Artistic Accomplices

Inspiration can feel mystical and hard to understand, and we can feel like we are merely copying or imitating others. But if we look at the things that we consume — the artists and designers, the music, the movies and tv shows, and the books — we can get a firm grip on the things that really influence us. This is a great well of meaning that we can draw from for our creative work.In this episode, I discuss the is ideas of inspiration, and how answering for questions and reflecting on the patterns and connections our answers reveal can give us some great inspiration.If you’re interested in diving deeply into your creative work, I have a new workshop that I will be teaching in May 2021 that is all about looking at these influences and inspirations to push your work forward.Find out more about my Emergence workshop here: https://ericscottart.com/emergence-workshop

It’s easy to feel stuck or stagnant in our creating. It’s easy to feel like we don’t know how to move ourselves forward. In today’s episode, I share three strategies for moving yourself forward creatively. These three ideas are great for creators at any stage, and though they may seem simple, they are powerful in getting us moving and creating.Listen to my take on how working small, working fast, and working outside of your comfort zone can help spark new ideas, new works, and new directions.

The magic of creating may be just tapping into our intuition, and by tapping into our intuition, we give ourselves permission to play — to try new ideas and to explore new territory. We get into a flow that can take us in new directions.I take a look at the role of intuition in making and creating, and discuss several strategies that can help us tap into that instinctive voice.

I continue my look at the four classical elements of earth, fire, air, and water. I’ve already gone into the earth, fire, and air elements, and today I dive into the water element and how we need to stay flexible. If we are rigid and stiff and if we know exactly what we want to make and create, we don’t leave room for possibilities, and it’s the pursuit of possibilities that can lead us in unexpected directions.

How do you come up with ideas?In today’s episode, I continue my look at the four classical elements of earth, fire, air, and water. I’ve already tackled the earth and fire, and today I discuss the air element. The air element is all about our ideas and our imagination, and I share a few ways of coming up with ideas.

In today’s episode, I dive further into how we can understand our creativity through the lens of the four classical elements — earth, fire, air, and water, and focus on how we can focus on the fire element and think about our passions. It’s the things that we are passionate about that drive our creative endeavors and motivate us to sustain our efforts.

In the second part of talking about this notion of being grounded in our creativity, I talk about some of the practical things that we can do to get ourselves into a sustainable creative practice. I touch on setting up routines and talk a bit about routines, and I discuss grounding ourselves in the fundamentals of our creative practice.

Keeping ourselves balanced as we create can be a difficult task, but thinking of a readily accessible framework can make it easier. In Episode 38, I talked about the four classical elements of art, fire, water, and air in relation to Avatar: The Last Airbender, and suggested that these four ideas can give us a we'll rounded idea of creativity and give us a way of keeping ourselves balanced.In today’s episode, I dive into this topic a bit further, and discuss how the earth element and the notion of grounding can give us an entry way into better understanding and greater balance in our creativity. I dive into mindset and discuss not only fixed vs. growth mindset, but also scarcity vs. abundance mindset.These are just some burgeoning thoughts that I have around this concept, and I’m working through them, and I hope they make sense. I’ll be diving more into these notions in future episodes.I hope that you enjoy!

We’re all heroes of our own story.Recently, the Hero’s Journey has been popping up in my life. I’ve heard it mentioned on a couple favorite podcasts, and I’ve been contemplating it a lot in my art, my writings, and my musings. How can understanding the Hero’s Journey help us on our creative journey? I examine the convergence of ideas that brought Joseph Campbell’s monomyth to the forefront of my creative endeavors and how I can understand my own creative journey through the story structure that is the Hero’s Journey.

I still have balance on my mind, but I take a look at it from a couple different points of view. As a fan of Star Wars and Avatar: The Last Airbender, I look at a framework for creativity and finding balance through the lens of The Force and the bending of elements. Like a spinning top, we can keep our creativity balanced, but not just by keeping it spinning, but by keeping our creative weight equally distributed.On today’s episode, I share some ideas about Star Wars, The Last Airbender, and how we can approach our creativity in a wholistic way. I hope that you enjoy!

