The Scary Blank Page

Hi there lovely people!

Sometimes, in the course of doing creative work, we get stuck and experience writer's block, artist's block or creator's block. 

Many times, we experience it at the very start of the project, just as we open our notebooks or sketchpads and face the very scary blank page. 

So what are we to do? Instead of lounging on the sofa flipping TV channels or walking away "to find inspiration," let's face that blank page head on and just make something.

Here are a few ideas that I hope will help:

1. Use Prompts

"Doodle-a-Day" is hosted by Rhianna Wurman, also known as @ellolovey on Instagram and Etsy. Every month, she comes up with a list of one word prompts -- one prompt for each day of the month -- to be used as inspiration for daily drawings as an art exercise. 

She suggests a color palette and she even has a version of the prompts in Spanish, French, and German. What a fun way to learn a new language!

I tried it out and my version is on a 5.5 inch x 8.5 inch sheet of watercolor paper. I made postage stamp-sized boxes for each day of the month. I made a teeny-tiny painting each day which was less intimidating than filling a full page but at the end of the month, this is what happened:

It was low commitment on a daily basis but I felt very accomplished for taking baby steps...TADA!  

2. Sketch the Mundane

Whether we doodle or create full artworks, we can always find our muse in our every day surroundings. On a rainy or frigid winter day, when going out isn't a possibility, I look for images on my computer. 

I love to paint flowers and I found this in the website of a pretty shop. 

I made a few more, fitting five little paintings in a page. It felt good after because I was able to practice light and shadow, suggestion and details.

Next time I'll try painting these subjects, too: food, tea and coffee, and people I meet everyday. 

3. Work on a limited palette

I got this idea from Lisa Congdon and Peggy Dean. There are times when too many options (ex. colors, art supplies) can be overwhelming so if we work on our limitations, it's easier to focus. 

For this painting and the one after it, I used just the color blue:

 

This is a single color but you're welcome to use up to three and see what story you can tell.

These are just a few ways I turned the blank page from blah to TADA! Let me know how YOU overcome writer's/artist's block (you may write them in the comments section).

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