That Stuck Place
I realized recently that I’m a bit stuck. Sometimes that stuck feeling creeps up on you. I thought I was doing just fine, going at a much slower pace, dealing with being shut in like a pro. But my motivation to make art is waning. Less and less new ideas. Maybe I’ll sit on the couch, eat popcorn and binge watch The Crown. But there’s that little voice that says multiple nights of this is not what I really want.
I live in New York City and love taking advantage of all that it offers. Usually I’m going to museums, concerts, walks in the park, and theatre, dance opera. Due to Covid, the weather and my hip impingement that’s all a sweet memory. At first I thought I’d take advantage of all this time and make lots of art. But I’ve found that when life is the same every day, without the fun, interesting, inspiring stuff I had at my fingertips, I’m left feeling without the urge to paint, few ideas of something I want to try, no dreams of a painting waiting to happen. That’s just sad.
When I’m in a painting rut I wake myself up by doing something different. Use that color that I usually shy away from. Make a crazy “messy”painting. Don’t aim to make a “finished” painting, just mess around and have fun! Those are some of my usual go to fixes when I’m in that stuck place. Now the 100daychallenge has shown up. Do something creative every day for 100 days. And post it. January 31 I started my project of doing an 8” x 8” mixed media piece of a face (or figure) using some combination of collage and paint.Every day. (More or less.) It’s been two weeks and I’m reminded that I don’t do well with strict schedules and rules. But I can make up my own rules so It’s ok if I don’t make one every single day. Most days is ok. This challenge is giving me a little structure and accountability (I’m not sure to who, the Instagram community maybe?) And I’m enjoying working on something different than my usual abstract paintings. So I will keep going and posting.
I’m finding wildly different ways to make a face. Some look like pretty normal faces, some are a little scary, I’m told, some are almost not there. I like pushing the boundaries of a face, or portrait. How far can I go until it stops being a face? If you’s like to see more faces follow me on Instagram at www.instagram.com@laurasalzberg.
Are you in a Covid/lockdown/winter rut? Are you in a similar stuck place? How do you get yourself out? I’d love to know. Tell me in the comment box below.