Sometimes the energy of inspiration just flows. It’s like a sixth sense that cuts in and takes over, invisibly guiding the hand that’s holding the brush; a time when creativity can feel effortless. But as every artist knows, this phenomenon also has its shadow, its other half: a dark and empty space that fogs the mind and smothers the creative spark — our inner-enemy the “block.”
There are numerous strategies for beating the block, typically involving a positive distraction, such as taking a walk, reading a book or listening to music. And this usually does the trick of either freeing up ideas or reclaiming self-assurance… usually, but not always. About four years ago I experienced a block that slowly deepened and blurred into a real crisis of confidence. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what to paint — worse than that, I began to feel I no longer knew how. Looking back, it’s clear I was caught in a vicious circle, as each abortive attempt to produce a half-decent painting created an ever-stronger feeling of frustration and failure, which in turn created a kind of creeping paralysis. I was floundering, at a dead end, and unable to do anything about it.
Weeks went by. Until, at last, a little miracle happened: a miracle called Monet.
It was the season when a major Monet retrospective was being held in Paris: an unmissable show I just had to see. As a teenager the Impressionists had fired my imagination, and now — some 35 years later — walking round the rooms at the Grand Palais, I was reminded why. Here were paintings that both expressed and revealed the process of making art, with curls, slashes and flecks of pure color visibly, dynamically, patterning the canvases of his “high impressionist” phase: surfaces brought to life by the vigor of the fluid, flickering brushwork.
Long ago I had tried to emulate Monet’s style, just for the pleasure of recreating pictures that delighted me; painting for the sheer joy of it. And that excitement, I realized, was something that had all but disappeared as I focused more and more on the end result — playing it safe — which had resulted in work that looked and felt like painting-by-numbers. Put simply, I’d become bored.
I left Paris that evening, eager to get home to start painting again. Not to copy Monet as I’d once done; but still as awestruck by his art as ever, I just wanted to dive in and recapture that sense of adventure and limitless possibilities that had enthralled me all those years ago.
A reconnection — that’s how I beat my creative block.
I wonder, how have you beaten yours?
Rupert is a professional artist from England. See his work www.rupert-ba.com.
