8 Strategies for Overcoming Creative Block

 I wrestle a lot with creative block. When I'm going through it, I feel like a failure. I procrastinate and am hyper-critical of what I paint. I am the queen of creative block, but there are a few things I do that help.

The hardest part can be just getting to the studio. Reserving the time to create is hard! Sometimes I just go to the studio and clean.

Draw every day. Draw on scraps of paper and old envelopes. Draw when you're waiting for an appointment or for a friend. Draw at church or at concerts or plays.

As a child, I couldn't leave the dinner table until I had eaten everything on my plate (which resulted in many late nights, eyeing a slab of cold liver). I sometimes harness the waste-not-want-not maxim by filling my palette with all sorts of colors and not leaving until the paint is all used up.

Put a microphone to the negative voices in your head. On a scrap of paper, write down the lies, the negative put-downs from people in the distant or recent past, the ragings of an internal monitor. Then next to the lies, write down the truths. My list might include, "My best work is all behind me," and my response: "God will guide my brush."

I need to remember that I am more than what I make; I am not earning my salvation here. I am a beloved child of God, and my work is as unique as my fingerprint. It helps to tell myself sometimes that what I'm creating right now is for my eyes only. I love this quote by Phoebe Waller-Bridge about writing: "Whenever I get stuck on something, I'm like, 'What would I do if I wasn't afraid? What would I write if I wasn't afraid? What would I say in this situation if I wasn't afraid?'"I think the same applies to the visual arts.

Be around creative people who make it seem normal. In 1985, I went to a Bruce Cockburn concert that changed the trajectory of my life. The music was great, yes, but more than that was seeing the performer on stage just being himself without apology, being creative in a unique way that only he could be. I felt the permission that night to find my own road, to let go of the pressures to conform and please others. 

Another tip for creative block: move your body. Crank up the music and dance in the studio. And then do crazy psychedelic base coats with big brushes and long strokes. And then paint over them, but let a little of their energy peek through.

Or paint pink.