Three ways to get creativity flowing
Distracted,
and uninspired?
When I started painting, I set aside time to work in my studio almost every day. I’d purchased loads of beautiful materials, and there were amazing sessions when the creative muse was definitely in the house!
But finding a creative flow seemed so capricious. Why was it so hard to get started some days?
Getting into the right frame of mind for sustained creativity was definitely and frustratingly hit and miss!
There were two blocks to creative flow that were particularly troublesome in my case.
Not being present and in the right frame of mind was the most common, and it was huge. My body would enter the studio, but my mind was elsewhere, distracted.
(Replaying a conversation from the morning: “I should have said…”. Distracted by what else needed doing: “I’ll just send her a quick text, before I forget...”, and 30 seconds later, “Did I put that in the calendar?” and then “Just see if anyone hearted my post”).
I needed a way to make a deliberate mental transition, feel present, and dialed in to my creative self.
Other times, the problem wasn’t a lack of presence, but of simply not knowing how or where to begin. Staring at my work table, I’d think, “Now what?” (A sketch? a painting? of what???). I might fiddle around for a while and if I was lucky, eventually find something to do. On really bad days, I’d tell myself I didn’t have any ideas, and leave.
I needed a way to warm up and open myself to inspiration.
Three ways to get creativity flowing
In time, I found three actions that helped me to move more easily into a creative frame of mind. (There are as many remedies to feeling stuck as there are artists - I’ve placed a few links below that offer alternatives).
These are the three that I can tell you about, because they were helpful to me.
Establish a ritual
To help me make the necessary mental transition, to “arrive” and feel ready to dive into creativity, I developed a small but powerful ritual which I practiced at the start of each studio session.
The first ritual I consciously employed was lighting a piece of incense from places I’d travelled - Jordan, India, Morocco. As the little wisps of smoke rose, I’d use the few minutes of its burning to put on my apron, gather a few materials to the table, get a fresh jar of water for paintbrushes. By the time it burned down, I was settled and ready to begin. Over time, the studio took on the scent of incense, so that simply smelling the familiar air as I walked in was enough to feel calm and focussed - it was truly a pavlovian response!
Rituals become automatic and aid in re-patterning your mind, by repeatedly linking the ritual to the behaviour you’re after - in my case, feeling present and ready to create.
The ritual says, “I am here. This is how I begin”.
I believe that what you choose as a ritual is less important than doing it consistently. Last winter, when I went through a period of feeling reluctant to engage, I began bringing a fresh pot of tea into the studio, with a special art mug that made me feel happy. Placing the mug on my work surface was the same as saying, “Here we are, time to create”.
The ritual can be anything that clearly marks the start of studio time: putting on specific studio-only clothes; lighting a candle; or perhaps writing a page in an art journal.
Bea Evers recently wrote:
“Putting on my apron is like changing my skin. It immediately brings me in a working mood”.
That’s her ritual!
Fashion a comfortable and welcoming creative space
My studio space is small but it feels inviting, encouraging me to spend time there. It took me a while to set it up in a way that really pleases me, iterating over a few years as I discovered what I needed in there to make it feel great.
I’ve made it comfortable with a reading chair, a book shelf for art and travel books, and decorated it with a few items from my travels that make me smile. I’ve put my main work surface in front of a window that receives morning sun.
I’ve done my best to organize it so that materials are at hand and can be kept relatively organized. I’ve learned that an organized, tidy-ish studio space feels better to me. Putting rails on the walls at one end, so I can display all the work that’s in progress, has proven to be a source of inspiration and encouragement, as well as being practical.
The final element of comfort for me has been a small bluetooth speaker so that I can listen to music or a podcast (Art Juice is a favourite each week). Working alone is fine, but sometimes I want a bit of virtual companionship while I paint!
Warm up with mark making
When I don’t know where to begin, making marks is the fastest way to warm up and buy a bit of time to allow ideas to burble up. Much has been written about the benefits of having a regular (daily?) sketchbook routine, including developing regular creative habits, exploring new ideas, and letting go in a low risk, low cost way. While I’ve tried a daily practice, I’ve found it most useful to me when I need a warm up.
Sometimes a group of paintings are in the awkward middle stage and I’m feeling tight or hesitant about where to go next - that’s when some playful mark making helps get me out of my head and into a looser zone, before I go at them.
of Sally-Anne Ashley using a long-handled brush to loosely sketch jars in her studio as a prelude to an abstract painting.
To push further into intuition and free movement, I sometimes set a timer. I make marks without stopping for 3 minutes. Or, even better, grab three colours of paint and cover an entire large sheet of paper in 3 minutes! By the time I’m done with this, I am feeling fearless and ready to go!
And if it turns out that this is all I can do today, well, at least I’ve done that…!
Those are the three approaches I’ve taken that gave me results, but I’d love to hear what actions you’ve taken to encourage yourself when you feel blocked!
More resources for finding the flow
Finding the Creative Spark - Episode 75 of the ArtJuice podcast with Alice Sheridan and Louise Fletcher
The space between ritual and the practice of art - Dappled Things
5 types of creative block and how to break through - by Might Could
10 techniques from professional artists for breaking through creative blocks - by Jane Porter
