The Thriving Christian Artist
The Thriving Christian Artist
Unleashing Creativity Through Play
Ever felt guilty for "just playing around" in your studio when there are commissions to complete and deadlines to meet? What if those moments of joyful experimentation are actually essential to your artistic growth and spiritual journey?
Drawing from my own artistic evolution, I share how seemingly random creative play—from fiddling with natural materials found while gardening to trying encaustic wax techniques—has repeatedly transformed my work in unexpected ways. These weren't calculated business moves but simply responses to curiosity that the Holy Spirit used to breathe new dimensions into my practice. The materials and techniques I stumbled upon during "unproductive" studio time eventually became defining elements of my artistic voice.
There's profound spiritual significance in creative experimentation. When Jesus said we must "come as little children" to enter the kingdom, he highlighted the very qualities that make creative play so powerful: wonder, openness, and joy unconcerned with productivity metrics. God isn't disappointed when we take time to experiment without clear objectives—these might be the very moments He uses to draw us deeper into communion with Him through creativity. As Isaiah 43:19 reminds us, God is always "doing a new thing," inviting us to perceive and participate in fresh expressions of His creative nature.
Ready to reconnect with the pure joy of creating? I challenge you to dedicate just 30 minutes this week to creative play without pressure or expectation. Turn on inspiring music, follow your curiosity, and see where the Spirit leads. Then share your experiments on social media and tag me—your courage might inspire fellow artists to embrace their own joyful experimentation. What breakthrough might be waiting for you in these seemingly "unproductive" moments of creative freedom?
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So what if your next breakthrough didn't come from things like hustle and strategy and planning, but actually from things like curiosity and play, from that whisper inside of you that just says what if you just try this? Or I really want to try that. Listen, today we're talking about something I love to call joyful experimentation in your creative practice. We're going to talk about why it matters to God, how God uses it and how it just might awaken something deeper inside of you than you ever expected. Today here on the Thriving Christian Artist podcast. Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the podcast where we hope you connect with God, to bust through the roadblocks that have held you back for years, create the work you love and really live the life you know. God created you to live as an artist in his kingdom. I'm Matt Tommey, your host. Let's get started. Well, hey, my friends, so glad that you're back with me here on the podcast. I want to lean into this whole thing of joyful experimentation today because I think it's a lot more important than we realize. In fact, as I look back at my own journey, and even today in my journey as an artist, it's something that unknowingly sort of has deeply shaped who I am as an artist, not only personally but also creatively, and it's something that continues to breathe a lot of life and a lot of joy into my own studio practice every day as I come in. It really is about you know, cultivating the space, if you will, to play in your creative life and in your creative practice without pressure or without expectation, just allowing yourself to kind of move spontaneously in the studio. And I think for a lot of us that can be something that is a little unnatural, especially if you're in a season of making work to sell. I know for a lot of us that are in this place and I have been for a lot of years of making work to sell, making it for galleries, making it for shows and commissions, the idea of kind of just playing in the studio, you know, can feel a little bit irresponsible, like what are you doing? You got so much to do, but you know, like who has the time right To to just be messing around with new materials and when there's important things like shows and commissions and deadlines and exhibitions and all that stuff to to be focused on? But but here's the deal, and this has come, I think, after a lot of years in my life of doing it wrong and focusing on the wrong things, play is. And this joyful experimentation, if you will, it's not frivolous, it's actually one of the most fruitful and spiritual and informative things that we can do inside of our creative process, if we'll let ourself really engage in this.
Speaker 1:I love in Isaiah 43, 19,. It says, hey, behold, I'm doing a new thing. Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? And I really believe that joyful experimentation and this play and this sort of just going with the flow in your studio from time to time, this is one of the ways that we get to participate in the new things that God's doing, because how many of you know, god is always doing new things, right, I love it. He's the same yesterday, today, and you know, yesterday, today and forever. The Bible says and also, his mercies are new every morning. Right, he's always doing a new thing. And so there's this sort of tension with which we can lean on the steadfast nature of God and also realize that in him, as we're being led by the spirit, we're tuning our hearts right to the new things that he wants to release in us and through us, things that he might be wanting to awaken in us to take us to the next place in our spiritual journey. You know, I can look back at my own life, not only as a person and I could talk about that forever but really to hone in on it as an artist today.
