The one art tool you might not be using ...

“Creativity isn't a switch that's flicked on or off; it's a way of seeing, engaging and responding to the world around you.”

― Rod Judkins

I love this quote ... so often people speak of creativity as if it is a magical power, something that is just handed to us from above. We don't understand what we are doing or why - the art or music or words just flow through us as if sent by divine force.

But actually, I think we do need to understand what we're doing and why. I think that's the only way we can make art that matters (either to us or to other people).

Now if you've been following me for a while you know I speak a lot about intuition. I often say how important it is to follow one's intuition - and how far it can take us. I still believe that's true.

And perhaps some artists can go all the way using only intuition, but for me thought matters too.

I find that if I follow my intuition, and make my work based on its inexplicable nudges and ideas, eventually ideas begin to form. (For more on how this works, check out the video below).

And this is where my journal comes in. My studio journals are the tool I mentioned in the title of this email.

I'd love to say I'm super-organised with this journals, but I'm not. Some are just notebooks like this one, some are in sketchbooks. Some contain images and drawings and some are just for writing. But they all have two things in common:

a) they're not beautiful (the pressure to make a book look good can stop you using it.
b) they give me a place to organise my thoughts.

I find this SO important. If I think while I'm painting, disaster strikes. I absolutely have to be in intuition while I'm making. But then at the end of a painting session, or even during a lunch break, the ideas and thoughts will start to pop into my mind. Rather than ruminate on them, I simply jot them down. I don't edit my grammar and I don't try to write neatly - I just scribble down my thoughts as they come and then go back to painting.

This way the thoughts are out of my head and won't interfere with what I am making. They are also documented, so they can't slip away.

Something about the act of writing makes things feel more concrete. I often don't need to go back to my journal because I remember writing down my thoughts and now they are in my brain.

I also use my journals to record my inspiration - that might be a colour combination, or an artist's work, or a quote I read somewhere, or a news article about something I care about.

I'm not terribly consistent with my journal - I use it when I need it and then week can go by when it remains untouched - but I think it has become one of the most important parts of my art practice and I wouldn't be without it.

This week, my work led me to some new realisations and in this video below, I explain how intuition led me to return to some work-in-progress, and how I began to understand what it's all about.