As a young art student at Ringling College of Art and Design, I learned the techniques of perspective, form, balance, shading, color, texture, and shape to bring my ideas to life. Later in life as an artist, although my technique may not have been as perfectly executed, my work gained a certain life to it that spoke beyond what the medium could. Later in my career, I no longer used the mediums of pencils, charcoal, clay, or paint to communicate what I envisioned, but rather words and photography.Over the years, my advertising agency received many awards and accolades but there is one particular quote given about my agency that made me realize that I had mastered the fine art of creation in any medium. “Perhaps no other agency has the ability to move a market into action as Insight; they have mastered emotional messaging.” The words were very special to me because another very successful advertising owner said them.
A few years ago, in preparing for a speech about how to become more creative, I thought back about the process I used to convey emotional messages in ads with almost no copy and a single simple image. Intention. My creativity was all about intention. Yes, years earlier I had learned the rules of art and creativity, but it was my life experience that brought intention into my work. I had learned to tell a vivid story with a few strokes of a pen and to create an emotional experience with ten words or less.
Our thoughts and actions are most critical to our success – ideas and technique are secondary to the intention of creating. By learning how to paint a vivid picture of what we desire, we give focus to the energy field that will fill in every detail of our desire, as if it were a paint-by-number child’s painting. And when we simply allow all that is not our creation to fall away, we are only left with that which we have created.
A few months ago I found the image above. What I loved most about it is the vividness of the words Constance Todd Smith wrote against the rich contrast of the photo. Andy Dooley often talks about manifestation not coming about because we have lousy and lazy focus. He went to the same art school as I did and, as an artist, he knows how to paint rich vivid imagery with his designs and message. When I saw this image, I realized that although I had been saying that I wanted a relationship, the fact was I had not put any effort into using the Law of Creation to create that which I wanted – or I thought I wanted. The truth was I did not want a relationship – until this image brought clarity to what I secretly desired. And now my intention has clarity. I desire not “a” relationship but a relationship that feels extravagant. A divine love revealed. And it is with that intention that I know it already exists.
Knowing your intention will help you bring clarity to the details of your creation. It is through clarity that the fine art of creation becomes effortless. And that is when it becomes your reality.
Whether you see divine love, purposeful passion, or simply a life of ease and grace, become a conscious creator of your desires through heartfelt intention and precise clarity.