Creative Business, Creative Clarity Series
Published on May 26, 2025

The Creative Journey, Part 6: Experimentation and the Messy Middle

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2847 words // 15min read time

Hello, lovely crafter! Today, I’m releasing Part 6 of 12 of the Creative Journey Series. Halfway! I am so proud of this series, as it’s a deep dive into the life cycle of the creative art experience. I hope you will read the tips and insights, and decide where you are in the journey, gleaning any help that you can to guide you through to the next step. Head to the main page if you’re just jumping in and you want to start from the top. Enjoy!

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[Crochet Pattern Shown: The Geometric Lace Blanket]

3 Phases: Intro and Quick Links

The Creative Journey Series has an over-arching theme of 3 phases, each one with 4 parts, making the whole 12-part series. Here’s a quick overview again of the 3 phases, just so you know where you are in the journey. I’ll be adding this intro reminder at the top of each part through the series and hyperlinking Parts 1-12 as I go.

Phase 1, Imitation and Inspiration: Steps 1-4 are a deeper dive into Phase 1 of the Creative Journey. You can read more in my series post Creative Clarity, Episode 2: Phase 1 of the Artist’s Journey and a Deep Dive into the Realm of Copying

Phase 2, Innovation and Identity: Steps 5-8 break down Phase 2 of the journey, which is the topic of Creative Clarity, Episode 3: Phase 2 of the Artist’s Journey and How to Beat Creative Burnout

  • Part 5: What Style Really Means
  • Part 6: Experimentation and the Messy Middle (You are here!)
  • Part 7: Surviving the Burnout Phases
  • Part 8: The Power of Finding Your Unique Voice

Phase 3, Integration and Ascension: Steps 9-12 will be a dive into Phase 3 of the journey, but this episode of Creative Clarity has not yet been released. I will be sure to release that episode before we begin Step 9.

  • Part 9: Sustaining Your Style
  • Part 10: Cross-Pollinate through Fusion and Play
  • Part 11: Staying True Despite Style Challenges
  • Part 12: Artistic Evolution – Never Stop Growing

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Part 6: Experimentation and the Messy Middle

Let me guess.. You’ve moved past imitation and started to cultivate your voice, and now everything feels like it’s falling apart.

This is the part of the journey we don’t romanticize. It’s not tidy. It’s not charming. It’s the messy middle, which is a creative zone full of contradiction: burnout and excitement, clarity and confusion, joy and doubt, often all in the same day.

In this post, we talk about why the mess matters and how embracing the mess is one of the most powerful things you can do as an artist.

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The Mess is the Work

When your ideas are murky and your projects are half-finished, it can feel like something is going wrong. But this discomfort is just proof that you’ve moved beyond imitation and into experimentation. Uncertainty is not failure. It’s the signature of growth.

Discovering your style through creating tons and tons of works may seem easy, because you’re just doing more of what you love, however, it certainly comes with a set of challenges. Artists can sometimes struggle with staying motivated, fear of failure or fear of success, and work/life balance. I’ll talk about all of those challenges in this post.

This is where you stop performing and start inventing. It’s messy because you’re building something you haven’t seen before. This is really the most rich portion of the Creative Journey, because its such a transformative phase. It’s like the goop in the chrysalis. You’re basically a goopy mess – accurate.

Creative cues you’re in the messy middle:

  • You start something exciting and lose momentum halfway through
  • You can’t tell if what you’re making is “good” or just “weird”
  • You have too many ideas, or not enough
  • Your aesthetic feels fractured or inconsistent

These aren’t red flags. They’re mile markers.

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You’re Not Doing it Wrong

One of the most unsettling parts of this phase is how little feedback you get. The work feels chaotic, uncooperative, unresolved. It’s tempting to assume you’re making a mistake, or that you’ve lost your way. This feeling is because you’re forging a new path, and it feels unstable. Creative chaos is a signal of deep restructuring.

This is the moment when many people quit. But not you!

What helps in this stage:

  • Normalize unfinished work.
  • Talk to other artists. You’re never alone.
  • Rest without abandoning.

Side Note: Inspired by Alma Thomas

Alma Thomas didn’t begin painting full-time until she was nearly 70. When she did, she leaned fully into movement, color, and experimentation. Her work is composed of broken lines, radiant rhythms, and unexpected openness. Her paintings didn’t hide the mess, they made it sing. Her style emerged because of these transitions.

“Through color, I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness…” – Alma Thomas

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How to Stay Present with a Zillion Wips

This part of the journey is about process visibility, not the end product. You’re collecting data with every brushstroke, swatch, or sentence. It just doesn’t look like a finished product yet. To stay grounded, you need breadcrumbs and ways to track your progress even when it feels invisible.

Try this:

  • Keep a project journal where you write what you tried and why
  • Photograph your work every few days to see evolution over time
  • Use washi tape or removable markers to make notes directly on WIPs
  • Talk out loud while working (hearing your creative logic helps you trust it)

The goal is to documentation with compassion.

