I Am a Fasting Grasshopper With a Flaming Mind and Zero Expectations!

Well, I hope that title got your attention!

I will explain it later... but first, a quick recap of  May events:

The good news is one of my pieces received an award from the Lancaster County Art Association! I entered two pieces into the recent members exhibition and received the second place non professional award for "Golden Facets" at the opening reception early in May.

  LCAA Spring Membership Exhibition of Golden Facets

The bad news is I haven't created anything this month and seem to be suffering with some symptoms of "artist's block." It's not all bad, though, because I actually do have ideas to pursue, but can't seem to find the time to get to them. Let me explain...

My studio and most of my house have been in disarray due to remodeling projects and I am still striving to get things back in order. This has continued to distract me from my creative pursuits. Having a disorderly home is stressful, but so is the thought that I am not getting any art done. Now that I have been away from my artistic pursuits, I find that it is difficult to get back at it. In addition, some self-doubt has set in and now I am in trouble.

     

                                 “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
                                                                                         -Sylvia Plath

Here is my plan for the coming month to get out of this slump.

Step 1: Enter my studio

Step 2: Have zero expectations

Step 3: Do something!

Sounds easy to me, but I know the pitfalls all too well from past experience. I may look at Instagram for inspiration and instead feel overwhelmed with self-doubt. In that case, fasting from outside sources can actually be helpful. Sometimes inspiration can lead to so many ideas that I don't know where to begin or just feel overwhelmed by them all. That's a flaming mind. I also suffer from the grasshopper syndrome, which means I can hop from one project to another without ever completing anything.

Now you understand the title of this post!

I think it may be true that artist's block is not really a "thing," and approaching creativity with  discipline is the cure. Check out this website for a detailed discussion of the topic. June will be my month to give this notion a try and I look forward to reporting on it in my next post.

Do you have times that you suffer similar artist's block type symptoms? What are your cures? What triggers your artist's block? Maybe we can help each other. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Drop me a note in the comments section!