Motivation To Create Art

Dancing Elephants Press Book Project Motivation Prompt — Editor

“Before we can listen to another person, we need to spend time listening to ourselves” — Thich Nhat Hanh

I’ve been very interested in painting for the past few years. Both my daughter and sister are artistic painters, and they create beautiful artwork. I have been curious to find out if I could paint and create something beautiful.

I have done a little bit of painting a few years ago when I visited my daughter in Florida which resulted in three small paintings. One of the paintings is an abstract landscape the other two are splatter painting styles. Since then, I have not painted until recently. I am not fully sure why I have been hesitant to paint more. I have been inspired by both my daughter’s paintings and the paintings and beautiful creations by my sister as well.

Recently my Dorottya Art stayed with me, and she’s been creating some beautiful paintings which were very motivational for me to try painting again. We did a painting together where she was teaching me to not just look at things closely but to move away to a distance and look at the painting from a different perspective.

When you look at a painting from father small details such as a few dots become flowers, two lines become a bird, small brush lines become grass and shades become mountains. I thoroughly enjoyed painting with my sister just the same day as I was enjoying the painting a few years ago when I visited my daughter. I also recently painted together with a friend which was a lot of fun. I attempted to paint my cat, but she turned out to be an abstract cat and although the painting is not perfect, I had a lot of fun painting together with a friend.

My sister Dorottya Art told me something that stuck with me. She said that many times when she starts a painting, she doesn’t know what it will become, and it does not matter if you make a mistake because we can correct it at any time. This notion gave me a lot of freedom to create more freely and the motivation to keep painting.

Recently I’ve been home with COVID and then I started to feel better I began to paint more. I did not feel well enough to do anything else. Painting give me a purpose and the creativity that helped me through my recovery process from COVID.

My motivation was the possibility to create something fun, engaging, and beautiful. To paint also felt relaxing, and it was like stepping into another world. There were a few paintings I created that I did not like or did not feel connected with that I ended up painting over and giving them new life.

I also experimented on multiple forms including canvas, plywood, and two different types of additional wood including pine and an old piece of wood that was part of shelving from a store that closed, and we bought it for multiple projects. I never thought that this piece of wood will be an art piece one day.

Once started painting then additional ideas jumped out to my mind what could work and what to try. Painting felt limitless with endless possibilities just like the way I feel when I write or do grounding in nature. It feels like part of you is in a flow and gets lost in the process. It almost feels like a meditative state. It is just you and the brush, the paint, and imagination that will bring you to a place of peace and calm where anything is possible.

I felt motivated to learn new techniques, and felt excited about the experimentation and painting brought me enormous joy the same way writing does. There is something very rewarding about creating a piece of art that you can enjoy, and others might like as well.

I think the painting also helped my healing process. I had a chance to focus on something else while I was sick and ease my mind. I could stop at any time. I did the paintings outside in the fresh air which also got me out of the house.

My motivations for painting:

1. Create something
2. Ease my mind
3. Spend time with family and friends who also paint
4. Learn a new skill
5. Have fun
6. Open my mind to new possibilities
7. Allow me not to be “perfect”

I feel like painting is like writing it is all right to make mistakes, you can go back, correct, and change what you do at any time. Many times, you have to wait until the paint dries and this also creates learning for patience. This is similar to writing as well. Sometimes writing flows without any obstacles other times the energy stops and you have to wait, go back, restart, re-read, and re-compose. Take some time to think about what you would like to do next.

I have a painting now that was originally a red background with a gold circle representing the sun. I was not sure what to do with it. I put it aside and was thinking about it. Nothing happened. I just did not feel anything about this painting. Then out of nowhere one day when I was painting another painting, I got the canvas and repainted it black with large strokes. When the black dried I added gold strokes. In a few places, you can still see the hint of red. The painting is not done I know it needed something more and I was not sure what it was. This painting has been sitting now for two weeks. Occasionally it jumps into my mind and then blanks. Nothing until this morning. Now I know exactly how to continue. I know what the painting needs. I can see it in front of my eyes, and I can not wait to try it out. I hope it will work, and if it does not, I will restart again. Then, I will change it again, until I feel this is exactly what I wanted to create.

In conclusion, my motivation to paint was inspired by my family and friends who thought me many important lessons about taking my time, creating a flow, the option to mess up, learning a new skill, and accepting what I create regardless of how things turn out.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed my story. If you have not tried painting, I encourage you to do so.

Previous articles from Gabriella

Dancing Elephants Book project

Check out this wonderful article from Lola Rosario about finding herself. A must read.

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Check out Dorottya Art here.