Unveiling Your Artistic Vision
September is a transition month full of change and new beginnings. It’s a fresh start for our children and teachers starting new adventures at school. There is also a gentle shift of weather with cooler nights and shorter daytime hours. Even the harvest from the garden has changed with more tomatoes, carrots and apples.
It’s a wonderful time to pause, reflect on the past few months and prepare for the next season ahead. Everyone’s journey to discover, reconnect or be inspired with your passion is different and unique only to you. This is a powerful path for personal growth and exploration that will give you confidence in your own artistic potential.
Uncovering your Artist’s Vision
Taking the time to define artistic vision will keep us moving forward and avoid getting sidetracked. I love this definition the best: ‘Artistic vision is defined by an artist’s creative genius and can help an artist determine what style they want to portray to their audience.’
Setting clear goals and keeping track of your work progress will help you stay focused and concentrate on growing as an artist to help keep your creative business moving forward. To keep everything in one place, try using a project management platform like Asana to track your business goals, works in progress, inspirations and client contacts.
Crafting your Artist’s Vision
Developing your Artist’s Vision or mission statement for your art involves defining your purpose and setting a specific direction or goal for your creative endeavours. Putting this in words will help others understand the WHY you do what you do, rather than WHAT it is that you do.
Read on for a series of prompts to help you in this exercise of self-discovery.
- Grab a journal or sketchbook and pencil and head to a place that inspires you; your favourite reading chair or a special bench in the park
- If you are more visual, create a vision board with images that answer the following questions.
- What does your art mean to you – it’s deepest meaning?
- Why do you create the art that you do?
- When you are in your studio, creating what you love, how does that make you feel?
- What experiences in your past have influenced your creative process today?
- Who are the people that nurture your creativity?
- Who are the people that you admire and why?
- What inspires your creativity and where do you find that inspiration? What captures your interest? Is it the light and shadows of nature or the interactions and energy of people at the cafe?
Now that we have delved into the meaning of your work, let’s use your answers to develop your Artist’s Vision. Keep it short and concise in only one or two sentences describe what you do, what you stand for and what you hope to achieve. You could address the benefits and end result that your art will achieve.
Great job! You have discovered the driving force that distinguishes your creative work from others. With the changing seasons, it’s a good time to pause and reflect on the journey of exploring our artistic vision. By defining our vision and creating a mission statement that reflects our purpose, we move closer to realizing our full creative potential. May this guide you toward a future filled with creativity and meaning.
