October 18, 2023 • 31 mins
Have you ever looked at a piece of art and wondered about the feelings that inspired the artist? Can you imagine how their happiness, sadness, anger, or love influenced every brushstroke and color choice?
We’re going to explore how our emotions have a big impact on our creative output. We’ll share our own experiences and talk about how our inner and outer feelings not only guide our artwork but also affect how people see it. We’ll also ask a tough question: is it ever okay to stop working on a creative project if it’s making us feel bad?
Plus, we’ll explore how art can change us and share some tips on using our emotions to boost our creativity.
This journey has given us a better understanding of how emotions and creativity are connected, and we hope you’ll find it just as enlightening. Tune in and let’s celebrate the emotional side of art together!
Also, we’re celebrating our 20th podcast episode today!
It’s been so much fun and we so appreciate you joining us each week.
Please take a listen today and celebrate with us by sharing our podcast with a friend or two.
We hope you enjoy today’s chat!
If you'd prefer to watch this podcast, you can find us over on our YouTube page (The Mama Judy & Jill Podcast).
We'd LOVE to hear from you! Click here to send us your thoughts and ideas for a future episode.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Oh good, you made it.
We are so glad you're here.
Welcome to the Mama Judy andJill podcast, an
intergenerational chat aboutlife, art and the creative
process.
I'm your host, jill, andjoining me is my wonderful
co-host and bonus mom, mama Judy.
Let's get started.
Welcome back, we're so gladyou're here.
(00:23):
Hey, mama Judy, hey Jill.
What a great day this is, isn'tit?
It is Okay.
So this week, mama Judy and Ihave decided that we're going to
be talking about how emotionsaffect the creative process and
what comes out of us creatively.
But I want to tell you a story,mama Judy.
Okay.
So last week I decided so I'dbeen doing my stitching and
(00:44):
journaling these little journalbooks, and I thought, you know,
I want to do somethingcreatively, just a little bit
different, to mix it up.
And so I thought I'm going towrite some fiction, some fiction
stories.
And so I got this pretty littlejournal that I have and I just
thought, okay, what I'm going towrite about.
And I've heard people say, youknow, when you're writing
fiction, you need to come upwith it like an inciting event,
(01:07):
and you know different things,and I was really trying to study
how people would write fiction,and so, anyway, so I started
writing a story and I didn'treally know where it was going,
but it was of a young girl andshe in the story she walks into
the kitchen and her mom'scooking and there's music going
on, but her mom was drunk.
And then so she starts cookingand she chops up a carrot per
(01:29):
her mom's request, and onedropped on the floor and she
bent down to grab it and her momsmacked her across the face.
Okay so, number one, verydramatic story, and I don't know
where that came.
But what I wanted to tell youis that here I am writing,
hoping to be creative and like,have a fun little outlet.
Well, I felt completelydepressed.
(01:50):
I did not want to keep writing.
It was really bringing up a lotof emotions in me.
Well, so then later that nextday, william, my husband and I
were walking around the lake andwe went past the library and I
was telling him I feel like Ineed to go back and finish that
story, but I just don't want to.
I'm having all these negativeemotions about it.
And so he pointed in the windowof the library and he goes Well,
(02:12):
why don't you just writesomething fun, like something
that you might see happen inthere.
And all of a sudden, the minutehe said that, my eyes just lit
up and I started seeing likebooks come to life within the
library and I had this idea towrite something more fantastical
.
So I came back home I decidedI'm done with that story, I'm
done, and I started writing theone about these books coming to
(02:34):
life in the library, and it wasso much fun and I was able to
keep writing.
And so, with this being said, Iwent through this variety of
emotions with the first storyand then the second one, even
getting to that point.
And I'm just curious what youthink.
Number one, I'm curious do youthink I should have to or I
shouldn't have to?
(02:55):
But do you think I should goback and finish the first story,
or is it okay to just shut itdown, toss it out and move on?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Okay, so, if I hear you correctly, in that 24 hour
period, in this form of art thatyou hadn't done before, but it
is a form of art, it's acreative form.
Obviously, you went through arange of emotions that affected
that art, how you did that art.
(03:25):
So We'll get back to yourquestion about should you finish
that, but I want to just saythat, in general, it doesn't
matter what form of art we areusing, what medium we're in, our
emotions definitely affect that, and I'm thinking about as
(03:48):
you're, I'm listening to you,but I'm also realizing that over
the last month, I've heard youknow how you read the people you
follow.
You read their comments on theon Instagram, and I've heard
things like I usually do brightcolors, but I've been feeling
very gloomy recently and so I'vegone to the more neutral, gray,
(04:14):
dark things, or.
Somebody will say normally Iuse the gray tones, I like the
shades of gray and black, butthis week I've gone to color.
Well, I will bet you, at thebottom of all of that is the
emotion of the person and if youthink about it, emotions are
(04:35):
energy and that energy getstransformed into art.
It comes out in our art and, infact, people that look at art,
that buy art, that collect art,whatever they do it based on
emotion.
Haven't you ever heard or doneit yourself?
I love that painting, oh, that,I just love that.
(04:58):
Well, that's an emotionalresponse to what you are seeing.
Right, and maybe we need todefine, or define that emotions
are our body's response toeither an internal or external
stimulus.
So when you see a painting andyou love the expression and you
(05:21):
say I love that, that's yourbody's response to the energy of
that painting.
So, getting back to what youdid, and what art, what energy
or, excuse me, not energy whatemotions do to our art?
It can influence everything.
