Creative Visionary Program - my experience
Earlier this year I took the plunge and enrolled in Nick Wilton’s Creative Visionary Program (or CVP), a 12 week immersive course that goes deep into the Art2Life principles of design, value, colour, texture, risk and soul. It was a big commitment for me financially but having spent the last few years battling self limiting beliefs and making paintings that I often never felt truly happy with, I decided it was time to invest in myself and spend some time figuring out how I could push my art further.
Before taking CVP one of the things I found difficult was evaluating my work to understand what made a painting successful (or indeed unsuccessful!). Studying each of the principles, working through the modules and taking part in the live calls with Nick and the team has led to many “AHA’ moments over the last few months and I’m really starting to be able to answer some of the questions that I had before, and see my evolution as an artist with some clarity.
Another valuable takeaway I’ve found is the awareness of knowing how to get unstuck in the creative process by utilising the principle of differences, along with the realisation that it’s ok to push something too far, as it can always be rectified with the knowledge of HOW to rectify it using the principles. It sounds so simple, but I wonder how many of us artists play it safe in fear of ruining something that we like?
Nick and the Art2Life team run the 12 week Creative Visionary Program every year helping hundreds of artists of all different backgrounds and experiences step more fully into their art making, develop knowledge of principles and approaches, engage with risk and push their art further than they ever have before. The effort that goes into running CVP and delivering the exceptional support that Nick and the coaching team provide is clear to see, and you really get a sense of how passionate they all are to be helping artists along the process by sharing their knowledge in such a generous way.
Now I’m at the end of the teaching and I’m finishing and evaluating the series of paintings I’ve been working on during the programme. I'm really starting to see the profound impact it has had on my mindset, and my approach to my work. Nick often describes it as a journey, and as cliche as it is, I couldn’t agree more… It might be the end of CVP, but I feel like for me this is just the beginning of what happens next…
The final series in progress…
