With all the changes of COVID-19 to our lives, such as being in the throws of learning to school at home, learning tech you might not have ever had to use before and do it for your young child or convince a teen to attend a virtual class that might be graded, cooking at home without all the ingredients, trying to maintain order and cleanliness in the home (anyone else tired of sanitizing everything that has ever touched another human hand? NO. Just me?) and most possibly finding yourself doing all these things on top of working part or full time from home using tech you may or may not ever had to use in your life or worse, without a job at all. How on earth will we ever have time to be creative again.
It’s a lot to juggle. I get it!
My family of seven, children ranging from ages 6-20, has had their share of “Covid-19: Life Interrupted” along with all its inconvenient and scary things, you see my husband works at the hospital, the two edge sword. He has a paying job that had the potential to kill him. Thankfully, our area is recovering quickly and the outbreaks have been minimal. However, the silver lining? Stress.
Stress: the energy sucker of creativity. I am guessing if you are here, reading my humble blog, it is because you are a creative being and need to create. I was recently asked to share some ideas on how to stay focused, energized, and organized while leaning into a space to still be creative.
My answer was fairly simple: for me, coming to terms with my ebbs and flows and being okay with that while making sure I keep my 3 top priorities at the top of my day: one for this creative business of painting, one for my family, and one for myself (spiritually, physically, emotionally, or intellectually). If I can do those three things everything else is a bonus. It allows me to make small simple steps toward progress without feeling overwhelmed by all.the.things. Channeling my inner tortoise, as it were, versus my need to sprint to the finish line like a hare. But here are some ideas, simple & effective, in getting into the groove of creativity if you have lost it, feel unmotivated to, or simply don’t know what to create.
1.Try a new medium or dabble in a new style. Let your daydreams run freely. What would you try to create if you knew you couldn’t “fail”? What would you experiment in for the sake of creative curiosity? Stuck and can’t think of anything?
2. List 12 items that come to your mind randomly or theme based and number them 1-12. Get yourself a set of dice and roll your artwork design by number and incorporate each new roll of the die into your piece. Keep going until you find a balance within yourself or create something so ridiculous you laugh in spite of yourself. (My favorite take away from, “Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists” by Carla Sonheim (Numbers Game, page 94)
3. Turn up the beat in your studio or kitchen or creative nook and switch up genre often. Let the music inform your creativity like color choices, mark making, brush work, or the mood of the artwork. Just let the music move through you and give in to your wild impulses to simply create. The end result is of no consequence, in fact making a glorious mess is quite liberating. (However, you are likely to surprise yourself and learn something fascinating about the artist inside.) I find too for a more meditative and methodical approach, sitting in complete silence is a great way to let inspiration whisper into your work to let things come to mind and pursue those nudges.
4. Relocate locally, that means your body mechanics and place of creativity. Since you’ve got that music filling your space why not take a dance break often, choose to stand instead of sit or sit instead of stand? (Extra creative kudos if you choose to use your non-dominate hand in 2D art.)
5. Create a new nook or portable basket for quick bursts of creativity filled with easy to use supplies like watercolor pans, permanent markers, colored pencils, knitting, felting, crochet or macrame basket, free form tearing of collage materials, daydreaming with a pen in hand sketching, note taking, or journaling. Then move around your house finding different places to sneak in a few minutes here or there to be creative. Eventually, adventure outside on a nice day and observe how it shifts your creative energy and inspiration. Listen for sounds, smells, colors and let your senses do the talking.
6. To create interesting work, you must first be interesting. Expand your own personal experience with creating in a different or new endeavor. My favorite past times lately have been to pick up a recipe I have been aching to try or simply peaks my interest or simplify and reorganize a room in our home.
7. Take a walk and observe a specific shape or color the whole way. What memories does this conjure up? How do you feel? What story is there to tell?
8. Read a book that has been sitting in your wish list or on your nightstand for far too long - especially those that encourage creativity! Better yet, listen to a podcast or audiobook and let your pen/pencil wander on a scrap paper while you listen. Jot down words that pop out at you and draw images that come to mind.
9. Above all, give yourself some grace, and know this too shall pass. The sun always rises. The flowers still bloom. Life can still flourish and most definitely we can still grow which is our greatest creative endeavor.