Just Relax and Paint

Relaxing With My Watercolor
(Copyright 2010)

There are some days when art blogging, like painting, does not flow freely, and today is one of those days. I have decided it’s time again to update the blog, but without a clue as to what I’m going to blog about.

I can definitely understand the creative kinship between artists and writers.

We’ve all heard about writer’s block—that time when a writer, or anyone writing anything, really, just stares at a blank screen or piece of paper with nothing to say. (I’m experiencing it now.)

Artists have the same issue with paper and canvas and even digital media when their artistic muse is just not clicking.

Nothing happens until either inspiration or dogged determination finally breaks the ice.

Similar to solving a problem by mulling it over in your subconscious, artists will be better off if they don’t press too hard.

They should take a walk around the block or maybe begin to clean out their studios or offices until lightning strikes, so to speak. And it will eventually.

A painter should not get too discouraged if he or she cannot immediately find that perfect next picture to paint or is having trouble rendering a particular scene. The same goes for writers/bloggers who cannot conjure up any content.

OK. I knew if I sat here long enough something would happen, and it did.

Today being May 1, I thought of Googling the term "May Day Art" and see what happened. I did, and this is what I got. There were 1,820,000,000 hits—that’s billion, if you can believe it, so I’m only going to mention the first three:

Mayday Underground Crafts + Art, which appears to be a site promoting local artists at Village Gate, mentioned as being in or near Rochester, but it’s not clear if that’s the one in New York or Minnesota or somewhere else in the world; I guess if you live nearby, you already know where you are, but it must be a big hit since it’s no. 1 out of 1,820,000,000.

Shepard Fairey MayDay-Dietch, which is a site promoting a May 1, 2010, exhibit of posters of Shepard Fairey. Remember him? He’s the artist who was sued by Associated Press for using a likeness of President Obama during his campaign, but I bet it was an excellent exhibition.

The network website of Arts & Culture, A NYC General Assembly Workgroup (whatever that is), which is promoting Today: MayDay Arts Assembly II on April 7, 2012 (go figure); described as beautifully disruptive and an exercise in radical imagination informed by dreams, it must have been real interesting.

I will close on the point I am trying to make: don’t let a short-term bout with indecision or fear get you down; just relax, take a deep cleansing breath, and the creative energy will soon begin to flow.

Keep On Painting