Are You Struggling Creatively? You're Not Alone

 

One thing that I've heard repeatedly since March of 2020 is that people are struggling with their creativity. Whatever the reason, they've lost their desire to create. 

 

I get it. I truly do.

 

I spent most of 2020 and part of 2021 in a fog wondering what in the hell I should be doing and how to get there. I had lost all of my in-person workshops and didn't have the resources to fully transition to online workshops. The daily struggle was spent trying to figure out how to stay afloat (and keep healthy.) Yet, my easel kept staring at me, calling me. 

 

I fed my creativity as much as I could by looking at how artists of the past survived and worked through the challenging world events of their time. Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, Joan Mitchell, Henri Matisse, Gwen John, Celia Paul, Vincent and many others were my guides. I forced myself to go to my easel and touch my supplies, squeeze out some paint and work in my books. It wasn't always easy. I also felt very alone and shut off from the creative community I had struggled so hard to build for so many years. 

 

One of the reasons that I created The Art Life was to create a virtual community where creatives from all over the world, of all mediums and levels could gather, feel connected, share ideas, work together and feel less alone. 

 

In addition to our ongoing live workshops, we also have virtual Salon Days where we gather, talk and create. We talk about art, about life and about how we are finding and working our way through the world. It makes me feel less alone. I look forward to every session and being able to talk and share with artists all over the world.

 

I posted this in March and I'll share it again here:

Humans, even in the worst of times, are driven to create. We need to try to remember this no matter how full of despair we may be over the constant deluge of world news. 

Art can show us not only how things are but how things can be, what is truly possible. Even in our darkest moments, art gives us hope and a chance to pause, step back and realize how marvelous the world and being alive is. 

 

 

 

"There are moments on most days when I feel a deep and sincere gratitude, when I sit at the open window, and there is a blue sky or moving clouds." -Käthe Kollwitz