Speaker 1:For a lot of years I've been very disciplined in my life. I don't know if it was because I was just wired that way or whatever, but I've always kind of had the ability to focus on something. When I started my baskets as a hobby so many years ago, I never really felt a lot of desire to experiment with other things. I'd kind of experiment within my own materials. But as I got a lot of mastery with that and really, you know, kind of developed my voice as an artist, I really did start feeling a little bit of boredom and your boredom can be good. I kind of felt like is this, it? Is this all there is? And I noticed that as I would look at other artists and I would look at other mediums and I'd look at other processes and that sort of thing, I would feel this sort of nudge inside to kind of well, why don't you try that? Well, why don't you? You look for that. And it wasn't necessarily from a hey, try this in order to sell it or try this in order to prove that you can really do it. I just enjoyed it, I just thought it was cool.
Speaker 1:And so over the years, throughout my practice, you know, I've I started using things like, uh, paper clay and in caustic wax and cold wax and scrap metal and barks and branches and all this kind of stuff. And listen, every bit of that started as me kind of fiddling around with something in the studio, with no pressure or no rules, just kind of grabbing something or seeing something on Pinterest or on Instagram or in the work of another artist and just saying I think that's neat, I want to try that At the time. You know, when you start doing that and you allow yourself, without pressure, to sort of lean into that kind of stuff, you don't really ever know where it's going. But for me, the thing that happened is that these simple sort of spontaneous moments, these times of just playing without expectation, god began to really use that to not only keep me energized in what I was doing creatively, but also begin to add whole new layers of expression to my work, and so something that was, you know, just a play thing, all of a sudden became this really tactile and organic and raw and dimensional, if you will, expressions of what the Holy Spirit wanted to do in and through me. It's kind of like the Holy Spirit was using these times of play and spontaneity to breathe the new thing that he wanted to do in and through me, in and through me, and give those to me as gifts.
Speaker 1:Now, as I look back at my journey you know I didn't ever start out with those things, as I'm going to start this as a new way to sell work but as I look back, these little sort of you know, as Bob Ross said happy accidents, these little fun experiments have really pushed themselves, if you will, and made a way for themselves in my creative voice, in my artistic voice, and now they've kind of become a staple of what makes my voice really my voice. Again. I didn't set out to plan it, but it started with me and this is what I want to get over to you today. It started with me saying yes to that joy, yes to that curiosity, yes to that sort of experimentation without expectation and just allowing myself to be curious and explore in the studio, because when we listen, when we do that it always awakens this deeper connection to our creative voice, and sometimes one that maybe you've even forgotten that was there.
Speaker 1:It's even when we're doing things that are not on purpose right that these sort of spontaneous expressions come forth in our life and they become this sort of maturing force, if you will. Even today, I mean, I can be out gardening and I can see daylily foliage or things in nature, and there is nothing better for me than to honestly just sit down in the yard and start fiddling around with stuff. And again, some people might say, well, gosh, that's kind of a waste of time. Gosh, no, it's not. It is choosing. It is choosing to allow that thing which is waking you up creatively to have a space to reconnect with the pure joy, unplanned, spontaneous joy, of just fiddling around with your hands, of just sketching in your notebook, of just playing with materials.
