I’m not going to tell you what doesn’t work when you are in a creative rut, but I can share what did work for me.

First, I committed to myself that finding time to be with myself and to create was a priority, and that meant finding time either to create, or finding time to find time to create. Let me explain.

Putting time aside to swim in creativity is tricky business. Sometimes it flows. Sometimes there’s a huge dam in the way, and despite all desire to do something, anything, I’ll sit there falling asleep looking at a canvas.

That’s when finding time to find time comes in handy. By this I mean putting time into finding scenarios in your community that you can participate in which demand output. For example, taking a class at a community college or signing up for local art competitions. These are both tactics I have used, and they are particularly effective because you have to pay to play. You have to put down cold hard cash (not a lot) and once you do that, you’re taking a risk. In order for the risk to be worth it, you have to deliver.

The great thing about a contest is there is a deadline. Participating in a deadline-driven project pushes you to do something, anything, and all of a sudden you have made a thing! Sometimes that little jump start is all you need to take exploring your art back into your own hands.

Classes are great for a different reason. If you are working on establishing a habit, I think classes are great, especially if it’s a class that meets at least a couple times a week over the course of a couple months. This establishes regular intervals of time when everything else gets put aside, and you have an opportunity to just focus on your ideas, or development of technical ability, or just flowing.

In 2016 I did both tactics, and I have been on a creative high ever since. I’ll share more about some of my other endeavors later, but for now, here are some photos of a painting I did for a plein air contest. I signed up for the contest and was running out of time in my day, so I painted at night! I set up right outside a bar in the historic downtown strip of my city, and painted from about 11pm to 1am, and here is the result:

On the left is my setup that night, and on the right – me with my People’s Choice ribbon!