Yes! Exploration is definitely at the heart of creativity. Variety keeps us interested, engaged and excited. But I do recognise where I have avoided art activities that are hard that my heart knows I must stick with for the overall good of my art. Thankyou.

WOW!! JUST what I needed to hear! And shared so WELL. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to share your inspiration with us. You have motivated me to PUSH though, instead of putting a piece in a pile because I feel stuck and uncomfortable. I WANT layers in my art, but the struggle is REAL. I love watching and learning with every Video you bless us with. THANKS MARABETH:)

Wow! Going deeper and overcoming something is what happens internally for me. It’s the ‘oh no what have i made’ comes up. This was a great question

The notion that exploration is actually avoidance is interesting and rings a bit true for me. But, the fact that everything we explore becomes part of the next thing we do rings true even more loudly.

That's been me! Ive had various abstract categories that I have always moved around. I think I just get bored and want to try something new. And yes, I too questioned it as I was always hearing that you need to have a cohesive body of work. In addition to my abstracts, I have floral abstracts and have also done figurative. Currently I'm working on florals, but I've taken an interest in still life and plain aire landscape. I want to explore these as well!! 🤦‍♀ Oh and I just finished a small floral abstract using tissue paper that I painted using my left overs. I titled it "paper flowers' And that idea came from your videos!! it was so much fun!

100% agree Marabeth, lets stop listening to the limiting voice. The world of Art is for exploring. Enjoy it All. 🎨👍💖

I love how you approached this question and distinguished between exploration and escape/ avoidance of discomfort. As a kid, I used to explore many different ideas/ skills and when I feel that I learnt it, I go for another. I guess there was a kind of boredom that pushed me to move from one thing to another. Still the same today. I got really passionate about new ideas and suddenly I lose this passion. I’m afraid I’m not going anywhere in my art work.

Thank you!! I am one of those artists who is attracted to a wide variety of subjects and styles and has not ‘settled’, which I have sometimes felt badly about. I found your advice super helpful and especially liked the suggestion to pay attention to distinguishing between the 2 voices - the one that’s scared to push through in a given style/subject to truly learn what I can from it as opposed to the soul voice giving me a creative prompt.

I love this. This is my problem…if it is a problem….i love it all. I thought I had Attention Deficit Disorder but I seriously just love EVERYTHING. Macrame, straight acrylic abstract painting, collage, gel plate (probably my favourite), writing, up cycling vases, watercolours, creating Kleenex covers that are beautiful that I bought at goodwill. I can always find something that sparks my interest. My head feels like it’s going to explode.

We also always hear "it's all about the process." So, in my mind, the exploring IS a process? We need to listen to ourselves because our art is from our souls. Thanks for the guidance!

Exploration is my most used word relating to all my 🎨processes. Great conversation ✨

Excellent video Marabeth, this really resonates with me. Thank you for giving me food for thought in this.

Great video! With many photographic techniques & changing interests I find it hard to "define" myself as an artist & what I do.

This was very good. I definitely like to explore and play with a variety of mediums and art forms. I could never be happy with only making art to sell or to please others. I must allow the art to be aform of self expression first and foremost. Sometimes, I get inspired in multiple directions and feel scattered or get distracted. Other times I can see a clear pattern of avoidance if the art requires a skill level I hadn't achieved yet, and the process is painstakingly slow or laborious. Afterawhile I move on to something else, but with the plan to come back. It could be 5 years later even. I know I do better when I take the pressure off the table and make art for fun or stress relief versus try to make something look a certain way, especially realistic. I'm not 100 % sure I found my artistic voice yet despite creating my whole entire life and being in my mid 50's- or maybe it's just that my voice keeps changing as I try new things. I sometimes wonder if I should just embrace the abstract intuitive art making that I do best and stop trying to do things like realistic portraits, but I want to be able to master those skills, too. I'm not terrible at drawing animals or humans, etc, but it's a bit if a struggle. I do like landscapes. Like you, I love texture and layers. Your painting turned out lovely, and is very inspiring!

What’s funny about this idea that you have to do just one style is that I thought the beauty of art is that there are no rules. I’m afraid if I choose one thing that I might miss out on something amazing I might create. I’m still waiting but I guess you could also look at it as a jack of all trades and a master of none kinda thing. I will say sometimes I feel like I’m on sensory overload with all of these ideas and I wonder if I forced myself to choose one thing maybe I’d be able to focus better. But so far I haven’t been able to do that. So it might just be that if I did do that I’d loose all my drive to create. I think maybe if I thought one thing that I created was that much stronger than the rest I could get on board. Idk I like the idea of the artist that has collections of different stuff. It makes this seem more ok 😂