Ep 09: Finding Your Creative Rhythm
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Perfectionist in Recovery
Find Your Creative Rhythm
Hello and welcome back to the Perfectionist in Recovery Podcast! My name is Marcy Parks and I am a Perfectionist in Recovery.
On today’s episode, I want to talk about finding and honoring your creative rhythm, but first, I want to thank you all again so much for joining me here for the conversation! I love getting to share this podcast and talk about all things creativity related to you. I am so appreciative of all of the feedback I have so far received about the podcast, so if you have any feedback to share, send me a message on instagram, or go to my website at www.marcyparksart.com and fill out the contact form to let me know! Your feedback helps make this podcast more enjoyable for you to listen to! And if you are already enjoying listening, follow, subscribe, leave a review and share it with your friends! Leaving reviews is the best and easiest way to show your love and support for this podcast.
Now, let’s get into it!
Today I wanted to talk about finding and honoring your creative rhythm! Finding a creative rhythm is important for everyone, not just “artists”.
The reason I wanted to talk about this is because I think it can be easy, especially if you struggle with the self criticism and pressure of perfectionism like I do, to get discouraged during the creative process. This can come when you are not feeling especially creative or inspired, or you aren’t already in that creative flow of life, or you’ve recently been in a creative slump, or you’re struggling with burn out, etc. One thing that I constantly have to remind myself is that there are seasons to all things, especially when it comes to my creativity, but it is important to recognize what season you are in.
I felt inspired to talk about this because I have been reflecting recently on my own artist’s journey and the evolution of my creative practice. We just recently celebrated my daughter’s third birthday, and it was while I was pregnant with her that I decided to start pursuing my art and my creative practice sincerely. I often think of my creative practice as aging along with my daughter. I created my first collection and had my first art show when I was somewhere between my first and second trimester in 2017. At that time, before my daughter was on the outside, it was no problem for me to prepare for an upcoming show. I was working full time, but had plenty of time outside of work to get things done. She was born later that year in August of 2017 and shortly after that I was approached about showing my art in another local gallery that wouldn’t be until December of 2018. I was hesitant to commit because one, I was going to be going back to work full time soon, two I already had another show booked for that year, and three, this exhibit was going to be much bigger and require somewhere around 60 pieces. Being a brand new mom, I already knew I wasn’t going to have the time that I did before to prepare, but I did have a little over a year to prepare, so I made a plan that was achievable, and I committed to the show anyway.
That year was tough for a few reasons. First, in order to meet my goal, I knew I needed to average 5 paintings a month. At the time, I really had no idea how challenging that would be with a new baby. I also did not have an understanding or relationship with my creative cycle to know when I would need to take breaks, I couldn’t recognize when I was in a period of growth making lackluster paintings, so I would often get discouraged (and maybe even have a meltdown) wondering what I was even doing trying to do this show. I had no plan for how I would keep my inspiration fueled for the year. My only plan was to just produce as much as possible and only the best of the best would make it to the show.
Then when you factor in life happening, the year got even harder. Early in 2018 we decided to have the floors in our house redone, so we had to move in with my parents. At the time, I needed to be finishing somewhere around 5 paintings per month to meet my goal by December, but because we couldn’t be in our house during that time, this meant that no paintings were getting done and that I was already starting out behind. Top all of this off with the fact that I was a new mom and that brings all kinds of its own unique challenges with it.
I ended up doing a lot of painting during nap times on weekends, or at night when Searsha was sleeping. I got really lucky because, for the most part, Searsha was a super laid back and easy baby. No she didn’t sleep through the night, so painting at night also meant that I was getting even less sleep, but that was the season I was in. At the time, I knew that things would change and there would be a day when it would get easier. “There is a season for everything” became my mantra.
And as Searsha grew up, things did have to change. As she became more mobile, I had to be more conscious of my art space, because it is in our home, and what materials I was using, what materials were being left out, and so on. I went from working with oil paints that I could leave out early on in the year to working in watercolors that were quick to clean up and easy to store. My work over the course of that year was very much a reflection of the changes my life was going through at that time.
There really were a lot of ups and downs, but eventually, both art shows came and went and I met my goal for the December show. I have a picture of Searsha passed out laying on my coat on the floor of the gallery the day we were hanging my work that captured perfectly how I felt on the inside haha.
I learned a lot in that year of painting. I learned that bad art is just part of the process. You have got to make bad art to get to the good art. I learned that Dr. Harvey Karp, author of Happiest Baby on the Block and Happiest Toddler on the Block is like a baby whisperer if there is such a thing. I learned how far I could push myself and also how far I wanted to push myself. I learned how much time with my family and having freedom to spend time with my family really mattered to me. I learned how many things I can successfully (and unsuccessfully) juggle at once. And I learned that having a creative habit can carry you through those periods where you are lacking the inspiration and motivation to create.
As Pablo Picasso said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”
The reason I reflect on that year specifically is because it was a year of huge growth, as both an artist and a mother, and it was the year I really came to understand my creative cycle.
