Things I Learned in The Find Your Joy Art Classes in 2021 by Louise Fletcher
These points can refer to anything Creative
Finding joy is an inside job.
Play and experimentation are encouraged.
Trust the process.
“Thinky-thinky” brain stops the joy.
Give yourself permission to make a mess.
Joy isn’t “happy-clappy.” It’s that feeling of being fully aligned with yourself.
Notice what you love and do more of that. Notice what you don’t like and stop doing that!
Picasso never asked, “Am I doing it right?”
Ask yourself: What happens if I do this?
Just keep returning to spontaneity, looseness, and curiosity.
You can’t make art you like until you know what you like.
Frustration = you are focusing on the results.
The minute you try to impress other people, you lose everything.
Your attachment to the outcome is what stops you from getting to your vision. You can only reach it by letting go.
There is no art made that isn’t about a feeling.
Your intuition knows better than your mind. Follow your intuition.
The more intuitive your work is, the more you will recognize yourself in it.
Find ways to trick your brain into letting go.
You go on your own path. You have to find your own way.
Focus on the process. Focus on the journey.
It doesn’t matter how many people say you’re good if you don’t believe it.
What do you want to communicate with your art? Paint your way to an answer.
Artists are like magpies. Steal like an artist forever.
Follow the breadcrumbs of what you love.
Be who you are, and don’t worry about who you aren’t.
What you’re drawn to gives you clues to what is authentic in you and what you may want to paint.
Let yourself evolve.
Let the painting lead you.
Just choose something and go with it.
Trust that your intuition will guide you, and enjoy every minute.
If you love a painting, leave it alone.
What would happen if I did this?
Add interest.
Who you are in life is who you are in art.
Don’t get stressed, just curious.
No painting ever made was a waste.
Everything worth making lies on the other side of risk. Everything.
Follow the intuitive nudges where they take you.
Always work on more than one painting. Work on ten.
Communicate something meaningful.
Let the series tell you what it wants.
Relax and see what emerges.
Hold your intention lightly. Let yourself be guided.
If you get stuck, walk away.
There are no ‘shoulds’ in the discovery process.
Trust yourself. You have everything you need already.
Not thinking while painting is one of the fastest ways to improve your art.
Follow your curiosity.
Every painting needs a reason to exist.
Don’t talk yourself out of where your intuition wants to go. It is never wrong.
Paint. Paint. Paint.
If you don’t love it, then bring out your toolkit.
Set yourself free to explore what interests you.
Just keep going. Push it further. DO MORE.
A painting is finished when nothing is niggling at you.
Sketchbooks are all about exploration.
You will have happy and unhappy accidents. See where it takes you.
In the UK, a person can be as “mad as a box of frogs.”
Contrast is about differences.
Subtle contrast is literary fiction, not a mystery novel.
It’s all about the mood you want to create.
Being an artist is about living in the unknown.
The only rule is that you must enjoy making the paintings (the writing, etc.)
Shake things up.
Paintings resolve themselves.
Continue your experiments.
Be kind to yourself.
You have to trust yourself over everyone else.
Push it more. See what you can do. Do lots.
Be authentically yourself. Clearly and confidently express what is inside you.
Be brave.
Keep going. Make ten more.
Compiled by Susan Gabriel