How to Deal with a Creative Block
Aug 1, 2010 Creativity
As I sit here staring at a blank notepad, I realize the similiarities between blogging and art making. Writing a blog post, like most other creative endeavors, can sometimes be like pulling teeth. And I thought to myself, “how can this be turned into a learning experience?”
Some days just are not conducive to creating art. It could be that you’ve spent your creative energies elsewhere, or that you’re not in the right mood, or that the circumstances aren’t quite right. When it comes to creative blocks, there are two basic ways you can respond: push through it, or ride it out.
Ride the Wave of Non-Creativity
There will be times in your art career when you do not create. It’s best to accept this now.
There can be a lot of guilt associated with not creating. Sometimes our minds and bodies just need a break. At these times, you need to forgive yourself and not torture yourself with things you should be doing. Instead, embrace the hiatus as what it is: a chance to re-energize, re-organize, and re-invest yourself in other activities.
Taking some time off doesn’t mean that you’re not an artist. It doesn’t even mean that you’re a bad artist. It just means that you’re taking a break.
Riding it out isn’t always the best option. You might find that your break lasts longer than you expected, or you may be working under a deadline. In these circumstances, it’s better to push through your creative block.
Pushing Through
Pushing through the block simply means creating anyways, whether you feel like it or not. This can be done in a journalistic way that expresses your frustration. Today’s image is a page from an old sketchbook of mine. I clearly remember feeling the need to do something, but being entirely uninspired. Simply writing the words “why can’t I create?” vented some of that frustration and helped me feel a tiny bit productive.
The important thing to remember when pushing through a creative block is to not put pressure on yourself. Try something simple like doodling and keep the focus on experimentation and play. You could also try enrolling in a class that will give you projects, criteria and deadlines to work with.
Once you get the ball rolling, creativity often takes on a life of its own, much like this blog post! Whatever the cause, creative blocks are frustrating. Ride it out or push through, just don’t stress about it.
And on a completely unrelated note…
Want to Write a Guest Post?
You don’t need to be an expert, you just need to be willing to share! Your experience and knowledge is a valuable resource for other artists.
Guest posts are win-win. They provide me with content for my blog in areas outside my experience, but more importantly they provide you with a chance to share your ideas, get exposure for your art and website, and network. All guest posts will include an author’s bio with a link back to your website or blog.
To submit an article, e-mail me at info@learntoart.com.
Tags: art tips, Creativity, motivation
Creating a “Body of Work”
Jul 1, 2010 Art General, Creativity
The art world is full of frustratingly vague terms. Let’s dispel a little of this ambiguity!
What the heck is a “body of work” anyways??
Simply put, it is a collection of art that (and here’s the clincher!) has a common theme throughout.
It’s not enough to collect every drawing/sketch/collage you’ve done in the past ten years and declare that you have a body of work! A true body of work needs to have a thread of commonality running through it, whether that thread is a colour, a process, or a subject matter.
Think of Picasso’s Blue Period. That is a body of work! A series of paintings with a common theme and colour palette.
Why is this important?
Art galleries want to see a body of work. This gives them a deeper understanding of your art practice, the confidence that you can see a project through, and a theme to build an exhibition around. If you submit a collection of random works to a curator, he/she will think (probably rightly so!) that you have no idea who you are as an artist.
If you want to exhibit your art, therefore, it is extremely important to develop a body of work.
But how?
You need to create a series of work that has a common theme, which can be harder than it sounds!
When you hit upon an idea that is particularly exciting to you, tell yourself to stick with it for another ten or so pieces. This doesn’t mean that you do the same thing over and over ten times. It means that you work with the same ideas, developing and refining them as you go. As well as giving you a body of work, this will allow you to explore your ideas in great depth.
Here are a few (of many) possible themes:
1. Similar Subject Matter
Choose a subject that you feel passionate about, that you’d really like to explore in depth. Just off the top of my head, this could be something like “the castles of Wales,” or “the beaches of Australia.” It could also be something like “lines” or “squares.” If you love beaches, challenge yourself to paint as many beaches as possible. Expand your focus within the beach theme, paintinng beaches at different times of the day or in different seasons. Try a close-up view. Try a panoramic shot.
2. A Single Subject
Picking a single subject allows you a lot of freedom when it comes to materials and techniques. Love the look of that tea pot? Now render it in as many different ways as you can. You can even start to abstract the image, as Cezanne did with his still life paintings.
3. A Colour
Sticking to a colour palette or a single colour also allows you the freedom of subject matter and materials. Whatever you’re interested in, challenge yourself to use only a certain colour(s), but let yourself explore that colour in different ways.
The trick to developing a body of work is that you need to provide yourself with interesting challenges. You need to keep each piece fresh and new, all the while working within your selected theme. Some themes develop naturally as you grow as an artist, but other themes are limitations deliberately employed by the artist to stretch themselves creatively.
When to Lay the Body to Rest
Whether you’ve been working with the same theme for weeks or years, there will come a time when it stops being meaningful to you. As an artist, you need to be sensitive to and aware of this. When you sense yourself becoming bored with a series, it’s time to either discard it and start something new, or introduce a new element to bring the excitement and uncertainty back.
Tags: Creativity, galleries
Big Art, Small Art
May 30, 2010 Creativity
What size do you typically work in? Do you always work in the same size, or do you change it up? How do you decide what size you want to work? Do you work in a size that’s comfortable?
Personally, I like a lot of variety when it comes to sized.
Going between big art and small art helps the creative juices flow. It sparks new ideas and allows you to see links and parallels between the works that can lead to a deeper understanding of your own art.
