This might be a truth seeking kind of episode because, first of all, you’ll want to identify how you handle limitations. Do you rally against them or walk away feeling defeated? Do you give up and move onto something else? On the other hand, can you recall some instances where things didn’t go anything like you expected and yet, you ended up with a piece you absolutely loved or an approach that has now become a standard in your repertoire of techniques, maybe even a defining style?
Recognizing how limitations can help, can widen your potential creativity, not restrict it. To help you see that, we’ll go over some of the ways that limitations manifest in creative work, the reasons we rally against them, the many wonderful ways they help and why they should be embraced, as well as some exercises you can do to get you more comfortable with limitations and, lastly, how to include more of them in your wider creative process to supercharge innovation and .
Other Resources mentioned:
Artists working with physical limitations
–
CONTACT SAGE
Email Sage via the contact form or send a voice mail (use the red button, bottom right) on the show website: http://thesagearts.com/contact/
And join Sage on social media:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thesageartspodcast/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheSageArtsPodcast
–
GET WEEKLY PODCAST NOTICES & BONUS MATERIAL:
–
SUPPORT THIS PODCAST
· Buy a STICKER! (Get 2 per order as of this release.)
· Buy polymer art books and magazines
–
CREDITS:
Cover design by Sage; Illustration by Olga Kostenko
Episode cover photo by Sage Bray Varon
Music by Playsound
For Transcript click on the episode here: https://rss.com/podcasts/thesagearts/
Transcript
Transcription (AI transcribed, unedited. Please excuse the copious errors.)
Hello, all my free wheeling, playful, creative friends. Thank you for joining me on the Sage Arts podcast. Sage here doing another solo set for you. I have to apologize that I haven’t had any interviews, no guests this month other than Brent hanging out with me last week. I actually had three lined up for the next couple of months, ones even recorded, but for various reasons I can’t get going on any of them. This life can get a little wacky at times and unpredictable, but we’re just going to have to go with the flow right? And truthfully, the solos are some of the most talked about episodes, so I’m guessing that you’re okay with this, I hope. Still, I do love talking to guests. I’m working hard on filling those backlogs and chances are, once I get that going, I’m going to be suddenly booked for months. So that’s just how things go, right? Well, these kinds of unexpected things, plans falling through the roadblocks we encounter as we go down our various roads can be frustrating and sometimes even devastating. But for the most part, these unexpected or undesired changes and restrictions are more gifts than issues. Brett is always amazed at how I tend to thrive when faced with a new issue, a problem, a change in plans. I have to admit it, I’m a weirdo, a bit of a freak of nature because I actually love problems or challenges as I prefer to think of them. There are usually just little puzzles to be solved. A chance to battle against the powers of be, against fate, against Murphy, against those gremlins that come up in our day. Because those challenges are a chance to overcome and gain that extremely fulfilling sense of accomplishment when we solve or overcome them. The other thing is that facing these changes and restrictions gives all of us an opportunity to experience and learn from the discovery that comes with being forced to look for another way to do something an alternative to the original plan. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today in a broad sense. And for visual artists, it’s the role, an absolute gift of having limitations in our work, whether planned, unplanned or simply pre-existing restrictions, boundaries, constraints, whatever you want to call them. It all comes down to the same thing. Having complete freedom taken away, having our expectation subverted, forcing us to look at things analytically differently from a new angle in order to find a way to do the kind of thing we’re trying to accomplish. is one of the most creative spaces we can exist in. But before we get to this really cool discussion, I have a very special shout out today. I want to thank Harriet Veron. This is my mother in law who is not a visual artist in the classical sense, but she is a very creative thinker and a raving supporter of mine. She apparently gets so much out of this podcast, even though she doesn’t have an art form to apply it to that she listens to some of them over and over again, which is so sweet. But she sees the way it applies to other things in her life and then thanks me profusely for the advice. Her enthusiasm is so energizing for me. Her feedback on what speaks to her really helps me zero in on the kinds of thoughts that are impacting her and therefore other listeners. Right. I just want to say, Harriet, how much I love you and appreciate you and all the things that you do for me and the rest of the family. I am so glad to have you in my life. I have so many cheerleaders on this project. Really. It’s it’s a blessing. It’s really so very touching. And I do want to hear from as many of you as possible. So please do write me if you’re listening on a podcast player. Jimi, a quick favor and hit the follow button, first of all. And while on