Oct. 19, 2011 (ShapeShiftas) -- I've been trying to get back to my blog and have been surprised by how difficult it has been. Random thoughts haven't developed into full posts, and I keep getting pulled away to deal with this or that. Blogging, it turns out, is harder than it looks!
I began this blog during the time after Hurricane Irene hit Vermont and denied us access to our home and my studio. There was lots to think about and talk about during those weeks, and I wanted a way to record my experiences. Now that we've been able to get back home and things are getting slowly back to normal, what's going on outside doesn't seem so interesting. Yes, there are still excavators & road crews everywhere. Yes, our usual routes are still closed, bridges are still down, and winter is coming. Yes, the community feelings are still strong, but we're all going our separate ways too, as we all get back to kind-of-normal life.
The time right after the hurricane, I was as close to being a refugee as I hope I ever get. Surprisingly, it was a time of high creativity for me. I designed some great new pillows, worked on my website, revamped some marketing materials, and wrote blog posts, press releases, and in my journal. Plus, I cooked some killer dinners, if I do say so myself.
So why is it that now that I'm back home and back in my studio, this surge of energy and creativity has abated? Why does it seem that I can't get anything done?? Why, have I become... BLOCKED???!
Every artist famously struggles with periods of no output. I kinda think that's what depression is, emotionally or economically -- a lack of output. Right? We all need to be productive and express ourselves to grow and be happy. Just like the GDP (call me, Mr. Bernanke, we'll talk).
There are lots of techniques to try to get un-blocked, as long as you can get up to try them. Deadlines can be motivating, or paralyzing. Yoga helps, so does blowing off work and going skiing. Anything that takes you out of your mind for a bit.
I've been trying some of the tools described in "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. She talks a lot about the spiritual connection to creativity, which I like, and also recommends techniques to help restart the flow of ideas and productivity. I particularly like what she calls the "Artist's Date", where you take yourself out to a museum, show, or some special event. I always go for lunch afterwards.
"The Artist's Way" suggests writing as a way to open up the flow of ideas; actual handwritten, stream-of-conciousness pages. Something about the physical act of writing by hand activating neural connections. You're supposed to write three pages first thing in the morning, without re-reading them or considering them "work" to be shared with anyone. It's interesting to write without self-editing or critiquing. I have to say it does seem to work when I do it; some days it is easy to get three pages out, others, a real struggle, but I feel ready for my day in the studio after I am done with the pages.
Wrestling this blog post out has also been helping. I'm working on it for a second day now, it has not come as easily as my previous posts, but I am feeling more and more positive as I get to the end. Just like going to the gym can help you feel better when you are feeling blue. It turns out you have to exercise your creativity to keep it alive, and sometimes working out an idea in a different medium is just the kind of cross-training you need.
I certainly don't consider my blogging here to be Art, but I am trying to express myself, consider, communicate. Perhaps Roz Chast's pie chart above should have been divided into quarters, the extra slice for "Therapy." It seems to be working and sure costs less than the shrink!
peace, Deborah