Sitting in my studio and looking out the window at the gray skies, I am reminded why I usually head to drier, warmer climates at this time of year. Not only am I missing the sunshine and warmth of Central America, but I am also missing drawing and painting everyday. This year I made a commitment to stay home to be close with family, focus on our website, catch up on some bookkeeping, spend time in the studio, and set my creative goals for the year.
Celebrating our 20th year in business, I was thinking about my motivation to open Phoenix Art Workshop all those years ago. Having a young family, I thought being my own boss would give me the flexibility to spend time with my kids, make a little art, and share some of my knowledge with the community. Well, in those 20 years my children have grown up, I have shared my passion for art with hundreds of students as well as the larger community, but I have not made that much time for my own art, at least not meaningful art. Twenty years later I am stuck in a creative rut, so I have been thinking a lot about how to turn on the switch and have come up with 5 ideas to feed the fire. For any of you that are feeling the same way … I hope this helps a little knowing you are not alone.
1) Create something every day. When I am travelling I love to paint with my morning coffee: a doodle on a napkin, a pen and ink of my coffee cup, a thumbnail of my view from the studio, anything will do but at least one thing every day.
2) Read more art books. Actual books … you know, the kind with pages you turn. Get inspired by artwork old and new.
3) Set a studio time: Make time in my busy schedule and then tell everyone I am in an important meeting.
4) Set an achievable goal. Get on with it. Time is precious, don’t waste it !
5) Obsess about art. I am often inspired by the words of William Blake when I think about the opportunity of creating meaningful art. “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”
When the above becomes once again part of my routine I know the juices will start flowing. I will keep you posted throughout the year on my journey out of the creative rut toward the palace of wisdom. In the mean time you can look forward to blog posts of a more technical nature where I hope to share with you more art inspiring techniques to feed your fire!