“The magic of the creative process is that there is no magic. Start where you are. Don’t stop”

[Seth Godin]

I’m reading Seth Godin’s new book “The Practice” and I want to share some of his wisdom with you, because it talks about a comment I hear often.

Often people tell me “but you’re so talented so drawing is easy for you! I don’t have any talent. It’s no use trying”! Or  people tell me “I’ll come back urbansketching with you when I know how to draw!“

No, no, no! Stop it! With that mindset you’ll NEVER be able to draw & paint, because guess what? You only learn it by DOING it, by PRACTICE! It has nothing to do with a magic muse or with talent. It’s all about SKILLS you get with PRACTICE.

There are no magic tips, techniques or shortcuts to drawing. It’s all about focus and practice, about doing it every day to train your drawing muscles and getting more confident as you go. The truth is you already know how to draw: we all did is as a child. You just have to find it back and unlock it, let it come out. It’s like handwriting: by doing it more and more you’ll discover your own style. It’ll also become a special moment of meditation and relaxation. Drawing, painting, writing: it’s all about focus and practice.

It’s just a drawing ! It’s only a piece of paper. You won’t hurt it! you’re supposed to have fun and joy doing it. Stop judging yourself. Just do it!
It’s just a moment in your life. See it as an opportunity to learn and grow. Afterwards you’ll feel good, happy and relaxed ! Forget about grades and critics… And don’t worry if your drawing doesn’t look good now: if you want to have a good drawing, you have to go through some bad drawing while exercising your skills. My first drawings look terrible, and I still make terrible drawings today when I’m in a bad shape or in a bad mood… or when I try new stuff.

More nuggets of wisdom from Seth:

“Creativity is an action, not a feeling. Your work is too important to be left to how you feel today.”

“Ship, because it doesn’t count if you don’t share it!”

“Art is what we call the thing an artist does. It’s not the medium or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky, something human. Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist.” 

 and…

The elements of the Practice: 

Creativity is a choice.

Avoid certainty.

Pick yourself.

Results are a by-product.

postpone gratification.

Seek joy. ..

(…)

The path forward is about curiosity, generosity and connection. These are the three foundations of art. 

(…)

The magic is that there is no magic.

Start where you are.

Don’t stop.

For the moment I’m stretching my boundaries by making video’s for my first online class !  I decided to SHIP!  Like Seth says: if you don’t ship and don’t make human connection, your work is useless!

I’m really excited but also stressed about it! Afraid people won’t like it!

I’ll send you a link when the course is ready. I try to finish it for half December! The most difficult part is the talking because I don’t like to talk very much 😉

Here’s another watercolor video I made, without talking, like most video’s on my You Tube channel… But hey, in my online course I want to do a lot of explanation of course… otherwise it wouldn’t be a course…

I also want to share a beautiful interview of Marie Forleo with Seth Godin talking about his book.

With much love,

Barbara