Simple Luxuries in Art Making

This post is meant to act as a questionnaire or an exercise if you will about the simple luxuries we have in our art practices and how to create a practice which rewards luxury. If you enjoy the hectic and mind spinning part of art making and don't want to slow it down, this style of post might not be your favourite. But I encourage you to read it and enjoy the exercise at the end.

The first question I want to ask is this. When you don't have a project or deadline in site and simply an afternoon where you feel the art you make has no pressure and is purely for your own enjoyment, what do you want to make. If you use multiple mediums, pick one for this experiment. For myself, if I am talking about ceramics, making sculptures feels like a luxury, but why?

If someone asked me my favourite thing to make I would answer bowls, pitchers, and vases. I truly love making functional pieces. But if someone said I can cut the bowls in half, stack the vases, and pull flowers instead of handles, I would feel a whimsical glee. Part of this for me is because of the reason I was drawn to and continue to love working with clay. There is a temporality to the medium, a spontaneity, and until you fire something, a beautiful forgiveness to your work. But with function and making simple forms, I sometimes feel I am in a rush to just produce. Whereas, if I am given space and time to create without an agenda, the clay becomes a space to take liberties and play.

So, have you thought what you would do with an afternoon of play? If so, let's move on to the next part. I have found that my excitement to create or experiment usually comes from three places. Firstly the idea of time is a luxury. Time I can spend however I want, time that has no time limit. Second, the though of making something for myself and only for the practice of making feels very luxurious. Lastly, experimenting with a new technique, medium, or honing a new skill.

If you got into art because you love it but have begun to find that the idea of a free afternoon of creating art just for art's sake is trilling, how can you change your practice to be more self rewarding. Being an artist, running a business, putting together shows, selling your work, it is all very stressful and time consuming. So, how can we create a practice that revolves around rest, patience, and luxury. If you feel your answer to my second question falls into one of the three categories, try to bring it into your daily practice. For example, if you love the experimenting side of free time, why not release some pieces in your professional practice that celebrate the improv.

Now for a fun activity. Grab a sketchbook and whatever drawing utensils you enjoy. Find a spot to sit that has some sort of view with light. Now, simply outline the light. maybe there are only a few large shafts of lights, maybe dozen of dapples. However many, simply outline them, don't worry about perspective or any sort of accuracy. You can take 5 minutes or 45 minutes to do this. I love this exercise because it goes back to a basic fundamental. "Draw what you see." A phrase I always thought I knew until I started really focussing on my drawing and painting practice. Don't draw a chair, or a tree, draw the light, the colours, the shadows and watch the form appear.

Hopefully you enjoyed this exercise and some of my perspectives on taking time and finding luxury with a sustainable art practice.