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Toby Negus

interview

Please tell us a bit about your beginnings. How did you find your way to creativity?

I’ve always loved colour and its effect and also loved writing down my thoughts about life. So it seemed natural to put them together, to draw an image for my thoughts or to write some words for an image.

How did you find creative self-expression and how to help your dreams become reality           

My art creations began seriously when I wrote the book ‘The Sacred You’. I wanted to have images to support the writing and had to decide if I was going to use other people’s artwork or create my own. I decided that it should be mine, so I began to create a whole set of images for the book, this was great fun and really started my art life in earnest.

Amazing what you are creating. Where do you draw inspiration from? Who or what inspired your works?

A lot of my art is driven to express an idea or concept that I find powerful for humanity. As an example one of the first main artworks I did was in support of a deep feeling I had about how important is was that I was not timid with the loves I felt about life because they are so important as a gateway for our future. The image I drew was of some flowers that I really loved. The artwork was a bit crude but that was okay because it was honest and heartfelt.

be-not-timid

Another example is an image I got in my mind while I was at a talk. The person was talking about our footsteps on the earth and I got the following image (the writing I put on afterwards)

footprintspic1

I love words and their power and often produce images that try to express this power, to help people get it.

forgivness1

Sometimes I create an image just because I love it, like the one below, I may in time find the words that go with it but I am happy as it is.

dear

All your works have a deeper meaning. Wonderful messages. How do you create? How does the process work?

This is my task in life, to try to create some words and images that can allow people to get at the perceptions I see. I do try to get as close as I can to the essence of things and I care deeply that its expression is tangible for people.

I think that projection of our dreams into creative form in the universe is extremely powerful. A picture can be incorporated into every feeling, every desire. A picture can say it all.  What do you think about this?

Art as a creativity is fantastic. We were all artists when we were young, until some said that we weren’t! But the range of art is enormous from creating a garden to cooking a meal, it is all art. It gets the creative juices flowing, that is part of the secret, to find your own unique ways that get the creative energy flowing.

We do use images in our mind all the time, some that inspire us and some that do not, but it’s the way that the mind works. This understanding caused me to create the image below to show how we can and do create our future with the images we have in our mind.

future

We must find ways to create, to do the things that allow an inner smile to happen in us. Everyone’s creativity is unique (as it should be).

What do you suggest to someone who is starting to unfold the way of creative self-expression?

Patience, care and integrity.

I had to learn to be patient, with my writing. It has its timings, it takes time before anything of value will come through. I also prep myself before I write or paint. I tell myself what I am going to be doing so I know what’s going on and to ask myself for help. I did have a little prayer that I spoke each time I started work on The Sacred You. ‘Grant me the wisdom, wit and will to create this for the world’ the Gods may not have answered but it did give me confidence. I also had to work through, and still do, ‘this is impossible!’ ‘who are you to do this!’ I have learnt to live with this and just keep going, the voices don’t shout at me so much now.

I have learnt to take care of myself, as much as possible, to look after my inner well being. Because this is what can connect to my creativity, this is not easy but very important.

It is vital to me that I remain, as much as possible, true to myself, to keep the integrity of my purpose. This does mean trying to not compare myself to others (because when I do that, I just want to give up) but at a deeper level my work is who I am, and although it is not perfect, it is true of myself and must be. Because it is who I am that creates, no one else. Everyone has their own creation to do and I must do mine.

How do we get inspiration, how can we link to the Muse?

I find that inspiration will always come in its own time, and no amount of huffing and puffing will change this. The work I have to do is to clutter clear and create the space for it to happen, that is both the space in myself, getting the right attitude about what I am doing, and also to ensure that I have done enough things so I am not distracted.

 

How can we gain inspiration for work?

Don’t let the world make important things unimportant; create a sanctuary in yourself of what you truly care about.

What dreams are you currently working on? What would you like to achieve?

There is so much that I want to do, I am currently creating a colour book of my images with descriptions of their meanings (because some of my work can be a bit obscure). I am halfway through the second book in the Sacred You series – Learning to Love Yourself and there is a book to do after that. This is a deeper book but I think I have got to do the work on learning to love myself a lot more before I will be able to write the third book. I also have lots of art I would love to do. I am currently working on a picture of a library full of books and I am trying to make it alive with colour. Its meaning will have something to do with the great experience and perceptions of life that we carry around within ourselves.

What message do you want to give the reader through your work?

That we are our own saviour and have to tools to do it. That we have within our heart a powerful ally to creating our heaven on earth. And yes, we should not be timid with our love because within it lies our destiny and our purpose on this earth.