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Making it in 2022... literally

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As Christmas becomes a ghost of the past, the new year breathes down our necks with the guilt of resolution and the daunting blank page before us.

My resolution is to make it in 2022

I’m not talking about fulfilling my career goals, getting that pay rise or adorning the cover of TV quick magazine, No- I’m talking about making in the true sense.

Making things.

Beautiful things.

Provoking things.

Fun things.

Art.

Words.

Pictures.

Film.

Photography- whatever...

But this is my year for making

I wasn’t lazy last year.  I made 44 paintings, I wrote 4 plays, had two produced, released 4 pieces of music to the world, made 5 puppets, wrote two short films, dipped my toe into NFT’s and twiddled with various bits of bad poetry.

But I know I can make more.

I want to make more.

I hope you do too.

Coronavirus, lockdowns, Omnicron- disruption after disruption, distraction after distraction, more reason to procrastinate than ever.

As a creative community we can make 2022 the year it stops and fill the voids that have been created with things we’ve created.

We can make creative a verb again, a doing word and make with the making.

I don’t mean side hustles, or Etsy pages or business plans. I mean creating for creating sake.

The ability and the need to make things is a human gift and a heart lifting experience. Getting it out is much better for the world than keeping it in.

George Lois said “ The joy of the creative process, minute by minute, hour after hour, day by day, is the sublime path to happiness.” I mean, we could all do with some more happiness, right?

But you have to start. And you have to finish.

So start now. And finish tomorrow and do it all again the next day.

Let’s not wait for doors to open, let’s kick them open ourselves. Let’s rent that gallery space, use our phones to film- you only need to rub a pencil and paper together to start a creative fire.

Let’s work together, support each other, share each others work, spread it around like peanut butter on our hot inspirational toast.

I  know life can get in the way- work can get in the way if it’s asking for your creative powers.- but we can find the gaps and fill them.

How long do you spend on social media, or flicking through Netflix, or waiting for your Uber? Use what you have at your fingertips to create instead.

Write on the bus, draw on the train, dance in the street- fill the gaps in your life with creativity. It could be for a minute a day or it could be all day, make the making fit your life and then make that your life.

And creativity breeds creativity. The more you put out, the more you inspire and induce, leading to new things, new ideas, fresh thinking. You can be the inspiration that inspires you in turn and so it goes on.  We can make the world more beautiful, we can fill it with stars that light up a new sky.

We’ve had two years of waiting around, so why wait any longer?

Don’t let fear break the trampoline before you’ve had a jump- there is very little art that is disliked by everyone. In the same way there is very little art liked by everyone.

Just get it out into the world so you can make the next thing and the next- just enjoy the creation- enjoy the journey and don’t worry about the destination.

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate. While they re deciding, make even more art.” Andy Warhol.

The world needs beauty.

The world needs inspiration.

The world needs ideas.

And we need the fun.

So I’m going to make it in 2022.

And I hope you do too.

“Follow your heart, and your pleasure in art. Don’t do what you think is going to make you money, or what your parents want you to do, or what the beautiful girl or guy thinks you should be doing. Do what you love. It’s going to lead to where you want to go. Go out there and make the world more beautiful. I know you can.” - Wayne White.

Some useful tools to make the world more beautiful

Celtx

Brushes Redux

Amuse

Filmora

Theatre Space

Pencils

Header image by Tom Warne

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