So I realized that this is my first post in a while. I’ve been studying obstacles to creativity. More accurately, they’ve been smacking me in the face in the last couple of weeks. I’ve decided that while my new exercise commitment is helping with my stress, some things you just can’t avoid.
Bits and Pieces VII, 24x60
Not that I haven’t been productive. I have finished a few paintings, a commission and packed up work to get off to Julie Nester Gallery for my show in July. But I haven’t exactly been in the most positive frame of mind while doing it. I think the paintings I have finished are good, maybe some of the best work I’ve done in a while, but I am having a hard time sitting back and enjoying it without also steeping in some of the day to day stress that is my life right now.
So, what do you do to leap over the obstacles that impede your creativity? Serious and not so serious answers welcome.
June 25, 2010 at 5:34 pm
I look at art that will inspire me… preferably in person but sometimes online. There’s nothing like really beautiful work to get my juices flowing again. Oh, and then there’s my new addiction… massage!
June 25, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Thanks Jhina, I’m headed to your website right now!!
June 25, 2010 at 7:41 pm
I think a large obstacle for me is too many paintings all over the studio right now. I need to get some moved around and a more open space to paint.
June 25, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Hi Amber,
I must agree with Jhina that looking at other photographer’s work is very inspiring to me. It’s funny but often I “see through” what’s depicted in someone’s image and that in return gives me an idea for a cool photograph. So definitely other people’s work is one of the main inspiration 🙂 Going to art-shows, watching famous movies and shopping is another way of getting my creativity flowing again.
June 27, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Amber, I can empathize with your struggle, although if the pieces included in this blog are the product of your angst, you need to struggle often…they are beautiful!
I’ve not had an opportunity to paint in a bit because my focus is elsewhere. But, I am preparing for a project and haven’t had the mindset to look into what I am going to do with my next series. But, I got away from my life and drove for 2 hours on country roads, at my own pace and chatting with my inner self. I found a connection to where I wanted to take my series, and the stress disappeared. I felt like I had just been to a day’s spa.
Then, the next day I accompanied my husband, Ned, to some garage sales (his favorite way to spend time). And, I found another thread to where I am going with this new series…and I am thrilled.
Maybe letting our mind take a vacation from what is at hand allows our inner self to have an opportunity to connect. with the big picture.
June 27, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Hey Cree! Thanks for the kind words about the work, it may not look like I’m trying to get things figured out but I am! I think I’d have painted more but, well, anyway. Glad you are having fun, and getting inspired, reminds me of a proverb in German that a friend loosely translated for me, “change is better than a rest.” Maybe I’ll do some changing! Can’t wait to reconnect in the fall!
July 20, 2010 at 9:26 am
O, this sounds so prosaic next to others’ mojo-recapture methods, but it’s what I do. I find it hard to get going when I have that weight of too much time between paintings, or a commissioned painting I don’t really want to do… so I reconnect with my materials: I clean brushes and palette knives and paint tube mouths and lids. I scrape away all vestiges of old paint, using a pointy palette knife. Somehow, scraping away that encrusted stuff, digging the semi-dried paint off the tube mouths, touching the tools, picking the jellied linseed oil off the rim of the bottle… it prepares me to dive in (in a zen-meets-Hazel sort of way). Helps me think about the work ahead. Not very romantic, but clears the decks and eases me in.
July 20, 2010 at 9:48 am
Bronle – I do think that there is a correlation to wiping the slate clean, so to speak, and refreshing your mind. And I think it gives you time to consider the next step. I’m really getting back in the studio in earnest today, so I’m going to give my palette a good cleaning and get to work!