Replies

  • Thank ya'll for your insights.

  • When I am tired all I can think about is how I am too tired to make myself move to work on something.  I know it is happening but can't do anything about it.  Maybe a little R & R is in order for you.

  • Try not to WORRY about it; that just makes you feel more pressure.  When I'm in that situation I work on other related things.  Bookwork, attaching hardware and backs to my paintings, cleaning up my studio, etc.  I try to take a day or two off from the actual painting process, because if I'm not inspired I am almost always just wasting paint if I try to force it.

    What Robert and Richard said works for me too.  Plenty of rest and the right music are both very important too. 

    Good Luck!

  • I normally listen to Mexican corridos of the revolutionary period. Great rhythm to work by and if gives me more Spanish immersion time. When I need to turn on the creativity for a floral saddle design it's Puccini or Verde arias. The music just seems to make the flowers and vines flow.
  • Make sure you're getting enough sleep, believe it or not. Healthy sleep habits are essential to creativity. Creative work is a higher order mental function. If you're starting to suffer from sleep apnea, you're not going through the proper order of sleep and REM functions. This is going to impact your mental acuity and creativity to a detriment. If you're Joe Sixpack installing lugnuts on an assembly line, you'll never notice the difference except for being tired all the time. If you're using your mind for creative work, that ability is the first thing to be affected. I discovered this back in the late 90's when I hit a drought in creativity and found this out. After I started using a CPAP machine for treatment of the sleep apnea, the creativity bounced back.

    If this isn't the issue, try stepping out of the box from your usual work and try something different. Use different materials, different end products, but get away from the same old same old. Down in your neck of the woods, fine crafts are a hard sell, but you may have to aim your sights further afield to find an appreciative audience.
This reply was deleted.