6 Creativity Killers
Sometimes it seems like even though my mind wants to paint, my body hasn’t gotten the memo. Time passes and the dent in the sofa gets a little deeper, and the paper in the studio stays white and clean. Or I’ll make the effort to be present and available to paint, but none of my reference photos seem right, and all my ideas feel lackluster. I know I’m not alone; many artists have written me with the same lack of motivation. We’re feeling blocked.
When I think about creative blocks and what causes them, I can point to five things that I have observed over the years that really affect my creativity and whether or not I feel inspired to create and paint.
With I am plein air painting, I have a natural desire to make the painting look as much like the real scenery as possible (I feel like I’m not alone on this!). A few months ago, I painted on the deck of my studio overlooking my yard. It turns out that once it was done, my favorite part of the painting was a line that formed the least realistic part of the painting!
Trying to let go of some of that perfectionism and paint a feeling can be a struggle. As you find your way, you might just find an overwhelming sense of freedom as you let go of some of that pressure, and recognizing these sources of creative block can help.
Creativity killers are NOT:
Not a lack of skill. Your lack of skill doesn’t have to kill your creativity
Your messy space. You should see mine a majority of the time! Also, a lack of space would fall under this category. Neither of those things have to kill your creativity.
The wrong instructor. We can learn something from anyone and adapt it to our work.
The wrong subject. Any subject can become a creative painting!
These are not the sources of your lack of creativity. If you are struggling with your creativity I find that it usually comes from a lot of “ness’s” and “isms”. These are the 5 that I have recognized:
Comparison or Competitiveness
Thinking that you will never be as good as someone else, or looking at other people’s art and allowing it to make you feel diminished. Remember, they are on a journey that you are not on. They might be farther along than you, or they might have picked up different principles at different times. You also don’t know all of the “dirty secrets” they have in their studio of paintings that didn’t turn out the way they wanted
2. Deadlines
Keeping score or keeping track of time can kill creativity. Sometimes it’s when you are doing a commission or painting for an art show. When you feel like you have to have something painted by a certain time, nothing kills creativity faster!
3. A scarcity mindset
Thinking, “I don’t want to waste my good paper on something that might not turn out”, will freeze your brush and your creativity before you even touch the paper! We need to remember that painting takes brush miles and miles of paper to build our skill, and every painting is teaching us something, so nothing is ever wasted.
4. Fear
Even though all of these creativity killers are fear-based in some way, sometimes it’s just outright fear that kills our creativity. What if I never get any better than I am right now? What if I never paint a good painting again?
5. Expectations
Sometimes we want our painting to do something for us. “I’ve had a stressful week, and a good painting will make me feel better”. Your paintings do not owe you anything. The best way for me to create a feel better painting is to come to my studio and recognize that I can enjoy the process. Maybe I’ll do a slow painting where I just put a brush mark on and just kind of meditate on it and move really slowly, notice and be very present. Focusing on that single moment.
6. Perfectionism
“I can’t celebrate my successes because I can only see my flaws.”
”I need to pick the best reference photo before I commit to a painting.” Remember, some of the best artists in the world are painting the most mundane subjects because they don’t let anything be too precious.
If I can identify a glimpse of where my block is coming from, I can start to find freedom from that limiting mindset.
Personally, to overcome these creativity blockers, I have found that I need to live with a very open-ended mindset. I want to make each painting a masterpiece, but I try to remind myself that the process of painting is its own reward, regardless of outcome. Even if my work is not majestic or beautiful, I can celebrate even the smallest beautiful little moments that it holds. I choose to lean into trusting that when I paint, I am doing a good thing, serving my mental health, taking time to be present and building skill.
I celebrate my artistic life when I choose to celebrate showing up: “Yay! I painted today!”
I celebrate my art and advocate for it when I look for and applaud the small beauties in my work.
I try to be very open-ended in my hope for an outcome. I want to have great paintings but I cannot do it on a timeline, I cannot do it in an environment of perfectionism. I cannot do it with comparison, fear, or pressure to create by a certain time.
I hope this can encourage you that if you are feeling pressured or stressed, to take the time to come, enjoy the journey and celebrate your little successes!
Have you identified one of these limiting mindsets as creative blocks for you? Which one do you struggle with? Or is it something else? Let me know in the comments below!
My favorite strategies for loosening up and getting playful with watercolor can be found in my online course, Watercolour Workout, full of exercises to grow skill and spark creativity. Enroll here!