Practical and Inspirational Guide Helps Artists Foster Creativity

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The Need-Not Artist by Kasha Ritter

What’s It About?

A devoted mother of three with a bustling household shares her personal story of pursuing her artistic passion amid the chaos of daily life, dismantling common excuses and providing step-by-step guidance on overcoming obstacles such as housework or daily demands, children, and perceived lack of talent.

Life is full of instructions, telling us what we need before we do something. “You need your coat, you’re going to get cold.” or “You need to be careful, you’re making a mess.” But maybe you like the cold and want to make a mess. This book will reframe some of those must-needed ideas into need-nots. Art has taught me I needed-not what I thought; I already had what I needed.

This quote, taken from the introduction to Kasha Ritter’s The Need-Not Artist, sets readers down a path to artistic freedom by demystifying the creative process and encouraging us to simply be, to let go and play.

If you think you aren’t creative, think again. If you think you need lots of time, talent, and an ever-flowing wellspring of inspiration to create art, you are mistaken. And that’s really good news for those of us who are intimidated by what we think art is and the kind of people we think artists are. Because art is what we do, and artists are who we already are.

Encouraging Look at the Creative Process

In Ritter’s encouraging book, she breaks down every barrier we’ve put in our own way by changing our perspective on ourselves, our creative processes, and the value of our art in our world.

In The Need-Not Artist, you’ll learn that:

You don’t need talent to be an artist — you need experience, which builds it.
You don’t need more time to create art; each work we create will evolve in its own time, according to its own needs, not yours.
You don’t need the support of others; you need to create systems that help you support yourself in your endeavors.
You don’t need to wait for inspiration or struggle to find it; if you look and listen, inspiration is all around you.
You don’t need to feel confident in your abilities; you just need to decide what to do one step at a time, even if you’re not sure it’s the right choice.
You don’t need to have much knowledge or deep insights into your subject or medium; you just need to trust your gut and follow the natural intelligence of your intuition.

Overcoming Our “Need To” Mindset

For those who have ambitions to take their art to a more professional level, Ritter includes a chapter on the management of your art business. But even here, she diffuses our preconceptions of what we need to know and how we need to operate, stuff that otherwise has the potential to completely deter us from this path.

Along the way, she offers useful exercises, both for thinking and for creating, that help us to overcome our “need to” mindset. The result is a practical as well as inspirational guide to creativity. Add to this the gorgeous reproductions of Ritter’s work peppered throughout the book, and you have a slim volume that’s a pleasure to browse, read and re-read as needed. It’s chock full of quotable passages you might want to copy out and post around your studio (or desk, or wherever you do your creative work).

In short, if you are looking to unshackle yourself from your own limitations and get down to the act of creating art, this is the book for you.

About the Author:

Kasha Ritter is a professional artist and author living on Martha’s Vineyard. Originally from New Jersey, her creativity was sparked by her grandmother, Nanny, who told her to stop pushing her brothers off their bikes and sit down and draw her something. She felt a shift in awareness while drawing and when Nanny hung the picture on the fridge, Kasha was hooked. Kasha was also a “Dear Diary…” kid and has been writing as long as she has been drawing. The Need-Not Artist came to life through years of hearing women’s desire to be artistic but feeling they lacked what they needed. This resonated with Kasha because she also felt unqualified to call herself an artist as she started out. Looking back she realised much of what she thought she needed, she needed not. Kasha also has a deep love of personal well being and hopes this book helps others who know they are meant to be artistic. The Need-Not Artist is her first book.