Do you feel inspired today?  I can’t say it’s a day I’m raring to go in my studio this afternoon. Sometimes it feels as if I’ll never be inspired again, but that is never the case. 🙂

It usually means I got stuck in my habits and forgot to look at the world with wonder.  Habits are inspiration killers. It’s so easy to get stuck in the mundane.

Here are a few ways I get out of my own  lack of inspiration.

• I like to go to the library and look at those big art books.  For one thing, the silence and the people reading and sitting at the computers feel like companionship, and just mingling with others can spark inspiration. Besides, I LOVE those beautiful pictures of famous art.
• I go out in nature. The shapes and the colors are always new and if I pay attention I always see something I didn’t notice before.
• Hang out on Facebook for a while looking at art in all the art groups I belong to.  Such wondrous variety!  There is the danger of getting stuck on FB though.
• I do a lot of research on the Internet. I find that the Internet is a great source for how-tos. I really like it, but it’s easy to get stuck there too. There is always an upside and a downside to everything, right?  Say you want to know how an ocean wave really looks before you paint it. You search the term and gazillion pictures come up. That is genius at our fingertips.
• Friends to cheer me on! Especially other artists.

• Visit some local art gallery.
• Give yourself a challenge to paint something different, using a different color palette.
• Go shopping for art supplies. Yeah!
• And, last but not least, just ignore any feelings of lack and paint anyway. Ugly is okay.  Art journaling really helps too, or plain ole journaling to get that focus back.
• You can talk with some naysayer in the family and get inspired to prove them wrong! Anger and disgust are good action propellers. 🙂

I would love to hear what you do when your inspiration is flagging.

Have a wondrous creative weekend!

xo

Maria

P.S. I could use an art sale about now, and I have many pieces to choose from in my etsy shop. HERE.