the podcast page, you can click through on any of the links relevant to you in the show notes. They’re usually in a space directly to the side or below the podcast cover image, so I can just scroll down to it. Same goes for listening. If you’re on the RSS website or the Sage Arts website. As far as finding available links. Just scroll down to reach me. But they don’t have a follow button, so we can’t do that unfortunately. On the other hand, you can get notices, news and extra material by signing up for the newsletter on the homepage of the Sage Arts website. Look for the news and notices button below or next to the homepage image there. From these links you can get to the contact page on the Sage Arts website or easily click through to find the Sage Arts Podcast on Instagram or Facebook where you can also send me messages or leave comments on the post there with traveling and some other family stuff going on. I haven’t done a lot of posting out on the social media sites. just don’t do a lot of promoting. And yet this podcast is still growing, which is so cool. It’s mostly by word of mouth and I love you all for that. I’ve actually heard from a couple of people. that they have taken stuff they’re listening to in the podcast to groups, and they’re having these great conversations at meetings and gathers of artistic friends. Please do take your thoughts to your friends and guilds and online conversations. If the subjects get you thinking, then it’ll probably be getting other people thinking if you bring it up. And I think we’ll all have richer creative lives for digging in a bit deeper on what we do and why, and finding ways to make our creative endeavors an even more magical experience than they already are. So share this wherever it makes sense to you and if you can and want to give back. I do run this completely on my own personal funding and your donations. So let’s see if we can indefinitely put off advertising. That’s kind of my goal. You can fine buy me a copy and PayPal donation buttons halfway down the home page of the Sage Arts website. or in the show notes. You You can also buy books and magazines that interested in the polymer arts on any level at 10th at Muse Arts dot com that’s 10th spelled out t, A.H., m, USC Art Ask.com, all the funds made there right now are funneled into the podcast. So get yourself a beautiful publication or two. You can also get the Feed your Muse stickers there and support this project at the same time. Okay, So limitations. Let’s talk about that. I’m feeling a bit limited right now because I don’t have guests, But that’s okay. I love doing the solo episodes. We can really get focused on a subject with them and that’s been a little bit of a self-reflection for me, and I’d like you to do the same if you’re up for it. So let’s pose those questions for the chat. Something to keep in mind as you’re listening. This might be a bit of a truth seeking kind of lesson here because first of all, I think you want to identify how you handle limitations, especially unexpected ones or through thwarted effort type of things, and thwarted by trying to say that Do you rally against them or walk away feeling defeated, or do you give up or move on to something else when those kinds of things happen? Can you recall on the other hand, some instances where things didn’t go anything like you expected and yet you ended up with a piece you absolutely loved or an approach that was something you had not done before and has now become a standard in your repertoire of techniques, maybe even something that’s become a defining style, recognizing how limitations have helped you in the past. And I can guarantee you they have in some huge way, I’m sure should help you see just how important they really can be. And to help you see that more, we’ll go over some of the ways that limitations manifest in creative work, the reasons we rally against them, the many wonderful ways they help and why they should be embraced, as well as some exercises you can do to get more comfortable with limitations. And lastly, how to include more of them in your kind of wider creative process. So let’s start by talking about what I think is kind of the common view of limitations in art. Creativity seems like the kind of thing that should not have any rules, right? It should not be fettered or hobbled or whatever you want to call it. Just the idea of art conjures up the vast world of possibilities, the endlessness of imagination. It makes it appear that we should be free to create, as we like on a whim, without restrictions. And in many ways I do think that’s true. But I have also seen people use this as an excuse not to challenge themselves, to actually limit the breadth of their creative voice by swimming comfortably in one spot because you’re really swimming in a broad ocean of possibility and whirling about randomly can make you feel lost. So people like to stay in one place. The ocean of creative possibility may seem to represent freedom, but it is actually a very scary place for most people, even seasoned artists, maybe even more so for seasoned artists and really successful artists. Actually, as a freelancer writer, I worked for Time for Ink Magazine. That’s IMC as an Inc. it’s a huge small business magazine known for ranking the most successful businesses. And I did profile interviews for the companies that made their list, as well as some online articles. And one of the things that I discovered in interviewing hundreds of businesses for them was