Vision Who You Want to Be as an Artist!
If you are a long-time follower, you know that I have run a coaching program called The Exploring Artist. It’s been on a break, but now I have something new for you. It has just taken some time to get developed.
You see, when we first start creating, it all feels like a really quick thing. One little drawing doesn’t take so much time, and if it doesn’t quite hit home, it’s always exciting to start a new one. Only a matter of practice, right?
Except it’s not.
The more you create, the wider the world of art becomes. It’s like you have first had a small puddle, then followed a stream, managed to find a river, drifted to a lake, and suddenly you are in the middle of a big ocean feeling smaller than ever.
There are so many flows, and to move forward, you should pick one, and preferably one that leads you where you want. At least that’s what business people say, they only take the safe routes and do fine!
Except it’s terribly difficult for artists.
When you are an artist, you are also an adventurer. The unseen is part of art. That’s why we often fail when we try to set a routine or stick with one boring thing.
For six years, I have created an annual vision that guides what I do. Because I come from the business world, I first started with the way businesses create their vision. Then I joined a business coaching program to make sure I was doing it in the right way. Slowly, year by year, I have moved away from how business visions are made.
When you create art, it’s not the same as working in a factory or selling pens. Art is personal, and it also has its own way.
When I call my inner artist to build an annual vision with me, I must be extremely cautious and gentle because she is not happy with the interruption. She would only like to create. “The next piece will be better,” she assures me, “I just need more time for creating.”
But we all know that time is limited and that quantity doesn’t always replace quality. It’s just this life that we have.
“Adult talk,” my inner artist sighs.
When I look at my inner artist, I see a child with all the wisdom built in her. There is no artistic vision if it lacks that spontaneous wisdom.
So, my annual challenge has been to give enough space to that child and that wisdom. Not to try to fit everything into one ship, but to see that there are several routes in the ocean of art, some being steps to the unknown. It’s exciting!
We are then no longer swimming alone in a big ocean, trying to find and follow another swimmer, feeling distracted by every wave and exhausted after staring one point at the horizon for too long.
My artistic vision is focused, and then it’s not. Focusing and narrowing down are not happy words for my inner artist, so I try not to use them. If you look at my classes, illustrations, designs, abstract art, there are several styles and techniques.
And then there’s YOU. An artist who likes to imagine, who gardens and crafts, who sees magic in life’s little things.
You who likes to play and draw in, for example, Animal Inkdom and Magical Inkdom.
You who yearns beauty and watercolors and, for example, Floral Fantasies.
There’s also you who wants to dive deeper and move forward, not only create but also vision. Maybe only you (or this side in you) reads this post from beginning to end?
For you, I have a new program called Artistic Vision!
>> See more!
Creative Start – A Watercolor Edition
This week, we celebrate watercolors. I have a new painting and great news: You can now purchase the watercolor module of the class Floral Fantasies separately. >> Buy here!
This painting is about living at maximum, embracing the visual richness of our surroundings, and having the courage to show up and reach high.
My Rusty and Shy Watercolor Set
Why did I choose watercolors for this kind of grand subject? Those timid little pans! “Hey, Paivi,” they whispered to me. “We doubt if we can dance anymore.”
We humans are like watercolors. It takes some time to handle a new element. When a part of us gets washed away, we first become bland and unclear.
Layer by Layer Towards The Maximum
But the mildness changes when layers begin to build up. The colors get brighter and the depth becomes more evident. Like a painting, a life that had no energy begins to breathe and sing.
What first felt uncontrollable, can lead to openness.
The failures of the beginning become background music, and the true identity is revealed layer by layer.
When the outer world is at a minimum, we have a chance to turn the inner world to a maximum. So why paint like a minimalist when the soul’s natural essence is a maximalist! Isn’t this the best time to let the inner artist out?!
Floral Fantasies – Watercolor Edition
By popular request, the watercolor module of Floral Fantasies is available separately from the rest of the class. The watercolor edition has four projects. There’s one small beginner project, two are slightly bigger but fun projects, and the last one is an in-depth project. You’ll start simple, but paint more richness and layers project by project. >> Buy now!
Floral Fantasies – both the watercolor edition and the full edition are on sale this weekend! The sale ends on March 7, 2021, at midnight PST. >> Buy now!
About Art and Knitting
Knitting Through Childhood
I learned to knit before school when I was about five years old. Before that, my older sisters had taught me to crochet, but it wasn’t enough. “There will be much more stitches, and they get dropped easily,” they said. But I was determined. I sat in the kitchen with a ball of dark green light-weight yarn and thin needles that had duck heads in the other end. I wrapped the yarn around the needles and was sure that I would figure it out by myself. It must have been an endearing sight because my sisters gave up and taught me to knit.
After that, I was unstoppable. My mother taught me to make socks and mittens, and when I went to school, I learned more from there. Our local library had a couple of shelves of knitting books, and I borrowed them regularly. As a teenager, I bought a knitting machine and made a sweater in a couple of days.
The good thing in the 1980s fashion is that the knits were so big that we never grow out of them!
