Finding a Way to Make Art Less Stressful

     There are days I wonder how people make art not stressful for them.  Most artists begin their career, because they dislike their 9 to 5 job or they love art.  I love photography, but the other day I was painting for a client and I remembered how relaxing it was to paint.  I used to paint all the time when I was in middle school and high school for fun.  It was a way to do something other than read or go play outside.  I used my mom's old acrylics.  My mom is a painter who uses oils!  The thing that is crazy about my painting is that from one painting I did for fun I have had two commissions from it.

     How do you balance making art fun during the stressful times?  We have commissions, due dates, and lives.  I took to #social media and asked fellow artists on The Rising Tide Society page on Facebook and was able to get some great replies.  

     I heard from one artist named Kate Heitkamp say, "I take breaks to write out what I'm thankful for, either on my big office white board, or in a journal."  I have a journal also so I was like check that one off the list.  

     Next I heard from Tammy Roede Murray who said, 'I go outside and think small when life, photo work or the day job gets stressful, Macro is my escape.... no clients telling me what they want, no one to pose (I really struggle here because I get so shy and uncomfortable giving direction).... just bugs and flowers, water droplets and mushrooms!  This is something I try to do, but I definitely need to do more of in the future.

How awesome is this image by Tammy Roede Murray?

     Last I heard from Michele Bourquin who is a painter.  She said, "I'm a painter.  I try to stagger my work - commission piece.... independent piece.... commission piece etc.  It relieves the stress of commission work." 

      There are so many ways we can make art more and not #stressful.  We have to remember to maintain the balance between friends, family, work, social media, and everything else in our life.  We need to make time for ourselves.  Balance is definitely my answer for keeping art fun!

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