How to Make Your Art CONNECT…

Something isn’t quite right with my process.

I’m trying too hard to impress.

Looking for admiration is fine. We’re humans with a need for approval. But I know that this is not what matters most.

I want my time and energy to reach below the surface.

I want to quicken heart beats.

So, I must steer my focus to finding truth over guesswork.

I know my art will not connect when I see myself as an island.

I am not an island. I am a human. And so are other humans.

When I try to impress I am guessing. I am assuming the role of an entity separate to others. I am throwing arrows into the dark.

What makes this worse is that I’m trying to impress everyone that exists. And this will never work.

Instead, I remind myself that those who matter to me are the ones who are awoken by the same sparks of electricity as I am.

Instead of trying to impress, I need to find that electricity within myself. I need to find what electrifies me.

I cannot guess what electrifies others. But I can uncover what electrifies me.

…

How do I find that electricity?

I rarely hit with the first throw.

But I’ve found it before, so I can find it again.

And so I test, I experiment, and I play until I find that tiny spark.

I watch. I write. I scrawl. I listen. I breathe.

All I’m looking for is that spark.

I work unattached to outcome. I give it as long as it needs. I am not looking for the finished product just yet.

I relax into that uncertainty.

I just do.

…

There it is. Caught it.

Hold on to it now. Don’t lose it.

I blow life into that tiny glow until it explodes into a dancing flame. Now the fire is bright enough so that others can feel it too.

Find the truth, your truth, through the friction of movement and play.

Put down whatever comes to mind.

Lay it all out in full view, like you would with pieces of a puzzle.

It’s a mess now, but it can be shaped. Creative junk has value when you are facing in the direction of truth.

If you keep moving and watching, you will find it.

Now you have added heat to what was merely a blunt hammer.

People will huddle around that warmth.

And you will know that you can connect.