Creative Block: Get Unstuck, Discover New Ideas. Advice & Projects from 50 Successful Artists
Danielle Krysa
Language: English
Pages: 288
ISBN: 1452118884
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Creative block presents the most crippling—and unfortunately universal—challenge for artists. No longer! This chunky blockbuster of a book is chock-full of solutions for overcoming all manner of artistic impediment. The blogger behind The Jealous Curator interviews 50 successful international artists working in different mediums and mines their insights on how to conquer self-doubt, stay motivated, and get new ideas to flow. Each artist offers a tried-and-true exercise—from road trips to 30-day challenges to cataloging the medicine cabinet— that will kick-start the creative process. Abundantly visual with more than 300 images showcasing these artists' resulting work, Creative Block is a vital ally to students, artists, and creative professionals.
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switch to another. Sometimes it helps to hang the piece on a wall farther away from me to get a different perspective or put it away entirely for a bit. If that doesn’t do the trick, I adhere a new image on top and start over. JC—Do you ever hear your inner critic? What does he or she say? LG—Sometimes my inner critic is informed by what I imagine my friends and relatives, who are conceptual artists, think of my work, but never tell me. I assume they would say that my paintings are too “pretty”
burst of inspiration, I feel a little like I’ve held in a sneeze. I can see myself in the art that I create, and that builds a wall of confidence. When I can’t act on a sudden burst of inspiration, I feel a little like I’ve held in a sneeze. Creative unBlock Project No. 24 Even when I don’t feel like I am in a rut, I always have these wonderful experiences with breaking out of my comfort zone when I take on a commission that is a very specific subject. Ask someone close to you to
but I wouldn’t like to have it any other way. JC—Could you give one little trick to use when a painting isn’t working? CE—Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s wrong, what needs to change. That’s when turning the painting upside down, or looking at it in a mirror, is a good trick. JC—How do you deal with criticism—positive and/or negative? CE—Positive criticism I don’t trust, and the negative sticks . . . that says it all, I’m afraid. I wish it were different, but it’s not. I’m not good at
inner critic is really making my stomach twist, I listen and try to dissect and correct. JC—And last, but definitely not least, where do you find inspiration? KBB—Usually while walking. This could be walking around thrift stores or walking around the neighborhood collecting old yard sale signs. I feel my best when I am away from my computer. I don’t want to break my self-imposed rules. These rules keep me moving and making! Creative unBlock Project No. 40 Catalog the contents of
crippling. JC—Have you ever been given advice on how to navigate those crippling blocks? AS—I follow the advice of my mentor at Bowling Green State, John Balistreri. He told me, “Whether you’re making good work or bad work, just keep making art, and eventually you’ll start making something you are happy with again.” That’s what I try to do. Sometimes it takes a long time and I make a lot of bad art, but eventually it works. I have frequent creative blocks, like I think every artist does, but I
