When you are creative all day long, sometimes you need a break.
I’d love to hear what refreshes you!
Sometimes you just need to go away from your usual environment (e.g. Singapore – only joking – you need a son and family in a condo in Singapore to make it viable) but when you get home you will look at everything with new eyes.
Sometimes it helps to visit exhibitions – preferably something unrelated to your usual line of work. In Singapore I visited the Leonard exhibition in the Lotus building and one of my enduring memories is of the plasma screen where you could place you hand to simulate the movement of water – this was placed alongside Leonardo’s drawings of water movement.
Or you can visit Art in Action. This is very humbling for most creative people because there is just so much absolutely amazing work there. Here are a couple of the photos I took.
I liked the linear artwork on these ceramics by Dan Wright and loved the shape of these vases below by Tessa Wolfe Murray.
I’m sure you ‘get’ the idea – move away from your studio and just enjoy art by other artists out of your sphere of experience. When you get back I’m sure you’ll find that new ideas have subconciosuly been combusting.
Tell us what works for you to refresh and re-inspire – comment in a few words or offer a guest post with lots of yummy images. But, hey, it’s summer – so TAKE A BREAK!
One way I get refreshed is in early July when I join my sister and group of artist friends(9) and rent a house somewhere in the UK – a different area every year. We have traditions of walking every morning, going back for breakfast; out paints all day; home for meal and show and tell. My sister, an Art teacher, does a critique on all the pieces and always finds something to be positive about even in the most dire composition! Its very encouraging.The others are all artists in their own right except me and a Botanist. I start slowly as this is pretty much the only time a draw/paint in a year and then start splashing and experimenting. Every year I learn something different and every year I come back with something I am quite pleased with (for me, this is a minor miracle). And every year I come home looking at everything in a different way. We all share our work over the previous year and they are very complimentary about my calligraphy, which is encouraging too.