any of you guys ever been in the slump

share

artistically

like for over two years now

kind of went to a really dark place and am a bit afraid that if i pick up the pencil again i'll pull all of that up - and i draw pretty dark to start with

best advice for getting back to it and not going insane at the same time??

decides2dream

i know exactly how you feel. i need to feel happy to create, and it's been a few years since i've gotten myself in the darkroom. i miss it, and yet, i can't get myself excited for it either. i have been playing around with my new digital camera, whcih is good, at least i am doing...........but i do hope to feel truly *inspired* once again.

i think the important thing is not to stress over it. i have been in a long slump - but i am also an art teacher - so much of my energy has been devoted to creating lessons/projects/samples for my students.....now that i shall be on my own again, i am hoping to feel it once more. i stressed over it for a long while aways back, forced myself to print, and it sucked. haha. spent all day in the darkroom and got nothing but frustrated.

just let yourself ride it out, it WILL come back to you.

chiquimonkey

i've had this happen to me too, where i just didn't feel moved to do anything. it's very frustrating. trust that it will pass, you'll get back into the swing of things.

and maybe drawing now might help you. i can understand it being scary, pulling up emotions like that, but maybe by getting it down on paper, it won't seem as threatening or hold as much power over you. i was in a similar situation before and i remember just drawing, to the point of just scrawling, not caring what it would come out as or what it'd look like, that it didn't have to be even pleasing to the eye, just let it flow. it helped a little bit.

good luck, and hang in there - hope things lighten for you soon

share

thanks guys

i think my problem is imagery

i kind of like the macabre when it comes to art - but now it has a bit of root in reality

i know it will come back in a minute but i hate losing the drive for something that i've always loved to do

you're right - just have to stare it in the eye

chiquimonkey

share wrote:

thanks guys

i think my problem is imagery

i kind of like the macabre when it comes to art - but now it has a bit of root in reality

i know it will come back in a minute but i hate losing the drive for something that i've always loved to do

you're right - just have to stare it in the eye

i understand how scary it is to lose that drive, it's unsettling especially when art is something that's such a deep part of oneself. it'll come back though, and don't fear what you might express, it only has power over you if you let it best of luck!

V V

yes i know too how u feel.

but drawing and letting it out can really help, use it as a threapy and if u feel like it throw them away after, maybe even use the distrustion as part of the work/threapy ??, just a thought .

brain of c

get a slump buster.;)

eden

brain of c wrote:

get a slump buster.;)

Yeh, I think they have them at Slumps r us on main st. Or theres slumps n stuff on 17th...


Seriously when I shut down and cant write its because Im taking on other peoples crap too much. I isolate myself for a few days, listen to a lot of good deep music, read the old master poets and emerge refreshed and invigorated...with my fam n friends mad at me of course for not picking up my phone for 3 days...oh well I say.

Dreams of Red

personally i have to really make a wide-variety of forms in whatever medium i want to improve in before i ever actually see any improvement in my formal work... so yeah, the standing advice to keep going is mine as well... but with that, keep trying new things even if they suck...

it's the old addage that we learn from our mistakes.. the more mistakes one makes as an artist, the more one learns!