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Hi there, today I want to talk to you about a magical mindset for heightened creativity.
I’ve been painting for 3 years now, and I noticed that whenever I produce beautiful results I like – I find myself in that state.
The Child-Like Creativity Mindset
It’s worth mentioning this state of mind had nothing to do with outside inspiration.
In fact, it felt like the opposite most of the time. It felt insular. Almost like it was BLOCKING outside inspiration, in order to self-generate it from the inside.
When I hit that mindset, it feels like I’m slowing down naturally. I’m focusing more on the small space where I’m working. I’m very present, and enjoy the movement of my brush across the paper.
It truly is magic, so let’s talk about how to generate it!
How to get into the Child-Like Mindset
Here are several things that work for me. Try them out and see what happens (:
#1 – Developing your skills.
This is probably the most important stage. You want to have mastery over the basics of the medium. If you can hit that intermediate level, it makes things much easier.
I had this happen a few times when just starting out, but it’s not the same. Having skill and knowing what you’re doing is actually VERY important.
#2 – Embrace freedom.
This involves understanding that you don’t HAVE to do anything. You don’t have to paint things exactly as you see them, or use one technique only.
You can “re-invent” yourself every day.
#3 – Let go of the outcome.
A well-known concept. This dictates that whenever you are able to let go of the outcome, it becomes better.
If you can avoid obsessing over a specific result, or trying to control every step of the way, you can become much looser, and have a lot more fun when creating.
This one and #2 are easier said than done, but that’s life (;
#4 – Paint what you love.
This isn’t a sure-fire way of “triggering” that state of mind, but it can surely help.
#5 – Patience.
And that’s the real key. Building skills take time. This is especially true with watercolor. It has so many “moving parts”, and things you need to do in a certain order, and sometimes FAST.
So have patience and keep working on those skills, and applying the rest of the advice here. With time you’ll see that occasionally you start hitting that mindset / state of mind.
I hope this helps. Now let’s move on to the Artist Corner!
Artist Corner
Today I talked about Ray Balkwill.
I highly highly HIGHLY recommend you check his work out in these APV video:
1. Capturing Coastal Moods
2. Capturing Estuary Moods
Ray is a British watercolor painter that works in mixed media. He has this incredible technique of working with graphite for preparatory sketches.
And then he works with watercolor, chalk and gouache for final paintings. The results are stunning and realistic too.
You can read more about him here: Ray Balkwill
And Here’s where you can find me (:
You can support me on Patreon
Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky
Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3
And this is it. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I’ll talk to you again real soon!
– Liron
