For me, getting into the zone is that moment where you kind of cease to exist
in your thinking self; you become whatever you're doing in that moment, and
whatever you're doing is all that you know. If you're drawing it's like there's
no you and the pen and the paper and 'the decision to put this here will result in
this', it all just comes together into a mutual relationship of all these
elements coming together and unfolding right in front of you. To put it simply,
the thing that sets it apart from any other normal drawing practice is that,
when you're in the zone there's no commentary, there's no more voice in your
head analyzing and making decisions and solving problems. When you're in the zone,
that voice stops- the concept of time stops- for however long, you're completely
suspended in just the act of creating. Not thinking, the movement of your hand
ebbs and flows naturally on the page and the marks you make seem to be making
themselves. It's like you're moving the pen as much as the pen is moving you. *mic drop?*
I'm painting a screenshot from Magnificent Seven by the way, and one of
you guys recommended it for its cinematography so I thought I would give
it a go. Definitely looks like a really good film. I thought I'd use this as an
opportunity to test out my landscape painting skills.
Being in the zone is such an incredible place to be and I've realized that it's
no different really to being in a state of meditation. The core concept of
meditation and mindfulness is to connect with the present moment and it's the
same here but instead of anchoring your thoughts on your breathing or your
physical self- your physical sensations- as you do with traditional meditation,
when you are entering the zone it's like we've unintentionally been meditating
the whole time, just focusing on the movement of our hand across the page or
just watching intently as art emerges on a page in front of you. And you might
have noticed recently that quite a few of my videos have shared this similar
tone of being present and mindful while creating; stepping out of the thinking
mind and into the being mind and focusing only on now. I've talked about
how it can help to notice and catch the negative thoughts of the inner critic
before they lead to discouragement and doubt, and also how being in the present
moment can just allow you to enjoy the process of making art regardless of the
end result just taking value in the journey, not just the destination so that
regardless of whether you make the biggest mistake you ever could, no art
practice could ever be seen as a failure.
And I can't pretend that I made this connection myself, of meditation and
being in the zone being pretty much the same thing, even though it does seem
quite obvious now. I've learned so much recently and really been able to change
my approach to creativity and art from what I've learnt from a book that- would
help if I had it to hand- one second-
This is mindfulness and the art of drawing by
Wendy Ann Greenaghl who is a writer and artist with 20 plus years of mindfulness
experience behind her, which she uses to teach people how to create freely,
conquer their inner critic, enjoy art and banish creative blocks. I got this
book as a late birthday present from my friend Linden and it's not big, it's not
wordy and overly complicated, it's quite a small book but it is so packed full of
inspiration and insight.
Also I like- and what I find that a lot of books like this lack is- that it's not
superficial or too out there and airy-fairy. It actually comes with a lot of
practical exercises, at least one or two for each point that the
author makes and so rather than just reading it in thinking 'that's a good
point' and then just moving on with your day, you're encouraged and guided-
sometimes even step-by-step, to take action and do something and put the
things that you've learned into action. You know, not just take the author's word
for it but actually experience it for yourself.
And getting into the zone is just one part of this book, it has so much to
learn in there because it's not just about the act of drawing. It teaches you
things that you can take into your daily life. So for example, there is a section
on self-portraits that goes into dealing with the scrutiny with which we look
ourselves and dealing with insecurities and self-judgment. It teaches you how to
look at the world through the eyes of an artist, see beauty and inspiration in the
most ordinary and everyday things and just travel through life with new
awareness to the things that are around you. Being able to travel through the
world with your eyes open rather than trapped in your head- which is what I
think most of us do most of the time. Just to give you a sense of what I'm talking about
I'll read a little bit just you can get an idea; 'Suddenly there are things to draw
everywhere. On our walk to work, red rose-hips droop on the tops of
straggling rose bushes in our neighbor's autumn gardens, on the bus the nobbled
nose of an old man or the thick shock of hair on a teenager's head leaves our
fingers itching for a notepad and pen. The gift of mindfulness- the gift of
awareness- is that in clearing our minds, pausing and coming into the present
moment, in simply being, we are offered the whole world and without all the
distractions of the thinking mind to get in the way ,we are able to open to it
more fully, more effortlessly than we ever have before...' And I'm not typically
into like far-out books that you know tell you to be 'one with your
truth' and 'open your heart to the universe'. There's one book in particular
that has come recommended a lot from a lot of people that I watch and listen to,
a self-help book that you really hear about a lot but I honestly- I'm not going
to name it- but I have never been so desperately underwhelmed by a book. I
just find that some of these things can be quite superficial because it's all
well and good to tell me that I need to change my life and these are the things
you need to do to change your life and how great your life will be once you've
changed it but you need to get into the nitty-gritty of how. For me anyway.
