Mindful Indulgence in Art making

Thoughts on how creative practice, for no reason other than pleasure, feels like a radical act.

Over our recent holidays I spent time drawing. I sat on the beach with my sketch book and pen. There was no intention, no purpose or desired outcome to my drawings. I didn’t plan to show anyone my art. I wasn’t making social media content and although I’ve now decided to write this article (and will show you some drawings), that wasn’t the reason I drew. I wasn’t working on a project or developing an idea. The art I made wasn’t to be seen, sold or shared. It was just for me. I drew in my sketch pad because I find it pleasurable and relaxing. I like the way the pen feels making marks on the paper. How often in our adult lives do we do something just because it’s enjoyable, for no specific outcome? Well for me, it’s rare.

I’m very fortunate that I enjoy most of the work I do, both paid and unpaid. (Apart from cleaning, I hate cleaning). I am also fortunate that I have autonomy in choosing the work that I do. And because I have been able to chose this work, most of it feels meaningful to me. A large proportion of my time is spent caring for my children, which can be very challenging and exhausting, but I remind myself that I chose to have children and although it’s hard, I find the work of caring for them very fulfilling. All of the work that I do, including caring for my children, home educating, building our co-op, running my business, contributing to our community, cooking for my family; all of these activities are freely chosen and fulfilling, but they all have a purpose. They both give me pleasure and have a purpose. In fact, it is exactly this meaningful purpose that makes them pleasurable and fulfilling.

Doing something that has no purpose, other than pleasure, is rare in my life. Pleasure was the sole purpose of my drawings. They won’t earn me money, they are not a product to be consumed, they don’t help my community, or put food on the table.

The idea of making something without a purposeful outcome; of using your time on something that is purely for pleasure and relaxation feels radical to me. It feels like a big ‘fuck you’ to the idea that we continually need to be hustling, producing, consuming and accumulating. It is in oppersition to the idea of productivity.

Doing something that has no purpose, other than pleasure, is often viewed negativly in white western capatilist culture. When writing this article I searched for words to better describe an activity that was ‘lacking purpose’. The synonyms I found like adrift, pointless, meaningless, senseless, hollow, inconsequencial or going through the motions, all have such negative conertations. I then searched for a word or phrase that means ‘doing an activity that is pleasurable but lacks purpose’. The phrases ‘mindless indulgence’ and ‘idle passtime’ came up. Again negative. Being idle in white western culture is percived as a bad thing.

How about we change that? I like the phrase ‘mindful indulgence’ to describe an activity that is done with no purpose other than pleasure. How would you describe it?

I don’t want to fill my life with purposeless pleasure or mindful indulgence, that would feel empty and meaningless. However, I feel it is important to make a little space to do something just because it gives you joy. It’s all about balance. It’s about resetting ourselves and not letting the pressure to be productive take over our everything.

Mindful indulgence is a small but radical way to counteract the hustle culture of capatilism.

Taking the to time to do something with no purpose was an easy step for me whilst on holiday. The next step is to incorporate more of this radical, mindful indulgence into my daily life. For me, this looks like making art for no purpose that no one will see, for you it might be something else.