Introduction to Part IV
We’re back in Part IV of this 6-part series exploring artist block and burnout, and many of the practical strategies for jettisoning them out of your airlock. Because it’s critical to protect your arting since your creativity is immensely important both for you and our genre. You see, creativity is very very good for you! Indeedy, it's good for your brain, body, and wellbeing, as more and more studies are discovering. Creativity has even been found to be as effective as regular exercise to slow biological aging! Know it or not, too, but you being creative could mean a breath of new life into our art form since we just never know where the next innovation or fresh insight will come from, do we? It could come from you! So if you develop more fearlessness in your creativity, enough to really jump in head first into our arts, that’s a win win all the way ‘round! Woot! And knowing how to keep block and burnout in check is a survival skill for any artist, working in any genre. Ya gotta have this toolkit! So enough talk! Let’s continue our deep dive into the proactive strategies that can help us carve them out from our art life!…
The Turnaround Strategies, cont’d
Schedule it: Focus on the habit of making art, set a schedule. Folks like us create not for the big reveal, do we? No. We create because it’s in our bones, it’s who we are. Arting is as necessary and natural as breathing. So commit to consistent small arting sessions rather than simply waiting for inspiration to pummel your noggin. “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working,” said Pablo Picasso, and he’s absolutely right. So create art daily, even on the smallest scale, regardless of the end goal or result. Now it may be a challenge in a busy calendar to make time for arting, but like any important appointment, arting deserves a spot in your daily routine, too. So just schedule regular, undisturbed blocks of time to art. Even short sessions can lead to goodly progress and maintain artistic rhythm. Heck, it can be as simple as doodling or sketching, nothing major, just get to it. Truly, integrating creativity into your everyday life can cultivate a more productive artistic journey and lead to tangible growth a lot faster than waiting around for inspiration to kick in. Then when you’re ready, you can make arting a more expansive part of your day rather than just a scheduled session — or not. Whatever works for you, whatever gets you creative regularly is the right choice. The point is to create consistency, practice daily, and don’t break the artistic flow. Show up. Sure, it takes discipline, but once it gains momentum, you’re going to feel a lot more empowered and energized, then just watch your courage and confidence grow! Routine breeds consistency and consistency breeds inspiration, so show up and do the work — your art will thank you.
Trick yourself: Tell yourself that you’re going to destroy the first steps you create whether sculpting, painting, tack-making or whatever. Into the proverbial bin. You see, this releases pressure and destroys expectations, but paradoxically, you often end up keeping those initial steps or pieces anyway. But you need to give yourself permission to first vent the pressure.
Inspire Inspiration: Sometimes our inspiration needs a little help, like its pump needs to be primed. So go to horse shows and expos, galleries and museums, visit open studios and art fairs. Read poetry, look at horse books, watch horse videos or movies, listen to music, take some reference photographs. Plus, engaging other forms of art can inspire your imagination and infuse some new perspectives and aesthetics into your work. Allowing creativity to seep into every aspect of you life can till fertile soil for your inspiration because ideas can come from many unexpected sources. And never underestimate the power of Nature to be monumentally inspirational! Then put yourself to work with sketching, doodling, drawing, photographing, whatever. Do some plein air painting to capture a compelling in situ moment. Whatever trips your trigger. But one inspiration will lead to another which will lead to another, and soon you’ll be in a proverbial room full of countless inspirations ping-ponging off the walls! That’s how inspiration actually works! Once you get it going, it self-sustains as one idea births another, and off you go.
Art play: The truth is, if you’re doing it right, your art is always play. So when you get stuck, or are uninspired or unmotivated, remember to get back to playing around again with your creativity. Experiment. FAFO. Explore and discover. Push boundaries and challenge convention, especially your own. Not only does this expand your skillset and explore your potential, but it’ll reignite your arting to keep your work fresh and evolving. Remember, learning means experimentation so make that intrinsic to each and every piece, and reinvigorated creativity isn’t far behind. For instance, just for fun, switch out the typical colors on your palette — see what happens! Or even just add one new color and see what’s produced. When sculpting, make it about exploring narrative, structure, gesture, expression, mood, or novelty rather than just another routine “this is a horse” piece. Always remember that art and play are meant to pair up, so smash them together in your own creative Hadron Collider!
Embrace failure: Your fear of failure is a formidable obstacle, isn’t it? Blorg. But the truth is that every piece is a learning adventure, not a test. What’s more, absolutely no breakthroughs will be found if you stay in your comfort zone. The real joy of arting is in the making of it, of all the discovery, exploration, growth, revelations, and happy accidents you stumbled onto while creating it. It’s miraculous to see your piece just come alive in your hands, step by step! And the thing is, we can correct our mistakes or realign our vision as we go, right? There’s no law that says your first toolstrokes are you only and last ones! Many mediums give you ample room to try again and again and again. Indeed, on a white-grey oil painted piece I was creating as an experiment, Ta’alaq, I seriously messed up his paintjob. It was so awful — ack! But no big whoop! I just painted right over my mistake, the whole thing, and tried again and succeeded on the second go. Never be afraid of trying again.
