Some days you just hold that lump of clay in your hand and want to fling it at the wall.  For reasons unknown, your brain seems to have turned to mush and cannot generate a single creative idea.  You sit and sit and sit and think and think and think and still NOTHING!  There are five ways you can get that spark started and stoke into a creative blazing fire.

The first step is to leave your studio.  I know, you are supposed to be working and you can’t just get up and walk out.  Here’s the surprise … yes you can.  You are still working when you are thinking of ideas and one of the best starts is to leave the familiar environment.

The second step is to focus on something inspiring.  Really focus.  Hard.  It could be the rainstorm that you think has dampened your mood.  Focus on the storm.  Really look at the marks the rain makes in the dirt.  Stare at how the water drips off a single leaf.  Concentrate on the myriad of colors that the sky is producing.  And really stare and analyze what you see.

The third step is to write down what you just studied.  If you were focusing on the inside of a daffodil, describe the interior environment as if you were a person only 1/32 of an inch high.  What color is the light inside the flower?  Are the stamens like trees to you?  Can you taste the sweet nectar?

The fourth step might just be your favorite.  Find a tiny little cup or bowl that you really love and fill it with your favorite decadent snack.  Now take that back to your studio.  Sit.  Eat your snack. Gaze about your studio.  Read what your wrote. Relax your mind.

The fifth step will take you back to the carefree days of childhood.  Using a box of real crayons, start doodling … about what you learned or saw or felt … and really doodle.  There are no bad doodles. There are only sparks of creativity, ready to be stoked into a blazing fire.

Burn, baby, burn!

Here’s to the days of crayons and doodles,

Jaquita Phillips Ball
RedCatArt@aol.com

Your Art Marketing Coach and Fire Builder

www.JaquitaBall.com

© All copyrights reserved 2012 by Jaquita Phillips Ball and Red Cat Art