How I Found my Artist Voice (and How You Can Too)
"I want to find my style."Based on the people in my Facebook group, and the ones who take my courses, this is one of the most common issues faced by artists. And of course, if you don't feel you've found your voice, then you don't feel like an artist.But you are! Because an artist is born, not made.If you are born with the desire to create, you are an artist and you have a voice.But the truth is that our voices often get lost.We are so concerned with fitting in, with succeeding at life, with not rocking the boat, with being what others want us to be, that we forget who we actually are - in fact we often suppress who we actually are.And the truth is that you can't make authentic art when you're not being authentic yourself. It just doesn't happen.So the key is to speak up - in your art and in your life.But how do you do this, if you don't know what your voice sounds like?This is how I did it...Last year I took the CVP online art program. During that course, we were encouraged to really dig deep and explore our passions, interests and preferences. Everything from the art we like, to the home decor we choose. And then we were asked to dig even deeper.So one of my first answers was that I love the landscape around my home. But the course required me to go deeper and ask why. Is it the look of the place? Is it the colour green? Is it the shape of the hills, or the way light hits things? That's when I realized it was more about the feeling of the landscape - the sense of space and freedom you get when you're on the moor by yourself.So I began to focus on that in my work. And then I explored preferences in paint application and colour and texture and line. Do I like bright colours or dark? Do I enjoy line? Do I want my work to feel spacious and light or dramatic and bold? I have explored so many questions like this over the last 15 months since taking the course - and each preference brings me closer to my own personal visual language, my own style.But something else has now come up for me and I think it's just as important or even more so ... I have realized that the landscape means something else to me. It means home. Connection. Rootedness. It brings me joy to feel this sense of belonging.I spent almost all my adult life living abroad and now that I am home, this sense of being rooted has become very important to me. So the landscape represents a duality to me ... the safety and security of home and the wild expansive freedom of being in nature.I am not sure how this will shift my work but I do know that digging in to what you love will always bring you closer and closer to yourself. And as Nick Wilton said often during CVP, "the process of making your art is the process of becoming yourself."(Nick is about to teach a free online workshop that will transform the way you make art. If you haven't already signed up, don't miss it. He is the best art teacher I've ever met and he's giving this away for free. Sign up here..In Discussion with Nick on this topicI interviewed Nick on Monday and filmed our conversation on the subject of finding our voice. Unfortunately, his video froze halfway through, but you can still hear his words of wisdom on this topic.