How to Make Art While Drowning

“I am allowed to be human.” — KC Davis

My friends Liv and Daniel gave me this great book for Christmas: How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis, LPC. It was so good! I recommend it highly. (I read it cover-to-cover in one day.) I would describe her philosophy as one of intentional self-compassion.

Although the author writes about keeping house (or “care tasks” as she calls them) I thought her basic ideas could apply to a lot of other things in life. In particular, they could apply very nicely to one’s art practice.

I have consolidated my notes from this book here, as well as my thoughts about them as relating to the artist path.

(I really wrote this blog post for myself, but I’m sharing it here in case it is helpful to others.)

“Being Held” oil on canvas, 8x10 inches

  • Be Kind to Yourself

  • You deserve kindness. (Everyone does.)

  • Practice Gentle Self-Talk. You are not a lazy failure. So stop saying that. Please.

  • Instead you can say: “I am a human being going through a hard time.” Or “I am doing my best.”

  • Be Kind to “Future You”

  • Sometimes you do a task you don’t really want to do, as an act of kindness to “Future You.” For example, packing my lunch the night before makes it possible for me to have a nutritious meal in my studio. Or, working on my business finances makes it possible for me to function as a business, thus sustaining my art practice in the real world.

  • Imperfection is Ok

  • “Imperfection is required for a good life.” — KC Davis

  • “I am allowed to be human.” — KC Davis

  • My studio schedule serves me, I do not serve it.

  • “Care Tasks”

  • Think of painting or making art as a “care task.” Even if making art is your real job, don’t think of it like homework, or some kind of difficult, tedious chore. Showing up in the studio and making art is a care task. You are taking care of at least three things:

    • Yourself (by honoring your inner artist)

    • Your Loved Ones (because you are grumpy when you don’t make art, and that affects others)

    • the World (because you are making it more beautiful.)

  • Cleaning can be called “re-setting the space.” Puttering around my studio is part of caring for my space.

    Gentle Motivation

  • Momentum builds motivation. It’s great to have momentum! But sometimes life gets in the way and you lose your momentum. Then you need an “on-ramp” back into your momentum. Some ideas I had:

    • “I’ll just mix two colors together.”

    • “I’ll just do one quick pencil sketch.”

    • “I’ll just go sit in my studio and look at art books.”

    Productivity does not have Moral Value

  • You are worthy of love and compassion whether you are producing great art or not. You don’t have to be productive to be worthy of kindness.

  • Work is not moral. You aren’t a good person when you are making good work, nor are you a bad person when your work isn’t turning out well. The work has no morality in and of itself.

  • Kindness to Others

  • Painting (for me) involves observing beauty and then showing it to others. Therefore it is an act of kindness, of compassion, for the world.

Further Reading: