The Importance of Your Artistic Sanctuary

When Liz Murphy (Ep.76) began her art practice, she was very clear on what she wanted from it. It wasn’t beautiful paintings or clients like former presidents (real story).

It was something very very different.

She wanted to find the carefree joy of childhood. She wanted that unselfconscious play we lose as adults.

This clarity made her take stock of where she had limitations being placed on her. Another word for that might be expectations.

As a designer, a job she still has and loves, she works with clients. Clients come with project goals.

Those aren't bad but they are third party expectations being placed on her art.

There is a HUGE difference between having no expectations on your art and having even just one. It can be easy to underestimate the major effect of what other people want, hope, or expect of our work.

And so she made sure that in her own artistic practice, she didn’t let any of the world’s expectations affect her space. She created a true sanctuary for her art practice and for her authentic artistic voice to emerge within that.

Put it to Practice:

Your studio (bedroom, kitchen table, or separate space) is your sanctuary. Your art practice is yours.

But it might take some time to really learn how to make it a sanctuary. Your sanctuary.

Even if you don’t have clients like Murphy, we all bring in expectations to our art practice. Pay attention to where you can feel the tug of the outside world impacting you. Just notice it.

If you do commissions, you might notice it a lot.

If you are working to put a collection together for buyers you might find that you feel it less at the beginning of the project but more towards the end.

Maybe it’s just that you feel compelled to show friends and family your work… and then you sometimes feel bad after they don’t respond how you hoped.

Those are all subtle ways you are letting the outside world into your studio.

Each of us will need to decide how much of that we want or don’t want. But it’s important to notice it. Because if you don’t notice it, often it can influence you in ways you never realized. You might feel stressed or hurried because of these outside (and often somewhat made up) expectations.

But if you can see them for what they are, you then have the power to make decisions about how much you let in or don’t let in.