What to Do if You Hit A Creative Block

We've all had those days where you just feel restless or tired, or just can't think of what to work on. Sometimes, you whittle away the day doing lots of small other jobs rather than what you need to do, especially if you work from home. Here are a few ideas to get you in the right frame of mind or at least to make the most of the time you have!

1. Clean up your studio or workspace. It's amazing how quickly things accumulate, especially if you are working on a lot of projects or you like to collect inspirational objects, reference material etc. Sometimes you don't realise how much the mess is making you not want to go into the space or how much it is slowing you down. So, clean up, organise or even go and buy better storage solutions for the things that are stacking up. When it's more ordered, you will feel more ordered in your mind. Also, just finding small projects that you haven't finished can give you that extra burst of motivation and energy you need.

2. Sharpen your pencils, clean and shape your brushes, tidy the canvasses and paper etc. I know I've said it before, but this really works to get you in the mood to work.

3. Have a change of scenery. Go to the park, cafe, garden, beach or whatever. Take a camera and/ or sketchbook if you like or just rest. It can seem like you are wasting precious time, especially if you have a deadline, but will usually pay itself back many times over in more energy and a relaxed state of mind.

4. Listen to music, a cheap and easy way to get out of your state of mind. You can try dance music to get you energised or calmer music to keep you focused. I like reggae for this. If I need to concentrate I listen to music from other countries where I don't know the language. In this way, the lyrics don't distract me.

5. Plan career goals. Set out your goals for the next few months and years. it will help you focus on the important stuff and may motivate you to head that direction.

6. Hang with other artists, visit studios or galleries or look at other people's work online. Every time you do this, you will learn something or get inspired for the next work.

7. Teach. Some people intersperse teaching with artmaking because they learn a lot and it gives them their love back, seeing things through the students' eyes.

8. Work in your sketch diary. You may create something you want to expand.

Good luck. These phases usually pass quickly, so hang in there!