Art Q+A Today – Nicholas Wilton – Ep 81

Join me as I dive into another diverse group of questions from the Art2Life Community. We’ll discuss how to trust your process, develop your intuition, use acrylics and cold wax, evaluate art world relationships, and do more of what you love. Nobody owns the “right answers” when it comes to art, but I hope my experience and perspective encourage and propel you further on your art-making journey!

Listen if you are interested in…

• Building trust in your own process  [2:16]
• Following your hunches [7:12]
• Overcoming frustration with acrylics [11:38]
• Using cold wax and oil on canvas [18:19]
• Doing what makes you feel alive [24:05]
• Making life-size work [27:19]
• Evaluating relationships in the art world [29:47]
• Doing more of what you love and less of what you don’t [36:09]

Keep your spider senses tingling

Trusting ourselves is one of the hardest lessons we learn as humans. The framework we are handed screams for us to seek out certainty and hide in comfort. So when it came to art-making, trusting my own intuition was a major challenge. Art is a practice that requires us to make decisions that aren’t necessarily practical. They just feel like the right choices. This runs opposite to the prevailing narrative that we need to be certain of the outcome before we make decisions. By not knowing and learning to trust our “spider-sense”, we can develop the muscles of intuition and decision-making. Our intuition is the voice of our soul. What needs to come out is often overridden by what other people think. This is why clarity of voice is so important. I define art-making as the practice of becoming yourself. How better to become yourself than to listen to yourself more clearly?

The power of intuitive wayfinding

The beautiful thing about art-making and the foundation for everything I do at Art2Life is that we really can find our way as we go. The work that comes out of intuitive wayfinding may not be predictable, but it is ALWAYS interesting. Intuition in art-making is a superpower. It’s the thing that makes art different from any other thing we do. You don’t need to know why you’re making something. Just that it feels right. You don’t need a lot of rationale, just curiosity and wonder! This is what sells more artwork than anything else. When you are on the edge of your seat in your art-making, you bring the audience to that creative place too. The ability to transport others into your experience is what art is all about. So make the experience a new and exciting one!

Full speed ahead

It’s easy to feel like we have to make a certain kind of art just because other people are doing it. Sometimes we even gatekeep ourselves from the art we love to make because we feel like we have to master other areas first. The reality is, you do not have to do anything before doing something that brings you alive. Art is hard enough! It’s so easy to stall out when you start pursuing the things you “should” do instead of what you instinctively feel. It’s important to note that we still need to learn the principles of art-making to understand what we’re making, why it’s working, why it’s not, and how to get unstuck. But as long as you have a solid foundation, you don’t need anyone’s permission to pursue the things that make you feel alive. Full speed ahead my friend. Listen to this episode for more questions and insights on art-making!

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