What to do if you're stuck creatively

Are you feeling stuck creatively? Me too. Let me tell you a story about how I found out and what I'm doing about it.

Ps. You can also listen to me share more about being stuck and how I'm working towards moving my creative growth forward in this podcast episode.

This summer we spent a month living and working in Hungary in a small town dedicated to music. My husband attended a workshop in Keckechmet, Hungary a few years back and came home completely starry-eyed about the city. He kept telling me how much I would love it and how we needed to spend an extended amount of time there.

Fast forward a few years and he had the opportunity to attend the workshop again and, since we live in the UAE, we were looking for a much cooler (temperature-wise) and cheaper place to spend our summer. Thus, creating the perfect elements for my husband to have his wish come true. We packed up and spent a month living in a tiny flat, right by the city center in Kecskemet.

We decided to spend the month living like locals and exploring Hungaries smaller towns. We spent one of my favorite days, just about 20 minutes from Budapest on the Danube, in the city of Szentendre.

The streets were cobblestone, the churches old and city alive with street musicians, artists, and gelato. This particular small town is known for its famous art galleries and museums so we went intending to fill up our eyes with beauty.

We wandered into an art gallery off the main square and I had a *MOMENT*.

You know those *MOMENTS* where you have a thought that stops you in your tracks and you kind of have an emotional spiral?

I was walking through a gallery show where the artist had collected what she called her 'birthday works' and each piece was a reflection of her year and her growth. I was intrigued by looking through 20 years of work and her evolution. The pieces all had a very tight theme and style, showing it was obviously from the same person, but it was amazing how many variations she had been able to create throughout the years. She had experimented with color and shape and different levels of looseness and rigidity and minimalism and maximalism and abstraction and realisticness in her work, but it all still followed the same thread forward.

I thought as I walked through making these observations, "what am I working on? what am I learning? what am I experimenting with my art?".

Then came my spiral moment of freak out when I thought 'nothing'.

I felt as if I wasn't focused on anything specific lately and realized I haven't been learning any new techniques or mediums or skills. I felt a little stuck and had a little panic moment.

I thought, "I'm such a terrible artist, a fraud".

I immediately wanted to go through my list of common excuses for this: travel, sickness, business changes, work, other commitments, etc.

But then, I thought no - there is no excuse.

No one reason that explains it away and makes up for the lack of growth and attention and creation.

There is only the realization of it. It's here and it's real. I'm stuck and not growing.

I did a mental inventory to asses if this was true.

Here are a few questions I asked myself to help determine this:

• Have I created anything lately?
• Do I have a desire to create?
• What am I learning?
• What am I interested in?
• Have I tried anything new lately?
• Do I have any ideas I want to try?
• When was a time I grew creatively? What happened, why, what did I learn?

Creative Blocks Vs Being Stuck Creatively

Now, here you first have to determine if you are experiencing a creative block or if you are stuck in a creative rut. A creative block is where you have a desire (or don't) but just can't get anything to come out on the page. Being stuck is just being bored and (maybe) not having the desire to create coupled with a lack of growth - meaning nothing new or interesting is happening in your art.

As I answered the above questions, I realized that I was creating - here and there, I had a desire to make but the output was meh. I took stock of my latest creations and they felt more paint by number than exciting and unknown paths to explore. I have not learned a new technique in quite a while and my art seemed to be copies of the image before instead of anything new or even slightly different. Lastly, I realized I felt out of new ideas - not to say I don't have ideas because I certainly have a long to-do list - but not big new creative ideas, things that will push my art and my skill to new levels, things that may scare me a bit.

I was creating but I was stuck. 

Now what? Now that I know I have a problem, I have to take some actions to address it.

Here are a few things to try to help you grow when you're stuck in a creative rut:

• Take an art class on something new (online and in-person)
• Go create in-person somewhere
• Try something completely new to me (doesn't have to be art-related)
• Journal about why and what's happening
• Make a list of ideas of I have
• Read a book on creativity that will help give me some direction (my favorite is The Creative Habit)
• Make some WEIRD art - try to shake loose some of the boundaries in your mind
• Set aside some special time for art-making
• Start an art collab with someone who inspires and challenges you
• Try something that's been on my list for a long time
• Take on a challenge (like the 100 day project) that will push me to experiment
• Try to replicate some art that is out of my comfort zone art from someone who's style I'm intrigued by
• Try things that don't make sense
• Make some really bad art
• Take a week off from distractions (no TV, radio, podcast, eating out, whatever it is that distracts you)

Are you feeling stuck too? Like you are slowly sinking in the mud and you need a little shake to snap you out of your creative trance?

Let's chat in the comments and let me know how you're feeling, I know I'm not the only one. Tell me, if you've been here before what you did to push past this and get your art growing again to where you're excited to try new things and make more!

I know for me being with other people who have new ideas, can challenge me and hold me accountable for creating in the moment is a great kickstart for my creativity. Learning new skills is an invaluable part of learning and growing for me. The last time I truly remember learning something new that pushed my creativity to expand was Karin Olah's workshop at my first art retreat, taking a terrarium making course here in Dubai and watching a (free!) painting workshop with Amy Miracle. The key in all these - they were IN PERSON (the online workshop I watched live and participated in right then and there!) and they were learning new skills that I didn't already possess. I was able to put my hands all over new materials and see how other people were creating and then I took home a finished piece, a head full of ideas and a new tool in my toolkit.

If you're the same as me, meaning you enjoy the in-person experience of creating new things and you're looking for a place to do just that, I'd love to invite you to join me and 10 other artists for a week in Alabama in October for the Radiant Art Retreat. It will be a week full of creating, playing with new supplies, learning new techniques and refilling your creative well. Spots are open and you can register here. 

I'm so looking forward to spending this week learning from Katie and Gracie and all the other guests. To getting my hands dirty and experimenting. To making new things and having quiet, dedicated time to my art.

Until then, I'm going to keep trying new things that may be bad - but maybe good, like Lavendulla Citron (Lavender Lemon) gelato (spoiler it's delicious), in my art, and my life until I can snap out of this fog and find a new direction for my art. I'll be sharing my process and progress over on Instagram and would love to keep chatting and growing with you. 

I'd love for you to join me in creating and in connecting.