It can influence the colorsthat we use.
(05:43):
You're happy, so use brightcolors.
You're in a more gloomy mood,melancholy, for whatever the
reason.
You might pick up a darkerpiece of fabric, it will
influence.
If you're a painter, it willinfluence the type of
brushstrokes Think anger, anger.
(06:04):
If you're painting, a big,aggressive brushstrokes, bold,
yeah, bold.
So it can influence the typesof materials.
I've even known, I had a friendwho, when she painted and she
was angry or in a bad mood, shewould take things like what is
(06:25):
it not?
It's a texture like plaster ofParis, anything like that, and
she would throw it at thepainting.
So yes, emotions kind of affecteverything in our art.
It can even affect whether ornot we feel like sitting down
and doing our art.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Right, well, and one thing too, real quick.
When you said, you know, vanGogh, starry Night, yes, yes,
that when he created that, nowhe it's a known thing that he
really struggled with somemental health issues, and I've
heard that he painted that whilein a mental asylum, and so, and
I know, like if you look at itwith the swirling skies and if
(07:07):
he was feeling, you know,anxious or whatever, I mean,
it's such a beautiful piece, butit's interesting to think about
what sort of emotions he wasdoing when he created that.
And the same thing with thatfamous painting called the
Scream.
Do you know, not the big mouth,it's the big mouth.
Oh, yes, it's like it's calledthe Scream.
It's very famous, I think.
It's.
What's the guy's name?
(07:27):
Edward, edward, something, butsame.
He experienced in his life alot of anxiety and terror.
I don't know what all that wasfrom in his life, the terror,
but I've heard that that wassort of like his emotions.
That's what he was painting.
It was like he was putting thatout on the paper or on the
canvas.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
And that's exactly what we do.
No matter what form of art weare using, we put our emotions
into it.
So obviously, your emotions aregoing to affect the outcome.
Now we talked about a painterlike Van Gogh's brushstrokes.
You can see those brushstrokes.
(08:07):
I just lost my train of thoughttrans.
So it does affect it.
Your emotional will not onlyaffect how you put it down or
translate it into your medium,but whether the flow comes
easily or is constricted.
(08:28):
So that's one way, or multipleways, that emotions affect our
art, and we've already touchedon the fact that people buy and
respond to art based on theiremotions.
So if you look at a piece ofart and we'll just take painting
because it's easy to visualizeyou've got a painting and
(08:51):
there's two sets of emotionsthat go into that.
You've got the emotions that gointo it from the painter.
You've got the emotions that goout of it to the receiver.
And you and I can stand by thesame painting and not have the
same emotional response to it,and I've had that happen.
(09:13):
When Jack and I have gonesomeplace, I will fall in love
with something and he'll go notso much.
So, again, emotions aredefinitely a strong part of any
creativity, and I love the womanthat I saw on Instagram that
said oh, I've really beenfeeling happy this week, I'm
(09:36):
gonna use bright colors, right.
And so if you run into asituation like you did, I think
what I would recommend is goahead and finish it, see where
that goes, because that's anauthentic response to whatever
(09:59):
you were writing.
That came from inside you, thatwas not somebody else's
interpretation, and if we canlearn to process those emotions,
whatever they are, we willactually wind up with some
authentic creations.
(10:20):
Now, if you go back to thatstory, the interesting thing is,
emotionally, you're approachingit from a different point of
view than you did when youstarted it.
I'm guessing and you cancorrect me if I'm wrong, but I'm
guessing that those emotionscaught you off guard.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yes, and those emotions because I experienced
those emotions, I am not feelingled to go back to that, like it
actually causes some anxiety inme.
And so then I'm thinking likewhy did it come even come out?
Like you know, when you sitdown to create, sometimes it's
very intuitive and you're justgoing.
I did not have a plan to createthat story.
You know, too, that I had analcoholic mother, so I don't
(11:05):
know why I even brought in analcoholic woman in this story,
but it just started flowing out.
So the emotions, like I am notfeeling, like I want to go back
to it, because it was making mefeel anxious in a way.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, you know, we touched a little bit on art as
therapy, and that's notnecessarily what this one is
about.
This is more about generalemotions and but when we run up
against something like that, youhave to honor the fact that
(11:38):
there is something inside of youand it could be you personally
or you in a general sense thatneeds to be released.
Now, at the time that you werecreating, you were creating in
words.
If you had been painting againI'm falling back on painting you
(12:02):
might have taken those emotionsand thrown them onto the canvas
without even thinking aboutthem.
And so when we have emotionslike that, again we've got to go
back to the fact that emotionsare energy.
I would recommend that peoplerecognize those, observant but
(12:27):
not run from them necessarily.
Don't try to control them.
Do not go back to that storyand control the story.
I'm not sure if you'll be ableto recreate where you were when
(12:48):
you were writing that story, butif it comes up again, I highly
recommend don't try to controlthe flow of it, and this is in
any form of art.
Just be authentic, go let's usethe phrase go with the flow.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Even if it's scary.
I have read a book by a painterwho eventually became an art
therapist and his breakthroughwas a similar situation, and
again I keep talking aboutpainting.
But it could be my books, myjournal, my artist book pages.
(13:29):
Some are happy, some are kindof dark and moody.
But what he did is he ran intoa situation similar to yours and
he didn't understand it.
But he kept painting and hedidn't.
He just whatever his hand didwas okay.
He didn't analyze it, he didn'ttry to stop it, he didn't run
(13:53):
from the dark place.