that the conversation was often about creativity and how it leads to success. The new small businesses that I interviewed were so innovative, so energized and just really open to new ideas, and they gave the best interviews because they were so passionate and creative at the time. The older a company was, though, the more rigid they were, to the point that many of the most successful and bigger companies often led me off to talk to legal or marketing departments. Instead, the CEOs or presidents or founders, as I usually did. And that was just kind of weird because making this list is actually a really big thing. It’s kind of like the Golden Globes for business kind of thing, but they became risk adverse and they had resources they thought would best represent them and reduce the risk of talking to a journalist at the same time. The thing is, the more success you have, the more costly the risks seem because you don’t want to lose the position you’ve gained. Right. But there was something else I noticed in the interviews. A lot of innovation came from the restrictions they had, especially when they were starting out and having to do with less, and those restrictions created opportunities for doing things differently and opening doors that they would not have known were even there if they hadn’t looked for workarounds. One great example is the Google search landing page. Have you ever wondered why it’s so sparse? There’s all this open space around the little search box and they do nothing with it. I mean, they could be showing off and driving us to all kinds of products and services that they’re trying to sell or grow, but they don’t Why is that? Well, it was kind of accidental and it’s kind of hilarious, actually. It was initially a case of severe limitations. The founder, Larry Page and Sergey Brin didn’t know HTML, the code language used to build web pages. Right? They didn’t have a webmaster and they didn’t have anyone else helping them out. So they built a search page that was as simple as possible. So they had the Google logo, the search box, the search button, and then they just put a copyright line at the bottom. So people knew that was all the page was going to be. And now that page is probably the most visited page in Internet history. Plus it’s referred to as one of the best design due to its simplicity, its ease of use, the way it keeps focused on the search box, which is the entry way for a vast and hugely complex network. And any changes made are easy to see, like the way they change up their logo to celebrate various notable events or people. They’ve also added that I’m feeling lucky button, which I’ll mention again later. and you can try and guess why. I’m going to talk about it too as I talk. So limitations are often at the root of great innovation like that page And yes, we as artists often fight for a lack of restriction. We relish it. We wave it like a flag. And yes, no one should be able to tell you how to create, But not wanting to be told what to do is not the same as having limitations. Other people’s opinions and rules sure rally against that, but embrace planned, unplanned and preexisting limitations for all they can teach and show you. And maybe that’s where the misunderstanding is, where those limitations come from. If your limitation is like a should or an outside influence, you should make it this way or this material should be manipulated that way, or you should create what the market wants or this is how other people do it. For many of us, those are detrimental restrictions they muddle our creativity with other people’s ideas. so I’m all for kicking those to the curb. However, inherent restrictions due to the material or your resources are a whole other thing, and we’ll get to specifics about that in just a moment. Now, I’ve heard over and over from creatives that they don’t want to have goals, not everybody, but there’s quite a number of them that I’ve talked to that are like, I don’t want to have goals, I don’t want to plan. I don’t even want to know what I’m going to make before sitting down with the materials, because I think they’re afraid that if they do, it will take away from the magic of creating. Now I’m just going to say it straight up. I think that’s kind of nonsense. I’m sorry if you feel that way, but it’s not the sit down and play with no idea of what you’ll make thing. That’s nonsense. I do wholly believe that stream of consciousness creating has a useful and even sometimes necessary place in your process. But to say it takes away from the magic to plan or to have goals is just I’m sorry, it’s just silly. Now you might find your best magic in that kind of unplanned creating, but if you never try having a plan, doing some sketches, making a goal, you may very well be missing out on another kind of magic altogether. So yes, planning and goals introduces limitations, but they’re yours to control yours to divvy out as needed and honestly to do without would be kind of like playing a game with no rules. The rules create a challenge, and that’s what makes those games fun. Acknowledging and embracing rules or limitations creates its own kind of magic. Limitations and goals push you to think, to figure things out, to take your mind and imagination places that a blank piece of paper just couldn’t. Because the blank page, whatever you start with a blank page, piece of clay, whatnot, it’s only going to be filled by what you already think and know and those things that are kind of in the front of your