What Artists Have That Money Can't Buy

Hey there, Creative Souls. Welcome back to the Creative Spotlight. I'm really excited about today's post because the starving artist concept sucks. Agree, agree, agree.

Okay, I recently did a video about the starving artist and the myth of it, so you can check that one out. But this is this post is going to take us even further. We're not just neutralizing or killing the starving artist mentality, but we're taking it up a couple notches.

Today we're talking about the luxurious artist. Now, I am not talking about money, although we like that too, and that's fine - and creatives/artists, you deserve it. You deserve to get paid for your creative work. Today we're talking about a different type of wealth: what artists have that money can't buy. I'm calling it soul luxury.

Let's take a glance into human cultural society as it situates now, but also we can even kind of glance back into a historic scope. Being able to create or consume art is a luxury. Let's take a glance. The poorer someone is, the less time they have for luxury, for extra activity. They'll find themselves just getting by, just doing the bare minimum to keep the roof, to get the food on the table. Art itself is a luxury, whether you are creating it or consuming it. It is a luxury.

That luxury is time and it's the one that's equal and the same for all of us. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. What you choose to do with them can be oh so different. If you, Creative Soul, have time (five minutes counts, my darling) to create or consume art, then you are luxurious.

I want you to take a reframe, a reset, a shift of perception. If you are suffering from a starving artist mentality, then I want you to go back and watch that episode on the myth of the starving artist… because I promise it is not serving you well. So watch that too, please, but today we're talking about how what we focus on expands. If you can make the shift to focusing on even the small pockets of time that you get to create or consume artwork, you are living a life of luxury. Art isn't happening with cash. Yes, it might take money to produce some of it, and it certainly takes some money to buy some of it - as it should, because artists need get paid.

Let's say you're sitting on a bus because you don't own a Ferrari. and as you stroll by a stop downtown, you see a sculpture outside of the public museum. It's, you know, the piece of work that the museum commissioned. There it is. It's art and it's free art for the public to view. You could do what most people do as you ride that bus past that same museum that you ride past every day. You could be scrolling. Or maybe you could put your phone down and you could look at that piece of art and really, really love and cherish that piece of art. You don't even have to like it. You could be like, "That's an ugly sculpture."

But there is a human soul who poured themselves into making it. I want to know more about that soul. I want to hear what that soul says to my soul. And I have the luxury of this long traffic light on this stanky bus ride to appreciate that piece of art. That is a luxurious artist.

Most people will miss it. There's art all around us. Even down to the paint color someone chose for their house. Maybe they didn't choose that well. Maybe it's not that artistic or that interesting, but there is art all around us. Let me get a little spiritual, because there's also the art that God made for us. We can appreciate the art in everything around us. I have trees all surrounding my house. Trees are probably my favorite piece of God's artwork. And you can bet I've added more windows so that I can see more trees that I can appreciate it more often. The shift here is in realizing that there is a luxurious artist in me who has the mental capacity and the soulful willingness to see that as art and to consume it as such, even if only for 30 seconds, even if only for the two-minute stop on the bus ride to see that sculpture that I've seen 800 times before. How can I see it new today?

Now, let's go to you as the creative. Next time you pick up your phone to kill five minutes or five hours, I want you to put it down and not give your luxury away to scrolling. Trust me, I know the irony because you're reading this post on a device. I know. I know this. There's irony in it, but that has to do with being selective, right? If this inspires you and feeds you well, then this itself can be a consumption of art. My artful soul is communicating to your artful soul to consume more artful stuff when you can.

So, put the phone down and instead choose five minutes of daydreaming, five minutes of sketching, five minutes of words on the page, five minutes of visioning. I'm not sure what your medium is, because I'm here on this blog talking to creative creatives of all mediums. Find that five minutes where it's at, but daydreaming counts, by the way, because as creatives, we are dreamers.

I encourage you to embody the luxurious artist, not by necessarily having 20 million hours a week to create, but by honoring the five minutes that you do have. By honoring the art that exists all around you. by picking up the book to read one page and honoring the soul who wrote those words and the connection that you have to that artist. You are not a starving artist. You are not. Go watch that video because that one is more about the monetary aspects of life as a creative. This post is about time, the currency of time, and that art requires time to both create and consume it. It doesn't actually require that much time, especially to consume or to daydream. To start to daydream our artistic visions into reality, you just need a few minutes here or there, and if you have a habit of scrolling on your phone, baby, there's your few minutes. If you need hours, I promise you can find them through the idea of building momentum. If you can find five, you can find 15. If you can find 15, you can find 60. But start with five - and start with the idea of embodying the luxurious artist because it is you. It already is you. You're a soulful artist who appreciates art. I know it to be true because you're still here reading.

Put the phone down now that my post is over and go do your creative work, or go examine the creative work around you and let it fill you up with the richness and beauty of life, because that is your gift as an artist. Not everyone appreciates it. Art and creativity is not everyone's cup of tea, but it is yours and it is mine, and that's why we're here in this creative journey together.

So, go do your creative work.