And the most valuable how that I learned in this book was how to get into
the zone. Although there are step-by-step instructions in here, it isn't a
step-by-step instructional book. It gives you the tools and information that you
might need to be able to take that forward into your own life and
translate it however it will work for you. So I'm just going to give you some
examples of how I've used it how I've interpreted it and how I fit it into my
art and creative process. So to start with, I have to set my intention. I have
to decide that I'm going to do a mindful drawing because not every drawing
practice is going to be a mindful one. There are times where I do have to be
more critical, if I'm doing studies for example. There are times where I
want to be open to the critical voice, the commentary and the questions I'm
gonna have to ask of myself while I'm doing a study, so I decide beforehand
that the first drawing practice of my day will be a mindful one. That way, no
matter how things go throughout the day creatively, I'll at least have that moment
to myself where I've been able to enjoy the process of creating art and I'll
have that always to look back on as a success for the day. Now the key thing
about the zone is just- to put it simply- keeping your attention on the process of
what you're doing. I don't know if that what's the simplest way to put it.
Basically, if you're thinking about what you are going to have for lunch later,
as I said in the inner critic video, notice it and being able to bring
yourself back to the present moment. So it's just you, your page, the pen, no
judgment, no commentary- good or bad- just an awareness of what's happening. And you
might find, especially at the beginning, that your mind wanders a lot. You might
find that every 10 seconds, you are realizing that you're not focusing on
what you're doing and having to bring yourself back into the present moment,
and that's fine -that's actually pretty good- because if you weren't being
mindful you wouldn't have been aware of the fact that your mind had wandered. So
it's just a case of making sure to try your best to notice the mind wandering
and bringing it back to centre. One really easy way to get a feel of having
your mind in the present moment is my
favorite practice in the book and that is to draw your hand with your eyes
closed. Which sounds a bit silly and maybe if your approach to art isn't to
explore and experiment and enjoy the ride, then maybe this isn't for you but
what I found when I tried this is that I really managed to connect with myself,
the feeling of my hand as it is in that moment, because you have to
feel it to draw it. And you're just letting that feeling almost like flow
through you onto the paper which you're also not looking at. You're just trusting
in yourself and the sensations and you're really focused on just those
things that you're doing you're focused on the feeling of your hand and the
movement of your other hand drawing.
And once you have an idea for how that feels, you can start drawing with your
eyes open and start not just seeing but really looking at what you're drawing.
And being able to hold that attention on what you're drawing and not get lost in
what you think it looks like or what you think it should look like, which I think
we all do a lot. When you are drawing from life and you realize that you
haven't even looked at what you're supposed to be drawing for like five
minutes because you've been caught up in creating the image of it that you think
it has. So I have turned my first drawing of the day almost into its own ritual. I
start by really carefully and intentionally choosing my tools, laying
them out and taking the time to reflect and really think about and feel grateful
for the things I have and the process behind them being made and each little
thing that goes into allowing me to create. Then I'll start a present, mindful
drawing practice and then I will finish off again with a reflection just a
moment to myself to thank myself for showing up, for getting something done
regardless of how it turned out, I have achieved something, and it's important to
recognize that every single time. All it really is is a positive, valuable time
with yourself and all it boils down to is focus. Focus leads to absorption
which leads to flow. And with that in mind, it doesn't really need to be any
more complicated than that. You don't have to follow a routine thinking;
'which part do I do next?'
It isn't a step-by-step path to a meditative state. Just keep it simple and
stay focused.
And with that in mind, you can really apply this mentality to all sorts of
things. If you're a writer you could be staying focused on the sensation of your
fingers on the keyboard or watching the cursor move and letters forming in its
wake, if you're a dancer, be present in the sensations of your body
moving and the cause of effect of this movement leading to sensations
over here.
To finish, there are six kind of truths of mindfulness that apply whether
you're meditating or drawing or writing. And the author in this book has adjusted
them slightly- these six kind of mantras have been around since I think
the book says like the 11th century, one of the leading mindfulness practitioners
I guess outlined these words - and the author has really loosely translated
those to fit in with drawing in mind. So instead of me going on about them, I
will just read them and they are; 'Let go of how you drew yesterday, let go of the
drawing you might do one day, really experience drawing as it is right now,
don't overthink it, don't force it, just relax, just draw.' So if you take anything
from this video, just let it be those six points. Write them down in the front page
of your sketchbook and remind yourself every day of those key things.
Let me know if this video is useful for you in any way, let me know if any of the
points resonated with you all and if you might be interested in adopting
mindfulness into your everyday life. I'll have a link below to this, it will
probably be an Amazon affiliate link which just means I will earn commission
if you do decide to buy it but obviously if you want to search for the book
independently you can do that; I will leave the title of it below. I might make
this a thing this 'this book taught me' make it a series. I am reading a lot more
at the moment and it would help to keep me accountable for my daily- daily??-
monthly drawing targets. So let me know if that's something you'd be interested
in. And if you like this kind of format of a long chatty video, I actually do
these every couple of weeks over on patreon but live so you get to chat and
we get to hang out while I'm doing it; you can ask questions, I also talk a
lot more about the process of my artwork and I talk about the things I am
listening to, reading, learning about, anything
I'm currently obsessed with...
'Vin Diesel as a Viking. Long hair, long beard. Father,
husband, warrior...'
Yeah if you are interested in that haven't have a look.
I'll have that link below. If it doesn't suit your fancy, that is fine. Otherwise,
thank you guys so much for watching and I will see you soon for the next video.
Bye!