A year ago I wrote a post about Losing My Mojo...I have spent the past year trying to find it again....
- I threw myself into gelli plate printing and even started the Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts facebook group which has nearly 1800 members...
- I joined some art journaling groups and tried that...
- I joined another group where we created and swapped our art...
- I spent hours browsing through Pinterest....
- I joined 29 Faces in February and created 24.....
- I grabbed some old non-varnished canvases and altered them - chucked some paint on them
- I found I liked to doodle funky flowers - so I painted some of them on the old canvases...
- I'm taking an online class - Studying the Masters - Portraits and Self Portraits
- I joined Cre8ive Klatch - where I have to provide a tutorial each month - my first tutorial will be out on the 7th Nov!!
- I joined Klatchapalooza Market - where I have to create a minimum of 12 new artworks to sell online over the last weekend in November...
- I hosted BlogtoberFest 2014...
- I joined in on blog hops and hosted one too...
- I got my Etsy store up and running....
But I still feel as though I haven't found my mojo...
But I still feel that I have lost that excitement I used to have for painting...
But I feel that I have lost a lot of confidence...I wasn't happy with my painting for the arts festival so I created another one and then I didn't go to the opening night because I couldn't face people...
And...
I ended up with too much on my plate and not enough time to participate in the things I wanted to do...
Which has helped me....
- Find my One Little Word for next year...you have to wait till Jan 1st to find out but read the sentence below for a clue...
- See the need to decide where I'm going and what I'm doing and to concentrate on one thing...
- see the need to cut a few things out of my life....
So....over the next two months I need to:
- finish up and send out all the swaps I joined and not join anymore....
- get the 12 artworks ready for Klatchapalooza Market...
- write some tutorials for Cr8ive Klatch....
- finish the online class - Studying the Masters - Portraits and Self Portraits
Here's a few links to help you find your muse/mojo/open your creative block...
http://cre8iveklatch.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/ideas-for-bringing-back-your-muse.html
http://www.willowing.org/2013/06/28/5-ways-to-get-through-creative-block/
http://rachaelrice.com/2013/09/16-things-to-do-when-your-creative-mojo-has-left-the-building/
29 Ways to stay creative
The Cold Easel Syndrome thanks Suzi Poland
ReplyDeleteWow Michelle, what a great post! I knew you'd been busy but not that many things. Sounds hectic to me. Thanks for the reminder of that Cold Easel Syndrome article, it was nice to re-read and find that line "find the joy and fall in love again" it's the "again" bit that can be hard. Once lost like all love it's hard to start again for fear of what may be lost, the trials, the tribulations, is it really worth it?
History tells us that we are not alone at the edge of this abyss, many many artists have been becalmed before on the vast oceans going absolutely nowhere, or seemingly so, because this is a very important place to be. It's a place all of us need to be at some point, it's the point between peaks and without it there cannot be another peak, it's the dull that makes the highlights bright. In the long run you will look back and see it for what it is, what it was, a year "in-between".
My WOTY for this year was "enough" and I've found I've had enough of many things, I've not had enough of others and I am enough in myself. One if the ecourses I did earlier this year that really helped was Creative Alchemy. Since then I've been a happy valley wanderer, doing less and finding joy. Changing mediums, locations and ways of earning a living. Joy is now all I seek because the next step is simply to FALL in love, but that requires trust and safety, which is very different to a life on the edge, of extremes of the challenges of our modern competitive world. So instead I've been retreating into myself to find what is joyful to me. By all means come join me on that slow curvy journey, sitting quietly under the shade of a tree any time you need and let nature do the rest.
Thanks for your lovely long post, thanks for writing it and sharing your vulnerability in it with us. It was a delight to read. All the best finishing everything for this year and here's to a fabulous 2015!
Thank you so much Suzi for your beautiful words. Love and hugs to you.
DeleteWell you've certainly been busy chasing down that lost mojo! Good for you!
ReplyDeleteIt seems that 'One Little Words' are making themselves known real early this year. Just last weekend my word for 2015 became very apparent…it just suddenly arrived!
Wishing you inspiration and fulfilment with the new year…
Cat xo
Thank you Cat, wishing you a great 2015 too!
DeleteI couldn't stop reading. I was afraid you were going to say you'd had enough! But thank goodness, no. I think we all overload ourselves when we feel lost, I know I've done it. But we need to be able to hear our creative voice and that can't happen if we are always occupied with 'stuff' All creativity requires some down time or thinking time, which we usually beat ourselves up about, instead of congratulating ourselves, because it is during this time, when we are doing 'nothing' that creative connections are made.
ReplyDeleteSteve Jobs said 'creativity is just connecting things'
Thank you so much for your lovely comments, I really appreciate them.
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