December 10th, 2024
My blog is supposed to be about art ideas and process but there are times when it's really hard to make art. I've
had to put things on hold for a number of weeks because of familial
obligations and this comes at a great cost to my generally good humour and
disposition. When life takes over, as it tends to do now every so often, it
inevitably affects my ability to work. If I am unable to express myself
on a regular basis, I get frustrated and grumpy. Panic, depression and lethargy inevitably set in. Soaking in a negative bath of self pity and doubt, questions arise such as –
- What if I never get a decent idea again?
- Am I doomed make crap forever from now on?
- Why don't I feel like doing anything?
Here are strategies I sometimes use to get out of creative funks:
- Draw frustration and anger via expressive drawing! Lines directly linked to these kinds of emotions tend to be hard, fast and violent. Expect to rip the surface or instead, use large sheets of at least 140 pound paper to avoid unwanted holes.
- Blog, journal, or both! Do a mental inventory, writing is a good way to get back on track. Make sure to burn what you write afterwards. You don't want your irritations and resentments to be read by others (she says while blogging to the world)!
- Read murder mysteries, escapist stuff. Try to solve the "who done it?" Guaranteed to remove the worry factor temporarily and allows the brain to nourish itself in other ways. Trouble with this technique is that it's easy to spend the entire day reading and get absolutely nothing else done. Cooking supper? What's that? A container of cottage cheese will do just fine for me but my roomie might not be impressed.
- Sort and clean. Not a fun activity but it's great way to reboot –– clean slate and all that! An additional benefit of this strategy is simultaneous downsizing.
- Go for a walk although that's often hard to do here in Canada during the winter months. The ground can be treacherous due to freezing rain or icy snow patches on sidewalks. I ask you, is sanity worth the risk of a fracture? It's a toss up!
- Rest.
The québécois saying "petit train va loin" (literally translates as "little train goes far") loosely means "slow and steady wins the race" or as I understand it, do a bit everyday and eventually things will improve or get done.
At around midnight...
Much later, enveloped by the quiet of darkness, I drew an image on my iPad. I told myself to 'just draw and see what happens even if you don't feel like it'. The resulting image is not exactly a combo of frustration and anger. Looks more like pure escapism to me!
I wanted to travel back to a time when my knees didn't hurt and I could zigzag for hours on end on the dance floor. Obviously dancing the night away is not going to happen any time soon or perhaps ever again but I'm thankful the drawing brought me back there for a little while. There is hope!
December 11th, 2024
I am really proud of my progress thus far. I removed a lot of stuff from the studio. I was and am still overwhelmed by unnecessary materials I thought I might need some day. My entire abode looks like a bomb hit it. I have a slew of large transparent garbage bags filled with bubble wrap and plastic packaging piled up in the kitchen plus boxes from various suppliers that need to be broken down for recycling.
Gueulart Artist Run Centre wants the packaging material. Repurposing is the way to go. What better place for all of it than at an artist run space?
I keep moving things around in the studio. I'm still not sure where the best place is for some of my art effects. I've already thrown out a lot of collage and resource material, some of it over 25 years old. My fear is that when I get my studio reorganized, I won't be able to find anything. If I don't see what I need, it doesn't exist. Unfortunately my workspace is small and needs to be neat, at least initially, for me to get going. Maybe now is not the right time to worry about getting things right the first time around. The end of the year is approaching. All will fall into place next year. (Famous last words!)
Comments
Post a Comment