mind that are easy to access, while limitations force you to come up with ideas to work with in or around these boundaries and restrictions, limitations push you to come up with new ideas. They direct your learning and your exploration, and They cause you to look at your sources of inspiration and even your everyday surroundings in new ways. So what are the kind of limitations I’m talking about? Well, for one, realize you are restricted by every aspect of your art. Already. Your materials have physical or computational limitations. Your tools are only usable under certain circumstances, and usually with certain materials, you probably have time and financial limitations. And the laws of physics bind us at every turn. Right? You’re also limited by your experiences, society, your knowledge, your sources of inspiration, the elements of design, maybe self-imposed rules born of who you are, what you like, your biases, your aesthetics, etc.. And I say for the most part, thank goodness we have those. They ground us and they give us a place to start creating from. For instance, if you have to downsize your studio, let’s say you might have to learn to work smaller initially, but that could lead to wonderful new work. And maybe you discover you sell more at your shows because you have these new price point items that really work for your market and bring people into your booth and you sell not just more small stuff, more large stuff because you’re getting more attention. And you would never have figured that out if you hadn’t been forced to go small. That’s kind of how I ended up with my present project, Painting on Stone Tiles. I wanted to get back to painting, but there’s something about a plain canvas that just felt like it was blocking me. I, I get very attached to the materials that I work with. I feel a connection to them, like they’re partners in my work. And I just. Canvas is not much of a partner. It’s literally blank. So I gave myself some parameters I would paint on materials that match the subject. And so I had been wanting to create a piece with these recurring images I have of fissures in rocks, the kind of stuff that’s found in caves or sides of canyons, Then I noticed tiny cracks and stone tile that we have around the house. And I knew I wanted that kind of material, the kind that actually experiences these fissures as a substrate. I would not have come up with that if I hadn’t said, I won’t paint on canvas. The substrate I’d paint on was the limitation and the tile was something I would not have thought of without the self-imposed limitations. I know I have quite a fighting spirit and that’s not the place from which everybody, or maybe even most people create. And that’s okay. but I love challenges because I know if I meet the challenges, if I meet my goals and I make accomplish work, I am in for a serious, fabulous high that I get to keep the rest of my life. Now, if limitations are such great things, why do artists so often shy away from self limitations or for making goals? Well, my guess is that for most people it keeps them from having to face failure consciously or unconsciously. Because if you try to work with limitations with a set ideas for an outcome or with goals or deadlines, then there’s a way to measure your accomplishments and where you can be measured. You can fail if you don’t have expectations. How can you fail? If I could only get all my listeners to embrace one thing that would be to take risks and embrace the opportunity that comes with it. failure because you tried, not because you failed to try is the best teacher you’ll ever have. It represents effort in progress unless you don’t get past the idea that failing to accomplish what you’re after is bad. And then you try to bury it. Look at your failures closely. learn from them. Look for the successes within the failures and know you made the effort. You took a journey, and although you didn’t end up where you’d hoped you might make the next journey easier and the chance for getting to a really good place with your work is not just likely, but virtually inevitable as long as you keep trying. We also see people rally against limitations because restrictions generally create an increased difficulty in the task. And most people don’t like things to be hard. But research on the flow state those moments when you get lost in your work and you get that most wonderful feeling of calm and accomplishment, indicated that work that is too easy won’t get you into the flow. It needs to be challenging at least enough to fully engage your mind while not being so difficult as to frustrate you. we all have our personal limits on how much challenge we can take. But the more you are open to it, the more flow you’ll likely get into and that puts you in a creative brainwave state. A lot of really good stuff happens in that type of flow state. There is also a feeling that can come up when limited that we don’t have full control or enough control over our medium or ideas to orchestrate the creation into what we hope it will be. We think if we aren’t limited, like if we have access to all the best materials and tools all the time in the world, all the best classes that will be set up for success. And honestly, it’s just not true. Yes, having the best stuff, having great classes and all the time in the world can be super helpful, but it’s not necessary. And there are things you’ll find with your restrictive situation that you would never happen upon if your situation was this version