I have no definitive expertise or experience to draw upon in giving this answer, but my understanding of bhakti is that it can be considered as a devotional 'attitude', a 'feeling', or perhaps even a 'mindset' of powerful and emotive spiritual love or attachment felt by the bhakta powards their personal deity. It is a means of foregrounding or immersing oneself in a devotional mode of consciousness, a means of consciously and intentionally performing actions (whatever they may be) with the deity in mind and thus imbuing such actions with a sense of devotional service, performed with the minimal of personal ego and as a means of spiritual service to the divine. Ultimately this is a means of subsuming or merging the personal consciousness of devotee within the supreme divine consciousness of the deity and is often understood in terms of union between or unity with the deity (depending on whether the theistic relationship is conceived of as being a dualistic or non-dualistic). With regards to your specific question I would suggest that there are multiple but fundamentally interlinked 'approaches' that might be employed to in exploration of your question:
Firstly - the deity can be the object of the artistic creation, such as creating an image or a physical form, a tribute, or articulating a percption or a personal understanding of the deity for example. In doing this the bhakta is holding an objective focus on the deity, the characteristics and attributes it emobodies, the way in which it interacts with the individual, or its devotees or indeed within the manifest universe. The artist is cultivating their own theistic awareness of the deity in behaving in this way.
Secondly - the artist is, in their act of creation imitating the divine act of creation. It might be intersting to consider the mythological descriptions of why or how or for what reason the chosen deity is said to manifest the universe, how are the powers of creation described? The idea of lila is often given as divine motivation for creating, the term literally means 'play' and in this sense is embodying the sense in which children play purely for the sake of the nejoyment of play and do so without expectation of external reward other than the sheer joy and wonder of play itself. When applied as the motivation for divine creation the idea is indicating that the act of creation in no way indicates a limitation of the divine, it creates no because it needs to or has to and it does not create with an expectation of reward (as this would indicate an inital imperfection in the divine). It creates out of the sheer joy of being able to. Again different traditions will overlay aspects of the deities personality or attributes on to this basic premise. For the bhakta artist it might be intersting to explore this idea, how and why does the artist create, with what attitude or mindest are they creating, to what extent is their act of creation unattached to the outcome or reward? Is their benefit from cultivating a non-attached mode of creating their art? Similarly you will sometimes find the creative artistic act being used as a metaphor for divine creation. The artistic act is understood as an expression 'within the moment' of an overflowing of joy, breaking into song or dance are obvious examples. Again in what way might the devotee use these ideas to better understand or align their own actions with the object of their devotion?
Thirdly - Any action can be considered an act of devotional service if approached, performed and understood in the appropriate bhakti consciousness, as above this frmae of mind might be understood as acting without attachment or expectation of reward since the bhakta is solely focused on the object of their devotion and the cultivation of their sense of devotional love for the deity. How might the bhakta artist create within such a mindset or consciouness? In what way might they cultivate this emotionally powerful mode of serving? In what way do they understand the relationship between their artistic practice or output and their theistic devotion? In many ways this final appraoch emodies the previous and underpins the cultivation of bhakti experience or practice within the bhakta.
Ultimately bhakti is a means of cultivating the theistic relationship often characterised by spiritual attahcment, surrender or service whilst also a means of lessening or loosening the devotee's sense of personal self or ego in order to become closer to their deity and perhaps experiencing a sense of transcendent union / unity with divine consciousness. I would ask this core question: In what ways does the bhakta's artistic pursuit enable them to become closer to their deity and deepend their devoitonal undertanding and practice?
