Creative Inspiration
Every month, to begin the regular meeting of Mid-Valley Arts League, a volunteer delivers an inspiration approximately five minutes in length, to stimulate the thinking necessary to assist all of us in creating art.
September 2018
In September, for example, I addressed a few solutions to the recurring problem of what I term “Artist’s Block,” akin to writer’s block, inertia that prevents us from painting, sculpting, taking photos, making prints, or whatever else we do as art. In addition to the technique I’ve tried, working on paintings in progress as a beginning that will sometimes lead to starting a new painting, I summarized a few approaches to this problem that I found in an online resource, Artists Network, published by Artists Magazine. “11 Ideas for Overcoming Creative Blocks” was the subject of the issue I printed on March 12, 2018.
These publications are always helpful, and this one, no exception, had several suggestions, among them quickly applying a splash of color to a blank paper or canvas, then proceeding with the painting in spite or because of the first hasty color application, and also several uses of journals for the introspective among us. In addition, I summarized a few of the suggestions from noteworthy artists quoted in “Stoking the Creative Fire,” on pages 18-21 of October, 2018 issue of Watercolor Artist. Referenced were only a couple of the fascinating suggestions from Millard Sheets, Milford Zornes, Betsy Dillard Stroud, and the author, Anne Hevener. This article contains much more; it, indeed the entire magazine, provides inspirational reading.
These publications are always helpful, and this one, no exception, had several suggestions, among them quickly applying a splash of color to a blank paper or canvas, then proceeding with the painting in spite or because of the first hasty color application, and also several uses of journals for the introspective among us. In addition, I summarized a few of the suggestions from noteworthy artists quoted in “Stoking the Creative Fire,” on pages 18-21 of October, 2018 issue of Watercolor Artist. Referenced were only a couple of the fascinating suggestions from Millard Sheets, Milford Zornes, Betsy Dillard Stroud, and the author, Anne Hevener. This article contains much more; it, indeed the entire magazine, provides inspirational reading.