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ete Stt Sp
8
eek ways to drink in natures replenishing energy. ere the artist visits with her donkeys and works in her garden.
ry taking fteenminute sabbaticals from the drawing
table. ake a fteenminute walk or a break with nature
somewhere. o matter where you live, you can commune
with the air or sky for fteen minutes. hese breaks give
you a fresh perspective when you return to your work.
t t te
and Movemt
n old farmer once told me, eep takin’ water out of
the well, sooner or later it’s gonna go dry. ou have
to walk away let it ll back up from the earth.
hen you rst get hit with creative blues, change your
immediate environment and look to other ature for an
energy tonic. hysical activity and letting your eyes and
body experience other natural stimuli help replenish your
creative well.
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The artist freeform dances in her studio to revitalie her energy during the workday.
y favorite energy booster when ’m feeling drained from
work is dancing. ut on some good music and move with
whatever beat you feel. hat vibration sinks into you, lling
up your creative well. lusit’s fun ry fteenminute
physical bursts of walking, umping rope, or doing yoga
anything that helps you move and breathe.
e e tSt tS
Be aware of getting in a repetitive rut. ou unconsciously
repeat elements and symbols in your work that become
your unique painted language. But if you nd yourself
saying, don’t know what to put here, so ’ll add a red
circle again, consider consciously trying something out
of your comfort zonea new color, shape, or obect. t
doesn’t mean using a red circle is wrong, but it’s easy to
get lazy and repeat things that are safe because you know
they worked well in past images.
Whenreativelofirsthitstaeareaforan
hourtoinduleinyourownpreferredenerydrin.
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"Everywallisadoor."
—RalphWaldoEmerson
Working on a large canvas is a physical eperience. Try working
as you listen to music, painting to the rhythm and beat. Work
abstractly at first to free your mind from details.
ecognize your own daily energy rhythms. personally
have a hard time painting in the morning. can write
in the morning, but for some reason my painting feels
clumsy and blocked. ather than forcing myself into an
unnatural state, accept this and work around it.
o take note of your natural energy cycles. Are you tired
in the afternoon hen take a nature walk and hit the
drawing board afterward. ake time to ask these simple
questions hen do my ideas flow freely hen do feel
most openmorning, noon, or evening hile this might
seem like an obvious suggestion, many people lead such
overlled lives, they haven’t taken the time to ask these
simple questions.
ometimes your creative block requires more than
a fteenminute walk to olt you out of it.
n these times, try turning to a completely dierent
medium or art form. oing so brings you in touch with
new textures, new methods, and new ideas. ou’ll be
forced to gure out how the new medium works, and you
won’t have time to feel blocked.
f you’re comfortable drawing on inch cm paper,
paint on a large canvas for a day. f you normally work
in color, try producing some images in charcoal or black
ink. sually a painter witch to photography for a day
or writing poems. ook at switching mediums as a
creative catalyst.
ete Stt Sp
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