When the pandemic hit back in March, it was like hitting a big pause button. As everything was cancelled or postponed, I hunkered down in my house, making art, creating videos, livestreaming, and working on podcasts. It was a great time to reconnect with all of these things, but then I pivoted to teaching online classes, and the world slowly began to reopen. I even got to do some in-person teaching in the form of kids summer art camps at the art center that I managed. And unfortunately, so much fell to the wayside as camps swung into high gear, and I continued to teach online. I had little time, and my life became completely unbalanced.On today’s episode, I discuss this feeling of being out of balance, and share a few ways that may help you to regain some of your balance if you’re feeling the same way.

I interview collage and encaustic artist Crystal Neubauer. Crystal shares her artistic journey and discusses how many of her ideas and themes for her works develop organically as she works. We also, dive into making art and teaching art workshops, and we discuss the impact that the coronavirus pandemic and the recent racial tensions and protests have had on Crystal and her work.

We are walking through the fire now, and recent events have me pondering what’s important. Even though the pandemic, protests, marches, and political turmoil have stirred up a lot of overwhelming emotions and ideas, creating and making allow us to process our emotions, our reactions, and our thoughts. Turning the energy of the turmoil into creative energy allows us to focus on what is most important as the fire burns away what is not. We can either allow the fire to consume us or we can allow it to make us stronger as we realize what is truly important.

In the simplest of terms, creating is a spiritual act. Creating is a way that we make sense of the world and discover understanding and meaning. Author Brené Brown says, “As long as we’re creating, we’re cultivating meaning.”I share some ideas on how art and creating can help us discover meaning and purpose in our lives, and I share a bit about my own spiritual journey.

I interview Kansas City artist Amanda Jolley. We talk about her journey from accountant to artists, and we discuss how she come to her main passions of encaustic painting and paper folding and where she gets inspiration for her work. We also talk about how the pandemic has helped many folks focus in on what’s truly important and how art can be a process of letting go of things that get in the way of our authenticity.

We are in an unprecedented crisis that has left many of us panicked and scrambling. But can we find the time and the energy to figure out what is truly important and reprioritize some of the things in our lives right now. I speak straight from the heart as I talk about how this difficult time has been a way for me and many others to reassess our core values and come away with a new outlook on our priorities.

I interview good friend and artist Steve Loya, and we talk about our current situation with the coronavirus and stay-at-home orders. Steve gives some advice on how he’s dealing with the crisis and how he’s finding time to stay creative and keep his sanity.Steve is an artist and an art teacher who lives in Sterling, Virginia. Steve is a lover of nature and of music, and uses both as inspiration for his art. He has created a wide range of artwork from his fun and fanciful Splotch Monsters to his thoughtful Endangered Kingdom series — from his drawings of trees and animals to his abstract paintings and Tone Poems.

What a crazy time right now! So many folks are affecting in so many unpredictable ways. Things are unpredictable, and there’s a lot of stress and anxiety in the world. Instead of closing down and shutting ourselves in, I am encouraging people to open up, connect, and share — all in an attempt to amplify and uplift others.I share some thoughts about this time of upheaval and what we can do to support each other and encourage one another.

Instead of setting out to make a work of art, or to write a novel, or to create a symphony. What if we simplified our approach? What if we set out to have at least one artistic action each day? Instead of overwhelming ourselves with grand notions, and deciding that we’re just not up to the task, what if set out to do just one small action. These little notions — these little artistic actions will accumulate, and over time, they will build.

“Your hand needs time to wander enough to be able to find something you weren’t aware of…” Lynda Barry There might be a fundamental misunderstanding about making and creating. Many people feel that creating is about making some thing — that the creative person simply imagines this thing — a painting, a song, a new dish, and then sets out to make that thing. I believe that creating is an act of discovery, and I share thoughts on how we need to make space to allow our hand to wander so that we can discover something new as we create.