Today’s post: beating the BOWS (Beginning of Winter Slump), per our discussion several weeks ago. Part 2 will be about “beating the economic slump”, next week. By then I hope to have thought of something to write.
Suggestions for dealing with BOWS:
- Do something different. Do you normally paint large? Paint very small (4×6, 6×8). Normally work in oil? Use watercolor, pencil, or watercolor pencil. Do a whole image with palette knife. Etc. Try Yupo!
The image on this post comes from a little experiment I did a while ago: laid a piece of rice paper on a plate rolled with printing ink, then drew on top of the paper. The cave-art quality of this was a surprise to me, and charms me. - Do something even more different. I’ve been crocheting like crazy - something about the colors and textures of all those yarns and fibers fascinates me. It’ll stimulate me in the studio, too. At some point. I hope.
- Look at other art. Go to the library or bookstore and flip through every art magazine there, including ones you wouldn’t normally. The abstract stuff (in ArtNews? American Art Collector? can’t remember them all) is visually very interesting for me. I happened to see a magazine new to me (Horses in Art) and look through it last weekend; much of the work was pedestrian, but there was at least one artist whose approach fascinated and inspired me.
- Clean the studio. We already talked about this.
- Visit artisan fairs and studios. What a great time of year to see what other artists - of all types - are doing! So many craft fairs and similar things happening; fine crafts also get me visually inspired. Even better, make a purchase and support other artists.
- Sketch from life - pets, spouses, trees. Try doing something really unusual, like a study of the reflections in a shiny glass ball ornament.
- Mess with your images in Photoshop. I have so much fun playing with my images - whether artwork or photos - and Photoshop’s filters and plugins. And sometimes it inspires me to try a different approach. Plus, you might end up with something cool enough to print onto a card or shirt.
OK, enough from me. Other suggestions?
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December 5th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
My husband and I have found that things slow down for both of us between Christmas and New Year’s, so we have a tradition of setting that period aside for unstructured time, which is exactly what we don’t usually have. (On normal weekdays he has one to five conference calls a day. Talk about structured time.)
I’ll probably be in the studio on and off, but will just dink and dunk around doing whatever I feel like. We usually do some projects around the house that we haven’t gotten to, take much longer walks with the dog, weather permitting and just generally enter a mildly vegetative state for ten days or so. “So what do you want to do today?” “I don’t know. What do you want to do?” “Take the dog to the beach?” “Sure.” Hey, Julie, you remember The Beach, don’t you?
And, of course, I’m trying to figure out how to create “revenue streams” for 2009. Sold two of my first four listings on EBay, so that’s hopeful.
But I’ll be happily back in the saddle the first Monday after New Year’s Day, starting to work on juried show entries, of which the first is due at the end of the month. No art festivals in 2009. Too much overhead for a highly questionable return. So I’m looking for what will provide the maximum chance for income with minimum money invested. I think the internet will be a big part of the answer. LOVE to hear some other ideas!
December 9th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
For me, the easiest cause of a slump is failure to start. I think we’ve already discussed my lack of motivation and discipline. The only way I can get out of a slump is to get back into the studio or out into the field and just get to work.
One difficulty for me is to say “no” when people ask for my time. There are some things I have to do, but most of the time I have the option. Once I give a little of my time away, it’s easy to let more slip away until it’s been another week or more.
December 15th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Susan - yes, there’s an annual ‘dead zone’ between 12/25 and 1/1, and we often do ‘deep time’ things, like repaint a room in the house, remodel, work on goals for the next year, etc. And yes, I remember The Beach. I also remember that - being California - there are loads of other people there and fees are charged (which ALWAYS irritates me!). Now, this being Montana, there are no fees to go anywhere except national parks, and this time of year it’s all about SNOW, which turns out to be The World’s Biggest Dog Toy.
Don, getting out into the field is ALWAYS a good answer to ‘but I’m not motivated!’. I had a quick trip to Triple D 2 days after Thanksgiving, and I’ll have to post some photos on here because it got the juices going again. Amazing how that works.
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:02 am
I seem to be in the midst of a slump. Part of it is because I do encaustic painting and the fine art artists look down on what I do even tho I have won awards and works have been accepted in Art Galleries in CT. Sometimes I feel like this “snobbery” is uncalled for. But what really stirs up my imagination is to use different sorts of papers……..I use pastel paper or watercolor paper and even canvas or boards instead of the shiny paper that makes the wax glide so much better. Some of the time, I am really surprised at the results. Lately I have been trying Interference pigments with the wax. So I guess that you need to change things a bit to get that imagination and passion back.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Ann - change is indeed a great re-motivator. A former manager of mine at HP always used to say “A change is as good as a rest”, for recharging oneself; it took me a while to do so, but I totally agree with him now.
Personally, I think encaustic is really cool and allows for layered and textural effects that I find fascinating. I wish I had the patience to do it…but I already have so dang much art supplies that I can’t really justify more. If you really are experiencing any sort of snobbery - tell yourself they’re just jealous, and forget about them.