As artists in this world of short attention spans, we constantly strive to create more works, and especially in the pursuit of style development. I find that motivation ebbs and flows. Sometimes you get a burst of energy to create, and you ride that wave, and sometimes you are in a slump. Here’s how you can get yourself out of that slump and get creating again.

Seven ways to stay motivated:

Learning to stay motivated will help you when you are at the point where your art supports you financially. Your productivity and quality of life increases as motivation increases.

1. Write down your goals, and then cut them into bite-sized pieces. By chunking your goals into monthly, weekly, and daily tasks, you can feel like you are advancing toward finishing projects. The more of a downswing you are in, the smaller you may have to make those chunks. This is okay! Any step is better than staying paralyzed.

2. Seek motivational words from artists you admire. Take the time to read positive quotes from artists on a daily basis. Reading the affirmations can help you stay in a positive mindset.

3. Keep a running list of your accomplishments. By documenting what you have created and accomplished, you can celebrate your body of work, and be reminded during a slump that you are an amazing artist.

4. Work in short bursts. Start by planning a five-minute creative moment, and see if it turns into a longer session. Even if it doesn’t, you have created something that day.

5. Join an art challenge on social media. By joining in with a community challenge, you can be motivated to create daily. Often times the challenges will push you out of your artistic comfort zone which is also a neat motivator.

6. Try learning new techniques. Learning something new will open up a whole line of creating as you figure out how to fold it into your work. Your neurons will be firing as you have those ah-ha moments while you learn.

7. Set an altruistic intention that transcends money and creative joy. Remind yourself why you create art, with a higher purpose than just financial support and the joy that comes from creating. Those motivators can fade when are at a low point, and they won’t get you up and moving like a noble purpose might.

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The New Metrics of the Middle

In this phase, your old definitions of success won’t serve you. “Is it finished?” “Will it sell?” “Does it look good on Instagram?” These questions don’t belong here.

Instead, try asking:

  • What did I discover by doing this?
  • What surprised me?
  • What challenged me and how did I respond?

Fear of Failure

Fear of failure is most present when you are making the transition of creating art as a hobby to creating art as your career. Fear sparks a fight or flight response in us as artists, and it can either motivate you to fight further and push forward, or it can hold you hostage in a state of creative paralysis.

Suzy Kassem says, “Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.” Creating art is revealing what is on our insides, which puts artists into a very vulnerable position. The real kicker is that as artists, we are afraid to fail and we are afraid to succeed.

Examples of fear of failure:

  • People don’t care about my art
  • Nobody will buy my artwork
  • I am just copying everyone because I’m not unique
  • Suffering from imposter syndrome
  • I’ll never “make it”
  • I’ll just be rejected

Overcoming fear of failure:

  • Accept that failure is normal. Failure is a crucial part of the artistic process. Remember in Episode 1, I mentioned that probably half of the things we create are terrible, forty percent are okay, and ten percent are amazing.
  • Get into that beginner’s mindset again. Become enthusiastic with a child-like wonder, and follow that feeling to stop caring about whether or not you fail. Beginners don’t care what others think because the expectations aren’t there to be great yet. Learn to enjoy the process.
  • Get comfortable with the worst case scenario. Visualize catastrophe and realize that it is something you could recover from. Then…
  • Do it scared. Find that inner courage to break down the worst case scenario and realize that everyone feels this way. Every artist experiences fear of failure. It is totally normal.
  • Redefine what failure means to you. The only failure is not doing anything. Inaction is the only possible means to fail. Any step is a step closer to success, even if that means making a mistake.
  • Fulfill your altruistic duty as an artist. Remember when I said you should find a motivator that transcends money or joy? That motivator can be to create art for selfless purposes, to lift your community and affect at least one person in a positive way.

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Fear of Success

I talked about fear of failure in the previous section, but this is an under-discussed challenge of the messy middle… Fear of Success. This is a huge issue and so subtle, but it could be happening to you!

Fear of success looks like purposely setting low goals for yourself, procrastinating and stalling until opportunity passes, ruminating on perfectionism until you just quit, and any other behaviors that stop you from reaching the next level.

Examples of fear of success:

  • Once I “make it”, I won’t be able to sustain it
  • Other artists will just steal my work anyway
  • Success just means I have to work more and work harder
  • Sabotaging yourself for fear of change
  • Too introverted and shy to network and be in the spotlight (Episode 2 talks about networking)
  • Being afraid of the criticism that comes with success (yes, the more eyes are on your work, the more haters there will be)
  • Afraid of heightened expectations and constantly having to raise the bar
  • Feeling guilty to leave others behind

Overcoming fear of success:

Notice your avoidance patterns. Take note when you avoid situations that would bring you closer to your goal. Make a journal and examine them, looking for commonalities.

Practice letting go of perfectionism. Perfection is a myth, which is why it always seems so futile to endlessly reach for it – you’ll never reach it because it doesn’t exist.

Stop repeating habits that aren’t serving you. Find out what is working and what isn’t, and drop the bad stuff.

Take yourself out of your comfort zone. When you learn something new, you give yourself more slack to make mistakes.

