Returning after a break from making your art can be tricky. But the answer is surprisingly simple…
60 Comments
Hi! I’m
Nicholas Wilton
the founder of Art2Life.
With over 20 years experience as a working artist and educator, I’ve developed a systematic approach that brings authenticity, spontaneity and joy back into the creative process.
Join me and artists from all over the world in our Free Art2Life Artists Facebook Group or learn more here about Art2Life.
so very true Nicholas — I have been sick with the flu the past few weeks and have done absolutely no art — now that I am feeling somewhat better I find that instead of doing any art I am watching art videos — I will try very hard to do something today if ony for 10 minutes —
Fantastic… I just got the flu too!
Sorry you’re ill, Nicholas…..wishing you well. 🙂
take care it is no fun — still getting my energy back after 5 weeks rest and fluids
hi Nicholas,
Thanks for sharing this video, i have been struggling with resuming my art practice after almost 9 months having a child. It’s like the hardest thing is just starting. I have to keep to this in mind, little steps…half an hour, small boards, etc. I want to get back in it and build buoyancy and momentum. Thanks again for sharing this, its very helpful.
Sebastian, doing your art will make you a MUCH better parent and role model..do it for your child…. look forward to seeing your art…
Yes! After a break, the studio can seem fraught with pressure. I also start by working with something small, something fun and playful, no big deal. And of course it sets me off into the joy of creating. The play part is so helpful to me as it reframes the studio as a fun place and not where I have to prove myself to myself. Sometimes cleaning the studio will also set me off into painting as I re-find materials I haven’t used for awhile or look at colors that give me joy. Novelty, play, and loose no-pressure expression get me back into a flow.
Cleaning always does it for me too!
When I leave my art piece at the end of the day, I sometimes leave a note to my self with my intensions and vision on how to continue. I do it when I know it will be a while but also sometimes for the next day, knowing that I have a plan and that I may ‘lose the thread of though’ by the next time I come back to this piece.
Great idea!
That is a GREAT idea! I never thought of that…
Thanks, I needed to hear that…. today exactly! Been away from it waaay too long.
Candace–just do a little bit at first–the rest will take care of itself…just begin…
So true! I did a little …and I feel more optomistic. I spent time on my mise- en-place….which was very grounding…. then began!!! Yea! Thank you!!
thank you for sharing this Jonathan. Yes, I have quite a few breaks away each year and find it really hard each time to get back into the momentum of things or I feel like I’ve lost the focus of where I would like my art to be. Also I co-facilitate art groups for women and they bring their own way of working which feels like it impacts on my direction sometimes. How do you deal with that? And I also get in the trap of the watching art videos….. how to, rather than doing myself! I just recently decided that I would work on smaller boards – just playing…… and also in my sketchbook which doesn’t feel so intimidating. Just getting myself in the studio!
Collen – the answer for me is to spend solo time with my own art and just paying attention to what feels good when I am making my art…then I do more of that!
Nick, what timing! Tomorrow Monday is my start day after illness, holidays and travel, and I feel blank. Thank you for sharing, we’re not out there alone.
Kathryn! no we are not… tomorrow is the start..I am excited for you.
Thanks for sharing this! I’ve been absent from doing any art for a year now & have been wanting to get back to it, yet haven’t for one reason (or excuse) or another. Appreciate the encouragement Nicholas!
Yep…marriage crash and burn here and it was only yesterday, after three months and many life changes in the works, that I pulled out a small panel (started in CVP17) switched on a video of you, Nick, reminding me of what questions to ask myself, flipped on a subliminal tape in the background, reminding me of what a great person I am (ha!) and soon got lost in that wonderful, creative, ‘what if’ mode that was just the thing I really needed-where the outside world faded away and the brains’ neural pathways lit up like Christmas trees. Everything else went out the window. Painting is so healthy and soothing for the soul. Woke up today, ready to get back at it. Love having design and value steps crowding out the other junk. Hands on therapy, that’s what painting is….looking forward to the discipline of CVP18. I did have, in the back of my mind, an idea that maybe I’d lost what I’d gained over the last year, but it’s not like playing the flute or singing (I’ve been a musician my whole life) where if you walk away, you really DO have to start over and you DO lose it, but more like meeting up with an old friend you haven’t seen forever and picking up right where you left off.
So glad you are back in the studio and painting. I love the work of yours, I have seen in the Art2Life Academy. Art is medicine, I love the christmas tree analogy!
that is great @pam@pamreinhardt:disqus old friends–I love that..
Thank you for your sharing. I have to go in an out my studio for work reasons. For that reason, it is hard to stay with the creative flow and be connected to the right side of my brain. My work as a nurse is very demanding and my left brain is highly solicited. For me, painting is a great stress relief but it’s also very challenging ! I tried not to judge my work and embrase the process instead of the end result. Merci !
That is a big distraction but I bet it feeds your art too… good for you…
It’s nice to know the way I feel happens to all artists. Thanks for the video.
One looks at art made and feels sad that nothing inspires one – thank you for your help – am taking a painting class again with Art van Kraft in Ashland. Hope this will get me going on my own once more.
Yes..small steps…
I agree, Geri – just looking at the studio after being away from it can be daunting. I, too, get back into it by cleaning up, and set my timer for a half hour at a time. By the time I’ve done this several times during the day, I’m on a roll and start, as you do, making small things like collages. Colours, textures, patterns get my right brain going and I’m excited again. I also find that an upcoming set of group shows will get me going too, as long as I have plenty of time before the submission deadline so I don’t feel too pressured. Thanks, Nicholas, for your timely advice!