He said the most amazing thinghappened that when he got done
he had created what heconsidered a beautiful piece of
art and a new style that he hadnever attempted before.
So emotions can also lead us tosomething that we don't even
(14:17):
know is there.
So I would recommend that yougo back and you work on that
story and just pick it up, seewhat happens.
Something may never, everhappen.
You may wind up writing thenext Harry Potter series.
I mean, we don't know, but thewhole point is, when emotions
(14:39):
come up during our creativity,perhaps the best thing we can do
is just observe them, Don't tryto control them.
Just see if you can go withwhatever your body, and when I
say body, it's coming from yourbody, because your body is doing
(14:59):
the writing, your body is doingthe sculpting or the painting.
Just let it come through yourbody, your hands, whatever you
need to make your art.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Well, and so pay attention.
So that's important, likethat's right Attention to the
emotions when they come up.
Here's another thought I wasjust thinking about.
I'm imagining, because I followa lot of people that do
stitching and that kind of thing, you know, in the collage
journals.
I'm imagining a lot of thesepeople, or any of us, when we
also pay attention, that whenyou're feeling really good or
(15:36):
inspired or motivated, payattention to those emotions too.
Like what was it that you weredoing at that point?
What kind of medium, what timeof day?
Like pay attention to theemotions that you're having
during that, because in somecases you want to replicate that
and say I loved, how free Ifelt and it was because I was
doing intuitive art or somethinglike that.
So that's important to payattention to.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Absolutely.
We don't want to pay attentiononly to the dark side Right, I'm
using that Darth Vader darkside.
No, we want to pay attentionall the time.
We want to be a conscious artistwhere we pay attention and, yes
(16:23):
, when I well, I'll use thisweek where I have not had access
to all my little wonderfulglues and pieces of paper that I
can do.
I've been working using justsketching materials, although I
broke down and had to run outand buy some colored things that
(16:43):
I could work with and they'remuch lighter, they're happier,
they're freer.
And I realize that sometimes,even without recognizing it, we
can sometimes let the emotionsof things that we love Keep us
(17:06):
from being as free as we want tobe.
So if you're aware of youremotions, you can observe them,
you can deal with them, you canfollow them.
You can go whoa, every time Igo get an ice cream cone, I come
home and create wonderful art.
(17:28):
So you can attach it tosomething.
Maybe that that brings you thatemotion that then translates
into your art.
Or every time I watch the news,my art goes to a dark place.
Then maybe you don't want towatch the news as much, right?
(17:48):
So all of those things at thebasis of our emotions, if we can
just observe them, that willhelp tremendously Well, and this
just made me think you hadmentioned this on a past podcast
episode.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
That we did.
But you mentioned too whenyou're suffering with lupus
symptoms, when it's bad, andthen you come.
So obviously your emotions arecrappy, yes, you know, not
feeling good, not feelingpositive in pain, all that kind
of stuff, but then you come andyou sit down and that process
(18:25):
changes your emotions.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Oh, absolutely I have .
I have told your dad severaltimes that the journaling, the
process, the art, the going fromthe physical to the ethereal
let's just say to that spotwhere you're just creating has
saved me many, many days.
(18:49):
And so, yes, I I come.
Let's just use that as anexample, because pain is not in.
Emotions are not always just areaction to something like the
news.
There are also a reaction towhat's going on in our body.
I come from a place of pain.
(19:10):
Well, if I go in, as you said,and I have said before, sit down
and start with my little piecesof paper and I just give myself
over to that process, you'reabsolutely right my emotions
change because somewhere in thatprocess they have gone from
(19:33):
focusing on the physical pain tojust having it.
And when you receive thephysical pain and when pain,
physical pain anybody out therewith any kind of an illness will
know when you can receive thephysical pain then your whole
being lightens up and it'sabsolutely life saving for me.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah, because that's that's physiological as well as
emotional.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Physiological, neurological, emotional, all of
it.
Now, if I, let's say, I'm notin physical pain, well, let's
put it another way.
Let's be real.
When the pain is low enoughthat I don't have to focus on it
, I might go in.
And maybe because I amBorderline empath, I respond to
(20:27):
the news so emotionally that Ihave had to put up barriers that
I do not allow myself to Gointo it too often because it
drags me down the rabbit hole.
Well, let's say, I Watch thenews and I'm in a dark, dark
place, emotionally, as aresponse To what I've seen and
(20:51):
heard.
Then, when I sit down, what Ihave noticed and I thank you for
bringing this up because itjust occurred to me I do the
same thing.
So when I'm in that spot and Isit down, I am looking for dark
and grungy and black and thosecolors and sharper images, not
(21:16):
soft round things like circles,but, you know, sharp images,
because that's an emotionalresponse that I'm trying to
process through my art.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Wow, and just just now you paying attention to that
and linking it to the news.
Yeah, like, how powerful isthat that you know?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah, I know I cannot expose myself to very much news
.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Okay, but tell me so if your emotions you come up.
You've watched the news in thesharp, more grungy, darker
colors.
Are you still enjoying thatprocess, though, or is there a
little bit of heaviness whenyou're doing that, or does it
feel almost equally as good aswhen you're doing your Muted
soft rounder edges?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
both.
When I sit down in that stage,I am not enjoying it.
I am Without, without realizingthat what I am doing is
processing the emotions thathave come up from watching the
news.
But art is so beautiful, ittakes over and pretty soon
(22:23):
you're back in that spot, justlike with the physical pain.
It goes away and all of asudden you're just loving the
flow.