Small Art
Lots of artists do small art in the form of studies. Working small allows you to work very quickly. It only takes a few brushstrokes to cover your surface, so it is easier to work spontaneously and expressively. Small art often captures a sense of energy and movement.
Also, because you have less room, it is necessary to “edit” or simplify your subject matter in order to fit it all. Working small doesn’t always mean working with small tools. It can be an interesting challenge to do a small painting with a regular-sized paint brush.
Big Art
Big art has its own set of challenges and advantages. The challenge can be filling up all the space. It takes much longer and because of that, it can be difficult to maintain the spontaneity of brushstroke in smaller works.
On the other hand, big art can open up new possibilities, giving you more space to let loose and get expressive. This is especially true if you’re used to working on a smaller scale. Going big can be very liberating!
Variety in Art
Changing things up in your art practice is so important. Moving between subjects, mediums and size are great ways to generate new ideas. The act of re-interpreting your style and finding different ways to express yourself not only enriches your experience as an artist but keeps you from stagnating.
On Comfort
If you’re at a point in your art career where you feel comfortable, you need to change something! Art isn’t about comfort, it’s about presenting yourself with new challenges and finding ways to overcome them.
If you always work on the same size canvas because it’s comfortable and practical, find a way to change it up. Always working the same way will almost always produce the same kind of work.
PS: Only a few more days to win a tote bag loaded with free art supplies!
Tags: art, art tips, Creativity
Recognize Your Accomplishments
Feb 24, 2010 Art General, Creativity
I’ve been sick for the past couple of days. First it was a sore throat, then a cough, and now sinus congestion. Not fun!
Because I’ve generally felt like crap, I’ve had to put a few of my projects on hold for a little while so that I can rest up. Which annoys me.
I, and many other artists, put a lot of pressure on myself. To produce work, to research, to learn, to blog, to network, to teach, to market. It’s overwhelming and exhausting. At any one time, I might be working on ten different projects, with another thirty floating around somewhere in my brain. Maybe I’ll get to them tomorrow, maybe in five years, maybe never. Either way, there is always a feeling of having not enough time to do everything I want to do.
Any time taken away from the pursuit of art is a frustration. It’s an opportunity that might be missed or an idea that may never come to fruition.
Whenever I feel this kind of pressure building up, I try to remind myself of all the things I’ve already done.
It’s easy to become overwhelmed and frustrated. It’s easy to focus on all the things we have yet to accomplish. And it’s easy to compare ourselves to those we see as more successful. But what about the things you’ve already done? Have you given yourself enough credit for those things?
No matter where you are in your art journey, you have accomplished something. For many people, the decision to pursue art is a major accomplishment in itself!
Take some time to think about the things you have done and what they mean in your life. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else, just focus on yourself.
- What obstacles have you overcome?
- What challenges have you faced?
- What are your successes?
- What do you feel proud of?
Before you turn your attention back to all your future projects, give yourself a pat on the back for all the things you’ve already accomplished!
Tags: Creativity, motivation
If You Think It, Do It! - Advice for Artists
Jan 28, 2010 Art General, Creativity
A common misconception about artists is that they can see things in their minds. They can envision colour combinations and imagine the way different patterns and textures go together. While this is true to some extent, we shouldn’t always make creative decisions based on these visions. As artists, we are visual and it’s essential for us to see.
As a teenager, I did a lot of sewing. The most difficult part of that process for me was choosing the fabrics. I would be overwhelmed by the choices and, to my poor mother’s frustration, would have no idea about what colours and patterns would work with each other. I relied mostly on her judgement for this, and it wasn’t until my garment was finished that I was able to see that she had been right.
People seem to think it’s really strange that an artist can’t tell what colours and patterns should go together, but without actually seeing them in a composition, it’s impossible to know how they will relate to each other.
This is the reason that many artists do thumbnail studies. It allows them to see several different compositions before choosing the one that is right. Some artists even do colour studies before starting on a painting to work out the best colour combinations. How many times have you gotten deep into an artwork and realized, “that yellow is the wrong yellow.”
And that’s not a bad thing! A big part of the artistic process is identifying and fixing problems, which is where today’s advice comes in: if you think it, do it
Sometimes, as the artist, we become so attached to a piece that we are afraid to change it. The artwork becomes precious to us and this limits our creativity to the point where we avoid anything that we think might “ruin” it.
Have you ever finished a piece and had a niggling thought in the back of your mind that something should be different? That an area needs to be darker or lighter, that there should be a splodge of blue somewhere? A thought that just won’t go away no matter how many times you tell yourself the piece is done?
I think we all have! The question is: do you act on these persistent urges?
If you don’t, you could be missing out on something new and exciting.
When you have a thought that just won’t leave you alone, when you get that urge to do something dramatically different, act on it. Don’t worry about ruining your piece. You need to have the confidence that if you’ve done something once, you can do it again. If whatever change you make detract from your work, you need to know that you will be able to fix it.
Don’t rely on your imagination to make aesthetic decisions. You need to do it, see it, and evaluate it.
If you’re really and truly concerned about making any permanent changes to something, consider using an alternative method. With the painting above, it started out as all reds and pinks. I had this thought that it might look more interesting with some bits of blue peeking through. Instead painting over my piece, I painted blue on some paper, then glued it in different places on the painting. This allowed me to find the places where the blue would be most effective.
Also consider using digital means. With a program like Photoshop, or Corel Draw, or Gimp, you can edit and make changes on the computer without affecting your finished piece. This lets you change colours, change composition, change whatever.
The bottom line is this: don’t ignore those persistent ideas in the back of your mind. Run with it and see what happens because it could be the thing that sparks a whole new series of work. If you always do the same old, you’ll always do the same old! Art is about change and growth, so don’t hold yourself back. If you think it, do it!
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