6 Ways to Free The Artist In You
Do you sometimes wish you could give your creativity free rein? But those voices in your head just don’t stop, do they? From telling you that art is only for ‘real’ artists to letting you know that playing around with colours, paper and clay is for kids, these beliefs just don’t let you express freely. We, at Artflute believe that art is for everyone to indulge in, to savour and to buy. Giving everyone who dabbles in it a feeling of fullness, art is something that connects the body, mind and soul. If you have always been intrigued with art and been too afraid to try, wait no further for we have many different ways in which you can engage with art in your everyday life
Start small or really really BIG
Try sculpting a little design on the rear end of your pencil with a knife or use a paper the size of a postage stamp to draw. The incredibly small dimensions will challenge you creatively to express yourself on a small canvas. Of course, you could just as easily go really big. Tape together chart paper, end to end, until you have one enormous piece of paper— so large as to cover the floor of your room. And let loose. Splash paint, lie on it and smudge it, throw some ink, or sprinkle water and enjoy the results!
Get creative with your medium
Is the voice of your self-critic too loud? Make it easy on yourself by making art that doesn’t last. The next time you’re at the beach, get down on the sand and sculpt your own sandfort. You might be the only adult amongst the children but we guarantee you will be the one having the most fun. You could even build a whole castle. Or keep it simple and draw on the sand. You could even begin by drawing with chalk, using the road as your canvas. Watch out for those vehicles though!
Use Art To Understand & Explain
If a concept or idea seems to confuse you, draw it out. The hit RSA Animate series can be your inspiration where ideas are explained through illustrations in a very accessible manner. You can do the same for yourself or anyone else. Just watched a film? Make a cartoon strip of the story with dialogues rather than explaining the plot to your family.
Become A Mad Inventor
Go on a walk and collect objects that catch your eye— from feathers and twigs, to pieces of shiny glass and crinkly paper. Get home and think of a wild invention you would like to create and craft it out of your found objects. The aim is not the usability of your invention but to see how wild the artist in you can get. Need inspiration? Check out Simone Giertz, the queen of bad robots. As a non-engineer and robotics enthusiast, she thrives on making robots that are supposed to do crazy everyday activities, such as apply her lipstick for her, but usually they don’t even come close. The fun she has making them though is infectious.
Shapes, Doodles & Squiggles
Remember those long boring lectures in college when you drew innumerable squiggles in your notebook to kill time? That’s art too. From flowers, to geometric shapes and mandalas, doodling can be very meditative and relaxing. Drawing repetitive patterns has even become a practice by itself called zentangle. Whatever you draw, enjoy yourself and you won’t know how the hours have passed.
Draw a map of your brain
Too many thoughts and want a break from them? Draw an image of your brain and give your thoughts a home in it. Remember the brilliant movie, Inside Out in which the young girl Riley had five personifications of her basic emotions— Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger? Drawing your thoughts can be a fun exercise to feel into where in your head your thoughts live.
Closing Thoughts
So go right ahead and give your inner artist the freedom to explore because you’re sure to be delighted with what emerges. From gratitude lists and doodles drawn in the margins of a book, to calligraphy letters that you spent hours pencilling in— art is in the everyday.
