Stumbling around getting lost

Not knowing what step to take next is a something artists of all levels face on a regular basis. It’s okay if you feel lost when making art or about what the ‘right’ direction to head in is. Getting lost allows for more possibilities than having a concrete plan. The author Jay Woodman encourages “Life is a repeated cycle of getting lost and then finding yourself again. There are many smaller cycles within that cycle where you get lost to a smaller degree and then remember yourself on purpose, consciously or unconsciously. Every time you get lost it is so that you can learn something or experience something from a different perspective.” Creative potential is increased by not knowing what comes next. When the answers are unknown, the search deepens which can lead to stumbling upon unexpected (and ultimately more creative) outcomes.

Getting lost allows you to go beyond what you know as Rebecca Solnit in A Field Guide to Getting Lost explains “That thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you is usually what you need to find, and finding it is a matter of getting lost. The word ‘lost’ comes from the old Norse ‘los’ meaning the disbanding of an army…I worry now that people never disband their armies, never go beyond what they know.”

The act of getting lost, to fully allow yourself to sit in the dark and not see what’s ahead of you takes courage and practice. Staring at a blank page, not knowing what to do next and allowing the uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty to sit with you is a brave act. But as Solnit suggests “… to be lost is to be fully present, and to be fully present is to be capable of being in uncertainty and mystery. And one does not get lost but loses oneself, with the implication that it is a conscious choice, a chosen surrender…” Surrender, go off the map, tear up the plans, get lost, switch off the lights, make art in the dark and let’s see what you stumble into.

“Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.” — Rebecca Solnit

Life is a repeated cycle of getting lost

“Life is a repeated cycle of getting lost and then finding yourself again. There are many smaller cycles within that cycle where you get lost to a smaller degree and then remember yourself on purpose, consciously or unconsciously. Every time you get lost it is so that you can learn something or experience something from a different perspective.” – Jay Woodman