Late-Night Knitting
Like art, knitting has always been with me. But even if I have had times in my life when I haven’t created art, I have never stopped knitting. No matter what crisis I had, how busy at work I have been, there has always been time and energy for knitting. It’s still like breathing – in, out – knit, purl.
As a child, I had a phase when I dreamed about being a textile artist. But the older I have become, the more I have realized that the connection between knitting and art-making must be looser for me. In the late evenings, when the working day is over, I say good-bye to the artist in me. Then it’s time to stop producing and start consuming. I browse online yarn stores, their Instagram accounts, and Ravelry.com – the ultimate database for knitters – and plan my next projects. I watch knitting podcasts on Youtube and knit obsessively as long as I can stretch the night. I don’t think about art, and I don’t feel like an artist. By following or adapting a pattern that someone else has written makes sure that I don’t have to think but just knit.
But strangely, for each big painting, I need a lot of knitting. It’s my way of processing all the ordinary so that the extraordinary can come up.
Art and Knitting – Work and Hobby
When I started blogging over ten years ago, my blog was about knitting. At that time, I also sold handmade bags called folk bags and wool that I produced in co-operation with my friend and a few farmers. There might still be some of you who have followed me since then. Thank you for sticking around!
Later, I wrote a pattern for them. You can purchase it here!
When I grew my artist’s identity, I wanted not to talk about knitting anymore. I needed a hobby, not another job, and I felt that knitting and fine art don’t go so well together in public. People often have a hard time understanding that art can be a real job.
But last year, I decided that it’s time to approach art with greater confidence than before. It has made me more open, and maybe it has added a bit more self-acceptance too. So yes, I am both an artist and a knitter. Art is my work, and knitting is my hobby, but I would not be able to work without the hobby.
Does this make sense to you? Let me know what you think!
Artistic Growth – From “Huh” to “Wow”
This week, we’ll talk about changing artistic direction and how the first reaction doesn’t always matter as much as the second one.
My seed idea for this painting was slightly different from usual, and I wanted to see how it would grow on canvas. It took many sessions and lots of struggles with finishing. “There’s still something wrong with this painting, Paivi,” I said to myself after correcting a couple of shapes that my husband pointed out. Last night, I had a dream that I walked an ugly dog on a thin leash. The breed was an odd choice, but the dog was still mine.
“Huh” and “Wow” – First and Second Reactions
Isn’t it so that we want to change, but as soon as we begin to see the results, we are likely to bounce back? It’s so easy to say: “No, this is not for me, I’ll try something else. I’ll try a different style, a new technique, another art class, or find other artists to follow and admire.” And this is not only a bad thing. In the long run, bouncing back is about integrating the new stuff into our natural self. But in the short run, it can prevent the growth we want and need.
I have been reading James Victore‘s Feck Perfuction as an audiobook. It’s a book about creativity and easy listening about things that are really tough in practice. It’s more like a two-hour inspirational speech than a down-to-earth guide, but it feels current with this painting. In the book, James Victore refers to an American pop artist Edward Ruscha. He has said: “Good art should elicit a response of ‘Huh? Wow!’ as opposed to ‘Wow! Huh?'”
This week, my favorite video podcast, One Fantastic Week, talked about “Instagram art” – pictures that the Instagram algorithm likes. It’s colorful, easy to consume and comprehend, but its exposure doesn’t ensure the artistic quality.
Artistic Growth and New Truths
When a painting is not for a class or a specific exhibition, I try not to think about the audience too much. I trust that you will pick what you like, and forgive me those you don’t.
But with this painting, I realized that I have played in the “Wow! Huh?” category, and this one tries to be more “Huh? Wow!” And that change makes me uncomfortable. It’s like I have been written a revealing story but in a code language, being afraid that anyone who stops to look will see to the core of me. And at the same time, worrying about that anyone who doesn’t, only sees a mess.
An Outside View to the Inside World
Teaching art has helped me to grow as an artist a lot. For example, when I get to see a student sharing a wonderful painting saying: “I don’t know about this one,” my gut reaction is then: “What!? This is beautiful!” But what’s “huh” for them is “wow” for me because I see the painting in a context that’s still new to them. They haven’t got used to seeing themselves like that. They are in the middle of a change, and it’s tempting to get back to the same old thing.
I recycle plastic lids and use them as palettes.
But when we do something regularly, it’s natural to miss the change. Floating on the surface isn’t enough anymore, and we get curious what’s deeper – “behind the glass” as we say in Floral Freedom, referring to Wassily Kandinsky‘s teachings. Then we need to learn, stretch, and redefine. Accept new truths.
When looking at the mirror, I see more wrinkles than before. What was “huh” some years ago would be “wow” now. But with this wisdom, I hope long life for this painting. That the “huh” that it causes now will be “wow” someday. Maybe after I have fully accepted that my artistic growth is towards more and more abstract art.
It’s also good to accept that some paintings are just “huh-huh” and a few manage to be “wow-wow,” and what’s “huh” for some is “wow” for another. What do you think?