You're loving that Grungy, darkfeel and you're looking for
more of it because you like it.
So it starts that I'm notenjoying it.
By the time I leave, I'm at aplace where, oh, I really like
(22:46):
these pages Right.
Artist, creative process Foreverybody that is out there and
has a creative vein is anextremely transformative process
, mm-hmm.
And At the bottom of thattransformation good, bad or ugly
are our emotions.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yes, what would you think about if someone is
feeling you know how sometimeswe could look at the art that
we're creating and start judgingit Badly, and you know that's
no good, this is whatever.
So you're having those emotionsnow.
What's like?
What if we just push through inthat case or go to something
that is I don't know?
(23:28):
I guess we've kind of talkedabout this a little bit before.
But what do you do when wewe're all gonna have that and so
that Is an emotion that takesplace.
So how do we take that andCreate, happily, okay so let's
say you're creating.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Let's say I'm in in there Doing my pages or out in
the garage doing a painting andI'm not in a happy mood and I'm
Frustrating PO'd and all of that, and I look at it and I go, oh,
this is the ugliest thing I'veever seen.
What I have learned?
Do not do anything with it atthat time.
(24:05):
Walk away from it.
Walk away and give yourself abreak because, remember, what is
controlling you are youremotions and you are responding
to what you have createdemotionally.
Wait until your emotions are ina different spot.
(24:27):
Then walk back.
Now you don't have all thatNegative hard energy.
You might look at it and say,oh you know, I really don't like
that.
I'm just gonna use it and paintover it or redo this page or
rip out this stitching or Addmore clay to this side of the
(24:48):
sculpture.
That's fine.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
It's more objective.
It's more objective.
It is more objective.
Is versus critical, hardcorecritical.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Oh, when we are in an emotional state, we are.
We're always our own worstcritic, but that's when we, in
anything, can make somedecisions that maybe we would
look back on and say, oh, maybeI shouldn't have done that.
So what I have learned and whatI've heard from many Artists on
(25:17):
their Instagram page walk away,I Give space to yourself and
that piece of art and come back.
Sometimes people have come backand gone whoa, that's wonderful
, what was I thinking?
Sometimes they've come back andsaid needs a lot of work, or
(25:41):
nope, this isn't working.
You don't know.
Once you get out, once youallow it breathing room and
yourself the freedom to be awayfrom the emotions, you don't
know what you're going to thinkwhen you walk back to that page,
that sculpture, whatever itreminds me of where someone will
(26:01):
say hey, you need to go checkyour attitude.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Go check your attitude, clean it up, come on
back when you're feeling better.
It's the same type of thinglike go back if you have a
negative mindset, you go.
Okay, I'm feeling better now,and you come back with new,
fresh eyes and everything's alittle bit better.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I love that expression new, fresh eyes,
because that's what you've got.
They're not clouded by judgment, they're not clouded by your
emotions.
I love to me what it is in allof this.
I'm taking the time out.
We tell little kids whosebehavior is not what we wanted.
You're on time out?
(26:37):
Well, give yourself a time out.
We're adults but we still needtime outs.
Yeah, and I did that.
I was painting over a paintingand I didn't like it.
I thought, oh, this is notgoing anywhere, but I just left
(26:59):
it in the garage on the easel.
I came back in a few days andwhen I came back I thought, well
, if I did this here.
And then I did this here and Iwent to work.
And when I stepped back fromthat, the painting I had hated
had changed, because I wasn't inthe same emotional state when I
(27:23):
left it.
And my creativity, my creativemind saw it differently, saw the
potential of it.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yes, and on the flip side of giving ourselves a time
out.
This just made me think about.
We're kind of talking abouttake a step back, but also honor
yourself by, when you're havingemotions, that you're having so
much fun, you're just loving it, you're in the zone.
Then make time for yourself.
Make time for yourself so thatyou're not just letting these be
in the fringe moments of yourday, the leftover scraps.
(27:57):
Make specific time for yourselfto be able to create and have
these wonderful emotions aroundart.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Absolutely.
In fact, I think they're bothimportant the light the dark.
We need them both.
You don't see the things in thelight without some dark.
So when you have those happymoments, oh my gosh, relish in
them, just enjoy the heck out ofthem.
(28:24):
But when you have those timesthat you're not happy, or things
come up or it's not working andyou're frustrated, don't run
from it and don't honor the factthat there's a purpose for it,
because I truly do believe inall of this.
There is a purpose in what wedo, and I'm going to go back to
(28:48):
your story You're writing.
It's a new form of creativity.
Things come up, things that maybe related to what needs to be
worked out from your past, andhonor the fact that you've now
been given a clue.
Oh, there's something theremaybe I need to pursue or work
(29:12):
on, even by itself, and I thinkthat's what art does for us this
whole process, because we saidagain that creativity is that
all emotions are energy and thatenergy resides within our body
and a lot of times we don't knowhow to release it, and art is a
(29:36):
great way to release allenergies we don't get to.
I'd like to live in la la landand only have the happy,
cheerful ones.
But you got to take it all.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Right, yeah, yeah, good.
Well, this was fun.
This is really has given mesome things to think about, and
I hope our listeners have too.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Absolutely, and then I hope our listeners if they
have had a similar experience.
As we've said before, weabsolutely love hearing from you
.
Yes, whether you agree with usor not doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Well, this was a fun little chat, mama Judy and this
episode that is going to go livethis week and actually Mama
Judy and I get to see each otherin just a few days.
So I'm in North Carolina rightnow.
