Sometimes I want to break out of the story I'm writing or the painting series I've been working at for a long time and try something new. Often I don't know where to start. Since I have been working with coach Laura Todd in Bellingham, I've learned that coming back to my values and what I stand for helps me leap into something new. Whatever choice I'm making, how to charge, where to send or show my work, my imagery, themes, and new story ideas need to coincide with my values and what I stand for. This makes a consistency of expression, even if my work takes a leap into a new style or a new genre, corralling my expansive ideas and energies into the beginning point of something new.
I love to play with collage to break free of tightness. Here are a few things I do: monoprints, rolling ink on glass, a design scratched into the surface and transferred to rice paper. Writing with start lines lifted from magazines (scandal magazines are the best). Watching movies...picking something I wouldn't generally watch. Perusing the neighborhood for found objects...bringing them home and arranging them in a cigar box. Using found words to make a new poem. If you keep letters, pull them out and read them. Clean out a drawer and get rid of clothes or items you never use. New energy will be available to you. Take a day off and spend it in the mountains or on the water. Go to the pet story and play with the kittens.
I'm a firm believer in down time. Working all the time can take the life out of your work. Be an explorer. Find newness in the mundane. Luxuriate in the textures and colors, in poetry and flash fiction. Eat a croissant at a French bakery...drink espresso. In other words, go bold to find something new...or if you are already bold, go quiet and soft.
What would you like to try to enliven your work? Make a list of 10 things and begin. Have fun!
I love to play with collage to break free of tightness. Here are a few things I do: monoprints, rolling ink on glass, a design scratched into the surface and transferred to rice paper. Writing with start lines lifted from magazines (scandal magazines are the best). Watching movies...picking something I wouldn't generally watch. Perusing the neighborhood for found objects...bringing them home and arranging them in a cigar box. Using found words to make a new poem. If you keep letters, pull them out and read them. Clean out a drawer and get rid of clothes or items you never use. New energy will be available to you. Take a day off and spend it in the mountains or on the water. Go to the pet story and play with the kittens.
I'm a firm believer in down time. Working all the time can take the life out of your work. Be an explorer. Find newness in the mundane. Luxuriate in the textures and colors, in poetry and flash fiction. Eat a croissant at a French bakery...drink espresso. In other words, go bold to find something new...or if you are already bold, go quiet and soft.
What would you like to try to enliven your work? Make a list of 10 things and begin. Have fun!
 |
| Water Lilies...photo taken on walk around Cranberry Lake |
2 comments:
Nancy, you are a fountain of wonderful strategies and I love reading your blog. Thanks for writing "Fodder..."
Nancy, neat post, I like your idea of coming up with ideas from scandal mags. I recently taught a module on Plucking Horror from the Headlines that was a variation on this idea. Happy writing to you!
Post a Comment