.

Have a beautiful weekend!