February 17th, 2023

In an effort to work through my creative blocks, I have joined Ellie Hipkin for her Flourish textile course. I took part in a class with her at Made and Making in Hassocks last year. Creating collage, monoprints with machine embroidery. It was a great day and for a while, I felt really inspired, but then it slipped away from me again.

I recently have been giving myself permission to make work to play with ideas intuitively and to follow gently my creative leanings. I have been re-reading parts of  'Mindfulness and the art of drawing' by Wendy Ann Greenhalgh. She has some really useful tips on how to become more creative and to get over blocks. It's a beautiful book to look at as well and I find if I let it fall open somewhere I read those pages and see what they bring me.

I wonder if part of my problem has been trying to go back to how I worked pre-pandemic, it may be that I've moved on from there now. During the pandemic I made loads of portraits and experimental colour work, which I really loved but it was without any pressure to show anyone at all. Once 'normal' life returned the block came over me with avengance - I felt like I didn't know what getting back to normal meant as everything had changed - my classes had mainly stopped, my print studio had had to close and I had been very unwell. Certainly, the pandemic, the lockdowns and long-covid have really changed the person I am and also the artist within me. Trying to find what way to go now is proving to be a surprisingly hard challenge.

I am trying out new ways of working and different ways of approaching things. Updating my website is also helping as it means looking through all my old work and collecting things together in one public place. I also, this week, have moved into a studio share with Bella Franks and four other wonderful artists. I think feeling part of an art community again will really help. I have my home studio set up in my garage but there is something about leaving the house and going to work that is very positive. I see people and have conversations about art and work which all help to rebuild a sense of identity.

Despite some reluctance, I know that the only way I'll really get into a good working flow again is by working. Simply showing up and sitting with some materials leads me somewhere. If I simply avoid it and wait for inspiration it will never come. I am working on being more disciplined with my own practice and making something even if absolutely not in the mood. I'm then much more likely to return to the piece to work on it more. As a result, I have some projects developing that have piqued my interest so that when I get up I want to go and see how they are looking. This is a really good change. However, I haven't formed a new habit yet so I need to continue to work at it.

I've shared a few images here of what I'm currently working on. It's been a combination of dropping paint onto fabric, mono-printing, machine embroidery and painting. I'm still finding my inspiration in nature and landscape.  I'm definitely getting my hands dirty and feeling my way and creating some things that I like and pointing to some new directions.

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