I really like the idea of “setting a timer”…..
Thanks Arlene – it really works! It means I am not overwhelmed – when that timer goes off I stop and do something else not connected with art or studio for a half hour, then start again……
A postscript – I notice that the sound in your video has improved greatly. Thanks so much, Nicholas!!!
Oh well it goes with out saying that Ferris and I are trying to learn to do this better….thanks for noticing!
Oh heck – I stopped painting for 24 years to run a graphic design business. Now I am back full-time painting again. I started with small, cheap canvases painting water to loosen up. Also started sumi paintings to feel the brush strokes. It took many, many months. I do Ai Chi (tai chi in the pool) in the mornings and let paintings in my head form, then paint all day.
having that quiet time in the pool must be marvelous and allow your ideas to form!
Yes – it’s really a form of mindfulness in the pool at the health club – but also being surrounded by the aqua color is marvelous!
I love being in water too… hot tubs, oceans rivers–love them all…
That sounds awesome Daryl…
Over Memorial Day weekend in 2017 I contracted an infection in my foot which led to my having to have my toe amputated. I spent 2 wks. in the hospital and had 4 surgeries. I came home after that pretty beaten up and I didn’t paint for months. At Thanksgiving I saw a friend who is a successful painter who has a gallery near by, he asked what I was working on and I told him nothing. He offered to come over and paint with me and I’m not sure why I did, but I did say yes. We painted together for a few hours and I haven’t stopped painting since. Just being around my friend’s creative energy got me going.
That is a great story and really speaks to the power of community ..it can really help us all keep going…
Yes! I find getting together with other Artists, or as with my music, learning a new technique or piece is reinvigorating.
Thank you, for the video and all the comments are inspiring to get back on track.
you are welcome Jill!
I took a break over Christmas, a couple of weeks, and the painting I first did when I got back into the studio, was pretty ugly, but that was OK, because I knew it was part of the process, and I just had to do it. Then the work totally took off, and I think that having a break, really helped re-invigorate my work.
Yep its hard to get going again. I have been down so many dead ends in my art practice that I dread starting up again. I am always full of ideas but just cant seem to get them to work.
sign up for the Free Art2life Workshop… that content can help you get unstuck in your art.. http://www.artlifejoy.com
I have indeed signed up. I will have to watch the taped video as it will be 4 a.m. here in Australia. When will the taped version be available?
I can do a half hour! Thank you!
Eazy peazy!
This is so great. I just went in to my studio today after almost a month of not being able to work–terrible flu followed by travel. I felt like a stranger in my own studio. This was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you!
I left painting for 7 years after a horrible divorce that dictated my going g back to NJ and staying with my mother. It was horrible, I lost my two step children (step parents have no rights) and my Golden Retriever.
Anyway, after a suicide attempt and two weeks in the psych ward, I couldn’t get to a place where I felt safe enough to open up and create again.
My mother died in 2015 and I found myself on a new journey. I feel safe in my own apt, have the support of a few artists who live in the building (a renovated elementary school from the 30’s) and first started with adult coloring books (I know, kinda corney). It lead me to drawing my own and then to creating in a more serious venue.
So that’s where I am now.
It’s great that you are recovering from such a terrible experience and moving forward in your art, Kim. Keep going <3
Thanks Kandy. I probably shared too much, but oh what the heck! I am through it and on my path again.
I think it was very brave of you to share your journey through that rough time, others need to know they can get through it as well <3 I congratulate you, Kim!! Hugs!!
Some of my take aways from your spot on blog post:
I am not alone – others struggle with this as well. No more self imposed guilt
The answer is simple – begin and begin again.
Since taking CVP16 I have applied your advice to just begin, when I have been away from the studio (go little but often is now my mantra). Now instead of having fear to begin, I have excitement. For beginnings always bring a special kind of excitement, while there may be some fear or uncertainty about beginning it is (for me) over shadowed by the anticipation.
Looking forward to CVP18!
Thanks so much, slow going in January. I’m just going to do a small 30 minute thing!
I have been away from making art for so long … years and years.
I have met some people that want to support me and have offered me an opportunity to show my art in their home. I only have a few very large paintings from my past and now need quite a few new works for the upcoming showing.
I am in the process of digging out my art supplies but I gotta tell ya, I am having such anxiety, feeling the crunch, and afraid I am not able to make art.
I am trying to shed the pressure and as soon as I open that tube of paint I will replay your wise words …
Thank you! Exactly what I needed.
Over the last 2 years we were forced to move into temp accommodation then renting ( where I was allowed to do art in case of made a mess) and now in a permanent place so it has been that long since I had a art space. Unpacked my supplies and have just been staring at them because it doesn’t feel like my space yet. I will try you little steps idea and see if that helps to rebuild my confidence. Thanks for the tips.
THANK you for this. It seems rather like a little forgiveness for feeling helpless in the studio after an absence. I have been there and I have cried buckets of tears when I felt I had “lost it”.
86′ got my BFA in sculpture with a minor in Metals. After that I made some good and some not so good art. Got sober in 97′ and quit making art. 1999 went back to school for k-12 Art Certification finished it . Art Educator for 3 years = pulled from class to write IEP’s and Teach the LEAP test. I want to do art but have no space, but want to do it anyway. My mediums are paper sculpture, metal-mild steel, sterling sliver jewelry, and Batik. Anna