Art Angel by Kirsten Harris, Acrylic on Panel
The Child – plays with paint, having fun exploring a messy, creative world.
The Creative – essential for the world right now. However the creative is often threatened by less appealing archetypes trying to take control…
The Prostitute – we all have a prostitute archetype but don’t let the prostitute be in charge of what you do. Don’t paint to sell. Paint to paint.
The Critic – the critic questions ‘what will people think?’ The critic is a pain in the what’s it! Don’t fall for the critic. Dump the critic by knowing no-one cares less if you paint or not! This knowledge is freeing because if no-one cares you can paint what you want, how you want. So remember absolutely no-one gives a flying fig, only you!
The Controller – the controller doesn’t want you to be a big messy kid freely having fun as it threatens control. If you’re not in love with painting and feeling freedom doing it, do something else, for the controller has taken over.
The Fuss Pot – the fuss pot gets uptight and hung up over one truly masterful passage of painting and then robs you of hours, days or even weeks of your life trying to fix everything in the paintings around the masterful bit, whilst having totally lost awareness of the whole. Cuss the fuss pot by pouring paint over everything. Don’t waste any more time. Paintings and life work best as a whole!
The People Pleaser – people pleasers generally make dull paintings. The people pleaser is not painting to turn themselves on, rather trying to turn someone else on, which is usually horrific and a bit embarrassing in any context! People pleasing is knocked on the head with courage. If your painting turns you on it will probably turn someone else on too. But who cares if it doesn’t. They don’t. That’s the trick to being creative. Don’t care! Do it because you love doing it, because you mean it, because it’s alive for you. That’s it. One life. If someone else loves it too, well that’s the best feeling in the world!
The Princess – unless your art is actually made from a skull encrusted with diamonds being princess precious will keep you and your art in a very small, safe ivory tower. Rapunzel, let down your hair and escape the blasted prison!
The Egoist – as you know absolutely no-one cares if you paint or not, even if you are the world’s greatest unrecognised talent about to burst forth onto the art scene creating a massive stir causing your art to sell for millions in Hong Kong… the egoist has no choice but to eff off! The egoist loves to compare and finds you lacking. Don’t compare!
The Psychic – be on speaking terms with the world’s greatest artists! Coffee, Picasso? Egon, let’s draw! Rembrandt, may I ask some advice? The past is there to help you! Tune in for help!
The Intuitive – quietly guides you as to what to do next with your painting. However the babble from the critic, the egoist, the fuss pot etc , who can be a very noisome bunch, can make it hard to hear the angelic whisper. Walk away from unhelpful archetypes. An actual walk to find the next step for your painting helps.
The Destroyer – destroys art that is potentially saleable. If you notice you are not turned on by your painting, take the path of destruction. The destoyer is the shadow side of the creative. Understand the destroyer to activate the creative. You will no longer be bored – princess precious will have gone looking for other friends to play less messy games with, whilst the egoist, controller and fuss pot have been sacked. Result! Sometimes we need to call on the destroyer to clear the path to allow space for the happy, creative child to be free to play again, saving us all from ourselves!
Happy Creating, whatever it is you do. xx