Overcome the fear of change. In its heart, fear of success is the fear of change. Exposing yourself to changes gradually is the best way to overcome this fear.

Talk to another artist who is above your success level. This will give you a more realistic expectation of what success looks like. You may be stressing over nothing.

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Work/Life Balance (Crucial)

During Phase 2 of the artist’s journey especially, there is a tendency for our work/life balance to be off. This is because we are constantly working to achieve so many things at once. We want to hone our skills, figure out how to make a living from our art, develop a personal style, create a social media presence, and much more, all at once, all while maintaining a joyful, creative life.

What does “Work/Life Balance” mean for an artist?

The definition of work/life balance is different for everyone, but you can look at the following definitions and see if you relate to any of them. These scenarios could all amount to an achievement of a healthy work/life balance.

  • Meeting artwork deadlines while having time for family, friends, and other activities.
  • Having enough time to for self care – to sleep properly, exercise, and eat well, and not worrying about your work while you do other things.
  • Feeling flexible enough in your art business to work fewer hours and mix in activities through your day.
  • Not feeling stressed about your art business because you have a healthy equilibrium between making money and spending money.

Fixing your work/life balance to find artistic success

Fixing your work/life balance to find artistic success

Remember, once you have your work/life balance in control, you can’t just forget all about it. This balance is a cycle, not something you can just achieve once and then you’re all set. Every time you feel off balance, you should examine your situation and make adjustments to get back in the balanced zone.

A few ways to fix your unstable work/life balance:

  • Set true business hours. Before and after a certain time of day, do not engage in the mundane administrative part of your business like answering social media comments or checking email, logging sales, writing blog posts, et cetera. Also avoid working on any stressful deadline projects. Outside of business hours are for self care, family, friends, other hobbies, and fun art projects only!
  • Manage your time wisely. If you waste your business hours away, and you have deadlines (self-imposed or otherwise), your work-time will seep into your play-time and your life will be off balance. Curb distractions as much as you can. Believe it or not, distractions will lead to a work/life imbalance as you struggle to make up for that lost time. Plan time for distraction activities during your non-business hours.
  • Match your work schedule to your energy level. Think of your day as a rhythmic cycle instead of a robotic schedule. Artists work better when we go with the flow of our energy. If you have high energy in the early morning, make sure your business hours include those times. If you are most engaged in the afternoon, make that your scheduled work time.
  • Declutter your physical and mental workspace. Prioritize projects, organize and clear your workspace, and mentally let go of any business-related thoughts that do not actually serve your business. Cancel any subscriptions to website services that are not truly helping. Pare down to the bare essentials and dig deeper into those resources.
  • Manage your stress level. A certain amount of stress is necessary for an artist, but too much stress can actually stifle creativity and bring your productivity to a halt. Discover any non-business related stressors in your life, and try to get those resolved, as this stress can seep into your artistic life.
  • Keep your priorities straight. For example, when you take two hours of free time to scroll your phone because that feels like “taking a break”, do you really feel fulfilled? Align your priorities so that you are doing things that truly bring you joy.

Each week, month, or quarter, pause and reflect. Are you spending enough time doing the things you actually want to do? Are you able to make time for self care? Are your business goals progressing – you’re not just spinning your wheels? As you think through your work/life balance, you can gain clarity and make adjustments.

In order to get to Phase 3 of the artistic journey, you need to resolve your work/life balance issues. Being self aware in this stage is the absolute key.

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Creative Voices to Follow

These artists and writers speak directly to this part of the journey. When choosing inspiration artists, if you’re feeling unsure of your ability, ask yourself what you would do if fear was eliminated from the equation.

  • Debbie Millman – Graphic designer and educator who speaks candidly about failure and creative identity.
  • Rebecca Green – Illustrator who shares her behind the scenes experimentation from false starts to flow.
  • Ali Edwards – A memory keeper who makes the incomplete beautiful through layered projects.
  • Alma Thomas – Her work pulses with vitality and trust in the process.

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10 Bonus Tips for Embracing the Mess

  1. Make bad art on purpose to release the pressure valve.
  2. Start two versions of the same idea and let them diverge.
  3. Take progress shots every day, even if it feels awkward.
  4. Write what you’re confused about at the top of your notebook.
  5. Switch mediums to reset your brain and find new connections.
  6. Revisit unfinished pieces and ask what they’re trying to become.
  7. Let a color or shape lead instead of a concept.
  8. Celebrate process photos as much as finished blankets.
  9. Make a mess bin. This could be a physical or digital folder of “failed” work that might hold seeds.
  10. Stay playful and stay kind (to yourself especially)

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Thank you for reading this part of the Creative Journey Series! Next Monday, we will look at Part 7: Surviving the Burnout Phases. Part 7 tells you that burnout does not mean the end. It doesn’t mean you’re artistically broken. It means it’s time to rest and reset, take a break and ease back into it by revisiting your artistic beginnings. (Loads of tips here, as artistic burnout is reallllll lol)

Hope you have a great week, and happy crafting!

Rachele C.

Order my crochet pattern book: The Art of Crochet Blankets

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