232 - 5-Minute Mentoring: Unleashing Your Imagination

Have you ever wanted to unleash yourself artistically and create free from the confines of always using reference materials when you embark upon an artistic adventure? Are you looking for a key to unlock and tap into a limitless supply of imagination that informs and inspires your creative process?  

Well, in this episode of 5-Minute Mentoring and my blog, we’ll explore the nature of creativity in the Kingdom of God and the role that divine imagination plays in the artistic process.  

Connect with Matt online at www.MattTommeyMentoring.com or on Instagram and Facebook @thethrivingchristianartist

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

You know, a lot of artists want to break free of feeling like they have to use reference material all the time to create and just create from their imagination. Have you ever wanted to do that? Well, we're going to talk about some details and some strategies of how to begin that process here today on 5-Minute Mentoring.

UNKNOWN: 0:16

Music

SPEAKER_01: 0:17

Have you ever wanted to have someone in your life who you could ask real questions about your art, your business, and even your walk with the Lord? Well, that's exactly what we do every Friday here on 5-Minute Mentoring, where I answer one question from one of my awesome podcast listeners in order to help you start really thriving as the artist you know God created you to be. Well, hey, my friends, so glad that you're with me here today on 5-Minute Mentoring. You know, a lot of times when you're creating, sometimes you use reference materials. I've done that before. Sometimes, you know, a photograph, sometimes another piece of work, sometimes just a general inspiration. But sometimes you want to just create from your own imagination, just right out of the depths of your heart. My friend Nigel had that question. He's been painting for a long time and using reference photos all over Europe. And I had a question about that. Here's the way he asked it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:09

Hi, Matt. I have based most of my paintings in the past on photographs I have taken around my home and around Europe in my travels. I would like to be able to release myself from using photographs and to create paintings based on my own imagination. And I find this very difficult. Please, can you advise about how to do this?

