ARTISTS (of all types), how do you get over a creative dry spell?

Question

I am a painter... I haven't REEEALLY painted in a couple years, I've got everything I need to do it. ...but I just can't seem to pick up a brush and paint. Any good secrets you're willing to share, what ever it is you "create"? Thank you bunches!

Answer 1

i try to create something just for fun. i don't aim for high artisticness or anything noble like that. i do photography so i usually just take my polaroid out and start snapping away. not having the pressure to create a 'work of art' is very liberating. it allows me to enjoy the process more than if i was on a deadline or trying to create some deep existential work.
in your case try something dorky, like paint by numbers or buy yourself a cheap camera and go out and take pics. enjoy yourself first. it sounds like you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself to make a 'work of art' and you're not really having any fun with it. for myself, at least, that's the whole point. i create because i enjoy it and because it's fun. maybe try finger painting or a jackson pollock type drip painting. literally connect yourself to the medium and just let the painting happen. don't think too much. just have fun with it until you really get back into the swing of things.

Answer 2

Two years?

I personally seem to do everything in bursts of energy. Like when I painting I usually start and finish a dozen or so within a few weeks. Then I seem to back off, as if re-charging my batteries, and don't paint anything for several more weeks or more. Then the cycle starts again. It's not exactly the best way to go about it.

Getting restarted usually happens through some sudden inspiration, like a friendly smile or an image from a photograph or seeing an unusual building or tree or whatever combination.

Then something inside my head or soul says 'get your butt by to work, dude!' and I listen it that voice.

Three things that might help you:

1. Try going to an art supply store. Not to buy anything but to see the many young and old artists there who have a passion for their art and life.

2. Hang out with other artists and realize that you can do just as well, if not better, that they and get pissed off about the fact that they're painting and you're not.

3. Fall deeply in or out of love. That usually works.

Answer 3

I'm a portrait artist and I get so "dry" it isn't even funny. A very prominent portrait artist I am familiar with, John Howard Sandin says that he gets so blocked that he is "terrified" of approaching the easel. He says that you must "feel the fear and go on and paint even if you are shaking with insecurity". I find that if I just make a date with the easel and make myself go and paint ANYTHING I get into the "zone" and get excited about what's happening on the canvas. I keep a few copies of "American Artist" around and look at the wonderful pictures and I tell myself, "you can paint like that! You are part of this creative fraternity! What a GIFT to be part of the fraternity! Now go MAKE ART!"...well it helps me! Also, I set a tangible goal like commiting to a delivery date for a portrait or to put some pictures in an art show. The old saying, "there's no motivation like a deadline" is really true!

Answer 4

1. Get out your paint and canvas.

2. Unscrew cap of paint.

3. Smear a giant gob all over your hand.

4. Look for the most reasonable place to put it. Your face? No. Your dog? Probably not. Your kitchen sink, maybe? Bad idea, paint clogs drains. The canvas? Hm...

5. Clean up your hand and get to it. Sometimes all it takes is getting the damn paint onto the canvas the first time.

Remember that a dry spell is just when you give in to the 'I have no ideas' voice - if you paint, the ideas will come :)

Oh, and STOP PROCRASTINATING! Make that your mantra.

Answer 5

Go outside and paint.Take your sketch book,and just roam around town.Draw what you see,or find.You can even fight a nice painting spot,by a lake or a river.Don't listen to music while painting outside.You can tune in to nature,and your surrounding better.Don't draw the big picture,but wait until you find something that you can't take your eye off of.

Take that sketch book everywhere with you,and don't lose it.

Or,take a few classes at a local community center to get back into action.Color Theory ,Figure Drawing or Painting.

Answer 6

Creativity works in mysterious ways, and a period of non-activity is part of it. Artist draws their uniqueness from their own personal experiences and the whole cycle of artistic production is very much affected by the enviroment and the artist's passions in itself. Long periods of 'emptiness' eventully results to a hunger and passion to express itself again. These 'unproductive times' are actually 'periods of subconcious incubation of ideas', without you realizing it, you have continiously painted inside and soon it will all unfold. When that happens, take it to the limit and never turn back!!! An artist's like is not measured in the volume or quantity of paintings, its the quality and attempts to reach perfection. Jan Vermeer has painted only 42 paintings in his entire life but each one is now treasured as masterpieces of the highest level. Visualize, dream and visualize again soon the 'magic' will be back and sweetie, have fun !!!!!

Answer 7

really the only thing you can do (and this is the only thing that ever worked for me) is to arrange some quiet time by yourself, then isolate yourself away from the tv, computer, books, etc...take away all distractions, then sit in front of your easel and pick up that brush and pick a color at random and just go. dont worry about making a Painting. Dont worry about making something good. Dont even worry about finishing what you started. Your only goal is just to start and to keep that going. Just keep on starting until you rediscover your flow again. stop thinking of it as something you have to do but as something you want to do, but make your environment something in which no distractions exist to make you want to do something else.

:)

I have also found that it helps to have some time when you arent doing anything at all, not even painting. No tv, no computer, not even shopping or hiking. dont even think about the painting you HAVE to do (thats stress--this empty time is supposed to be stressfree.) just relax and dont think about work, art, errands, just have fun being relaxing. do that for a day, and when you wake up the next day you should feel motivated to start on the advice I gave you above.


For further advice try the books listed below:
Good luck! Hope this helps.

Answer 8

Hi
I like to write, and when I come into a 'blank', I do something new, unusual, something that I would usually never do--out of the ordinary. It tends to open my mind up to new ideas.
I don't usually have to spend money, and I never do anything illegal, just different from my lifestyle.
Let me give you an example: the last time I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to write next, I took a drive and went to eat in a poorer, but pretty safe part of town and just watched the people and things going by in their lives. I was really intrigued by how everything was so much different, even though they lived in the same city as me. It opened my mind, and I was able to come up with new ideas.
For you: Go look at graffitti in your town, get an idea of how other life is, connect with it...........and maybe it will help!
Hope this helps!

Answer 9

Tazaharra's answer expresses quite well how I feel about the subject, too.

"Artists don't get down to work until the pain of working is exceeded by the pain of not working." (Stephen DeStaebler)

I have that printed on a sign in my studio. From time-to-time I ask myself if it is hurting more to paint or not to paint. The answer guides me.

Answer 10

My husband/artist will put all his art stuff away and just walk away, go read a few books, start a blog, do a few websites, immerse himself in life-besides-art and just leave it alone for a while. When he returns to it, he has grown, changed and so has his art. He says that both he and his art mature in cycles and that both of them suffer for it if he's not willing to recognize a season that calls for more growth than self-expression.

Of course, Van Gogh cut off his ear and that seemed to work too...

Rebecca
http://www.ipowergrfx.com