She's spending time in Oregonand I'm going to be flying out
there to spend some time withher this week.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yes, it'll be wonderful and we will do a two
person while we're together.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
All right.
Well, we'll see you soon andthank you, listeners.
We appreciate you so much.
Thank you for reaching out tous.
I just heard from a coupleother people recently and direct
messages, and I just lovehearing how people are spending
time listening or, you know,giving us ideas or saying oh,
you made me think about thisthing differently.
It's so fun to hear from people, so, anyway, it is yes, thank
(31:06):
you.
Bye, mama, judy, bye, love you.
Oh good, you made it.
We are so glad you're here.
Welcome to the Mama Judy andJill podcast, an
intergenerational chat aboutlife, art and the creative
process.
I'm your host, jill, andjoining me is my wonderful
co-host and bonus mom, mama Judy.
Let's get started.
Welcome back, we're so gladyou're here.
(00:23):
Hey, mama Judy, hey Jill.
What a great day this is, isn'tit?
It is Okay.
So this week, mama Judy and Ihave decided that we're going to
be talking about how emotionsaffect the creative process and
what comes out of us creatively.
But I want to tell you a story,mama Judy.
Okay.
So last week I decided so I'dbeen doing my stitching and
(00:44):
journaling these little journalbooks, and I thought, you know,
I want to do somethingcreatively, just a little bit
different, to mix it up.
And so I thought I'm going towrite some fiction, some fiction
stories.
And so I got this pretty littlejournal that I have and I just
thought, okay, what I'm going towrite about.
And I've heard people say, youknow, when you're writing
fiction, you need to come upwith it like an inciting event,
(01:07):
and you know different things,and I was really trying to study
how people would write fiction,and so, anyway, so I started
writing a story and I didn'treally know where it was going,
but it was of a young girl andshe in the story she walks into
the kitchen and her mom'scooking and there's music going
on, but her mom was drunk.
And then so she starts cookingand she chops up a carrot per
(01:29):
her mom's request, and onedropped on the floor and she
bent down to grab it and her momsmacked her across the face.
Okay so, number one, verydramatic story, and I don't know
where that came.
But what I wanted to tell youis that here I am writing,
hoping to be creative and like,have a fun little outlet.
Well, I felt completelydepressed.
(01:50):
I did not want to keep writing.
It was really bringing up a lotof emotions in me.
Well, so then later that nextday, william, my husband and I
were walking around the lake andwe went past the library and I
was telling him I feel like Ineed to go back and finish that
story, but I just don't want to.
I'm having all these negativeemotions about it.
And so he pointed in the windowof the library and he goes Well,
(02:12):
why don't you just writesomething fun, like something
that you might see happen inthere.
And all of a sudden, the minutehe said that, my eyes just lit
up and I started seeing likebooks come to life within the
library and I had this idea towrite something more fantastical
.
So I came back home I decidedI'm done with that story, I'm
done, and I started writing theone about these books coming to
(02:34):
life in the library, and it wasso much fun and I was able to
keep writing.
And so, with this being said, Iwent through this variety of
emotions with the first storyand then the second one, even
getting to that point.
And I'm just curious what youthink.
Number one, I'm curious do youthink I should have to or I
shouldn't have to?
(02:55):
But do you think I should goback and finish the first story,
or is it okay to just shut itdown, toss it out and move on?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Okay, so, if I hear you correctly, in that 24 hour
period, in this form of art thatyou hadn't done before, but it
is a form of art, it's acreative form.
Obviously, you went through arange of emotions that affected
that art, how you did that art.
(03:25):
So We'll get back to yourquestion about should you finish
that, but I want to just saythat, in general, it doesn't
matter what form of art we areusing, what medium we're in, our
emotions definitely affect that, and I'm thinking about as
(03:48):
you're, I'm listening to you,but I'm also realizing that over
the last month, I've heard youknow how you read the people you
follow.
You read their comments on theon Instagram, and I've heard
things like I usually do brightcolors, but I've been feeling
very gloomy recently and so I'vegone to the more neutral, gray,
(04:14):
dark things, or.
Somebody will say normally Iuse the gray tones, I like the
shades of gray and black, butthis week I've gone to color.
Well, I will bet you, at thebottom of all of that is the
emotion of the person and if youthink about it, emotions are
(04:35):
energy and that energy getstransformed into art.
It comes out in our art and, infact, people that look at art,
that buy art, that collect art,whatever they do it based on
emotion.
Haven't you ever heard or doneit yourself?
I love that painting, oh, that,I just love that.
(04:58):
Well, that's an emotionalresponse to what you are seeing.
Right, and maybe we need todefine, or define that emotions
are our body's response toeither an internal or external
stimulus.
So when you see a painting andyou love the expression and you
(05:21):
say I love that, that's yourbody's response to the energy of
that painting.
So, getting back to what youdid, and what art, what energy
or, excuse me, not energy whatemotions do to our art?
It can influence everything.
It can influence the colorsthat we use.
(05:43):
You're happy, so use brightcolors.
You're in a more gloomy mood,melancholy, for whatever the
reason.
You might pick up a darkerpiece of fabric, it will
influence.
If you're a painter, it willinfluence the type of
brushstrokes Think anger, anger.
(06:04):
If you're painting, a big,aggressive brushstrokes, bold,
yeah, bold.
So it can influence the typesof materials.
I've even known, I had a friendwho, when she painted and she
was angry or in a bad mood, shewould take things like what is
(06:25):
it not?
