The Naked Journal
Thoughts, musings, and meanings behind NakedPastor Art.
The Naked Journal
Why You Need Nature in your Creative Process
These trees near my home are the inspiration behind many of my tree-themed artworks. I love how they reach proudly to the sky and, no matter the weather or the mood, they are always there and (hopefully) will be there for a long time. My surroundings in Canada have helped me learn mindfulness, inner peace, and the importance of becoming one with nature and the world around me. I want these artworks to help you by showing the beautiful solitude you’ll find on the journey towards personal freedom. Some people find it hard to believe that the person who draws the controversial NakedPastor cartoons is the same person who creates these contemplative paintings and charcoal drawings. But they are all an expression of my passion for personal freedom... mine and yours! My paintings depict what freedom looks and feels like to me. It’s spacious but not empty. Solitude but not lonely. One but one with all things. I try to get into nature daily. It's important to my creative process. This painting above are in my shop. It's titled, All I Need Is A Small Clearing. It's about the certainty that there is always an opening where light and beauty are waiting for you. There will always be stars in the sky and they will never lose their magic. Related Resources
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Can Art Help Improve Your Mental health?
"Gratitude" (stone sculpture... see more HERE). Can Art Help Improve Your Mental Health? “Art is coming face to face with yourself” - Jackson Pollock I love this quote. Sometimes creating art can feel scary. Sometimes sharing art can feel TERRIFYING. But I’m working on accepting myself and showing myself. My art plays a big role in unpacking who I was and who I am becoming on this long journey of self-awareness. I think art (both the creation and the enjoyment of it) is a wonderful and powerful tool for improving our moods and releasing our feelings into the universe. When I create art, it’s because something has moved me. Then, my art in turn starts a ripple effect that carries on out to every person that sees or hears it and is impacted by that art. When you put out art that means something to you, it creates a space for reflection in your living area, it helps your self-expression, and can change your mood just by being there. Art is transportive and transformative. I believe that art is a tool that can help improve your mental health. Being creative, in whatever small way you do it, is something that empowers you and brings something new into the world that otherwise would not be there. Never think, “I am not an artist.” I claim everyone is creative in their own way… from baking a cake to designing an architectural wonder like the Guggenheim! When you realize you can play a part of that, it is and feels empowering!
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Social Media vs Reality: Can you really know me if I'm still getting to know myself?
I love the internet and social media. But it can be tricky. Our personal social media can give the impression that we've got it all together and life is all unicorns and rainbows.Our posts are like, literally, snapshots of our lives and we get to choose which one you see at any given moment. So, even though I post several times a day and I hear from some people that I seem like I've got my life all figured out, I want to assure you I don't. I talk about mystery a lot, and my life is just as full of it as yours, and sometimes it's hard to live with. One of the things I struggle with is a kind of imposter syndrome. I can't believe I'm actually making a living with my cartoons, books, art, and speaking. On the one hand, I know how hard I work. But on the other hand, I know that I am very fortunate and feel very lucky and sometimes even undeserving for being here.I'm not sure if I'm afraid of failure or success. I think about this a lot.We all have work to do. Personal work. You have yours. And I know I have mine. But that's why I call myself the NakedPastor. What you're going to find here is not someone who has it all together and is going to tell you how to do it. Instead, you're going to find someone being raw, honest, transparent, and vulnerable about his own journey. I think maybe it might inspire you to be your own authentic self too. Thanks for listening.
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The Importance Of Embracing Your Authentic Self
We can change inside, gradually or suddenly, and do our best to keep the transformation hidden from others. But there comes a time when the internal pressure, the need, to reveal your true self (as you know yourself at that time) becomes unbearable. At some point the you you know to be you must come out. Not for everyone, but for many people this is the turning point from belonging to rejection. It's an amazing act of courage and defiance and independence. I know a lot of people like that. This print is a reminder that being yourself can be scary, it can be lonely at first until you realize how many other black sheep are out there. Find your flock, no matter how different you feel- there’s one out there for you.
