Who is your muse? Where do you go for inspiration?
My college-age daughter came to me the other night complaining that she had writer's block. A natural-born procrastinator (she gets it from her dad), she waited until the night before the paper was due to start.
It took a little persuading, but I finally convinced her not to panic. Everyone — from writers to actors to artists — suffers from some type of artistic block at one time or another. It's not unusual. In fact it's a common problem, but there are many ways to overcome a block. If one method doesn't work for you, try another.
Here are five ways that I use to get beyond the blank page or canvas:
- Start early – If I have a deadline, I start a soon as possible, jotting down ideas, plotting a brief outline, or doing a rough sketch. I try to give myself time to experiment and reject or refine ideas.
- Bank ideas – I don't know about you, but I get my best ideas when I'm in the middle of something else, and I can't take a break right away. Usually I get them in the shower or during my 20-minute commute back and forth from work. As soon as I can, I jot the idea down for later. At one point I kept a small tape recorder in my car. I dropped it and broke it several years ago and haven't replaced it; however, a friend of mine who works at a public TV station in Michigan showed me a brand new accessory he bought for his iPod so he could record interviews from nearly any location. What a great idea! Clip the mike to your collar or lapel, drop the iPod in you pocket, and record as ideas come to you. In case you're interested, here's a link to several companies that sell these accessories.
- Find a quiet place with a beautiful view. Soak it in.
- Start writing down words or drawing images that pop in your head — even if they're un-related to your project.
- Walk away – when I'm really stuck, I do something else for a while. In fact, I got the idea for this post while pulling weeds in my garden, and I came up with the concept for Fine-Art-Collector.com while fishing in Canada with my husband.
What do you do for inspiration? How do you overcome artistic blocks? Send me a list of your favorite techniques. I'll compile and share a list of the best ideas.
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