of your ideal. many people also don’t want limitations because saying it’s just for play, it gives them an out. It wasn’t serious or it didn’t matter if they accomplished what they wanted. There’s actually some merit to that, which is why I think play is important. But if it’s all that you do, what are you missing out on by challenging yourself with limitations? That’s the same reason I think it’s okay to do without restrictions when you crave those accidental discoveries. But again, I think you’re actually limiting your possible discoveries. If this is the only way you approach your work. And here’s what I think is a really interesting reason why people might not want to have limitations. We may associate limitations, planning and goals with left brain activities, and it’s the right brain where creativity thrives. Right. well, I think you might be surprised to find out that’s not actually true. I’ve met brilliant artists, super creative and innovative people who are also methodical and neat and planners and very controlled. And then, of course, I know others who are messy and purely intuitive in their work, but most all of the interesting artists I know of or know myself are or were thinkers who analyze their world and their art, who philosophize in question. And these are considered these brain activities are considered primarily left brained activities, right? But art, like most everything else our brain does, involves both sides of our brain. It’s a myth that people are left brain or right brain types. There are creative types, there are logical types. But the fact is, in both cases, we use both sides of our brain all the time. It’s true that the right side is associated with creativity, emotion, intuition, visual, auditory and spatial perception. And many of our artistic ideas are born. They’re the seeds at least. But the left brain allows you to do something with those perceptions and creative ideas. And in truth, both sides have been found to be very active during creative sessions, along with many other activities that we do. The difference between very creative thinkers and predominantly logical thinkers actually has to do with how the networks of our brains are set up, not which side of the brain we use. But in any case, it takes both sides, right? So don’t get stuck in the idea that left brain tasks aren’t creative. They are absolutely a part of the creative process. Now, what will you get out of self-enforcing limitations or just embracing limitations when they arise? Well, limitations force us to be more creative, which is kind of what we just been talking about. It pushes us beyond our comfort zones and familiar ideas. it’s really the mother of innovation, because often the sources of new discoveries comes from problem solving and limitations give you problems to solve, right? Just think of how many times you’ve messed up on something and you get creative with the solution to fix it and discover a really cool look or technique in the process. And you likely never would have gotten there if you hadn’t had the limitation of this half formed piece that you had to work with. one of the most helpful reasons to embrace, encourage, and even set some self prescribed limitations is because it minimizes blank canvas paralysis. And this is basically decision paralysis, but the term is for artists. you may have heard of this before. It’s become really prevalent in our day and age. It’s when we have too many decisions. It can overwhelm us to the point that we can’t make any decisions at all. And I think it’s prevalent today because we are fed the idea that we can’t just pick anything, that there’s some perfect product or service or belief out there just for our situation or just for our desire. And there’s not. It’s the same kind of thing that happens when we start a new piece. When you’re staring at a blank canvas, a white page, a block of clay, or the whole wide world on the other side of your camera lens. You have literally all the choices in the world. how do you decide what to make or where to start? Now, I won’t go into this too much just now, because it seriously could be a whole episode, this blank canvas paralysis thing. And it probably will be at some point. But when you have limitations, it reduces your choices. So the more limitations you have, the fewer choices you have And with fewer choices comes easier decision making, right? It’s not the whole wide world of possibilities anymore. It’s thankfully limited. So you see, you have a greater chance of getting those successes, having more enjoyment, and actually reducing your frustrations by seeing limitations as friends and not foes. Okay, you might now be fully convinced. Or maybe you’ve been totally on board this whole time, but haven’t actively been limiting your work or processes. So I’m going to rattle off some ideas for playing with limitation. So some limitation ideas are kind of like short term exercises. work with one or two of any design elements, like why don’t you types of any design elements. So color, for instance, just one or two hues Maybe stick to one or two shapes like squares and snakes or just circles or only angular shapes and see what comes of that. You could also do like high contrast or low contrast work. Try this with an elements maybe that you don’t often consider something that you want to get more familiar with and you will get familiar with it really fast if you do this kind of exercise. you can also restrict yourselves with tools, just one