You walk into your studio, or wherever you make your work. Maybe there’s a rhythm to it—clearing a surface, putting on the kettle, picking up the sketchbook. But alongside those familiar actions, something else often enters the space too. Art practice rules might already be in play.
A quiet voice.
It’s not always easy to catch. But it’s there, guiding your hand before you’ve even started. It says things like:
“That canvas is too good to waste.”
“Don’t use that colour, it never works.”
“This page needs to be filled.”
“Don’t mess up the nice sketchbook.”
During the Creative Play Challenge I ran recently, I invited artists to notice what came up as they began making. The responses were telling. Participants uncovered all sorts of quiet, unspoken rules they’d been following—many without even realising it.
Some of the most common included:
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Saving the “nice” sketchbook pages and avoiding mess
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Avoiding colours like brown, black, or ochre
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Feeling canvases were too serious to play on
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Always needing to fill the whole page
None of these are rules we’ve chosen on purpose. Most of them creep in subtly, absorbed from early experiences, old advice, or unconscious comparison.
But once we notice them, something changes. We can pause. Question. Choose differently.
That’s where creative play becomes powerful—not just as a way to make new marks, but as a way to gently loosen the grip of those inherited assumptions.
So here’s a question to carry into your next studio session:
What quiet art practice rules are shaping your process—and which ones might be ready to be let go?
If this resonates, you might enjoy Creative Play Lab—a self-paced course built to help you expand your process through short, engaging exercises and deeper reflections like this one.
Just click below to find out more.