When Planning Stifles Your Creative Flow

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Blog post written by Charlie Albright

When planning stifles your creative flow, especially in painting, then just ditch it. If planning is only stopping you from making progress on the task you want to focus on, then it's completely missing the point. Maybe you're just not ready to plan this task yet, maybe planning is just not that logical next step in your progress. Come back to it, if and when, it's appropriate.

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So somewhere along the way, I found myself wrapping up one art exhibition and signing myself up to do another one, in a space of a couple of months…

If you know how much work is involved in creating an art exhibition, you know that this was a gutsy endeavour. Though at the time, I naively didn’t see it as an exhibition, but rather a larger allocated space at an annual art show that I was planning on entering.

I’m not quite sure how I missed this ‘minor’ (major) detail, but I did.

When it finally did click that I would be having a mini-exhibition at the Glenside Annual Art Show, my mind just switched to exhibition mode. If you know me, you know that the ‘mini’ aspect of this went straight out the window. To me, this was an exhibition, and I needed to work the same way I do as I do when I’m in ‘exhibition mode’.

So the result is a 16 piece art collection, which I still have to figure out, a clever way to fit it all in the allocated space.

Did I not plan the space before I painted, I hear you ask. Yes, I did.

Did I not plan it in a million variations? Yes, I did.

Did I not plan the exact dimensions of the canvasses and where they would be positioned? Yes, I did.

Did I then scrap all those plans because they were stifling my creative flow in painting? OH YES, I DID.

Let me introduce to you the first artwork in the collection. It’s titled, ‘There’s Always A Path’. It measures 20” by 30” and has been painted using acrylic paint.

This is the first art piece in the Where There’s A Will, There’s A Way Collection. And you have no idea how much that is the most appropriate title for this collection…

On paper, the dates from when my last exhibition finished, to when the next one starts, may look like a couple of months, but in reality, it was only a few weeks before everything was finalised with the art show chairperson, about having an allocated space. And then life happened in between, and family life took the forefront. I’m not even going to tell you, how magical a timeframe this collection was developed in.

And I must say, I think I love every single piece in the collection, in different ways. Though I do realise, that the fact that it’s heavily saturated in colour, using phthalo blue, turquoise, and magenta, has a lot to do with it. And that makes me so happy.

So sit back and enjoy the stories in the upcoming blog posts, as I progressively introduce all the artwork in the collection.

Charlie x

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Charlie Albright

The world: ignites in me, a sense of curiosity. My mind does not settle until it can comprehend, until it understands. For the physical world, creation has always been my enduring method of choice. For the spiritual world, all-encompassing practices like yoga and meditation, a belief in a higher energy, and writing have always been the soothing and balancing tools I have returned to, to re-ground myself. This is my journey of self-expression. Through written words and different forms of art. To my soul, my inner essence.