If you’ve been feeling a little “meh” in the studio lately, it’s time for a check-up. We all get hijacked by the wrong motivators sometimes. Print this form out below and put a checkmark next to the “villains” that have been whispering in your ear this week, then look at the “Good Stuff” to find your way home. Watch the video below to get insight into the different motivators we face in our art career.
The Toxic Villains
- The ATM Hallucination: You find yourself staring at a blank canvas and calculating how many tubes of Cobalt Blue you can buy if this thing sells for exactly $400. You are essentially treating your muse like a bank teller, and she is currently “out to lunch.”
- The Thumb Workout: You have checked your Instagram notifications four times in the last six minutes. Your thumb is getting ripped, but your soul is shriveling. You are currently a digital lab rat waiting for CatLover42 to give you a dopamine pellet.
- The Toaster Oven Syndrome: You feel like a failure because you haven’t “popped” out a masterpiece today. You’ve forgotten that you’re a human being and have started identifying as a high-speed 3D printer. (Reminder: You do not have a crumb tray.)
- The Higgins Vendetta: You are painting specifically to prove your third-grade teacher wrong. While spite is a fantastic short-term fuel, Mr. Higgins is retired. Let him go.
The Good Stuff (The Real Why)
- The First Spark: You remembered why you started doing this art thing in the first place—before the bills, the “likes,” and the algorithms existed. Just you and the pure, quiet joy of making something.
- The Creative Megaphone: You finally have something to say that doesn’t fit into a polite conversation at a grocery store. Your art is the only way to say it loud enough.
- Legal Magic: You are taking a trauma, a heartbreak, or just a really bad Tuesday and performing “Creative Alchemy” to turn it into something beautiful. You’re turning trash into treasure.
- The Life Force: You’re experiencing the sheer magic of bringing something to life that didn’t exist five minutes ago. You aren’t just an artist; you’re a creator, and that is its own reward.
DOWNLOAD THE CHECKLIST HERE:
The Prescription:
If you checked more boxes in the “Villain” section than the “Good Stuff,” your “Why” is currently being held hostage by the Corporate Conveyor Belt. The cure is simple:
- Stop being a production line. You aren’t here to churn out cheap art; you’re here to create fire.
- Reconnect with the magic. Forget the business plan for an hour. Go into the studio and make something so weird or personal that you’d be embarrassed to explain it to a stranger.
- Bring it to life. Remember that the power to create something from nothing is a superpower. Don’t waste it on trying to look like something normal.
How did you score? Are you currently in panic mode or a creative alchemist mode? Let me know in the comments! I’m in the trenches with you!
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Thank you – I needed that😊Much appreciated!
We create stories, make memories, evoke emotions, and provide the raw material for culture, shared meanings, symbols, and images. Art is a magic that makes the world. Now where did I put my wand…
What an awesome message! Sooooo needed this and your video made it 100 times better to hear. Thank you!!!!
Oh yay!! We adore you Trish!
So… I just wrote a comment and lost it by navigating away!
Let’s try again.
I’ve just had cataract surgery on my right eye. The sage green door on my neighbor’s tiny home is actually Robin Blue. Unbelievable. Items that I thought were a shade of brown are now beaming with true colors.
My next surgery is coming up and I can’t wait. It’s pain free. Completely pain free. The colors and 3D shapes in my vision while the surgery was happening was phenomenal. I can’t wait until my left eye is done.
This topic you are addressing in this email / post is very important to me.
“ Legal Magic: You are taking a trauma, a heartbreak, or just a really bad Tuesday and performing “Creative Alchemy” to turn it into something beautiful. You’re turning trash into treasure.”
Yep. I’m taking the trauma of being veiled with a sort of sepia vision for years, to crystal clear vision -full of beautiful color that I’ve been blinded from because of cataracts.
The creative alchemy is this transformation in my sight that will now allow me to enjoy my colorful art as much as others might. It’s time to create magic. Legal magic!
Mahalo plenty, Rafi.
🌺Cruz
I love this Cruz! Wow! Thank you for sharing!
Of the toxic ones it’s only toaster syndrome that I fall prey to. Then again, I think the dream as an artists is to die at a very ripe old age thinking that your best work is yet to come. That’s how I hope to be, experimenting, exploring and striving right up to my last breath.
I love it!
I love all those images of very old artists and craftspeople working away at their craft. It tells me that this journey can last as long as I do, and that is exciting. What joy and wonder lies waiting around the next corner…
2 Toxic – 4 Good stuff = Yay!
Badass!!! You rock!