Mediating criticism: Here’s the deal — you make art, there will be a critic. That’s part of the Faustian Deal. That critic can be someone else, and often is, but your first and most lethal critic is yourself, isn’t it? But here’s the thing, “the audience comes last,” as Rick Rubin so astutely observes. And he’s right — the only person you need to be concerned with pleasing with your art is you, and only you. Ignore all the rest out there as pointless noise. People will talk….so? Let them. Their opinion, either good or bad, just shouldn't hold sway. See, no one knows your Truth like you do, do they? Nope. And there are so many trolls out there as well as careless, thoughtless clods to boot. Don’t allow the wrong person to discourage you but instead allow the right people to encourage you, and that includes yourself! Indeed, if you create work just for yourself, it’s amazing how your art will become so much more powerful, authentic, compelling, and unique! It’ll become far more Voiceful, and that, artist, is your true calling. Not to make perfection, which is impossible to attain, not to chase external validation, which is toxic, but to make Voiceful art, courageously and joyfully. That’s it, that’s all. So get to it! As Andy Warhol wisely advised, “Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”
Dampen distraction: In our hyper-connected world nowadays, distraction is everywhere. FOMO, doomscrolling, bingewatching, social media, news, radio, launches, and other endless stimulation…it’s a lot. It’s too much. The human animal wasn’t meant to function on the global stage all the time, if at all. It was meant to live in its little neck of the woods and deal just with that. So all this influx of distraction can be unknowingly very stressful and draining — so cut it out. When you’re arting, make it a non-negotiable rule of no distractions. Leave your devices out of the studio if need be. No phone calls, no texts, no checking social media. Schedule appointments, activities, and chores for other days. Do whatever it takes to block out uninterrupted, undistracted creative quiet time and fully immerse yourself in it without a care. It’s good for you and your art.
Careful consumption: Likewise, be exceedingly mindful of the content you consume. Is that content positive and inspiring, supportive of your efforts and psyche? Or is it draining, upsetting, and anxiety-inducing? What you expose yourself to will define the flavor of your day and even influence your ability to create. So also consider keeping your finger on the pulse of things at a set time of the day, and no more. Yes, we need to stay current, but there’s also a balance to be struck with our everyday lives and functionality — and our creativity. Stay mindful of that balance at all times. Curate your experience carefully because ultimately it’s all about your mental health and your ability to stay creative that can be just as important. And truth be told, staying balanced and joyfully creative is perhaps the most punk rock thing you can be doing nowadays.
Structured distraction: Unfortunately many creatives have the idea that they need to be hyper-focused to create good work, even for hours on end. However, the human brain didn’t evolve for this, sustaining uninterrupted attention for hours upon hours. It’s made to function between focus and periodic distraction, so make those distractions strategic. Take breaks! Instead of working through demotivation, boredom, fatigue, or disinterest, take a tactical break. This will reset you, prevent creative fatigue, improve your state of mind, and help you create even better work. This can be particularly important with really tedious tasks such as ticking, dappling, and prepping. So take your time, take breaks, and allow your mind to reset itself.
Less comparisons, more creating: Quit with the habitual comparison of your art to the work of others! Quit internally lamenting your “failings” when you study other works at shows or expos. Quit thinking you aren’t good enough for gosh sakes! Do you think your skills are too lousy to count, your ideas and inspirations subpar, your artworks average or even bad? You’re feeling inferior and insignificant? Okay then — by what measure? You see, comparing yourself to others is deceiving, self-defeating, and useless. Now, yes, it’s okay to draw inspiration from other artists, but it’s not okay to compare your work to theirs. Why? Well, it’s an apples and oranges comparison! They are not alike! Your magic isn’t like their magic whatsoever and theirs is nothing like yours — nor should it be. Because here’s the thing, you don’t need their magic, yours is more than enough! Trust me, yours is plenty! Indeed, your Voice is unique in all of space and time — think about that for a moment. Why in the world would you want to snuff it out or pollute it, even deny it? Instead then, take all that energy and direct it right back onto making more of your art, Voiceful, loud and proud! That’s where it’s better spent anyway. And you can only be yourself, right? The only one qualified to be you is you! The only thing the Universe tasks you with, artist, isn’t perfection or creating The GOAT piece, it’s simply this: Use your pure, unique Voice courageously, keeping the inspirational channel open. Bingo! So stop trying to create like another artist, stop trying to be an artist you aren’t because you don’t need to be! You just focus on magical you, on your own unique supernatural Voice, and once you find it, cultivate it and express it fully in your art then let the chips fall where they may. Absolutely, always stay true to your own Voice because not only is this more fulfilling, it makes your work far more authentic, distinctive, compelling, expressive, and even transforms it into that indescribable thing you’ve probably been so ardently searching for all these years.
New stuff: We all know the power of new art supplies, don’t we? Oh, yes! So find motivation in reconnecting with your materials, new or otherwise. The sensory boost you get from even playing with your brushes can spark dormant creativity all by itself. Or play with colors you avoid or haven’t used before, or new types of clays or epoxies. Play around with your color pencils in novel ways. You see, it’s not just about regarding your art as a product, but remembering it as a process, a tactile, fascinating experience that’s as much a part of arting as anything else. So buy some new art supplies and play around with them, or grab ones you hardly use and futz around with those. Either which way, playing with new stuff can really get those creative embers fired up!
Conclusion to Part IV
Interesting stuff, huh? These strategies are so simple, but so effective! In essence, they trick your sensibilities into making this artform less intimidating, or rather, help your brain believe that it truly can do it — because it can! That’s the thing, every human brain is a creative genius simply waiting to be tapped into, so who knows what sort of amazing potential yours holds just waiting to be unlocked! In Part V then, we’re going to explore even more breakthrough strategies you can apply to knock out block and burnout. They’re easy, they’re practical, and they’re highly effective — a triple punch!
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
— Dr. Seuss