Apologies for the ramble and if I have conveyed much that you are already well aware of. It is an intersting topic given the correlations mentioned above regards the 'practice of creating', the above only scratches the surface and I know these ideas have been explored academically - useful sources might include:
Edited volume from 1995 academic papers exploring the concept of Lila:
I have no definitive expertise or experience to draw upon in giving this answer, but my understanding of bhakti is that it can be considered as a devotional 'attitude', a 'feeling', or perhaps even a 'mindset' of powerful and emotive spiritual love or attachment felt by the bhakta powards their personal deity. It is a means of foregrounding or immersing oneself in a devotional mode of consciousness, a means of consciously and intentionally performing actions (whatever they may be) with the deity in mind and thus imbuing such actions with a sense of devotional service, performed with the minimal of personal ego and as a means of spiritual service to the divine. Ultimately this is a means of subsuming or merging the personal consciousness of devotee within the supreme divine consciousness of the deity and is often understood in terms of union between or unity with the deity (depending on whether the theistic relationship is conceived of as being a dualistic or non-dualistic). With regards to your specific question I would suggest that there are multiple but fundamentally interlinked 'approaches' that might be employed to in exploration of your question:
Firstly - the deity can be the object of the artistic creation, such as creating an image or a physical form, a tribute, or articulating a percption or a personal understanding of the deity for example. In doing this the bhakta is holding an objective focus on the deity, the characteristics and attributes it emobodies, the way in which it interacts with the individual, or its devotees or indeed within the manifest universe. The artist is cultivating their own theistic awareness of the deity in behaving in this way.
Secondly - the artist is, in their act of creation imitating the divine act of creation. It might be intersting to consider the mythological descriptions of why or how or for what reason the chosen deity is said to manifest the universe, how are the powers of creation described? The idea of lila is often given as divine motivation for creating, the term literally means 'play' and in this sense is embodying the sense in which children play purely for the sake of the nejoyment of play and do so without expectation of external reward other than the sheer joy and wonder of play itself. When applied as the motivation for divine creation the idea is indicating that the act of creation in no way indicates a limitation of the divine, it creates no because it needs to or has to and it does not create with an expectation of reward (as this would indicate an inital imperfection in the divine). It creates out of the sheer joy of being able to. Again different traditions will overlay aspects of the deities personality or attributes on to this basic premise. For the bhakta artist it might be intersting to explore this idea, how and why does the artist create, with what attitude or mindest are they creating, to what extent is their act of creation unattached to the outcome or reward? Is their benefit from cultivating a non-attached mode of creating their art? Similarly you will sometimes find the creative artistic act being used as a metaphor for divine creation. The artistic act is understood as an expression 'within the moment' of an overflowing of joy, breaking into song or dance are obvious examples. Again in what way might the devotee use these ideas to better understand or align their own actions with the object of their devotion?
Thirdly - Any action can be considered an act of devotional service if approached, performed and understood in the appropriate bhakti consciousness, as above this frmae of mind might be understood as acting without attachment or expectation of reward since the bhakta is solely focused on the object of their devotion and the cultivation of their sense of devotional love for the deity. How might the bhakta artist create within such a mindset or consciouness? In what way might they cultivate this emotionally powerful mode of serving? In what way do they understand the relationship between their artistic practice or output and their theistic devotion? In many ways this final appraoch emodies the previous and underpins the cultivation of bhakti experience or practice within the bhakta.
Ultimately bhakti is a means of cultivating the theistic relationship often characterised by spiritual attahcment, surrender or service whilst also a means of lessening or loosening the devotee's sense of personal self or ego in order to become closer to their deity and perhaps experiencing a sense of transcendent union / unity with divine consciousness. I would ask this core question: In what ways does the bhakta's artistic pursuit enable them to become closer to their deity and deepend their devoitonal undertanding and practice?
Apologies for the ramble and if I have conveyed much that you are already well aware of. It is an intersting topic given the correlations mentioned above regards the 'practice of creating', the above only scratches the surface and I know these ideas have been explored academically - useful sources might include:
Edited volume from 1995 academic papers exploring the concept of Lila:
https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-gods-at-play-9780195091021?cc=gb&lang=en&
A more recent 2017 journal article exploring Lila:
https://rdcu.be/dhTCm
A 2019 journal paper addressing the relationship between bhakti devotion and art:
https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiz009
And one more 2019 paper by the same author as above exploring the themes of bhakti and identity.
https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiz007
Let me know if these look useful in your endeavours but are unable to access the journal articles.