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Change Doesn't Always Have to be Difficult and Ugly
I visited a butterfly house. Of course my mind was turned to Sophia, especially my drawing of her, "Metamorphosis". A friend of mine takes care of the chrysalises and butterflies. I was surprised to see many different ones. One is a very shiny silver and the other is a very shiny gold. Amazing and breathtaking beauty! It made me acknowledge that change, transformation, doesn't always have to be difficult and ugly. Of course, often it is. In fact, sometimes it feels impossible. Like... inside those cocoons is goo. Not nice. Which is why so many people resist it. Change can be adventurous, exciting, and full of happiness as we change from one thing into something else. The people I see changing might be experiencing some difficulty and feel ugly at the time, but frequently from my perspective they are becoming even more beautiful, amazing and marvellous. During change, we not only lose things. This can be difficult and ugly. But we also gain things. This can be pleasurable and beautiful. I'm watching this happen all the time in my online communities. I invite you to buy THE LIBERATION OF SOPHIA... a book about my change told through the story of a woman who changes.
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The Importance of Being Creative During Faith Deconstruction
Making art was an important part of my healing and reconstruction process. I didn't know this at the beginning of my deconstruction. It didn't know this consciously after I'd left the ministry and the church. In fact, it wasn't until I published my book, The Liberation of Sophia, that I realized making art helped save me. Let me explain. It was the week after I left the church when I drew my first Sophia drawing. The one with the bear. Sophia Fearless. The inspiration to draw her was unstoppable. It was four years later when I drew my last one. The inspiration to draw her stopped. Stopped cold! It was when it stopped that I realized it was probably important that I did it. Drawing Sophia every week and writing about her journey was, I concluded, a crucial part of my healing. Cathartic! It's strange, but when I stopped drawing Sophia, I learned how important being creative is. Being creative just for creativity's sake! I need to get in that again. I advise people when they are going through deconstruction to be creative and discipline themselves to be creative every day. It helps. It works! (If you’re looking for some ways to spark your creativity read this blog) Why? Because now I realize that creating things does something positive for us: It gives us some happiness, because even while we are crashing and our world is crashing around us, that we can still create something. It inspires us, that even though we might feel ugly in an ugly world, there are still remarkable things of beauty to be enjoyed. It empowers us to know that even while everything seems to be conspiring to stop us, we will still give birth to new and wonderful things. So, here's our exercise: I believe everyone is a creator. Everyone is an artist. What are you making? What can you make? A painting? A dance? A poem? A journal entry? A blog post? A perfect medium rare steak? An awesome daily post? A flower arrangement? An urn? A sound of a crow? A computer code? Anything! I'd love to hear, see, and know what kind of things you guys are creating.
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Creativity Should Not Be Controlled
Yesterday at church, instead of me speaking (since I'm taking a break from it for a while), we invited anybody to read something they'd written. For about an hour several people got up front and read what they'd written. Everyone was astounded. The quality of writing was amazing. There was poetry, journal entries, song lyrics, short stories, proverbs, and things that just can't be categorized. (Click on my painting "Together in the Midst of Life" to see it in my store.) The youngest to read was my daughter Casile, 15 years old, and the oldest was Joyce, in her 70s. There were people up there who are normally quite vocal and play a pretty visible and audible role in the life of the community. They weren't surprises. But there were others who never make a peep and hide in the shadows who got up and read some of the most amazing stuff. We were shocked! This is what I think: when you do something that doesn't follow the norm, like reading personal journal entries in a religious setting, then something happens. It's like all of a sudden things are being said that don't sound religious, don't have religious overtones and aren't even at all moralizing.Some of the poetry that was read had to do with physical abuse of a child. Another of the beating of a woman. Some had to do with our blatant disinterest in Darfur. Some had to do with love. One had to do with the death of a sister. One had to do with wanting to die. One had to do with atheism and doubting, questioning and abandoning a god that never seemed to exist to begin with. One had to do with a tubal pregnancy and grieving something that was never even seen. One had to do with wanting to stop this race and just enjoy the view from here. One was a friend's tribute to another woman in our congregation just diagnosed with Altzeimers. One had to do with depression. And I can fairly say that although they didn't contain religious vocabulary for the most part, they were very religious in the sense that they testified to something larger than themselves. We all left amazed, encouraged and filled with a sense of awe. Everyone left feeling more creative or the desire to be. (If you're looking for tips for igniting your creativity here's a post I wrote) Creativity cannot and should not be edited or controlled or directed. I don't think most of the people who read thought, when they were writing, "What would God want me to write?" They just wrote what was heavy on their hearts at the time. As a result, it was free, risky and incisive. But because of that it did something. It crossed boundaries. It walked through walls. It altered our reality. We left changed. Related Blog Posts on Creativity The Importance of Being Creative During Faith DeconstructionWhy You Need Nature in your Creative ProcessEmbracing Creativity: An Artist Trapped in a Pastor's BodyCan Art Help Improve Your Mental health?
