Hello, hello my creative friends.

Has this happened to you? One moment you have so many ideas you think your brain is going to explode! They are just flowing out like lava from a volcano, you can hardly keep up with making notes of the wonderful things you want to make or paint or draw….. and then the next minute complete silence. The volcano had stopped erupting and instead of a flow of incandescent lava all is left is a pitiful plume of grey smoke.

I’ve lost the inspiration! you cray out; but it was here just a moment ago! What happened?

The great master Henri Matisse once said: “Don’t wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working”; however it would be helpful to at least have an idea of the subject you want to paint/draw/sketch… In many occasions I have stared at the blank page, pencil hovering over the immaculate surface and…. nothing. The mind has gone more blank than the page.

So what should one do in this case. My first reaction used to be despair. If I’ve run out of ideas I’m doomed! How can I run a creative business without creative ideas?

Then I learned that sometimes we just need to simply have a look at other peoples work! I’m not saying copying! That is very wrong. But by looking at an art book or, better still, going to a museum, we can spark the fire again.

I love to go to the British Museum; my favorite section is the impressionists one. Looking at all of those wonderful colors and how the masters put together those incredible palettes, just fills my heart with joy and emotion.
Even just a couple of hours spent in the museum is enough to jump start my creative juices again and already on the journey home on the train I get my trusted sketchbook out and start drawing.

What do you do when you “misplace” your creativity? How do you get your creative cells to wake up again and start working once more? If you have a special way to deal with it do let me know in the comments below.

Till next time

Create and be happy!

xox