Only YOU Can Unlock Your Prison Doors

I literally flipped the pages in one of my favorite quote books, and these words from Henri Matisse caught my eye:

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation , prisoner of success, etc.

– Henri Matisse 1954

As I played with these words in black and white ink, I had time to think about in which of these areas – myself, style, reputation, success – I made myself a prisoner. As I thought honestly, I realized at one time or another I was a prisoner to them all. Some for longer periods of times than others. And worst of all, there have been times when I was chained and constrained by every one of these at the same time. The sad part was I did not realize I was constraining my life by thinking I had to be X, Y, or Z…or all three!

I can see how creatives get stuck in a specific style and find it hard to venture outside their comfort zones, skill levels, the expected outcomes. I also know that some of my best work has come from a place when I left my perfection and expectations aside. When someone or something pushed me rather hard to create outside of the known tools, beyond my understandings and WAY beyond what I expected to be the result. Those workshops, cross roads, or shall I call them creative adventures lovingly forced me towards a new way of working. And I have greatly enjoyed spending time with people who do different things from me AND encourage me to try their ‘stuff’ and see how I might want to use it.

Next weekend I am teaching a beginner calligraphy class at the John C. Campbell School…and can’t wait! Want to challenge yourself, teach other people who know nothing. They ask questions like, “Why do you do it that way?” And that will really make you think! Novices remind us of ourselves and why we got hooked on what it is we love doing…or how we lost our way into a lack of joy and inventiveness. Beginners test your style, your reputation and they force you to remember when you were not very good AND how much you have had to learn to get where you are today. They force you to open your prison bars and walk freely through the adventure that is learning.

So what is holding you back? What is preventing you from doing that thing you have always want to try, say, do AND you have not done because you didn’t want to fail? Sometimes our failures are the road signs we look back on to see how we progressed. There is very little growth without failure, mistakes, humility, and even ugliness. All too often we coast through our days never realizing that we didn’t make any choices to move our life or creativity forward…we just got through another day. And Whew! we are glad we did, or did we? When Tuesday becomes Sunday without a thought or idea that challenges us, February can become September and the year is gone without anything challenging us to get better.

Today choose to do something – read, write, create, step away from – something that will force you to leave the prison you have lived in all day. Take a different way home, listen to a different radio station, turn off the tv or internet, or pick up that book your neighbor suggested that you haven’t started. Maybe try a new creative tool or pick up a magazine about something you know nothing about. DO SOMETHING new, exciting, challenging…even if you fail. All too often we have bound ourselves into a pattern or prison of our own making. Only you can unlock your prison doors.