Introduction
Many artists struggle with their inspiration, or their motivation to get arting at all. Muse-less, directionless, demotivated, uninspired — whatever you want to call it, it plagues many creatives from time to time, sometimes for a long time. Likewise, some artists experience a distinct ebb and flow to their drives, riding high when that drive is revved up but suffering a low when that drive is stalled. And it’s no fun. Indeed, it can be frustrating and maddening, making a creative anxious, even despairing, desperate to get to work but totally lacking the impulsion to move forwards.
So how do we jolt ourselves into forward motion? How do we transform our desire to work into actual work? How do we dampen our lack of motivation and replace it with pro-active enthusiasm? The answers to that can be as personal as the artist themselves. In fact, many artists tormented by this situation often have their own coping mechanisms born from a lifetime of this private battle. But in an effort to tease out some steps forwards still, let’s talk about some ways we can fire up our inspirations to hopefully get going, or maybe even avoid this downspiral altogether.
Get Creative — With Anything
Start doing anything creative. Beading, crocheting, playing an instrument, gardening, cooking, scrapbooking, calligraphy, mosaics, embroidery, or just tinkering with art materials can do a lot to get our drives primed. And keep it no-pressure fun with no expectations. Just play around, futz and fiddle and putter. The point is to just get creative in any direction, doing something artsy in some measure. And it doesn’t even have to produce anything — you can walk away at any time and throw out whatever you’ve made. Remember, no pressure.
See, a lot of demotivation can come from a pressure from our expectations we place on ourselves with our art. We have these glorious visions in our heads and want to realize them as perfect as they are in our mind’s eye. Yet when they don’t measure up — because the vision is always more perfect in our head that in our hands — some artists find this discrepancy a personal defeat and so become paralyzed with a catastrophic loss of confidence and self-esteem. But if we do something creative with zero expectation — we create something simply for the frivolous joy of creativity — maybe we can short circuit this switch and get our creative gears gearing again. It’s worth a try, isn’t it?
Turn On The Tune-age
Listening to music can be a powerful inspirer of our creative drives. Absolutely, music moves us, gets us jamming to the beat or with the spirit of the song, stirring our emotions and thoughts in powerful directions. In fact, music triggers special parts of the brain accessible no other way. Indeed, marching music can get people with Parkinson’s to walk again and music can get those with dementia to “come back” for a time. It’s even believed in some scientific circles that music came before language, that our brains are naturally more attuned to music than to language, which could explain music’s strong triggering powers. Point is, tune in if you’d like to reinvigorate your Muse. Classical, rock, surf, folk, punk, new age, metal, alternative, world music, reggae, pop, country…whatever trips your trigger, immerse yourself in it and see what happens. And just listen. Again, have no expectations for a no pressure experience. Just sit back and enjoy and let the music take you to those special places in your psyche where only it can take you.
So see if music can stir your mood and spark memories, cause you to make novel associations and connections, and maybe even get your Muse’s interest piqued. Let it calm you and reduce stress and anxiety, creating a more fertile ground for creativity. Also contemplate how certain atmospheres created by music and the beats and rhythms can impact your art and even be infused into your work as colors, tool strokes, compositions, or narratives.
Studies have also shown that music has a positive impact on creativity, cognitive function, and well-being, also increasing brain activity and learning. In particular, classical music has been shown to have a strong positive impact on productivity, memory retention, and cognitive function, all of which could help your Muse along. In fact, research has also found that music with a faster tempo can get the brain to release dopamine, a brain chemical associated with motivation and gumption. So you never know until you try, right? Pop on those tunes and jam out and let the music take you where it will — I bet at the very least, you have some lovely moments of enriching immersion and meditation, and that usually sets the stage for creative thinking.
Get Back Into The Classroom
Classes and workshops are a tremendous way to get creatively invigorated! The structure of the classroom, the goal-oriented agenda, the learning environment that entices the brain, the experiences with the instructor and the other students, being fascinated by the creations of others, and most of all, the exciting environment that stimulates our curiosity all work together to really get our Muse’s attention. A classroom setting with its built-in support system also boosts our confidence and mojo, making us feel more buoyant and engaged in our creativity.
There are few things the brain likes more than learning something new, that sense of thrilling discovery and revelation that can be so fun. Learning and happily surprising ourselves can truly become joyful addictions and when we apply them to arting, that combination is a potent brew to feed our starving inspiration. So try a new medium! Learn about a new process or technique! And it doesn’t even have to be related to horses — try a class on any arty subject that gets your attention. The point is to get the brain energized again, your confidence built up once more, and your motivations moving you forwards. Where the brain goes, the body will follow. Likewise, where our interests lead, the rest will follow so chase after what seems terribly interesting and just let the rest fall into place. Give it a whirl! There’s nothing to lose, is there?
