Why Your Art Adventure is Like Foreign Travel
I love travel and adventure. You too? Got any fun trips planned for this summer?
I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to amazing places like Africa, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. This year I had powerful travel experiences here in the U.S.—Utah, Arizona, and Nevada inspired me in so many ways! Each place I’ve ever visited has left me changed and inspired.
My art journey has been filled with as many thrills and spills as my travel adventures, and I see a lot of similarities between these two activities.
You Need to Say Goodbye and Let Things Go
Is there anything as horrible as starting on a trip? Once you're off, that's all right, but the last moments are earthquake and convulsion, and the feeling that you are a snail being pulled off your rock.—Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Don’t call me the day before I leave on a big trip—I’m a wreck at that time! So many decisions to make, like what to bring and what to leave home. I find it hard to leave behind some of the things that are part of my daily routine. It feels like I can’t live without them!
Not only that, but I must leave my pets behind, as well as the friends and relatives whom I see on a daily basis.
When we travel, we need to only bring essential items and we say goodbye to our routines. While this feels scary as we prepare for the trip, it’s remarkable how we find we get by just fine with what we brought! It’s a good way to learn which belongings are truly essential and valued.
During our art journey, we may find that we’ve “overpacked.” Our studios are bursting with supplies that we’ll never use. It’s helpful to offload art supplies that no longer fit our art practice. In fact, we’ll find that we get more use and appreciation for what stays.
We also need to say goodbye to thoughts and perhaps even negative people in order to enjoy this art adventure unencumbered.
Be Open to New and Unfamiliar Things
One major reason that travel is so stimulating is that it exposes you to people, customs, ideas, sights, smells, and tastes that are new. I love traveling to places that are drastically different from my hometown—I return with my creativity on fire!
It takes the right attitude when you’re in a foreign land and you’re confronted with the unfamiliar. Keeping an open mind and a loving spirit will allow you to drink it all in and have a great experience.
In your art journey too you need to leave the familiar from time to time. This can include looking at new art, trying new mediums or methods, and exploring new color palettes. It’s true that these efforts may be uncomfortable at first, but in the end your art practice will be enriched for it.
You Will Get Lost and Homesick
If you go on an adventure to a foreign country, you can easily get lost, especially if you don’t know the language. Sometimes these escapades are the most interesting part, even if they’re also stressful! You may receive help from a kind local, or perhaps make a discovery that you’d never see in your guidebook. When you go from lost to found, you often feel a rush of pride and confidence for having gotten yourself back on track.
You may miss home a bit, even if you’re having a great trip. I always miss my pets, my pillow, and my breakfast cereal. What about you—what do you miss? When we get home, we are thrilled to be reunited with the things and people we missed, and we appreciate them more than ever.
When you’re on an epic art adventure, you’ll get lost from time to time as well. What kind of lost? You may get “mugged” by imposter syndrome or envy will “pick your pocket.” You will face rejection and confusion. You’ll create art that you’re not pleased with.
Does this sound dismal to you? It’s just the normal downside to the adventure of a lifetime! The only way to avoid these unpleasantries is to not embark on the art journey, and then you’d miss out on the amazing sights and growth.
When you’re enduring these negative aspects of the artist’s life and missing the comfort and safety you’ve left behind, take a moment to review the highlights of the journey so far. Celebrate your progress and know that no adventure is without some discomfort. Write “The discomfort is worth the view” on a slip of paper and post it in your studio to remind you of this when negativity comes calling.
Both Travel and Art Lead to Growth
I feel like a new person after traveling—and the more exotic the travel, the more radically I find myself changed.
Likewise, I look back at my art journey so far and find that the times that I stretched and challenged myself into new directions were the times when I grew the most. Art has made me a different person, and I’m continuing to evolve through my process.
What adventures in art and travel are calling to you? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
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