Swimmers and Artists Block

Girl Power 36x36" oil

This time of year is when I get in the studio and paint A LOT.
Its the season of hunkering - and for me that means getting to hunker in the studio and work on big paintings.
This year I gave my self a deadline to finish up a bunch of "swimmers" - I've been working hard but missed my deadline - well to be clear - I didn't paint as many as I wanted to by the end of last month but I did paint several and I like them very much.

Then it happened... ARTIST BLOCK.  Ugh.  seriously, NOW?  nooooo NOW is when I need to be painting!!

SO what do you do when a block happens?
Here is what I did.....

 - I whined.  I whined to my husband, I whined to my best friend, I whined to my dogs.
- I spent a good 3 days binge watching Netflix (the Crown, Abstract, The Frontier, Broadchurch .....)
- I spent waaaaaay to much time looking at art on pinterest and instagram (which only made me more blocked and confused)
- I made chicken soup from scratch and toll house cookies TWICE.

It was NOT productive (art wise - the soup and cookies were great) BUT part of the process
Here is what else I did....

-I kept going to the studio
-I played with other mediums a bit and other subject matters
-I wrote down my feelings about my art and where I want it to go
-I cleaned and cleared my studio.  Made empty space to let new art breathe.
-I began meditating again
-I turned up the music and turned off the noise (no more looking at other peoples art)
-I kept painting

and then I painted this

24"x30" oil

and just like that I feel inspired again and have direction and clarity.
Still a swimmer but something new is happening and it excites me

Unblocked painting wise but I cannot come up with a title
OR decide what to do with this blog.
But for now I will just keep on painting...


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New Swimmer (the block breaker)