What if you could decide where you wanted to take your art...and then get there?
This is one of my favourite photos.
In the fall, on one of our favourite trails, with some of our favourite people. Look at the joy on our faces.
This particular trail - we call it the Rimrocks Trail - is not a walking trail. It's marked by thick forest and deep mud pits and intersected by other trails that take a rider all over the country. On one of our outings, my dad and I were commenting on how easy it was to get confused, that all the forks in the trail looked the same, and how easy it would be to get lost, and my husband Wade replied, "I know exactly where I am."
He proved it that evening by taking out a pen and sketching a map of the trails. What seemed like a confusing maze of trails was clearly organized in the mind of someone more familiar with the route and deeply connected to a sense of place (or a love of muddy chaos?)
Making a Map of the Journey
Maps serve a purpose. Wade's map helped give him context when the trail branched off; in his sketch he marked the trails that would get us where we wanted to go, and defined landmarks that would help us get there.
Maps save us time, help us avoid detours that would delay our progress, and help us know where we should be and where we want to end up.
If I could map out an artist's journey to success, what would that look like? Every artist is different, after all, and what works for me and my art practice might not be the same path you'll take. You might spend a longer time in an area of your journey that was a pit stop for me, and vice versa. And the order and process of what you're learning might be different as well. For example, when I was learning to paint, I fixed my attention on controlling watercolour and didn't spend much time on planning or design. I used a brush and not a pencil, and am just now (after nearly 30 years) bringing pencil sketching into my art practice.
If the artist's journey is this diverse, how can you know if you're on the right track? What kind of map would work for all artists?
I believe that this diversity is why an artist does need to take ownership of their journey, but I also believe that there is a way to map out what that journey should look like.
Your journey can become more growth-oriented and direct by spending time traveling down these paths:
Artistic Identity: making time to learn how to identify and express your unique voice and vision with freedom and trust.
Skill development: determining where you desire to grow in technique to help you further your ability to express your creativity and vision.
Community & mentorship: Other people will influence your art practice. Learn how to thrive in a supportive community of artists rather than feeling oppressed by others' opinions or judgments of your work, or by comparing yourself with other artists and feeling left out or discouraged.
Developing a thriving process & practice: putting in place a structure for developing your unique creative process in an intuitive, heart-prioritizing way. Learning how to avoid major pitfalls and identify them before they take root.
These four areas of focus can give you tools for mapping out your own art journey in a way that gets you to exactly where you want to go, while enjoying the journey along the way. And these are the four areas of study in my new online course on artistic development, The Heart-Led Artist Pathway.
You don't have to stay stuck.
You don't have to wait for someone to come and show you what you need to do.
You can find your freedom, your creative voice and an empowering approach to making art that lets you really love what you're doing.
This course is only open for enrollment a few times a year. If you can commit a month to your artistic growth, if you can trust the process and come to this course with an open mind and heart, you will feel differently about your art and your own identity as an artist. And it will feel like freedom. Information here: https://heartledartist.com/