It's a texture like plaster ofParis, anything like that, and
she would throw it at thepainting.
So yes, emotions kind of affecteverything in our art.
It can even affect whether ornot we feel like sitting down
and doing our art.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Right, well, and one thing too, real quick.
When you said, you know, vanGogh, starry Night, yes, yes,
that when he created that, nowhe it's a known thing that he
really struggled with somemental health issues, and I've
heard that he painted that whilein a mental asylum, and so, and
I know, like if you look at itwith the swirling skies and if
(07:07):
he was feeling, you know,anxious or whatever, I mean,
it's such a beautiful piece, butit's interesting to think about
what sort of emotions he wasdoing when he created that.
And the same thing with thatfamous painting called the
Scream.
Do you know, not the big mouth,it's the big mouth.
Oh, yes, it's like it's calledthe Scream.
It's very famous, I think.
It's.
What's the guy's name?
(07:27):
Edward, edward, something, butsame.
He experienced in his life alot of anxiety and terror.
I don't know what all that wasfrom in his life, the terror,
but I've heard that that wassort of like his emotions.
That's what he was painting.
It was like he was putting thatout on the paper or on the
canvas.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
And that's exactly what we do.
No matter what form of art weare using, we put our emotions
into it.
So obviously, your emotions aregoing to affect the outcome.
Now we talked about a painterlike Van Gogh's brushstrokes.
You can see those brushstrokes.
(08:07):
I just lost my train of thoughttrans.
So it does affect it.
Your emotional will not onlyaffect how you put it down or
translate it into your medium,but whether the flow comes
easily or is constricted.
(08:28):
So that's one way, or multipleways, that emotions affect our
art, and we've already touchedon the fact that people buy and
respond to art based on theiremotions.
So if you look at a piece ofart and we'll just take painting
because it's easy to visualizeyou've got a painting and
(08:51):
there's two sets of emotionsthat go into that.
You've got the emotions that gointo it from the painter.
You've got the emotions that goout of it to the receiver.
And you and I can stand by thesame painting and not have the
same emotional response to it,and I've had that happen.
(09:13):
When Jack and I have gonesomeplace, I will fall in love
with something and he'll go notso much.
So, again, emotions aredefinitely a strong part of any
creativity, and I love the womanthat I saw on Instagram that
said oh, I've really beenfeeling happy this week, I'm
(09:36):
gonna use bright colors, right.
And so if you run into asituation like you did, I think
what I would recommend is goahead and finish it, see where
that goes, because that's anauthentic response to whatever
(09:59):
you were writing.
That came from inside you, thatwas not somebody else's
interpretation, and if we canlearn to process those emotions,
whatever they are, we willactually wind up with some
authentic creations.
(10:20):
Now, if you go back to thatstory, the interesting thing is,
emotionally, you're approachingit from a different point of
view than you did when youstarted it.
I'm guessing and you cancorrect me if I'm wrong, but I'm
guessing that those emotionscaught you off guard.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yes, and those emotions because I experienced
those emotions, I am not feelingled to go back to that, like it
actually causes some anxiety inme.
And so then I'm thinking likewhy did it come even come out?
Like you know, when you sitdown to create, sometimes it's
very intuitive and you're justgoing.
I did not have a plan to createthat story.
You know, too, that I had analcoholic mother, so I don't
(11:05):
know why I even brought in analcoholic woman in this story,
but it just started flowing out.
So the emotions, like I am notfeeling, like I want to go back
to it, because it was making mefeel anxious in a way.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, you know, we touched a little bit on art as
therapy, and that's notnecessarily what this one is
about.
This is more about generalemotions and but when we run up
against something like that, youhave to honor the fact that
(11:38):
there is something inside of youand it could be you personally
or you in a general sense thatneeds to be released.
Now, at the time that you werecreating, you were creating in
words.
If you had been painting againI'm falling back on painting you
(12:02):
might have taken those emotionsand thrown them onto the canvas
without even thinking aboutthem.
And so when we have emotionslike that, again we've got to go
back to the fact that emotionsare energy.
I would recommend that peoplerecognize those, observant but
(12:27):
not run from them necessarily.
Don't try to control them.
Do not go back to that storyand control the story.
I'm not sure if you'll be ableto recreate where you were when
(12:48):
you were writing that story, butif it comes up again, I highly
recommend don't try to controlthe flow of it, and this is in
any form of art.
Just be authentic, go let's usethe phrase go with the flow.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Even if it's scary.
I have read a book by a painterwho eventually became an art
therapist and his breakthroughwas a similar situation, and
again I keep talking aboutpainting.
But it could be my books, myjournal, my artist book pages.
(13:29):
Some are happy, some are kindof dark and moody.
But what he did is he ran intoa situation similar to yours and
he didn't understand it.
But he kept painting and hedidn't.
He just whatever his hand didwas okay.
He didn't analyze it, he didn'ttry to stop it, he didn't run
(13:53):
from the dark place.
He said the most amazing thinghappened that when he got done
he had created what heconsidered a beautiful piece of
art and a new style that he hadnever attempted before.
So emotions can also lead us tosomething that we don't even
(14:17):
know is there.
So I would recommend that yougo back and you work on that
story and just pick it up, seewhat happens.
Something may never, everhappen.
You may wind up writing thenext Harry Potter series.
I mean, we don't know, but thewhole point is, when emotions
(14:39):
come up during our creativity,perhaps the best thing we can do
is just observe them, Don't tryto control them.
