Do not let yourself get stuck into a motif or a common genre when you create. Expand your creative limits. Get out of your comfort zones. I remember going to see Picasso's great show at the MOMA decades ago and being thrilled by his early work. He progressed, he evolved, from his Rose and Blue periods, to his early experiements with Cubism, to his greatest masterpieces. He was a prolific artist. But then he got stuck. There was "yet another Picasso" and then hundreds of his works that all started looking the same. So his last 25 years of his life was just Picasso doing Picasso.
Ways to get yourself out of an artistic rut:
1) Use a medium you don't normally use. If you draw with pencils, try pastels, or crayons, or watercolors. If you paint, use acrylics or gouache instead of oils. Try oil pastels or water soluble crayons.
2) Cut up pictures and paste them back out order. Cut up a bunch of words out of a magazine and paste them down so they make no sense. Look for the art in the disorganization.
3) Illustrate a song or a poem.
4) Go back to a piece of art that you abandoned and rework it.
5) Look at the work of other artists - especially someone's work you DON'T like. Try and find something you like about it. Then recreate it.
6) Check out other artists blogs and see what is going on out there. If you're in an artistic rut it is because you've limited your access to the creative processes around you, so go find out.
7) Ask an artist about their technique if you are curious. Don't just admire from afar. Most artists are happy to talk about their technique.
8) Go to a museum.
9) Listen to music you don't normally listen to - like jazz, bebop, classical - you might be surprised at the images that start popping into your head.
10) Talk with another artist and start bouncing some creative ideas off one another. Collaborate on a work.
I decided to execute this assignment digitally. While I feel that learning the basics in art is paramount, it is also important to keep up with the new technology. I have recently purchased a copy of Photoshop Elements. I've also been buying a British Magazine called Photoshop Creative. The great thing about this mag is that it comes with a disk of extras (like brushes and patterns) plus it gives tutorials on how to work with the new tech. I originally purchase a copy because it is giving workshops on how to restore old images. I like to work with cabinet cards and CDVs, but they usually scan with all the noise, speckles, fades and spots that the years have worn onto them. So I originally purchased the magazine (which is a bit pricey at $15.50 an issue) to learn how to clean up some of my old pictures for future artwork. Of course, the freebies helped too.
I would like to dedicate this Moo to all the Moms out there who have to be Moms as part of their occupations. I am lucky to be working with some of the best women, who spend time taking care of other people's children - even when they're really adults.
