Overcoming an Unexpected Block

Hello my Friends, 

The first week of Noirs Animonth is through so I thought I would summarize my experience thus far and speak more on art blocks and inspiration.  If you recall my recent moonchat post, I spoke a bit on tempting your muse to boost creativity.  Lucky for me, I actually experienced a block during the first week of Noirs Animonth and it gave me some renewed insight to chat about with you!  This is a bit long, but I hope it can help any of you going through similar things.

The noirs animaux represent many things as individuals but are, collectively, a similar entity, seemingly meant to guide and or direct me. Whether you believe in the spiritual, or the simple psychology of one's own perceived meanings, these creatures have had an incredible impact on my life.

During the first few days, I kept catching myself questioning my every action, being hyper critical of the work, and just generally beating myself up for every little mistake both related to the art challenge and everything outside of it.  It was painful, but it was also important.   When we meet with a personal weakness or challenge, it can be a chance to strengthen ourselves and so I tried to embrace the negative things I was feeling and going through, hoping to learn and overcome something I was clearly fighting inside. 

I soon realized that part of the problem was my connection to the work itself.  These pieces were meant to be very emotional for me, yet I was just going through the motions and not truly connecting with their symbolism.  I admit, this lack of bonding to personal art was a feeling both foreign and a bit frightening.   

Realizing this, I started to make some changes, first to my creative space.   Rather than working late at night by my harsh studio lights, I would migrate to the couch in my partner’s studio and sit by our favorite jar light we made together which emits a beautiful warm light.  While the lighting was not ideal, it created a safe and welcoming atmosphere where I could cozy up and focus on my work without the pressures of my workspace looming around me.  Location change can be massive in helping shift your mindset.  

I also  focused once more on the meanings and symbolism behind my work.  Perhaps I felt I was struggling to create pieces I was happy with, but one thing had not changed, and that was my happiness with the symbolism of the pieces themselves.  The noirs animaux are benevolent spirits, but that does not mean they are not occasionally terrifying, or that they do not suffer their own problems.  From the bat who is constantly dying and being reborn as different dragons in an attempt to make herself seem more intimidating, or the crow who had to give up her life in order to open the gates to Summer.  Even Ivan, threatening me so often in my dreams with his teeth, or hoards of rotting animals in order to get me to dig myself out of the problems I had built up around me, these messages began to sink in with new meaning.  

When it came to the art creation itself,  I luckily had already created thumbnails for each day’s piece which acted as a boosting point for me to hop off from and take further.  I highly recommend taking the time to occasionally come up with prompts for yourself and create quick, ugly messy thumbnails for them so that you have a stash of inspiration.  Doing this helped me a lot and when the thumbnails simply did not appeal to me or feel right anymore, I used their basic inspiration to build an entirely different image.   

Remember how I spoke of tempting your creative muse in the last post and how hard it can be to remember to actually apply the inspirations?  Well that became key for my with this series of work.  Frequently looking through my travel photos from this year, adding some of the imagery from them into my work and meditating on the emotions those travels gave, me acted as an incredible boost which ultimately helped me enjoy the process once more. 

Blocks are not easy to overcome, I realize.   These are just some of the things that genuinely helped me this week and took a challenge that, along with some other life stuff, had me working myself back into a pretty depressive, self loathing mindset, and helped me return to a state of loving the creative process and the concepts behind the work.  This love of creation is so much more precious and valuable than the opinions of others, social media numbers, and even money.  

Never worry if part of your own healing process means taking an internet break, or taking some self care days.  You do not owe anyone an apology for this and your audience is not keeping tabs on you, just waiting for you to mess up.  You will ultimately overcome your block when you actively seek to.  Not by force, but with love and forgiveness and allowing yourself to remember what it is about creating that made you love it so much in the first place. <3 

Be well~

~Aria