How to Know if You Need a Total Art Fast

Can you hear your own creative voice?

Or do you spend so much time looking at other people’s art that your voice is lost amid the din? 

If so, it’s probably time to go on an Art Fast.

Deep down we know that spending too much time online looking at other people’s art can be toxic.

​As we saw in the last post there are ways to make our art consumption more nutritious including: 

• Consuming the best creative nutrients
• Employing ‘active looking’ techniques
• Watching art documentaries

This kind of structured engagement deepens our understanding of our own creative practice. It can also help us understand our place in the cultural, political, social and historical context in which we find ourselves as artists. 

But sometimes the sound of our ‘Unique Creative Voice’ (or UCV as I call it)  gets drowned out by the clamour of all those other creative voices.  Our subconscious intuition might be screaming at us but we won’t hear it. 

At times like this, we’re doing ourselves more harm than good looking at other people’s work. It’s time to take a complete break from viewing other people’s art.
​

Make Space for Your Creative Voice to be Heard

“In your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your soul.”
Meg Rosoff

When we stop spending so much time browsing art online, we immediately make more time and space to pay attention to ourselves. 

We can put that extra energy into helpful and healthful practices which open the channel between our subconscious and conscious mind. As a result, we can mine the rich treasure buried there.

How to Re-open Your Creative Channels

There are lots of ways to re-open the channels to our UCV. Any practice which encourages contemplation, listening, and engaging with our own ideas and feelings will help.

TAKE ACTION!

• Journal daily (written or visual) 
• Conduct a review of your own work
• Regularly engage in an exploratory, intutive practice where the sole goal is to allow your inner voice to come out.
• Record your ideas - such as techniques to experiment with, subject matter to work with or courses to take.

You might also find you best hear your UCV speak when you meditate, walk in nature, clean your studio, soak in the bath or work in the garden. 

There is no right or wrong way as long as it ultimately leads you back to active creative practice. Your creative voice can’t be found in the abstract, it can only be discovered when you work!

Art Diet or Total Fast?

Only you can know whether you just need to rebalance your art consumption or take a break from it completely. 

But if you do go on an art fast, it might be more pleasant than you imagine. Once we tune into it, our Unique Creative Voice is infinitely fascinating and entertaining. The more closely we listen to it, the more we grow as creatives.

As one of my free coaching call clients, Pamela Morgen, told me recently:

​“I am going to continue this art fast for a while. It has increased my curiosity about what is inside me that wants to come out.” 

​Need help deciding whether an art diet or complete fast is most appropriate?

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