What's stopping you? Let Go, and Make Art + Blowing Alcohol Inks

Hello, Creative Peeps!  

I can hardly believe September is more than half over!  It's speeding by.

I have so many techniques, tips, and tutorials I want to share with you!  There's no way I can share them all.  So far, I've been covering the basics.  If you haven't checked it out yet, hop over to my website, where I have an entire page dedicated to Alcohol Inks :) 

This week, I share with you 3 ways to move the inks by blowing, one of which is a great special effect.  People will wonder how you did it!
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I hope you are enjoying what I've been exploring with you.
And, if you haven't tried alcohol inks yet,
I'm wondering,
​Why not?​

These inks are crazy fun!

It's like you get to go back to your childhood, where there are no rules for making art, no right and wrong, no definite results required...you can just play!  :)

Today, I want to share with you the WHY? behind alcohol inks for me.

One of the things I love most about alcohol inks is that you CAN NOT control them.  That may seem opposite of how you expect me to feel...or maybe it's opposite of how you feel.

Controlling our art, or the results of our art and creativity, can be a huge obstacle to overcome.  In fact, trying to control our art, make it perfect, or meet certain expectations, can stop us dead in our tracks!  

This is exactly why I choose to use materials that I can not control.  

For me, and perhaps for you, too, I can find myself stressed, self-critical, or even blocked when I try to control the outcome of my work.  My inner critic starts bashing me!  

You're not a real artist, she says!  
You're not good enough!  
Who are you to think you are creative?!

This is especially true if I am trying to learn something new.

That's why using mediums that are unpredictable, can't be controlled, or can't be erased, is so important to me. It's essential for my creative process.  

So, you will often hear me say,

You can't control Alcohol Inks!  You can only nudge them.  

​This completely removes the PRESSURE of making something perfect.  
It creates in me a willingness to ACCEPT what I see.  

I can focus on the JOY of creating.  
I can focus on the amazing color.  
I can get in the creative flow.
​
I encourage you to take the risk, and let go of control!  I know it's scary.  I know you might not like the results.  
The real question is, IS IT WORTH IT?

YES!!

There is nothing more freeing  that letting go of control and getting into that intuitive creative flow, where you are having a conversation with your art.  

​Will everything you create be a masterpiece?  No, not by a long shot.  
​But, what will emerge is you -- your heart, your soul, your truth.  
​There's nothing more valuable than that.

Art is like beginning a sentence before you know its ending.
 The risks are obvious:
you may never get to the end of the sentence at all
 -- or having gotten there, you may not have said anything.  
This is probably not a good idea in public speaking,
​but it's an excellent idea in making art.
In making art you need to give yourself room to respond authentically,
both to your subject matter and to your materials.
 Art happens between you and something -- a subject, an idea, atechnique --
and both you and that something
​need to be
​free to move.

~Bayles & Orland, Art & Fear

So, I ask you again...what's stopping you?

P.S.  Don't forget to check out the new alcohol ink videos on my page, or YouTube.  And, don't forget to subscribe!

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Resources

Please note, some links are affiliate links, which means you are helping to support my art by clicking on them.  Thank you!

Art & Fear
​by Bayles & Orland

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Coming Soon:  The Creative Sandbox Way (working title) by Melissa Dinwiddie​

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