The Flow State

Happy June my raspberry strudels!

It’s nearly Summer in the Northern Hemisphere and I. AM. EXCITED. It feels like winter lasted three years this time around. I’m not sure if it was the long void of covid or that it’s been freezing in my studio, but I’m ready to shake off layers of cold and burst forth into full on Summer. Summer is when I’m the least creatively productive so it’s a weird way to start a post about focus and flow but here we are. What prompted this month’s topic is that I’ve recently been spending less time online and on social media. Instead, I’m reading novels (and actually finishing them!), spending time in my garden, and letting my mind breathe a bit. This has led to more mental clarity, ideas come easier - and for the first time in a while, I painted for like ten hours straight without wanting to stop which never happens anymore.

The tulips in my garden were so VIBRANT.

This pause is timely as I’m currently reading Stolen Focus by Johann Hari (thanks Matt!) The book shares 12 causes behind our inability to focus, due largely to tech companies, but also surprising ones like our degradation of sustained reading. The book is unsettling and relatable, and the second chapter really hit home for me as an artist: The Crippling of Our Flow States.

Hari begins with the background of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who coined the term ‘Flow State’ after witnessing painters (and later adults who took part in other activities - rock climbing, music, chess) become so entranced in the process - so immersed that they almost became the task. (My words! From experience!) Most of us have felt this - we slip so deep in-the-zone that we forget to eat, time disappears, and the process unfolds seamlessly as if the task were solving itself.
The Flow State is an interesting one. There are clear indicators for when it’s happening, and also ‘rules’ for what needs to be in place for a flow state to take hold.

What I’m most interested in is creative flow. I have a ton more research to do, but I did find this article super interesting - especially the part about having an objective or clear goal. Often when we are in flow, there is a goal we’re working towards but in creative forms of flow, the end goal is often unknown, and there isn’t always a sense of control.

“Among the domains for which a flow experience has been described are those in the creative arts—writing (Perry, 2009), painting (Banfield and Burgess, 2013), and musical composition (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975). Evidence is emerging that the flow experienced by those creating in domains of the arts (creative flow), while sharing most of the properties Csikszentmihalyi wrote about, also has a few properties that distinguish it from flow in other domains. Interviews with visual artists suggested that in this domain, goals, which are part of problem representations, are not clear (Mace, 1997). One artist told her, “You really don't know where you are going” (p. 274). In another interview study, Cseh (2017) concluded that clear goals, sense of control, and unambiguous feedback were not typically part of fine artists' flow experiences.” - Charlotte L. Doyle

I’ve shared thoughts on intuition and more on the blog but I’ve never talked about the Flow State. Recently, as I’ve had some mental space, I’m able to work for longer stretches. The visual puzzles that seemed insurmountable in terms of planning and sketching are now buoyed by ease and self trust. There’s one other major factor at play - I’m no longer working on client projects and am only writing/illustrating my own work. It’s been interesting to look back at how I’ve been working for the last 12 years, trying to balance my own creative needs with the needs of others.

Slowly solving the puzzle of my next book - Henri & Miko!

Getting to a flow state in art is an amazing feeling - no doubt - but do you think it’s as easy to get into that state of mind when you’re making art for other people and getting paid for it? The following thoughts are from my own experience and don’t necessarily answer this question (I’m genuinely interesting to hear what you think!) but more so me pondering the creative process.

When we’re in the flow state, we’re focused on something we’re skilled at. But, there has to be a certain leveling up - a small amount of challenge. It can’t be so difficult that we feel defeated but it also can’t be so familiar that we fall into autopilot. (That’s the worst way to make compelling work!) Personally I think there's such a huge focus on style in this career that growth can be frightening once we’ve honed a visual identity. If a client hires me based on something I’ve already made, I tend to feel trapped from the start. It’s always a balance to make clients happy but also do something new, where I'm not totally bored. The good news is, I think the solution can be as simple as adding a new color to a tried and true palette, or using a similar but new material. A tiny challenge to keep us off auto pilot but not so drastic of a change that we have a meltdown. (I’m the queen of meltdowns!)

In a Flow State, we feel immediate intuitive feedback to hone our craft, not to prove ourselves to others. Self criticizing is something I do often while working on projects for clients, but also when working on anything since art is my career and a huge part of my identity. I’m rarely in a flow state with work perhaps because I have a running dialogue of judgement. ‘The client will want this so I have to cater, or this is what a picture book should look like, or why can you make work like that other illustrator, or of course you’d make something this saccharine, you’re so uncool! Why aren’t you making reels? You’re already washed up!’ It’s literally no wonder I can’t get into this magical bliss of flow, I’m way too judgemental of my ideas before they even get legs. Lately though, it’s been easier to achieve clarity and focus because I’m off social media - the endless fountain of comparison. Instagram has been a huge help in my career and I know we need it to compete in a creative industry but there’s a also a line we have to step back from in order to protect our own creative impulses.

While we’re on the subject of social media, we have to talk about the elephant in the room that’s sat itself upon your flow state, squashing it to a thin fragile pulp. Distraction. We’re SO distracted by notifications and everything that is the internet and twitter and tiktok and instagram that it can’t take a genius to see why flow states are hard to achieve. You need uninterrupted time to get into a task, though with every distraction, we lose nearly a half hour of focus. Imagine just a couple emails, a couple texts, a quick instagram check - our flow state is out the window. I don’t even have to be that old to remember illustrating before social media and smart phones (which I did get into late) and I have an inkling that I was much more productive then. The good thing is that while a ten hour painting session that flies by blissfully is great and all, you can also just set a timer for an hour and get a ton done! It’s more about setting boundaries and giving yourself uninterrupted time.

CONSIDER THOUGH…

If social media, comparison, and creative confusion are getting in the way of your focused flow state, those are easy enough areas to work on. There are much bigger issues at play for many people - stress from living in impoverished conditions, hunger, fear, and a lack of safety nets, particularly for BIPOC communities. While low level stress (challenge) is good for reaching the Flow State, “…long-term stress (chronic) impinges on reaching the flow state and disrupts the immunoprotective effects on various physiological functions.” (Dhabhar, 2014). National Library of Medicine. Always best to keep everything in perspective and work towards a more equitable future so we can all feel the wonder of play, flow states, and creativity.

For me, I usually get sucked into projects that have nothing to do with painting. Usually it’s baking (I’m recently into quiche!) or something tactile. Actually once I literally spent hours taking apart a piece of cardboard. I can find something derelict in a salvage yard and get so lost cleaning and repairing it. I’m not doing that for a job, and maybe that’s why it’s so fun for me. I’m curious as many of you are illustrators, designers, artists, etc - what’s your experience with Flow States? Are you able to achieve them while doing your job or is it often something different? What do you get lost in? Do you feel like the rise of social media has inhibited your ability to focus long term on things you love? I’m planning to read FLOW next from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi but let me know if you have any recs as well! Drop a comment below - I’d love to hear everyone’s experience.

On The Dessert Club Patreon this month, I’m sharing a process video of the painting for the Flow State banner. You’ll see the entire painting completed, typography drawn out, and also follow along with the editing process in Photoshop, including cleaning/prepping an illustration for presentation and laying in text. You can also catch the most recent video I shared on Patreon where I dove into portrait studies and warm ups!

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I hope you’re all doing ok, hugging loved ones, taking time for yourself, and jumping into the season you’re in. May you find yourself wonderfully lost and totally immersed in something you love. I’ll see you all next month!

Until next time,
xo, Becca