Artists Need Time and Isolation to Create

James Taylor gives a wonderful lifetime of wisdom on Oprah's Master Class, You Tube.  He speaks of creating music not as the creator but says it comes to him through his subconscious and he is the first one to hear the song.

He shares that artists need to get used to being alone, isolation, time, is needed to create your work. If isolation is not your thing, get used to it, you are strong, you can do it, you need to, in order to make your art.

As a writer my entire life I started writing when I was in elementary school, this and drawing.  Neither of these skills were valued by my family, I was not encouraged to do either.  I was told I could not make a living doing this, the message was, "Don't try, it will never amount to anything."  Like so many other ideas, I was not encouraged to continue, and in time learned even though there was nothing I really could do well,  I could not stop writing or drawing.

Teachers in elementary years recognized my talent in both areas and I won classroom creative writing assignment but my parents were never impressed.  One teacher in second grade gave me the honor of doing a hallway school Easter bulletin board.  I can still see that bulletin board and how happy I was to be given free range to create it.  My parents knew about this bulletin board but did not go to school to see it.  Once again, no support or encouragement from home.

I spent a lot of time alone as a child of 7 y o growing up.  In those days kids were sent outside to play until dinner, no hanging around the house but I was not lonely. I was thinking and imagining wonderful things as I played outside and caught huge spiders, fireflies, and June bugs.  Much time spent in the present moment enjoying being alive, watching clouds turn into animals, stars light up a night sky, nature and time alone was time well spent. I was an artist but I did not know it.

In adulthood I learned to work to pay bills, buy my own food, put a roof over my own head.  And for years I did not paint or draw or writer until I got married.  My husband made my life much easier to live and have time to write and draw and paint. He encouraged it. He and my father-in-law loved my art, and my stories. My father-in-law bought me a word processor so I could write the books I dreamed of writing.  I always remember that about him.  He was not even my father and he encouraged me to write.

What I could not know as a young bride was the time it would take to be a part of another family that was constantly unhappy. There was drama every family gathering and after weeks that turned into years of this drama, we decided to leave the farm, to find our own peace of mind.  Leaving the farm was not easy, coming back was hard too.  

Learning to be alone with my husband even though we lived 5 miles from his family was what we had to do.  I found that nothing will squelch your creativity or independent nature more than having to continuously be in a family drama.  We needed time, space, and isolation from such anger to explore who we were and what we wanted out of life, so we separated from the family.  We loved them but the drama was suffocating and not conducive to anyone moving forward in their dreams.

As the babies began to be here and we both fell in love with raising the children and focusing on making our family sweet and supportive we found time for any creative process for me was darn near impossible.  Keeping a household going and playing and feeding children was all consuming and I loved it. With our children I had a chance to make their childhood wonderful and we were going to do it.  I found time here and there to write and create art.

Now the children are grown and live far away.  I once again find time on my side.  I can write, I can create art, I can be silent, I can let words come up from subconscious and hear them for the first time on paper in a blog I call, "The Quail Writer."