03 Nov How to deal with artist block right in the middle of your art making

Hello everyone,

In my earlier blog I mentioned how I start my new art work/ painting.

As with any other artist, I sometimes get sucked up by negative self-criticism which is absolutely fine. However, how fast I come out of such state of mind is what is important for my creative process 🙂

So here are few of my strategies that might be of help to you!

Detach: I detach myself from the art work where I feel stuck. I do it by taking it off from the painting space. For example if it is kept on an easel, I replace it by another painting, or if I am using a wall, I remove the existing art work and place another one that is about to reach its completion. The idea is to get completely detached from it and gain new energies in my core.

Become physical: I start any physical activity. Such as cardio or yoga, walking outdoors or even mindful breathing, anything that would keep my mind off the existing art work for a while.

Change: Use tools that I have not used in a while and start creating. For example, if I was working with acrylic paint with brushes, I would switch to my color pencils and start drawing in my sketchbook. This big change pushes my mind towards abrupt unseen creative flow.

Rest assured, if you apply either of these you would be amazed by the fresher perspective you will get on the earlier stuck painting process and would feel more open to take risk for its improvement.

Sometimes it takes me a day or two to get back on track. Whereas on the other occasion, I completely stay away from it and instead start working on an entirely new art project altogether. But I definitely don’t criticize myself of this delay because I am not wasting my time at all. I am rather diverting my creative flow towards another fruitful direction.

Additional Tip: I also be mindful of this blockage, and would analyze the underlying factors hindering my creativity in a certain art piece. This analysis helps me tremendously to overcome any negative blocks that are reflecting in my 3D life and it also redirects me towards the right path again.

Do let me know how you overcome this artistic block in your usual art practice in the comments. I am curious on this.

Happy creation! 🙂