1The holidays have come and gone and the new year has started. Having not worked on any Foundlings for over six weeks, it feels good to be working again. There wasn’t a crisis in my life nor was there any serious roadblock to preventing me working. The drive just wasn’t there. Although I created 15 pieces last year (including my largest work), it is all too easy to feel insecure by not having worked for so long.
I do try to remember that being creative is a process and like the tide, there is an ebb and flow. Sometimes I can push though a lull and pick up where I left off and at other times it is just best to take a break. As much as I want to believe that I have control over my creative process, it is actually more of a partnership. When we are working together we produce some of my best pieces. When I push but can’t find my creative side, the work suffers. The trick is trying to understand when to push and when not to.
Then there are the internal conversations. The internal critic that seems to seek any excuse to have a negative conversation. The conversations that suggest this artist pursuit is too difficult or that the work isn’t all that unique,… or that good. That perhaps this endeavor is nothing more then a narcissistic pursuit.
To make a variation of a common cliché, if creating good art were easy, good art would be common. Between the creative insight needed to find a voice; the technical skill that needs to be mastered; and the intellectual understanding that underpins most good art, the pursuit is difficult enough. The last thing one needs are negative internal dialogues.
The winter solstice has also come and gone and the days are slowly starting to get longer. This winter has been usually mild but it is still cold and damp. Spring is not far off and with it the thaw it promises. My creative block has thawed as well.
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