Week #5: Road Week

Business BasicsCreative Process
Written By Shannon Borg

In Week Five, I walk the path that reveals itself as I go.

Color: Gold
Element: Earth

"There is no path, traveler. The path is made by walking"

- Antonio Machado, Border of a Dream: Selected Poems

Glacial Path, oil on canvas, by Carl Morris, 1990

Sometimes it feels like the path is misty, hard, invisible!

Left, or Right?

Knot, Anni Albers, 1947

Which path would you rather have?

Trick question! The easy path is rarely the one that helps you grow. (Gah!)

Here’s a look at some of my latest work and process for my upcoming MFA Thesis Show March 1st through 7th.

I’m now just taking one step after another to check off my lists of paintings I want to make for this show.

Road Week Inspiration:

  • Choose a thought to guide your week (this can change, and you can borrow mine!)

    • Mine for Road Week was: “The road rises up to meet me.”

  • Spend “Road Time” with yourself to just let yourself travel at your own speed: Pretend you are on an artist’s retreat in the studio, far from home.

  • Take a line for a walk (that’s what Paul Klee calls drawing: “taking a line on a walk.” Do some Automatic Writing, and Automatic Drawing of your project. Notice this worked for Week Zero - and Spark Week, Think Week, Flow Week, Grow Week and Road Week! (and ALL the weeks!).

  • AGAIN: Envision your project, this time imagine it as a landscape with a path you can travel through it. Imagine yourself walking through your show like you are in a big museum. How could you take your project to the next level to give it that “museum quality” feeling?

  • What would Wayne Thiebaud do? (WWWTD): Be inspired by smart historic art mentors. If you don’t know Thiebaud (TEE-bow), look up his San Francisco street paintings.

  • Take a coffee break and sit quietly, find calmness. Center and ground yourself, like a tree. We NEED that during ROAD Week, too!

 

Let’s Walk this Road Together!

I’m developing a new coaching program focusing on mindset & the creative process: Threshold based on Nature’s elemental forces & the color wheel to support & transform your creative process! Sign up to hear more about it:

Some Roads From My Travels

Make sure to watch your inbox for:

Threshold

  • Dive deep into your creative work
    through my
    8 Creative Elements Process

  • Set and get to an important creative goal
    (this could be painting, writing, blog, even marketing - remember, selling is storytelling.)

  • Get inspired by Nature & Art History

  • We’ll look at a lot of art,
    including images from the 40 galleries and museums I visited last year, all over Europe.

  • Bring New Energy to your Creative Process
    in a supportive, small group setting (no more than 8 people in each cohort)

Episode #5:
Walk the Path

Big 3 Ideas from this episode:

  • The Metaphor of the Path is a way for your brain to organize TIME.

  • Walk the Path: You can create your own metaphor for your goals and progress - let’s create one for you!

LISTEN NOW

Truth is the pathless land.

- J. Krishnamurti

Shannon Borg

Hi I’m Shannon Borg, and I am an artist and art & business coach. I help artists master their business and transform their mindset so they can confidently share their unique gifts with the world. I also paint abstract landscapes of the shorelines of the San Juan Islands of Washington State, where I live. Let’s connect on Instagram! Find me @shannonborg.

http://shannonborg.com
Next

Week #4: Grow Week