Octavia Butler once said, “First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not”. She was right. With that in mind, here’s how I make headway when I’m stuck.

Reader Elise wrote in a much more free-flowing elegant manner when she replied to the 9/21 post I made last time, but I’ll leap in just the same and add my two cents below:

1. Keep working, even if it’s just sundry things: cutting out paper, watching a video for a technique, reading a “comfort art” book (for me, that’s one of my old mixed media art books that I used to browse through when I first started practicing mixed media art). Sometimes my children, who have reasonable expectations of being fed, clothed, and paid attention to, don’t allow time for me to “art out” extensively. But I can rip some images out of a magazine and throw them in one of my files while my girls and I are watching the millionth episode of “Blackish” on Disney Channel

2. Make a teeny weeny thing. Sometimes I make something that I can start to finish complete in under an hour, or even 30 minutes. I made a small eye and an eyebrow (they were not originally matched to each other…they were on different parts of a face, and I didn’t like all of the components together at all, I like these individual parts, even though I haven’t done anything with it yet. (Sorry, tried to figure out how to post the pic here, but I’m having Squarespace Blockage. Next time!

3. Get OUT. Go for a walk, even if it’s just up your street, in your backyard, or around the block. I selfishly got a Golden Retriever for this reason…she has a habit of insisting on wanting to take walks. 10 minutes can renew your head and get you unstuck, not to mention leading to a happy dog that curls at your feet and licks your toes while you’re working.

4. Don’t be afraid to throw something away, or paint over something. This isn’t a middle school social studies project. Just chuck it, or in the interest of recycling, paint over it. One of my art teachers, Laura (open art studio. Com) has taught me the importance of not getting too attached to anything and to make sure that I’m not harboring perfectionism.

I’ll talk more about this in my next entry. Have a great week!