Creativity Fatigue.

It’s the long weekend! Add to that some weather warnings about snow storms and it has been no problem just staying inside. This Saturday,(yesterday) I put on my housecoat in the morning, made a pot of coffee and raided the fridge all day. It was totally a “housecoat day”! Wow. But, boy is it hard to try to “vacation” at home. You see all that work one could do and feel so guilty.

I have finally come to realise and admitted to myself that I am tired. I think I have something like “creative artistic fatigue.” I have been working very steadily at my art. I have certainly slowed down from my early frenzy of creativity but I can now tell I’m tired.

Creativity involves every aspect of one’s life and person. Your emotions, mind, creativity, imagination, mental playfulness, and the physical body are all involved. If one or two or more of these is stunted or hindered your creativity will suffer and the work becomes sub par. I have already learned to take breaks, especially if I’m doing more intense detailed work, 20 or so minutes at a time is quite enough. Then I go for a walk and get some fresh air, get a coffee, or just a change like looking out the window will do wonders. Otherwise the work begins to suffer. But this is different.

Lots of artists have day jobs and work at their art by night. If the day has been tiring often the art session is forgotten in favour of crashing in front of the TV. Even though I don’t have a 9-5 kind of job, I do also have my work encroaching on my art. My life is full and not boring and I appreciate that, but is fairly busy. Let me summarise. I have a normal home life with all the work and chores that it entails. I have a family, wife, two kids and their families and one 6 week old grandchild. It means that there is a family social life, usually of a weekly nature. All fantastic. I have a church that is important to me. I’m involved in the church leadership team, I lead a weekly 6am men’s group and I’m part of the church men’s leadership team. I’m also part of a leadership group leading a young adult life group once a week. Plus of course an active social life with friends.

Then there’s the business and the usual stuff managing that. Accounting, staff issues, scheduling work, deadlines, quality control, quotations, dealing with clients and so on.

What else? Oh yes if course, there is also my art. There’s the original gestation of ideas for pieces that should or needs to happen. This means stuff like a playful imagination, originality, soul searching, planning pieces, emotional involvement, creating pieces, problem solving, firing, finishing, cleaning and maintaining the studio, doing shows as they come up, packing, setting up, the showing itself, tearing down. Studio open houses, blogs. Presently preparing a resume/proposal to be sent to art galleries for potential showings in the future. Researching what art galleries would be open to my kind of show plus just sending the material out shotgun approach. One time talks and presentations. Consignments, art for the Candace House Fundraiser. Promotions, etc. etc.

I’m also just realising that there are several important things in my business that have piled up over the past few months and I’ve been kind of putting them off. You know, things that are not your favourite things to do. Like, the recalculation of a clients cleaning fees is one of these. Something that has to be done, but your not sure how the customer will respond! Here some push back can be expected and some negotiation will need to take place I’m sure. So I need to take the time to get my ducks in a row for that kind of thing. 

But it is things like this that press on one’s mind and it becomes more difficult to focus. Your not really aware but in the background your mind is chewing on these issues and you begin to tire. Pressure begins to rise as you know this needs to be addressed, and so it begins encroaching on and affecting the free flow of the creative juices one needs.

I think this coming week I will spend some time on my business and get rid of the back log that is interfering with my piece of mind. Don’t be surprised if next week I won’t have much to report regarding my artistic adventures.

So, that sounds like a great plan. Meanwhile, I will use this long weekend to get some much needed rest so that in the end my work will continue to be up to par.

Now, I need a glass of wine.

“Then the person in charge called the groom to one side. He said to him, “Everyone (else) brings out the best wine first, then brings out the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink. But you have saved the best until now.”

John 2:10