Doodle and Sketch
Never underestimate the power of doodling. Undeniably, putzing around creatively can truly be a powerful key to unlocking your artistic drives and getting your creativity fired up. For starters, it can become a window into your subconscious mind and your unconscious artistry. This can let you tap into narratives and ideas you might have not considered before. Doodling is also thought to give certain parts of the brain a rest while gearing up other, more helpful areas related to memory and relaxation. Doodling has also been shown to increase creative thinking and problem-solving in a way that’s free of pressure or expectation, allowing for more creative associations to be made. It’s also been found that doodling helps you process emotions so if you’re feeling depressed, anxious, frustrated, or despairing, even desperate, doodle all that out to gain some moments of catharsis. In this way, doodling can reduce stress much like a coloring book can as it calms the amygdala, the portion of the brain responsible for the fight or flight response which is linked to anxiety and stress. Doodling has also been found to help us learn better. Indeed, studies have found that those students who are doodling during a lecture tend to retain more information and make better sense of complex ideas. Similarly, it’s also thought to reduce distraction and increase innovative thinking, priming the brain for stimulation by keeping it out of a default resting state, primed for action. In this way, doodling can help you Big Picture problems or challenges by stimulating both the conscious and unconscious mind, allowing you to make novel connections otherwise untapped. Most of all though, research has found that doodling can improve your mood, making you happier and more relaxed and decompressed, especially when doodling something you love like a pet, loved one, favorite activity, what have you.
Above all though, to reap the benefits of doodling, don’t worry about making mistakes. Nope. Doodling should be simply that — a moody, hypnotic, rhythmic motion on paper that captures your creative whims. It should also last for only about thirty minutes to reap the most brain benefits. Beyond thirty minutes, it’s been found to have diminishing returns. But put it altogether and it’s thought that doodling can boost your creativity and sharpen your productivity, mood, and, focus and sense of well-being. As such, it can also be a kind of safety value, releasing tension and anxiety, decompressing in a non-threatening way. So grab that sketchbook and doodle away! Indulging your whimsical, frivolous fancies is fun and allows your brain to play around with its ideas in novel new ways, and that almost always leads to sparked creativity! Why not try it?
Along those lines, get back to sketching. Like doodling, doing a bunch of loose, no pressure, exploratory sketches can do a lot for your brain’s relaxation and novel engagement. Sketching can also help you work out problems in your visualizations, helping you to problem-solve pesky areas in your sculpting or painting in a reduced-pressure way. Sketching can also become practice and artistic exercises that refine your Eye and skillset, and that can sometimes get the Muse energized to actually put what you’ve learned to the test. So sketch away, my friend! See where it takes you and how it gets your Sight refined and jazzed to See more and do more. Do that regularly and often the creative doldrums just cannot persist in that fertile environment. Give it a go!
Get Back To The Source
Sometimes our Muse is floundering because it needs a direct infusion of the real deal again, the living animal. Without a doubt, there is no more powerful inspiration than the actual living horse for an equine artist. So get out to horse shows to immerse in horsedom. And we can take our camera to shoot photos that inspire us for whatever reason. In fact, consider taking a field trip or engage in art travel to get back out there. And hey, simply signing up for a trail ride can do wonders to poke that Muse into action. And being around horses again is a thrilling and enchanting sensory overload that can certainly entice our Muse. Like the scent of horses, hay, and tack can stir our memories and our hearts, the sound of horses can sooth our souls, and seeing and touching the living animal in person is a potent medicine for the horse lover’s mind and soul.
Along those lines, if you have friends or family with horses, get out there as well to get up close and personal with them again. And we don’t even have to ride then but simply groom them or sit and sketch them in the pasture, just chillin’ out with them.
How ever we engage horses once more, the point is to get ourselves involved in the equine experience again. Truly, for the equine artist, the living animal is almost always the ultimate medicine for an ailing inspiration.
Treasure Hunting
What’s a reference library? Sure, on the surface it’s the reservoir of images we use to create our work. Deep down though, think about what it actually is. What is it really? Well, when you deconstruct it and see it for what it is, it’s really a treasure hunt based on happy discovery, isn’t it? It’s like foraging with a reward system, the reward being that one outstanding image that’s so tremendously useful and insightful or inspiring. So get to foraging! Have a goal in mind, a target, and then set out to find images or articles that hit that target. Just doing this can create an amazing feedback loop of action and reward, of discovery and engagement, that can be highly infectious when it comes to inspiring our artistic drives. We may even come across that one unique image that absolutely gets our inspirations revived and smokin’ along again like a chuggin’ freight train! You just never know what you’ll find out there if you don’t look, right? So surf online. Pore through your horse book library. Study the work of other artists. Above all, leave yourself open to discovery, surprise, and revelation as these are often critical ingredients for riling up our Muse into action.
