The REAL Question is...

Am I creating because I need something in exchange for a product Or service?  

OR

Am I creating because there's something inside that burns within me and MUST be expressed for no other reason except to BE EXPRESSED!  

A friend posted about her struggles with her art and I felt so compelled to share my thoughts, I felt my own creative process engaged as I wrote! So I'd like to share my post with you. 

I'd like to share this... After I posted this reply to her post, I was re-reading for editing purposes. And I realized that I was truely writing a letter to myself. THAT was a profound experience. So TODAY I will create! TODAY ALL DAY I will write and paint and dance and sing and I will love me for having this day. THIS is the key to keeping the creative fire lit! I pray that you all find this day for yourself... A day of expressing with complete abandon. Create with your Spirit

My reply to a FB post by a struggling artist...

Dear Artist Friend,  this is the job description of the career artist. Every job has training and certifications... The professional artist must seek constantly within because art comes from the soul.... When it doesn't, we see the lack of it and critique. That's why we see some over simplified art selling for millions...there is soul. The artist expresses within and THAT is the key! So the question that you're really asking is.... Who am I and how do I achieve a deeper connection so I feel guided within my expression.... Any art that you choose to express yourself will do... When you are expressing from your heart and soul(your true-higher self). And a criticism or a lack or recognition (outside of yourself) will NOT matter to you because it was the expression that was the highest experience! The process of expressing a thought, a feeling, an experience, a melody that lives deep within you and grew so loud that it could not reside... It needed  to be expressed! THAT is true art!  In contrast.... A career artist needs to balance all of this (to remain open to ideas and the process) while bending to the needs of making money for bills. Illustrators are challenged with mundane repetitive tasks which often suck the soul from their creative process. Painters who make a living through their art must bend to the demands of what's selling. Writers struggle with similar challenges... As do actors, musicians and so on... SO the question to ask yourself is... "IS MY ART A CAREER CHOICE OR MY TOOL FOR CONNECTION, GROWTH AND HEALING?"

Please consider the workshops I mentioned? These are exactly the questions that are answered in the Artist's Way 12 week course. The group helps us realize that this is something we ALL struggle with and we are not alone in the searching.

Peace to you, my friend✨✨✨

And!! I agree with Jo Anne's reply..... Just do it!!!! That's MY own personal process mantra. Make bad art! Write anything, sing loud and off key, bang on the strings!!! Just do it! Let your inner child play free and she will show you secrets about your creative process that will unlock the doors and tear down those creative walls!! 🎨💃👍✨✨🌀