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Creativity and how to re-discover it....?
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Message
Posted
Hi all,
I just wondered if anyone had any tips to "re-finding" their creativity?!
I feel that growing up I loved just picking up pencils/paints and experimenting, but after years of education and two careers in very non-creative, rigid sectors, my creativity and love of experimenting has been bashed out of me. Give me a photo and I'll give you a decent reproduction... if I ask myself to "freestyle", my pencil barely touches the paper before I'm fed up with my lack of ideas and progress.
Creatively it's all very dull, grey and boring at the moment, so any flashes of inspiration or tips on how to burn the box that I seem to be stuck in are all gratefully received!
Thanks
Posted
Sounds like it’s inspiration that you are lacking Mich, creativity will follow.
There can be so many factors that will help. Try using a new medium, pen and wash perhaps using a reed pen, just select any object and sketch it, have a go at a self portrait.
Go outside or look through a window and paint a sky a day for a week. I’m currently taking on a sky a day using oils, it’s only 20 minutes each day, some of my efforts are on my gallery if that appeals to you. I’m almost up to a month!
Have a go with charcoal or pastels, use tinted paper for a change, drive out to a favourite spot and start scribbling, your not after a masterpiece, something expressive and exciting!
Keep a sketch book and you will have a record of your progress. It’s difficult for any of us to stare at a piece of blank paper and be inspired, it wouldn’t inspire many of us!
To be honest, there is no magic button to press, but get away from your normal routine, and a spark of inspiration just may appear!
Posted
One of the things I do to generate inspiration is to look back at photos I've taken to remind me of a place or event and very often I find myself saying "...it would look much better if that tree/lamppost/van wasn't in the way". Artistic license is a great way of taking a reference and making it into what you want to see.
I totally agree with Alan's comment about 'scribbling' and not looking for a masterpiece, yet I find it to be a hard habit to break (not creating masterpieces, just thinking they should be). There are times when I just doodle and it may be just an ear or an eye, which is great practice, but occasionally inspires me to start a new portrait or improve on an old one.
I tend to feel most inspired early in the morning and make notes of ideas as I think of them. It may be a case of picking the time of day when you feel most energised and have your painting or drawing materials ready to go. I look forward to seeing some of your newly inspired work in the gallery soon.
Posted
A view. Throw the rule book out. There are no people, buildings animals trees or churches that are owned by anybody when it comes to painting. I'd much rather spoil a piece of paper with a failed masterpiece (read anything) than sit there admiring it blank. I totally agree that scribbling and sketching produces ideas and are invaluable. I painted a picture of my hands the other night just because they were there in front of me. Came out quite well as it happens, but the point is you can think yourself into a trance wondering what to paint. Why do you think Van Gogh painted his bedroom, or a chair, or himself? The very best still lifes come out of your head, not an arrangement of grandma's teapots on you best tablecloth. Pick up a paintbrush now and paint, by order of the Peaky Blinders.... 😆
Posted
This might be of limited use, but quite often, especially for abstracts, I start by mark making on the canvas, then just let the painting evolve. Sometimes the shapes resolve into something partly recognisable (if you have a good imagination!) sometimes not. I know that this isn't the way to do realistic paintings, but I just wonder whether experimenting with colours and shapes might reignite your spark? Others have suggested trying new media, perhaps trying a new genre might work?
Posted
I'm quite obviously not the one to advise you here, because after months of doing nothing creative at all - other than writing minutes, filing, smoothing members' furrowed brows, trying to work with a national emailing system built to accommodate the General Data Protection Regulations (and failing) - all I've done since December is work again on a painting that I should probably have abandoned long ago. Until, that is, this afternoon. When I forced myself to get the oil paint out again and get something down on board. In order to stimulate myself a bit, I've (so far) used the somewhat unappealing palette of lead white, Viridian, Mars Yellow, and Prussian Blue - I won't stick to that, it's the basis to be worked on; but giving myself something unfamiliar, to see where it might take me, has worked for me before. I don't work for very long on a painting - around an hour to two hours - because I need a rest after that; so I shall leave it overnight and come back to it tomorrow.
What kicked me off this time was an increasing feeling of frustration that I'd painted nothing for so long, and both going out for a walk and then, slightly desperately, looking through my photographs and sketch-books. The trouble wasn't lack of things to paint, but too many - I couldn't choose; until I decided I had to. Now I've begun again, I think I'll be able to continue - it was breaking the duck that was important.
The other thing that's worked for me before is music - Mozart usually works on me, but it could be anything that connects with the right spot in your brain; it sort of trips a switch. I've only been able to do anything though because I made the time - with a part-time occupation that will gobble up as much time as you allow it to, I think I've been using it as an excuse to procrastinate -I suspect the answer lies in your own hands as it does in mine, and that what you need to do is just make yourself get on and do something, even if it's as simple as putting a milk jug and a couple of cups on the table and painting their portrait. If in doubt, I paint a tree, by the way - something we're not short of round here.
Posted
Thanks everyone for your input, there are some great suggestions above and if nothing else it gives me confidence that I'm not alone in staring aimlessly at blank paper at times!
You've given me some great ideas to try and hopefully over the bank holiday weekend I'll be able to find the time to try some out!
Posted
Michelle, I was in a similar situation some years ago when, after retiring, I knew I wanted to get back to and to relearn my drawing skills. But what exactly did that mean? I did two things: I joined a life drawing group, and I signed up on Pinterest and began doing serious research into a whole variety of different artwork. With a little patience and quite a few failures I found my métier (landscapes as it turned out) and I'm still attending the life drawing group to the degree that questions are asked of MPs if I'm not there one day.
I recommend Pinterest highly; one thing that this internet is so very, very good at is making connections (I'm referring to the more like this type of feature). Connections that in the olden days would have taken an experienced researcher many hours to search out.