The Artist’s Path to Peace

The majority of artists deal with anxiety.

They wonder how their art will be received. They worry about it.

Anxiety is, in many ways, the achilles heel of every creator. Anxiety makes the writer hesitate. It makes painter’s hand shake. It degrades the quality of the art.

Whereas before the focus would have been on the art, now the focus is on quelling the anxiety.

Many people view peace of mind as a luxury, but for an artist it is simply a necessity. Peace of mind allows the artist’s hand to move freely, unburdened by the weight of his thoughts. Peace of mind allows the philosopher to search for truth, and disregard the opinions of society.

For an artist to truly find peace of mind, he must divorce himself from the need for any outcome. This is not to be confused with the cliche of focusing on the process rather than the results. Quite obviously one only focuses on the process to improve the results, and I’m not here to play semantic games.

When I say that the artist must divorce himself from the need for any outcome, I mean that when the art is done, it is Done. That’s it. The opinions of others are irrelevant. The opinions even of the artist himself are irrelevant. All that matters is the act of creating it.

When this becomes one’s default, all his devotion will be poured into perfecting the art. While it may be created with the end in mind, as soon as it has been created it will be Out of mind.

So what is the practical path to arriving at this place? It is coming to the realization that you are not the artist. You are the brush.

If you are honest with yourself, you will admit that you don’t actually know where your art comes from. When you are operating at your peak, when you are doing your best work, it just comes to you. Your hands even seem to move themselves.

Art is expressed, not created. The most effective thing an artist can do is get out of the way.

You don’t need to do it. You need to allow it to happen.

You are not the artist.

You are the brush.