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10 Tips for Igniting Your Creativity
First of all... know you are creative. Everyone is creative in their own special way in their own special medium. I've met lots of people who believed they weren't creative. I've never met anyone who wasn't. Think outside the box No idea is too outlandish! Do you want to reproduce the past or forge a new path? Are you going to keep doing what's already been written about or will you do something that will be written about? The best creativity has something refreshing about it, even if offensive. (This painting, Eternal Cross, was a painting that resulted from me experimenting with new kinds of paint and a new abstract style. Click on the image to see it in my store.) Make time Stop the craziness and plant yourself before your palette. It won’t come to you. Leisure is a key ingredient in creativity, and nature can be an essential source of inspiration to help you reconnect with your creativity. Even philosophers know that leisure is necessary for creative thinking. Some of my most creative ideas come to me over my morning coffee or an evening scotch. Don't care what people will think. That will kill creativity on the spot. Creativity should not be controlled if you want it to flourish! If I listened to my critics, you wouldn’t be reading this and I wouldn’t have written it. Everything offends someone. Learn that quick and then ignore it Don't do it for money. Creativity can be drowned out by monetary ambitions. Staying true to yourself is key—authenticity in creativity matters more than chasing profits. If your art sells, great. If you sell your soul, not so great. Money poisons motives. Experiment Writing? Put pen to paper before you have a thought. Painting? Throw it. Sculpture? Smash it. Philosophizing? Don't sleep for 2 days. Choreography? Drink wine then video it nude. Try something. Anything! Don't be afraid of mistakes or waste. My painting dramatically improved when I stopped caring about how much paint or paper I used. Some of the best symphonies, paintings, choreographs, architecture, etc., were created after totally scrapping previous attempts. Explore new possibilities. If someone told me I'd be cartooning every day I wouldn't have believed it. I did my first one in fear and trembling. Now I can't stop. I plan on trying new things soon because I don't like ruts. But I love wells. And creativity is a fathomless well. Once you tap in, you'll know what I mean. Enjoy it! Creativity is fascinating and fun. Especially when it materializes. Although there can be excruciating work involved in the process, a deep feeling of satisfaction often accompanies it, even if it upsets everything around you. You may feel like Chuck Noland in the movie Cast Away: "I make fire!" while you beat your chest in triumphant joy. Well, I have. Risk exposing yourself Your creations are your babies. They are part of yourself, borne out of your own heart and passions, and they say something important about you. Putting your creations out there is like putting yourself out there. And even though you will get praised as well as shot at, I think you must do it... for you, for me, and for our world. Related Blog Posts on Creativity The Importance of Being Creative During Faith DeconstructionWhy You Need Nature in your Creative ProcessEmbracing Creativity: An Artist Trapped in a Pastor's BodyCan Art Help Improve Your Mental health?
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