When I think about my art practice and why I am drawn to it, I reflect on the state I am in when I am practising. I lose my sense of time, duty, responsibility, pressure and stress. I am focused entirely on the moment. I move like I am dancing the process as I know it off by heart. I don’t have to think about how to do a particular technique as I have already spent countless hours (and years) practising it. I have to do a lot of pre-planning to attempt to reach what Csikszentmihaly calls the “flow state”. Csikszentmihaly coined the concept many years ago. He explains it in six concepts:

Sharply focused concentration on the present, and only the present
“Merging of action and awareness”
An absence of second-guessing yourself
A complete sense of control over the situation
An altered perception of time
Experiencing the activity as intrinsically rewarding

I believe I have caught glimpses of this “flow state”. There is a sense of trust and focus in my ideas, actions, and artistic decisions. Being able to focus is the key. I find I can tap into a deep listening of awareness. As thoughts arise they are often powerful and succinct conceptual ideas that may lead to the next working concept. I record these thoughts in my journal. It may be weeks, months or years later that these thoughts are processed and arise to the surface, ready to be “danced” magically into an artistic expression.