Just see if you can go withwhatever your body, and when I
say body, it's coming from yourbody, because your body is doing
(14:59):
the writing, your body is doingthe sculpting or the painting.
Just let it come through yourbody, your hands, whatever you
need to make your art.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Well, and so pay attention.
So that's important, likethat's right Attention to the
emotions when they come up.
Here's another thought I wasjust thinking about.
I'm imagining, because I followa lot of people that do
stitching and that kind of thing, you know, in the collage
journals.
I'm imagining a lot of thesepeople, or any of us, when we
also pay attention, that whenyou're feeling really good or
(15:36):
inspired or motivated, payattention to those emotions too.
Like what was it that you weredoing at that point?
What kind of medium, what timeof day?
Like pay attention to theemotions that you're having
during that, because in somecases you want to replicate that
and say I loved, how free Ifelt and it was because I was
doing intuitive art or somethinglike that.
So that's important to payattention to.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Absolutely.
We don't want to pay attentiononly to the dark side Right, I'm
using that Darth Vader darkside.
No, we want to pay attentionall the time.
We want to be a conscious artistwhere we pay attention and, yes
(16:23):
, when I well, I'll use thisweek where I have not had access
to all my little wonderfulglues and pieces of paper that I
can do.
I've been working using justsketching materials, although I
broke down and had to run outand buy some colored things that
(16:43):
I could work with and they'remuch lighter, they're happier,
they're freer.
And I realize that sometimes,even without recognizing it, we
can sometimes let the emotionsof things that we love Keep us
(17:06):
from being as free as we want tobe.
So if you're aware of youremotions, you can observe them,
you can deal with them, you canfollow them.
You can go whoa, every time Igo get an ice cream cone, I come
home and create wonderful art.
(17:28):
So you can attach it tosomething.
Maybe that that brings you thatemotion that then translates
into your art.
Or every time I watch the news,my art goes to a dark place.
Then maybe you don't want towatch the news as much, right?
(17:48):
So all of those things at thebasis of our emotions, if we can
just observe them, that willhelp tremendously Well, and this
just made me think you hadmentioned this on a past podcast
episode.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
That we did.
But you mentioned too whenyou're suffering with lupus
symptoms, when it's bad, andthen you come.
So obviously your emotions arecrappy, yes, you know, not
feeling good, not feelingpositive in pain, all that kind
of stuff, but then you come andyou sit down and that process
(18:25):
changes your emotions.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Oh, absolutely I have .
I have told your dad severaltimes that the journaling, the
process, the art, the going fromthe physical to the ethereal
let's just say to that spotwhere you're just creating has
saved me many, many days.
(18:49):
And so, yes, I I come.
Let's just use that as anexample, because pain is not in.
Emotions are not always just areaction to something like the
news.
There are also a reaction towhat's going on in our body.
I come from a place of pain.
(19:10):
Well, if I go in, as you said,and I have said before, sit down
and start with my little piecesof paper and I just give myself
over to that process, you'reabsolutely right my emotions
change because somewhere in thatprocess they have gone from
(19:33):
focusing on the physical pain tojust having it.
And when you receive thephysical pain and when pain,
physical pain anybody out therewith any kind of an illness will
know when you can receive thephysical pain then your whole
being lightens up and it'sabsolutely life saving for me.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah, because that's that's physiological as well as
emotional.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Physiological, neurological, emotional, all of
it.
Now, if I, let's say, I'm notin physical pain, well, let's
put it another way.
Let's be real.
When the pain is low enoughthat I don't have to focus on it
, I might go in.
And maybe because I amBorderline empath, I respond to
(20:27):
the news so emotionally that Ihave had to put up barriers that
I do not allow myself to Gointo it too often because it
drags me down the rabbit hole.
Well, let's say, I Watch thenews and I'm in a dark, dark
place, emotionally, as aresponse To what I've seen and
(20:51):
heard.
Then, when I sit down, what Ihave noticed and I thank you for
bringing this up because itjust occurred to me I do the
same thing.
So when I'm in that spot and Isit down, I am looking for dark
and grungy and black and thosecolors and sharper images, not
(21:16):
soft round things like circles,but, you know, sharp images,
because that's an emotionalresponse that I'm trying to
process through my art.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Wow, and just just now you paying attention to that
and linking it to the news.
Yeah, like, how powerful isthat that you know?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah, I know I cannot expose myself to very much news
.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Okay, but tell me so if your emotions you come up.
You've watched the news in thesharp, more grungy, darker
colors.
Are you still enjoying thatprocess, though, or is there a
little bit of heaviness whenyou're doing that, or does it
feel almost equally as good aswhen you're doing your Muted
soft rounder edges?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
both.
When I sit down in that stage,I am not enjoying it.
I am Without, without realizingthat what I am doing is
processing the emotions thathave come up from watching the
news.
But art is so beautiful, ittakes over and pretty soon
(22:23):
you're back in that spot, justlike with the physical pain.
It goes away and all of asudden you're just loving the
flow.
You're loving that Grungy, darkfeel and you're looking for
more of it because you like it.
So it starts that I'm notenjoying it.
By the time I leave, I'm at aplace where, oh, I really like
(22:46):
these pages Right.
Artist, creative process Foreverybody that is out there and
has a creative vein is anextremely transformative process
, mm-hmm.
And At the bottom of thattransformation good, bad or ugly
are our emotions.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yes, what would you think about if someone is
feeling you know how sometimeswe could look at the art that
we're creating and start judgingit Badly, and you know that's
no good, this is whatever.
So you're having those emotionsnow.
