Being All Over the Place Can Be Good!

Today's guest post is by our lovely Monster Maker — Catherine Zacchino, a.k.a. Junker Jane. She shares a little about what is "expected" of artists to get done, and then a lot about what "really" happens in the art room. So... take it away Cat...

Did you ever try to just do one thing, creatively? I hear from so many people that you should work on one thing at a time. But as an artist and maker of things, I'm here to tell you that... being all over the place can be good! 

Usually it's a good thing to start what you finish. It's discipline. Right?

But when it comes to creating I find that if I start out with a rigid end-result mindset I might worry too much or never even get started! But creating is the one place I can be all over the place and it's a good thing!

I just follow my intuition or the creative urge now, even if that means I start painting squares in different colors on a piece of junk wood. I have several painted wood plaques around my room and one day I had the urge to nail a red children's wooden block to it, so I did.

Then I found wooden craft game pieces and loved how they looked next to the wooden block. This was a month ago and it's not finished because I didn't know where to take it next.

But that's okay, I set it aside and started decorating  a left over scrap canvas with craft pom poms, a marker cap, just goofy things! I didn't finish it because I don't where it's going yet. I'm waiting for the idea to come. It will come, but on its own time. I have learned not to force something, but just to trust. It's this trusting that allows me to get new ideas and grow because the pressure to finish a piece from start to finish is gone. The answer always comes, I just need to wait and be open to it.

I used to feel that I was wasting so much time starting a doll, pillow, or painting and not finishing them.

Or spending the entire afternoon setting up displays in my room.

I felt like I kept making failures, even though I was very inspired while doing the half part that came to me to create. I am realizing these are necessary steps though, in my creative journey and it's not a waste of time, that this is the way my inner artist grows.

I might not understand why, but this is how it is. I just need to trust my intuition and let the ideas out. Without knowing what it will end up being.  JUST LET THEM OUT.

By allowing myself to create this way, I continue to grow and this is what it is all about!

What is your process of creating? Feel free to share your ways. And come take a class with me in Portland, OR this October at Art & Soul Retreats! I'll be teaching a Monster Mashup doll making class. We'll have a magical time.

~ Junker Jane