The Importance of Understanding 3 Parts of Yourself: Debbie Miller on Learning and Setting Goals
This is part of the end of year advice series. Guests from the show offer suggestions on how to use an hour a day to get better at painting and share some of their own goals (and how they set them) for the year ahead.
Acrylic and oil painter, Debbie Miller (Ep. 15) was always a creative child but took a more practical career route. She married an artist and pursued her creativity on evenings and weekends. In 2016, she and her husband, Brain, took a daily painting class from Lisa Daria Kennedy and her life forever changed. Now an avid daily painter, you can find Miller up early and up painting.
On an Hour a Day:
I think my advice to artists about the most important thing they could do if they only had one hour per day to devote to their artistic practice is – “It depends. “
I know, I know…that may seem like a cop-out. But one thing I am passionate about is helping creatives learn to trust themselves, to hear from themselves. So, as an artist – or a person, for that matter -- it’s an important practice to tune-in and figure out what you might need at any given juncture in your creative journey.
David Hockney said that he learned this about the Chinese attitude to painting: “They say you need three things for paintings: the hand, the eye, and the heart. Two won’t do. A good eye and heart is not enough; neither is a good hand and eye.” (Quoted in Martin Gayford’s book, A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney.)
My advice then would be to do a check-in with yourself about these three dimensions: Hand, Eye & Heart. Where do you need a boost? Where is your growth edge? Where are you feeling freedom and excitement?
HAND:
Are you primarily concerned with developing a technique? Do you need skill development?
If yes, then choose a composition each day that pushes that envelope and get your hands moving. Paint on a larger work for an hour. Or challenge yourself to complete one (or even two or three) small works – exercises – that help you work on that growth edge – like painterly skill drills.
EYE:
This component, to me, is about input – how we receive information that ends up going into our paintings. Are you feeling like you need to hone how you and what you see?
There are so many practices that could help you in this dimension. But the first might be to assess what you need to stop looking at. Are there things that are filling your eyes/mind that are distracting – social media rants, toxic news, mindless television? Maybe you commit to one less hour of these unhelpful inputs each day.
Or, maybe you decide that you want to look at other art that you love and inspires you – not with a sense of comparison and envy, but with a sense of wonder and curiosity. Really look. Zoom in on the brushwork and color choices. Really look at the composition decisions. Take it all in. What could be useful for your personal practice?
Or, you could choose to spend more time looking at your subject before you begin painting. Get close. Back away. Imagine that you are in a conversation with this subject. What questions do you want to ask? What does it have to say today? How is it wanting to be revealed through your painting? What draws you to this subject? What excites you? Let yourself notice what you are actually seeing and how it makes you feel. All before you put any paint on the canvas.
“So, as an artist – or a person, for that matter -- it’s an important practice to tune-in and figure out what you might need at any given juncture in your creative journey.” - Debbie Miller
HEART:
For me, heart refers to your motivation, the passion that infuses your work. Are you feeling bored? Rusty? Restless? Do you come to your easel with a sense of excitement or dread?
When I am feeling dis-spirited – when I feel as if I have lost my way in my painting practice and it feels like drudgery instead of delight – I try to take a breath and reorient. I ask myself some core questions:
Why do I do this? (By the way, the answer for me is NOT primarily for the sales or the likes or the followers – though, sometimes, those things can become disproportionately significant in my mind.)
Who am I trying to please? (There might be a long list of people that come to mind initially, but ultimately, I come to the core for me personally – I most want to be true to myself and honor how the Divine has created me to be creative.)
What do I need to give myself permission to do (or not do)?
What good would it do me (or anyone else) if I let discouragement keep me from my art?
Setting Art Goals:
Each year, my husband, Brian, and I spend time around year-end to define our art goals for the coming year. (Then we do a quarterly check-in to see if those goals still make sense and how we are doing.) When we are planning our annual goals, we think about three areas: (1) our creative practice; (2) our art business; and (3) our community involvement (in-person and virtual communities).
We dream and brainstorm.
We come up with big (audacious) goals.
We pay attention to the little things, too.
We look at where we want to be in 5 years. But we also pay attention to how we want the shape of our days to be right now.
We ask ourselves, “This time next year, what do I think I would really regret if I hadn’t done it?”
We look at our current practices and ask if they still fit, are they still taking us where we want to go?
We ask ourselves if we are holding back anywhere out of fear?
We ask if we have bit off more than we can chew and have to leave some good things behind in order to focus on the best things.
We haven’t done this process yet for 2021. But we have our Dreaming Date on the calendar.
Learn more about Debbie Miller here:
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