Art As Therapy (or, Weird Stuff On The Art Table When I'm Anxious)

If you follow me on Instagram or on my Facebook page, you know that recently my collages have been streamlined, white space and simplicity led the way.

Then a pandemic came along and this:

WTF?

I guess sometimes $hit just wants to come out. My job is to get out of the way and let it flow.

Sometimes art is the best therapy.

Let. it. flow.

Stay well, all.

In spirit of discovery,

Stephanie

♥

Three Steps to Overcoming Creative Resistance (or, I Write What I Need Most)

I’ve resisted writing this blog post for nearly two weeks now.

Do you see the irony?

I’m enjoying a pretty solid art-making practice these days, but when it comes to writing, resistance seems to have a special hold on me.

I’ve been rug hooking, collaging, painting and photographing, but writing…

I set out writing this post to help anyone struggling to build a desired creative practice, but it turns out, as in most cases, I humbly and selfishly write what I need to hear.

There are many ways to move forward into a creative practice. The three steps below were especially helpful to me in the past and, writing blog posts excepted, still are today.

1. Set a goal

Give yourself a clear, specific, closed-ended goal. Keep it doable and make it easy to know when you’ve met it. For example:

• I will create 100 floral sketches.

• I will take one photo a day for ten days straight.

• I will wake up 30 minutes earlier to spend time in the studio this week, Monday to Friday.

• I will publish two blog posts this month.

Then do it.

2. Evaluate

Check in on your goal and see how it’s going.

• Did I complete what I set out to do? Am I on track? If not, why?

• What’s working well? What could be better?

• Is there something blocking me?

• Do I need to simplify? Shift the timing? Shift the target?

• Do I still want to do this? (It’s OK if the answer is no.)

• What can I do to set myself up for success?

3. Tweak if necessary

Make the changes you identified in #2.

Don't let things get too precious, just do. Experiment and see how it goes.

At worst it doesn’t work out as planned and you’ve learned something from it, at best it creates momentum and you’ll want to do it again.

.:.

I now have a new goal: write two blog posts this month.

One down, one to go. After that I’ll see.

In spirit of discovery,

Stephanie

♥