Speaker 1:Listen, that is important. See, you got to realize God is not a God of just production. Of course God wants to produce things through our life, but I think God is not afraid of the times that we just want to experiment and play. In fact, I think that's core to the kingdom of God. Jesus said right you can't enter the kingdom unless you be born again and come as a little child, unless you be born again and come as a little child. And sometimes I think play and experimentation is this sort of rebirth for us, right, where we're reborn to our creative process. We're reborn to art within us, we're reintroduced to creativity outside of production and for me that is so, so, so important. And God is not listen, that'd make him nervous, that'd make him disappointed that you're not doing things for him and being effective. No, this is again an invitation from the spirit, I think, to reconnect, to lay down our agendas, to lay down our plans as important and wonderful as those things are and just to create with Him, just to play with Him in these kind of moments of unhindered joy and play.
Speaker 1:So I just want to encourage you, as you're listening to this right now. What does joyful experimentation look like for you, right? Because you know again, for me that may be playing around with new materials. It may be. You know again for me that may be playing around with new materials. That may be, you know, watching a video, it may be just sitting down in the yard and fiddling around with, with natural materials. Maybe it's a new medium for you that you've never touched, or or layering or combining materials that you've never done before, or maybe it's uh, I don't know cleaning or rearranging your studio or just setting aside some time to sketch this week. Whatever that is, I want to encourage you to give yourself permission to explore this week.
Speaker 1:So here's a challenge. Right, choose one thing this week to try in your studio, not for any purpose, not for selling it, not for a new project, not an idea for a commission, just for the sake of curiosity, and play. No expectations, no goals, no, anything, just to play right. And some of you I know some of you love a checklist, love instructions. So here's the deal Take 30 minutes, all right, 30 minutes.
Speaker 1:When you come into the studio, turn on some music, get with the Lord, just allow yourself to kind of go with the flow and then, at the end of it, just look at what you did and say what did I enjoy about that? What surprised me? What am I sensing from the Lord as I did this? And if you don't sense anything again, as long as you're feeling joyful in the process, I just want to encourage you. That is a God moment, a moment of joy, a moment of creativity that God can use and use to draw you into your voice, into your process and into a deeper walk with him, if you'll just give yourself the space and the time to do that on a regular basis.
Speaker 1:Jesus, I pray right now that through your Holy Spirit, god, you would birth a desire for experimentation and freedom inside of us. That, lord, as we walk in the studio this week and do the beautiful thing that you've given us the opportunity to do, which is create in the studio with you, god, I pray that the whimsy of your spirit, the life-giving nature of your spirit, would draw us into beautiful places of play and experimentation this week, so that we can receive the invitation that you have for us to go deeper and to go further in all that you have for us, creatively. We thank you for that, god, in Jesus name. Amen. Now listen, my friend. I hope that this is waking something up inside of you today, and here's what I want you to do.
Speaker 1:When you do that, do me a favor, tag me on social media, on Instagram, on Facebook, you can tag me at Matt Tommy or at the Thriving Christian Artist and just post maybe a video or maybe a picture of what you did this week to kind of re-engage in that place of creative experimentation, of joyful experimentation. Listen, it's not only going to inspire you when you post about it, it's going to inspire others to do the same. All right, hey, listen, make sure that you're subscribed so that you don't miss any episodes here on the Thriving Christian Artist podcast. Make sure that you're sharing this podcast with a friend so that other artists around the world can understand and know what's going on here on the podcast. And remember, we're on the way to 2 million downloads this year and the only way we're going to get there is through you sharing and you continuing to listen and being subscribed so that you don't miss an episode every week.
Speaker 1:All right, hey, I love you, my friend, thanks for joining me, thanks for being faithful to your calling as an artist. Remember, until next time. You were created to thrive. Bye, hey, my friend. Before you go, make sure that you're signed up for the Thriving Christian Artist Weekly. It's my free newsletter, full of spiritual encouragement, creative inspiration and practical tips to help you thrive in everything that God's called you to do as an artist in his kingdom. Every issue is absolutely free free and it includes the latest podcast episode featured artist spotlights, a worship song of the week and again, tons of tips and encouragement and inspiration for you to keep you inspired and encouraged in everything that God's got for you as an artist in the kingdom. You can click the link right here in the show notes to join us, and it's a great way to stay connected. All right, love you, bye.