Day 66: Inside, outside, upside down

I'm sure there are thousands of you out there wondering where I've been - all silently waiting in suspense for me to return :).  I've just reached the bottom of the creative well for a moment.

One of the great challenges in my life is that I'm an introvert and Emily is an extrovert.  By the end of the summer of us being together, I'm almost incapable of thinking and she is going into hyperdrive for lack of stimulation.

It took me a while but I started to unravel this problem a week ago.  The Artist's Way talks about two techniques to 'fill the well':  writing 3 pages a day in a journal and the artist's date  (where you go out alone to somewhere artistically interesting).  I don't get a lot of time in the summer to take myself anywhere alone but I've been working on it.

This week is Vacation Bible School.  I'm doing the craft section: 2 crafts a day for 17 kids.  Whew.  Hopefully pictures to follow.

Day 47: Back to basics

For various reasons, work and personal, I've developed something of a block, artistically.  I have accomplished little things of late but nothing particularly exciting.  I have been struggling to find something positive to say here.

So, as is my wont, when I get stuck, I return to The Artist's Way.  A book on working through the rough patches of an artistic life.  There are lots of suggestions and exercises in the book.  Basically, I recommend it to you.

My first step is usually to return to journalling.  Somehow, once I get the stuff out of my head, my dilemma comes to the surface.  Part of this comes from being an introvert in a household of six people.  I can't think through the words floating in the air.

Next step?  Talking to my support network.  Which is what I'm going to do now.

I close with a picture of a random work of gourd art.

More on this to follow.