or two tools or brushes or materials, that kind of thing. You can also put time limits or editing limits on it. So like five minute sketches, like maybe once a day or one hour paintings or one hour sculptures. Or don’t do any photo editing or do something very spontaneously and don’t fix it and see what you come up with. you can also do things like make your mind think differently, create your work upside down. That’s actually a really good way to hone your AI, because when you’re seeing things like you’re if you’re trying to make something representational of something in the real world, you have expectations about it. And if you turn it upside down, you have to look at it differently. And so your expectations kind of fly out the window and you have to look at what you’re actually seeing in order to do it upside down. So that’s a cool one for many reasons. You can also work with your eyes closed, which I know is hard, but what are you going to get from that? It could be something cool. You can also choose a subject and create as many iterations of it as you can, like in a set time limit. Like give yourself a week to do a flower every day or give yourself an hour to create as many one inch paintings as you can. Something like that. You can also pick a word out of a dictionary or use a random word generator and use that word as your theme for the work. Now, we’re going to get back to the Google thing. You can hit the I’m feeling Lucky button on the Google search page and see what comes up and depending on what you end up hitting because it actually changes, it’ll say, feeling lucky. Then I’ll say like feeling hungry or feeling due to your or feeling curious or something. Then when you hit that page, sometimes it does something unexpected. Like I clicked on feeling playful and it was an Easter egg about doing a barrel roll. I know this may not make any sense. You’ll just have to go there to find out. But in case I hit it in, the whole page, started doing flips. It was pretty crazy. but in case it’s something that uses serendipity because you click something and you have no idea what you run into, but maybe you’ll run into the exact kind of thing that you need. that’s just a taste of possibilities. If you want more ideas for things that challenge you or limit you just search for things like limitations in art or art. Challenges or art prompts, read about things that other artists do that might represent limitations or challenges and something that you can integrate into your own process and just see where that takes you. Now, mind you, I don’t think of limitations as an exercise. I think it’s really an integral part of the creative process. So here are a few thoughts about parts of the process where limitations can be embraced. Number one, and I talked about this, so the first episode of the second episode state in intention for your new piece, you don’t have to stick with it. It just needs to get you started. you know, be fluid as you work, listen to your intuition, and if something else comes up or the work leads you off the original path a bit, fine. Your unconsciousness is working to help you discover what you really want to say and do. So you listen to it. You can also set goals for yourself, set goals for your work and your process. Like intention. These can change, but they give you a limited structure within which to work, which has the added bonus of putting some urgency or direction with what and when you do your work. Goals can be like X number of pieces done by the end of the week or 10% progress on a large project each week, or learn a new technique each month or change a habit you don’t like. I had a habit of tossing my tools randomly on my work table, then having to spend like a half a minute each time I changed tools, finding the right one, so I got myself a tray for them. So they stayed in one little place and I made myself work from that tray. I think it was like for three days it took me that if I tossed the tool, I had to get up and do like push ups or sit ups or some exercise. I got some exercises in while I was like, you know, reprimanding myself. my dominoes that week were really sore. But it worked. So anyways, that’s another thing you can try to do. You can get yourself on a schedule as a goal. You can do one minute sketch first thing every morning as a goal, whatever makes sense for you and what you want to improve or accomplish. I think deadlines are particularly good limitations because there’s nothing like a deadline to produce work. Now, if you’re good at self-imposed deadlines, great. That’s all you need to do. Set a deadline and reach for it. But otherwise, get in on things that make you feel obligated, like set goals to get in art submissions or join artists, meet up groups, or get into some kind of meetings with Artists Guild meetings, that kind of thing, or have someone who, you know, won’t let you slack and tell them you have a self-imposed deadline and ask them to help you stick to it. Another thing you can do is declutter your workspace. So you’re forced to work with less. Now some people feel like they are more creative when surrounded by stuff and chaos. so this might not be for you, but I’d say at least try it. See what comes up when your choices and space is simplified. Likewise, work only with the materials you already have. And now this is slightly different because what I’m talking about is stop buying new materials to play with and that’s terrible. probably like you. You walk into an art store