Lost my muse...

[Toad]

What do the rest of you do when you hit a creative slump?

I can mess with photos these days, but am not finding the results satisfying - technically OK - but artistically blah...

Any suggestions?

[clare]

Oh Toad,

I empathis with you as I am coming out of one of those - WHERE HAS MY CREATIVE TALLENT GONE? is it behind the sofa? AHHHH - - periods.

I always find that it is due to a up coming job or just frustration that something else is just not right - sleep - caffine - etc.

What helped me pull myself out of my recent bout of AGHHH was reading through the history of art - browsing the gallery here - viewing loads and loads of different fonts - and relooking at why I create my art work - what makes mine different?

I know that we are all really just reproducing what others have done before - but we bring to that our own experiences and views.

Don't get to disheartened something will click and your be back creating your beautiful pieces of art work and enjoying creating.

Hope it comes back soon
Clare

[Doug Nelson]

Go do the diametric opposite until you're sick of it and dying to get back to work. Personally, I work myself to exhaustion at a local gym or bicycle (to exhaustion) in nice weather. Plus, lack of glycogen in the brain leads to some fascinating trains of thought.

[Toad]

Hmm. The workout thing might work. Wish I wasn't such a slug!

Anyway, I am just going to try to ease my way back in, and hope for inspiration to strike. Even taking a couple of weeks off has helped a little.

[MoonFizz]

This happens to me regularly
Over the years I tried many solutions none of which ever worked!
I guess its just patience ....you'll never lose what ability you have,
and bounce back when least expected ...another thing, don't try too hard if the inspiration is not there.
_ Gary

[DannyRaphael]

Here's another possibility...

[History first] A number of years ago I got involved in a project of which a part was to lead a team in coming up with "creative" solutions to various problems. After doing some research I came upon a couple books and an associated tool that I thought were outstanding. All are by Roger van Oech.

* A Whack in the Seat of the Pants
* A Kick in the Seat of the Pants
* Creative Whack Pack

Your post inspired me to take a look to see if these resources might be applicable to "artistic" creativity as well as "business / procedural" creativity.

Short answer: YES, definitely.

Since it's been awhile since some of these were published, they're available CHEAP. Note, there's been a couple editions of these published, older = cheaper, but content-wise probably very similar.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/offering/list/-/0911121005/all/ref=sr_pb_a/102-2097579-9356102

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/offering/list/-/0060960248/all/ref=dp_bb_a/102-2097579-9356102

http://half.ebay.com/cat/buy/prod.cgi?cpid=1247438&domain_id=1856&meta_id=1

http://half.ebay.com/cat/buy/prod.cgi?meta_id=1&domain_id=1856&cpid=18986

If it was me I'd opt to spend a few bucks for the "Whack Pack." It's quite good and portable. Easy to use and immediate.

The books are an enjoyable and entertaining read. Cleverly illustrated, too. Not a whole bunch of dry, theoretical B.S.

HTH...

~Danny~