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ete Stt Sp
8
eek ways to drink in natures replenishing energy. ere the artist visits with her donkeys and works in her garden.
ry taking fteenminute sabbaticals from the drawing
table. ake a fteenminute 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 Movemt
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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
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The artist freeform dances in her studio to revitalie 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. lusit’s fun ry fteenminute
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 zonea new color, shape, or obect. 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.
Whenreativelofirsthitstaeareaforan
hourtoinduleinyourownpreferredenerydrin.
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"Everywallisadoor."
RalphWaldoEmerson
Working on a large canvas is a physical eperience. 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 openmorning, noon, or evening hile this might
seem like an obvious suggestion, many people lead such
overlled lives, they haven’t taken the time to ask these
simple questions.
ometimes your creative block requires more than
a fteenminute walk to olt you out of it.
n these times, try turning to a completely dierent
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.
ete Stt Sp

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