I have shared about this on instagram before about the cycle my creativity follows. I think of it just as I do the moon phases. For those that work with lunar cycles, it is understood that the period from New Moon to Full Moon is a time for setting intentions, taking actions, and working, and the time from the Full Moon to the New Moon is a time for harvesting, celebrating, and resting. My creative cycle does not always match up to the lunar cycle, so I think of it more like a tea kettle - it fills up, starts singing, it empties out, and fills up again.
Right now, I am coming to the end of a period of creative action and output. As I have shared before, I have been working on a new collection of work titled “There are No Bad Emotions” that is coming on September 5th. I am finishing up the last painting of the collection this week, so after this, my creativity shifts to taking photos, writing about the work (more than I already have) and to the logistical, administrative tasks of creating listings and updating my website. After the collection is released, I will be taking a break from painting. Not because I am sick of it, not because I don’t love painting - because as I have shared, it is very much part of my self-care - but because it is part of my self-care.
The first stage for me after a period of creative output is taking time to celebrate! I know that after a long period of creative output, I need to take time to rest, but even more so, I need time to celebrate! The celebration is equally as important as the work. My inner perfectionist is very critical of any form of self-praise or celebration, because all it wants to do is look at the flaws or what should have been done differently, and get to work on correcting them, and not saying that you shouldn’t reflect and learn from your process, but that can come later. First things first, celebrate. No matter what it is that you have been working on - maybe it is your first poem, maybe it is a week’s worth of journal entries, maybe it is a full month of making time for your creative practice, whatever that is for you, celebrate it!
After allowing myself time to celebrate and be joyful, I enter into what I describe as a rest period.
I like to think of my creative cycle as a tea kettle. After emptying out the pot of tea, or finishing up a period of active creativity, I have to start filling the pot back up again. The rest period is where I start to fill the tea kettle up and it is very important.
I describe my rest period as a sort of passively creative period where I am still doing things that inspire my creativity, but I am not actively creating anything. I do this by doing things that make me feel good and that inspire me. This is when I will do things like clean up and organize my desk (it gets out of control during periods of actively creating), read the books I haven’t yet made time for, take more time to journal, and spend the time that I would normally spend painting to do other things I really enjoy like going hiking, running, swimming, getting outside, spending more time with my daughter and my family, etc. etc. This is a period of time where I try to really be present in my life and engaged with my surroundings.
The rest period varies in how long it lasts depending on what other demands there are on my time and energy. Sometimes it is several months to fill up my creative kettle, other times inspiration can strike so hard that my creative kettle fills all the way up and reaches the boiling point. But the point is that I am waiting for that point where I start to feel those impulses to create bubbling up once again.
Once my creative tea kettle is full from rest and inspiration, there is a point where it begins to heat up and eventually starts to boil. It feels like this tension where I have the impulse to create, but I am not quite ready to take the jump into a creative project. This period may appear on the outside as if nothing is happening, but beneath the surface, I am reflecting on and integrating the lessons learned from previous work and a lot of growth is usually happening. This is when the images and visions of new work start to form and take shape.
And eventually, much like a tea kettle sitting on a hot stove, the inspiration builds and builds until finally, I am ready to begin again.
I think it is important to have an understanding of your creative cycle, because if you are in a period where you are already depleted, or lacking energy and inspiration, and you try to force yourself to create and the work doesn’t sing with the magic that comes from well-rested inspiration, especially if you are just starting out, it can be really discouraging.
Now I know I have spoken before about rituals and habits and how those things are necessary to have and I have also spoken about how necessary bad work is in order to get to the good work, and those things are all very true. But when we combine the necessity of a daily creative habit with an understanding of our creative rhythm, we have a better understanding of what creative habit might actually be in season. For example, in those periods of rest when I am not painting, my creative habits of writing and reading are in season. And when we combine the necessity of making bad work with the understanding of our creative rhythm, we can understand that periods where we are making “bad” work signify that we are in a growth period, and that this, too, is it’s own season.
All that is to say, gaining an understanding of your creative rhythm can help you to give yourself grace and also feed your creative practice. It is a way of working with the tide instead of against it and fighting the possibility of burnout.
Now, for your Journaling Prompts for this episode!
Journaling Prompts:
If you don’t have a journaling practice already and you want to use this prompt to start, or if you already have a journaling practice and could use some inspiration, the journaling prompts I am leaving you with today are:
Reflect on the natural rhythms of your day. When do you feel the most energized? Is it first thing in the morning? Is it later in the evenings? Do you feel energized after meals?
What activities leave you feeling energized? Do you draw energy from being outdoors? Do you draw energy from Water? Do you get energy from activity? Or do you get energy from rest?
Journal about your energy levels for the full course of the lunar cycle (New to New). At what phases of the lunar cycle coincide with periods of low and high energy?
Recommended Reading (Listening):
Today I am not recommending reading as much as I am recommending listening! Check out The Michelle Obama Podcast!
Otherwise, that is all I have for you today friends! Thank you so much again for listening, I am so happy to have you here with me! Until next time!
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