Thursday, March 10, 2011

In an art funk

I don't know what it's been the last month, but I have not been able to get myself motivated to draw (hence the lack of blogging).

I continued with the daily sketches until mid-February when I tired of my model. I've been on the lookout for new ideas for daily sketches, but nothing seems inspiring.

Also, around that same time, I got a letter from the Art Instruction Schools telling me that since I had taken too long on their course, I'd have to pay the difference between the tuition I paid and the current tuition if I wanted to continue. It took me 45 minutes of looking through all the original paperwork to find one place where it mentioned any time limit - ONE sentence, buried in the middle of a 4-page document of legal jargon. I was under the impression that it was a work-at-your-own-pace course, and I would've appreciated some sort of "reminder" that I was nearing the end of the limit.

Can you sense a little bitterness here?

I was really looking forward to the figure drawing segments that were coming up since my drawing of people can really use some work, but since the tuition difference is $900, it's not going to be happening. Needless to say, this school will not be getting any more glowing recommendations from me!

Anyway, I think that really put a damper on my artistic desire.

I haven't been completely useless lately though. I picked up my oil paints again and have been having a great time experimenting with them. I've been painting on scraps of matboard since canvas costs money, and I've got a million squares of matboard in a box that I saved from cutting mats for my artwork. I've been hoping to find some use for them.

I've also been busy around the house and farm with getting bookwork done for taxes (farm taxes are due March 1 instead of April 15), and taking care of cows/calves - we're now up to 11 little baby calves! I promise I'll take some photos soon - it's supposed to actually be pretty warm this weekend, so if there's enough sunshine, I'm planning to get some photos. Though we also got a new computer, and since we switched from a PC to a Mac, I have no photo editing software, so you'll only be getting raw photos - I usually do very minimal editing anyway, so shouldn't be too much change.

I'm hoping getting outside and getting some sunshine will spike my creativity again!

What do you do to overcome an art funk?

2 comments:

Frannie said...

Hated to hear about your school situation. Don't you hate how they hide little important facts.

My grandson inspires me when I get in a funk. He always has fun and creative ideas for me to explore.

p.s. I love baby calves...you must post some pictures.

Silverlight said...

Nyargh. A tiny sentence about time limits buried in legal shtuff, and no reminders that you were getting near the end, and then they ask you if you'd like to pay $900 extra? Yuck.

Congratulations on getting a MacIntosh computer! In my experience, they are by far the best once you get used to them.

My solution for 'artistic ennui' is to give it a break and do something else for as long as it takes to feel inspired again – whether that is minutes, days, months, or even years.

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