SPEAKER_01: 1:34

Well, hey, Nigel, thanks a lot for your question. And guys, remember, if you've got a question for me here on 5-Minute Mentoring, all you got to do is go to matttommymentoring.com forward slash podcast and leave me a voicemail. And we're always glad to listen to those and choose questions that we think will be really interesting for all of our listeners. So maybe yours will be the next one that we feature right here on 5-Minute Mentoring, right? Well, Nigel, again, thanks for the question. It's one that I think that every artist struggles with, kind of wanting to break free from just using reference materials and that sort of thing. and being able to create from what I call your creative well or your inner creative well, where all of that's just coming up and the Holy Spirit's moving inside your heart. How do you get to the place where you can actually do that? Well, one thing I would say is just kind of let's back up for a second and look at how the imagination actually functions, all right? I believe that your imagination is a beautiful engine that we've been given by God that is full of emotion, full of our abilities to see, feel, hear, sense. So it's this wonderful place, this kind of alternate reality, if you will, that we can enter into under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, where we can see, hear, feel, touch, sense, imagine other things that are not just the tangible. It's part of how we as kingdom people get to see those things that are not as though they were and agree with those things that the Holy Spirit shows us. And then through our creative process, And this works for anybody, you know, through whatever it is God's called you to do. But for us, specifically as artists, we get to agree with those things that we see, hear, sense, feel in the Spirit and then co-labor with the Holy Spirit to bring those into reality. The thing is, is that that doesn't just happen, you know, as an automatic response or whatever. Just like, Nigel, you've been going out and taking photographs and you've been getting reference materials specifically and intentionally all these years, you're going to have to start to use your imagination and cultivate your imagination intentionally as well. Now, the first thing I would say is kind of the basis of what I believe about our creative well begins with the fact that we create from not a vacuum, but we create from a place not only of Holy Spirit inspiration, but also the fruit of all the things that we've put into our heart and our mind over our So as an artist, all of those inspirations, all the music you listen to, the movies, the poems that you've written or books that you've read and beautiful things that you've been a part of, experiences, all that goes into your creative well. And so part of beginning to create from that place, I believe, is asking Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, would you blow over? Would you awaken inspiration that's in my heart from years past, from things that I don't even realize? Would you begin to ask Holy Spirit? activate those things in me so that I can begin to pull on those in my creative process under your inspiration. Now, the other thing is that I'm a big, big believer in visualization because I believe visualizing in our imagination is a beautiful way that we can activate faith in our heart, that we can come into agreement with who God says we are, what we can do, what we can have. It's part of how we see, again, those things that are not as though they were, and we can be a part of this co-creation of our reality and of artwork with the Lord. And so, Nigel, I would say, you know, part of that intentionality is you taking time to go on a walk with in your imagination. Just like you've been going on a walk and taking pictures of places over all these years, go on a walk in your imagination. What does that mean, man? Well, maybe you just take some time in a comfy chair, you lay back, you close your eyes. I usually put on some instrumental music that's kind of really chill. And I just begin to imagine, just say, Holy Spirit, take me on a journey, all right? Or maybe there's an inspiration that I've just been thinking about, and I'll begin to think about that. Maybe there's an old cathedral or an old landscape that you saw years ago that's beginning to bubble up in your heart. But just close your eyes. Invite Holy Spirit into that place. And then in your mind's eye, okay, in your imagination, begin to just see and sense and feel what that's about. What are the colors that you see? What are the, what's the atmosphere like? What are the, what's the landscape like? You know, what does the composition of this image or this journey begin to look like? And, you know, usually what I'll do as I'm imagining is I'll let myself go through a process, maybe five or 10 minutes until I kind of feel a release and then I'll open my eyes and I've got my sketchbook right there and I'll just sketch and I'll just write down maybe a word, a phrase, whatever it is. I'll write down some line. I'll begin to sketch some things that I feel are representative of what I was just seeing or sensing or feeling. And then from there, maybe you go back into that again and say, wow, okay, I want to revisit that a little more. I want to go back to that place where I was and you begin to see a little more detail and then you come back and sketch and and so you're you're beginning to capture through imagination this beautiful uh thing that has never been before all right you're you're creating that in your imagination and you're allowing all the things that you have seen heard felt experienced sensed over your life to inform that now Once you get into, all right, I've got an inspiration or I've got a set of inspirations. Now, I think using a reference photo or maybe something tangible from the past or a photograph or whatever as a detail reference. Yeah, that's awesome. Go for it. Or maybe you just use that same process and you go back and as you're taking a walk and maybe again, let's just use that old cathedral, for example. Maybe you're walking up. to that old cathedral wall and you're looking at the detail and you're you're just doing again you're just doing this in your imagination you're just daydreaming all right you're just being a part of this process and you're sketching and taking notes the whole time and allowing that process to unfold i think the thing is let this be fun don't let this be something that you're under pressure maybe you get the the outline or the the big idea with visualizing and then you go back to references for the details or whatever but over time, you're going to get more used to doing this. Same thing is true with any kind of art, whether it's jewelry or ceramics or painting or illustrating or weaving or whatever. God can show us and awaken things for us in our imagination that we may have never, ever seen before. I can remember specifically a basket that I wanted to create. I had never made this specific kind of basket before, and there was a way that I needed to connect the inside to the outside. And I had never done that before. And I promise you, I went to sleep that night and I said, Lord, would you show me how to do that? And I had a dream that night. Now, this doesn't happen every time, but this is like one of those times. It was like, wow, okay, this is awesome. But I had a dream. And in the dream, I saw exactly how to do it. I came back the next day. I executed on the dream. When I woke up, I made a couple of notes and it worked. And I'm like, wow, why not? Why not, if you can ask Holy Spirit for leadership in your spiritual life, why can't you ask him for leadership in your art life? That's the normal way that the kingdom works. And so, Nigel, it's a great question. I hope that you'll try that. I hope everybody will try that and start going on some journeys in your imagination, led by the Holy Spirit, informed by all the things that have inspired you in your life so that you can create really, really unique work that not only shows forth his glory, but just comes right out of your heart and right out of your imagination. All right. Well, hey, my friend, again, thanks for being with me here on 5-Minute Mentoring. I look forward to seeing you next time. Remember, please subscribe, like, comment right here. It always lets us know that you're out there, that these are an encouragement to you. And remember, until next time, you were created to thrive. All right, bye.