With No Expectations

The greatest challenge facing any newcomer to The Heart Studio is getting comfortable with not knowing. Many have little experience making art which applies not only to the types of media but how to use them, what to create, and how that will develop from start to finish. Even if someone is able to vision the final product, being comfortable with the process that leads to it can be difficult.

Practicing art is not about knowing what to do, but being comfortable not knowing. I can teach how the media works, but there are myriad ways to do so. It is that process of discovery that makes art so much fun and it is the mastery of that, not so one knows, but the mastery of not needing to know that is art's greatest gift. Without that underlying challenge, there would be nothing new. Artists would take the safe route, producing rather than exploring, contemplating and allowing themselves to be surprised, always seeing things the same way.

My digital scrapbook, Nature Spirits, is composed of photos I took on a walk through Clifton Gorge. The process was about seeing not what was obvious (i.e. a tree, stone, water) but what was in the space between my expectations and the nature I was viewing. What came was first seeing faces in the structure of stones and trees, and later allowing shadows and light of leaves and the rushing waters in contrast to their dark undertow to also produce faces.

The studio should be a worry-free zone where one can let the mind go easy and let the heart explore. Then you can do anything. Give it a try!