Stay Motivated!
I’m feeling a little unmotivated these days. I’ve had my head down completing my latest course, Embracing Tissue Paper, and now I really don’t want to do anything else.
Staying motivated has been heavy on my mind. I asked my creative circle about what keeps them motivated and was surprised to hear almost unanimously it was one or two things: picking up the camera or turning on the wax. Both bring in our senses. Touching and feeling the camera in our hand or smelling the wonderful sweet aroma of beeswax.
Think about it….when making art do you…..
- Go in with a plan about what it is you are doing to do or make?
- Commit to a certain amount of time and give yourself to the process and what develops organically?
My analytical mind wants to have a plan before I go and into my studio. Everything needs to be mapped out. Talk about a buzz kill though. How boring. And totally missing the point of giving the piece room to breathe and develop.
I would tell my students to go in without a plan. Let serendipity emerge.
Lately I’ve been committing to time rather than ‘finishing a piece’. I’m loving just letting things progress and flow. Now my intent is to just turn on the wax and remain open to whatever the possibilities are for the piece with no preconceived notions.
Being stuck and unmotivated can become a prison that is hard to think your way out of. The more I worry about not being motivated the less motivated I become.
I’ve found that smelling the melting beeswax has helped with my motivation, but here are some tips that might help you to stay motivated.
- Surround self with interesting objects that inspire you.
- Look through a folder or screen shots of images that inspire you before you start working.
- Sit in your space for an allotted amount of time with no other expectations than you are going to stay there for that time.
- Turn your wax on and let the smell great you
- Schedule 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 2 hours a day to just be in your creating space
- Ask yourself ‘what if’ and see what happens
- Be open to serendipity
- Don’t worry about what happens, if anything, it’s just important to carve out the space.
These are just a few suggestions and by no means is this an exhaustive list. Staying motivated is continuous for most artists.
Let me hear from you. How do you stay motivated? I’d love for you to join the conversation.
Be well….be creative,
Always great ideas. Thanks Clare
I had to make a truce with myself. No more demands to be productive. Its ok to take time off from creating and just spend that time looking and thinking. I make some notes for myself and then find the next day is easier, or sometimes that evening is easier to get into the studio and putter, prep boards and look at what I have. I put pieces up on the sideboard in my. living room where I can stare at them when I’m in my comfy chair gazing out the window. It helps me see what I can do differently, where I can tweak, and where I should begin differently. Of course putting many layers on top of a blank board or on top of a glued photo is very calming for me. I’m still using all kinds of paper, tissue and mulberry and rice papers that I can embed, but also have more time to make better photo transfers. This is a time to be free even though I’m under house arrest (or so it seems). Of course I shoot on my walks everyday even if its just my iPhone camera. I go through the boxes of oddities and scrap metal I’ve collected and ignored and I make little still lifes from them. I try to make it fun and not demanding. That’s the only way I can get through this. Best to all of you and thank you for sharing.
I so love all of this Nancy. I need to take a page from your book and really be OK to just take it easy on myself. Thanks for sharing what you do.
Love your list, worthy of printing and putting on my work computer, which I am going to do right now 🙂
Thanks Clare it’s always nice to hear of what others are doing during this strange time.
I might also suggest trying something totally different from your normal encaustic.:
Try painting with watercolors on w/c paper. I usually just do something simple and abstract then I select an also simple photo and print on the watercolor paper. It’s fun to see where it leads. Glue it onto a board or panel and embellish with wax, oil sticks whatever.
Also, a commenter above mentioned she like puttering around. A while back a very smart personal coach told me that puttering around was very good way of de-stressing and good for creativity.
Cheers!
Love this idea Tanya. A friend of mine paints landscapes and when she feels stuck she does abstract work. She doesn’t like abstract but it loosens her up to get back to her landscapes that she loves:)
I love what Nancy said, “It’s ok to take time off from creating and just spend that time looking and thinking.” I totally believe in the power of being S T I L L. But when I’m ready to try to stoke some creative energy, one thing that sometimes works is to step away from the computer and actually pick up a printed piece like a book or a magazine. I find inspiration by reading decorator magazines like House Beautiful, Elle Decor, or others. It’s interesting to see artwork that designers are curating in their client’s homes (or that the clients want to display prominently) or see the color palettes that are being used. I also love looking at travel magazines like Conde Nast Traveler or Travel & Leisure, especially since we’re not doing much traveling these days. When I’m looking for motivation, I also turn to books — sometimes even ones that I’ve read before like Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, which sparked incredible energy for me. And another trick for me is doing something that isn’t directly involved with creating art, but may lead me in that direction. For instance, going back through photos I’ve taken and saved. Now that’s a never-ending project!
Love all these ideas Jeanne. Just because we are not putting wax to a substrate doesn’t mean that we are not creating. All those things are inspiration and lead to who we are and what comes from the heart:)