Board It Up
Similarly, think about constructing an inspiration board, using those references you found as fodder. Absolutely, many artists find this a very handy tool to stay inspired. It can simply be a corkboard to pin all those inspiring images and items onto, amassing them into a collective wad of fascination. In fact, this can become a handy storage depot to keep revisiting when your inspiration needs a recharge, needs just a bit of a boost. And let it evolve as your whimsies dictate. An inspiration board should be exactly that: Pure inspiration that charms your Muse, compelling you into action. Let it inspire novel associations and ideas, let it challenge your sensibilities, let it feed your curiosity, and above all, let it move your emotions in powerful ways. Indeed, our emotional landscape is fertile ground for our Muse to take root and grow — feed it!
That being said though, that’s the trick with inspiration boards, isn’t it? Don’t just gaze at them — do something with them! Let it fire you up into action to drive you forwards into your art, getting you creative again. So don’t stall out after making an inspiration board! Put it to work! Do that, and you might soon find a host of inspirations pop up and want out!
Make It A Habit
For just thirty minutes every day, or even every other day, set aside the time and energy to create some art. You don’t even have to finish it, and in fact, it could just be thirty minutes spent puttering on something. But just get your fingers in that clay or paint again. Make it a hard and fast rule, too, to play around with your art on a regular schedule. The goal is to create a habit, a routine, that’ll start to feel weird if you don’t create for those thirty minutes. Once that happens, tack on another thirty minutes and go from there if you’re feeling it. Just keep it up! Sooner than you think, you’ll have developed a taste for arting again as your pump is better primed for the flow of creativity welled up inside of you. Honestly, sometimes the hardest thing is just “getting out the door,” but once we’re out, it’s a breeze after that! Give it a try — see what just thirty minutes can do for your inspirations!
Take A Rest
Sometimes our inspiration is elusive simply because we’re exhausted. We’re just beaten down and fried by life — it happens. It takes a lot of energy to sustain our inspiration, but if that energy has been depleted by our situation, there’s nothing left over for arting. This is okay — this is normal. This is the nature of stress and compression and the subsequent exhaustion that follows in the wake.
So consider positive, no-pressure ways to decompress and set aside thirty minutes a day for it, if you can. Have some “me time,” and make that a priority. Like consider reading, sketching, or creating quick maquettes. Watch some movies or TV shows. In fact, rewatching favorite ones on a loop has been shown to be a handy way to depressurize with comforting familiarity. Or just stare out of a window and let your mind wander in daydreaming. Don’t knock daydreaming! It can indeed be a curious way to make freer associations and novel connections as our mind simply wanders where it will in a more restive state.
Also think about possibly getting away from things. For instance, this might be a great time to take that artist retreat trip or travel to that workshop you’ve always wanted to take. There are loads of amazing artist getaways pretty much available everywhere. Or maybe simply take a trip to a dude ranch and take your sketchbook for kicks. Visit a sculpture garden, art gallery, museum, art fairs, or enjoy one of those open studio tours some cities offer. Go to conventions and expos and comicons. Go camping, take a hike, walk along the beach.
Any which way, the point is to pinpoint the area of stress, find ways to mediate it best you can, and tease out conduits that regenerate the precious energy needed to feed your motivations despite it all — and sometimes that looks like just getting away from it all. There’s this, too: Simply having something to look forward to can do tremendous good for your mood and motivations! Indeed, studies have shown that having that Big Thing as a happy anticipation can improve your sense of well-being and engagement almost immediately.
Conclusion
If you notice, all these things depend on one thing: You being pro-active. That’s the prerequisite — you have to make the effort to reclaim your creativity. It’s just highly unlikely that the pump can restart itself without priming. Inspiration has to find you working, not just thinking about it and definitely not sullen and resistant. Inspiration demands action by its very nature — it must be acted upon, right? Well, help that along by being the first one in that relationship to invest in some pro-active initiative.
Arting is good for you — its good for the mind, the heart, and the soul. For an artist to lack inspiration then is like a bike without wheels: You’re just not fulfilling your purpose it seems. You cannot move forwards in your creativity and that blockage feels wrong, deep down. It nags at you I’m sure. Well, doing something pro-active about it can actually feel pretty darned good and that can be a first spark, can’t it? Sometimes all we need to get one foot in front of the other is a little push, right? So recognize the need for you to get back to arting again and invest in yourself just enough to prime that pump of creativity. Believe you me, you and your art are worth the effort!
“Creativity doesn’t wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moment out of ordinary ones.”
— Bruce Garrabrandt
