For all intents and purposes, it is accurate to say that I woke up on a random day at the age of 42 and just started doing art. I had no particular training or interest in drawing or painting, and I thought of myself as a “can’t draw a stick figure” kind of person. I truly don’t know what I’m doing, really, when it comes to creativity. What I do have, and what I believe we all have, is a connection to something bigger and higher that, when we open up to it, guides our hands and hearts to make astoundingly beautiful things. I’ve heard it called by lots of names. I call it creative flow (the flow).
To many, it probably sounds super strange when I am asked how I make my most successful pieces, and I respond almost without fail, “oh, it wasn’t me doing it. It was done through me.” But, if you’ve been in the flow before, you know exactly what I mean. You decide to create. You pick the surface, the mediums, and maybe an initial color palette to explore. Then, sometime after the first marks or moves are made, you just start letting go. Moves become expressive and bold without you doing anything to change them, your choices become sure and strong without you consciously weighing them, and you lose all sense of time, technical correctness, and original inspiration. All of a sudden, the work is done, it is stunning, and you’re just as surprised by it as anyone else. This is the result of flow.
In anticipation of you reading this column and thinking I’m bonkers, I’ve gathered three gorgeous and fun to read books that talk about the magic that happens when you tap into the creative flow and ride that wave as a way of making, and of living. Pick one, or devour them all.
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Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear (Elizabeth Gilbert, 2015)
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The Creative Act: A Way of Being (Rick Rubin, 2023)
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Greenlights (Matthew McConaughey, 2020)
These folks get it. Flow is what happens when we just let go. It’s a connection to the divine. It is spiritual, guided, and organic. Flow takes the pressure off us for thinking we either have “it” or we don’t. We all have “it” available. We all have an ability to open up and let inspiration guide us to make beautiful things. We all also have off days, unsuccessful starts, and, in my case, paintings that end up brown. We can practice, develop skills, and get technically advanced at any creative endeavor, but ultimately, the thing that adds soul and magic to what we make isn’t us. It comes through us when we let go and create from a place of love and ease. We just go with the flow.
Sara Middleton is a freelance columnist and resident artist/owner of Studio Sol Gallery & Creative Space in Eagle Grove, Iowa. Email her at sara.studiosol@gmail.com or find Studio Sol on Facebook or Instagram.