What's like?
What if we just push through inthat case or go to something
that is I don't know?
(23:28):
I guess we've kind of talkedabout this a little bit before.
But what do you do when wewe're all gonna have that and so
that Is an emotion that takesplace.
So how do we take that andCreate, happily, okay so let's
say you're creating.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Let's say I'm in in there Doing my pages or out in
the garage doing a painting andI'm not in a happy mood and I'm
Frustrating PO'd and all of that, and I look at it and I go, oh,
this is the ugliest thing I'veever seen.
What I have learned?
Do not do anything with it atthat time.
(24:05):
Walk away from it.
Walk away and give yourself abreak because, remember, what is
controlling you are youremotions and you are responding
to what you have createdemotionally.
Wait until your emotions are ina different spot.
(24:27):
Then walk back.
Now you don't have all thatNegative hard energy.
You might look at it and say,oh you know, I really don't like
that.
I'm just gonna use it and paintover it or redo this page or
rip out this stitching or Addmore clay to this side of the
(24:48):
sculpture.
That's fine.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
It's more objective.
It's more objective.
It is more objective.
Is versus critical, hardcorecritical.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Oh, when we are in an emotional state, we are.
We're always our own worstcritic, but that's when we, in
anything, can make somedecisions that maybe we would
look back on and say, oh, maybeI shouldn't have done that.
So what I have learned and whatI've heard from many Artists on
(25:17):
their Instagram page walk away,I Give space to yourself and
that piece of art and come back.
Sometimes people have come backand gone whoa, that's wonderful
, what was I thinking?
Sometimes they've come back andsaid needs a lot of work, or
(25:41):
nope, this isn't working.
You don't know.
Once you get out, once youallow it breathing room and
yourself the freedom to be awayfrom the emotions, you don't
know what you're going to thinkwhen you walk back to that page,
that sculpture, whatever itreminds me of where someone will
(26:01):
say hey, you need to go checkyour attitude.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Go check your attitude, clean it up, come on
back when you're feeling better.
It's the same type of thinglike go back if you have a
negative mindset, you go.
Okay, I'm feeling better now,and you come back with new,
fresh eyes and everything's alittle bit better.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I love that expression new, fresh eyes,
because that's what you've got.
They're not clouded by judgment, they're not clouded by your
emotions.
I love to me what it is in allof this.
I'm taking the time out.
We tell little kids whosebehavior is not what we wanted.
You're on time out?
(26:37):
Well, give yourself a time out.
We're adults but we still needtime outs.
Yeah, and I did that.
I was painting over a paintingand I didn't like it.
I thought, oh, this is notgoing anywhere, but I just left
(26:59):
it in the garage on the easel.
I came back in a few days andwhen I came back I thought, well
, if I did this here.
And then I did this here and Iwent to work.
And when I stepped back fromthat, the painting I had hated
had changed, because I wasn't inthe same emotional state when I
(27:23):
left it.
And my creativity, my creativemind saw it differently, saw the
potential of it.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yes, and on the flip side of giving ourselves a time
out.
This just made me think about.
We're kind of talking abouttake a step back, but also honor
yourself by, when you're havingemotions, that you're having so
much fun, you're just loving it, you're in the zone.
Then make time for yourself.
Make time for yourself so thatyou're not just letting these be
in the fringe moments of yourday, the leftover scraps.
(27:57):
Make specific time for yourselfto be able to create and have
these wonderful emotions aroundart.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Absolutely.
In fact, I think they're bothimportant the light the dark.
We need them both.
You don't see the things in thelight without some dark.
So when you have those happymoments, oh my gosh, relish in
them, just enjoy the heck out ofthem.
(28:24):
But when you have those timesthat you're not happy, or things
come up or it's not working andyou're frustrated, don't run
from it and don't honor the factthat there's a purpose for it,
because I truly do believe inall of this.
There is a purpose in what wedo, and I'm going to go back to
(28:48):
your story You're writing.
It's a new form of creativity.
Things come up, things that maybe related to what needs to be
worked out from your past, andhonor the fact that you've now
been given a clue.
Oh, there's something theremaybe I need to pursue or work
(29:12):
on, even by itself, and I thinkthat's what art does for us this
whole process, because we saidagain that creativity is that
all emotions are energy and thatenergy resides within our body
and a lot of times we don't knowhow to release it, and art is a
(29:36):
great way to release allenergies we don't get to.
I'd like to live in la la landand only have the happy,
cheerful ones.
But you got to take it all.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Right, yeah, yeah, good.
Well, this was fun.
This is really has given mesome things to think about, and
I hope our listeners have too.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Absolutely, and then I hope our listeners if they
have had a similar experience.
As we've said before, weabsolutely love hearing from you
.
Yes, whether you agree with usor not doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Well, this was a fun little chat, mama Judy and this
episode that is going to go livethis week and actually Mama
Judy and I get to see each otherin just a few days.
So I'm in North Carolina rightnow.
She's spending time in Oregonand I'm going to be flying out
there to spend some time withher this week.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yes, it'll be wonderful and we will do a two
person while we're together.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
All right.
Well, we'll see you soon andthank you, listeners.
We appreciate you so much.
Thank you for reaching out tous.
I just heard from a coupleother people recently and direct
messages, and I just lovehearing how people are spending
time listening or, you know,giving us ideas or saying oh,
you made me think about thisthing differently.
It's so fun to hear from people, so, anyway, it is yes, thank
(31:06):
you.
Bye, mama, judy, bye, love you.
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