I'm in an inspirational dry spell at the moment. A lot of ideas are swimming around in my head, but I haven't been able to commit to any new projects that require real artistic skill. I keep making sketches, looking at various substrates in the piles, and at the tile/glass selections on hand. Right now, I have a large drawing of my goat, Gimli, ready to map out and make into a cartoon, and I'm in progress on an oil pastel re-creation of a Jost Ammon woodcut of a woman with a bee skep. But, in both cases, I want to work bigger than I have been, and I haven't figured out what method to use. Should I buy mesh to lay over the design, use the contact paper method, or transfer the design to the substrate and work directly? I'm most comfortable with direct method, but transferring images is complicated.
In the meantime, I've finished installing my stair risers and put in a backsplash in my bathroom. I also completed an abstract mosaic in monochromatic white. These projects are more intuitive, less stressful, and require less effort than representational mosaic. All projects are rewarding, and I like having more and less challenging projects going at all times, so that I can move back and forth between them.
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Challenging, stressful, and utterly satisfying.
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More like a puzzle, somewhat formulaic, meditative, and fun.
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I don't like dry spells. I feel unfocused. But, I know they are important. Creative energy needs to rest and wait sometimes. Other things need attending, like bills and housekeeping and pet maintenance. I really should be cleaning my studio. I think part of my discomfort with down time is a fear that I'm tapped. I am out of ideas. I'll forget how to create or lose momentum. There is also the need to keep working, keep producing, keep selling art. If I don't, I'm just a homemaker, and that completely devastates me. I'm not the domestic type. Thoughts of getting real job start to plague me, and I fantasize about the notion of punching a time clock and getting a reliable paycheck. Then I remember that my daughter would have to go to after school care, and I have no idea what we would do about her many half days, in-service days, and when she's sick. I would have to sell my goats and our food growing efforts would be thwarted. There would be commuting costs, frantic meals, doing laundry at midnight... Time to get off the laptop and make some mosaic!