or craft store and you just like want all the things. But the problem is, that sometimes that keeps you from creating because you spend a lot of time playing and exploring new materials. Now The caveat is if you realize you need something as you plan or create, but just stop buying stuff just to try it, or at least keep it to a minimum or give yourself a budget. and keep an eye on whether buying stuff is a form of procrastination where you play, but you’re not making much of anything and you’re telling yourself you’re experimenting. You might be, but if you are doing more experimenting than creating, you might have an art supply problem. And when you are stuck for inspiration and feel inclined to look at other people’s artwork, do yourself a favor and look at work in other mediums only. This kind of limitation will force you to look at design and not technique, and you’ll be more likely to create from your own unique voice since you have to translate what you’ve seen in other mediums in it to your medium. Also, consider taking something you consider a weakness, like a lack of skill or other personal limitations, and embrace it. Explore void it, make it central to your work. Here’s the thing. there’s no such thing as a wrong or bad way to do art. There’s only an intentional ways. So something that you think of as a weakness or an unknown skill or whatnot may be something that actually can be part of your style. Just make what you call your weakness intentional. For instance, I don’t like the lack of precision I have with brushes right now. I’m much better with exactly materials like pencils or digital artwork or whatnot. So right now I’m embracing that lack of precision, and I’ve been just using my fingers and other very imprecise tools, kind of throwing precision out the window to see what I can do with that. And I may get around honing my skills again, but for now I’m embracing my lack of skill there. okay, what do you think now? Are you maybe keen on the idea of embracing limitations, maybe even excited about working into them instead of rallying against them, You know, in my research, because I always start this stuff off with some research because there’s things I probably wouldn’t have thought of. And you never want to work in a vacuum of your own ideas if you have options. And these days we of course have all kinds of options. So in the process, I found this quote, It was by Orson Welles. He famously said, The enemy of art is the absence of limitations. So if you don’t want to take my word for it, take the word of a extremely creative, probably one of the most creative filmmakers of all times. He broke so many rules. He had the entire industry looking at filmmaking in a new way, creating and innovating with cinematic techniques no one had seen before. And as I understand it, they weren’t pulled out of the ether. He had specific ideas and specific limitations created by his equipment in the medium and his cinematographers, not to mention budgets and executives making demands on him and just look what he did. And by the way, if you haven’t seen like Citizen Kane, which is often considered the greatest film of all time, you have to see it or watch Touch of Evil to see what limitations can do. And if film is not your thing. Look at artists like Peter Longstaff. He has no arms. He paints with his foot. Or look at Keith Salmon or Lisa Fittipaldi. That’s ITP LDI. Both of them are blind painters and their work is amazing. So you can see what people can do with severe limitations and restrictions and what wonderful things they get out of it. I truly do believe that is our limitations, not our abilities that push us to create our best work. I don’t think we always need specific or severe limitations, but I think as artists we do ourselves a disservice in not embracing them when they pop up. Not giving in, getting that kind of creative hug that is more encouragement than restriction. So next time you run into some restrictive elements, some unexpected limitation, some boundary you wish you could break through, turn around and try to work with it, not against it, and see if you don’t arrive at a really new place. That actually opens up more possibilities for your art and your creative mind. Now, if you’d like to give me a creative hug, first and foremost, I would love, love, love for you to reach out with your stories or your comments or your thoughts. Just please do let me know what you think. Find me on Facebook and Instagram under the Sage Arts Podcast or write me by going to the contact page at the Sage Arts dot com. If you find this episode’s hitting at home for you and you want to give back, you’ll find buy me a coffee and PayPal donation buttons halfway down the home page at the Sage Ask.com as well as in the show notes on the page. You play this from. There’s also links in those same places to buy feed your muse stickers or pick up polymer related books like I mentioned earlier, adds 10th Muse Ask.com. That all goes to help me keep the lights burning bright up here. And don’t forget to hit that follow button on your podcast player and share anything you find about the podcast, The Post and newsletters with any other curious visual artists so they can come and join us here. All right. That’s a wrap. I hope you have a new and exciting outlook on limitations and challenges that come your way. Just keep on keeping on. Feed that muse. Be true to your brand of weirdness, and I’ll meet you back here next time for the Sage Arts Podcast.
