Every creative person will tell you...strike that, almost anyone you could meet on the street will tell you, that in life there are high points and there are low points. For a creative person, sometimes adding too much to their plate can turn them away from their craft. We come to the easel, or the table and look at the blank paper before us and it all suddenly seems like too much. When artists are blocked (in my experience) it's because they are too overwhelmed. Mind you, having exhibits to plan for and classes to teach and commissions waiting is the whole point. It's what we work for our whole careers. But sometimes we bite off too much at a time, get caught up in the excitement of it all, and then find that we are dragging our feet to the studio. We'd rather do anything besides what we love most.
This is something I have been struggling with for the past year or so. Having enough work to keep busy but not so much that I feel like I'll never catch up. So as 2015 rolled in, I decided to step away from painting for a while and see how I felt. At first, it was a relief. My schedule was far more open and the house was suddenly a lot cleaner. But as time wore on and it drew closer and closer to February I started to get that itch to create. So I made a quilt. And then I wrote a few stories. I researched how to do block printing and silk screening. I played around with pastels. I began taking violin lessons. A few times, I got out my palette and set myself up to paint. I would get half way through a painting and lose interest. I wasn't ready to return to that yet.
Then, shortly after Valentine's day, a myriad of things began to happen to me. I was contacted by several establishments to teach classes, I was invited to give a lecture, a friend offered to sell my paintings in their shop and I realized that it was about this time each year that I would have been getting new work to galleries. It was as if someone re-lit my pilot light.
For the past two weeks I have been happily painting. I spend my mornings keeping up with household chores and then after lunch I sit down at the table and get out a painting to work on. I've allowed it to be a slow process. When I get frustrated I step away for a bit. True, I'm not turning out as many paintings as I was before but I'm looking at the long term. I want to do this for years to come. I had always looked at it as a sprint: the sooner I obtained "success" as a painter the sooner I would be somewhere safe. But it's really all about enjoying the process and setting goals to achieve. Somewhere, somehow, I had forgotten that.
I think I'm on the right path now, and have several things planned in the coming weeks. You can find those listed below.
Thanks for coming to look at my site. I'll be posting more regularly now so be sure to check back.
I hope everything is going great for you and remember to give yourself a break every once in a while! Keep your chin up!
March 2nd- Beginners Watercolor Workshop at Park City Gallery in Republic, MI.
This is a series of on-going classes every other week and if you are interested you are welcome to join at any time. Contact info for the gallery can be found on the "Contact Me" page.
March 11th- Artist Adventure Lecture Series at Charlevoix Circle Of Arts from 6:30-7:30 pm.
I'll talk about my hiking and kayaking adventures and where I draw the inspiration for my work. Everyone is welcome to attend!
March 23rd- Beginners Watercolor Workshop at Charlevoix Circle of Arts, Charlevoix, MI.
