The Value of Stepping Away

There is this amazing project being created here at my mom’s shop.  I can’t go into it because it’s a surprise, but it is really awesome.  The guy working on it, hit a wall.  He had given himself a finish date and was frustrated and exhausted.  Then here I come and ask him to push back his deadline and run away with me for a day. He isn’t an “artist” per-se but more of a creative talent and I knew something he didn’t; he needed to be recharged.  He reluctantly gave in to my request (because I didn’t really ask) and we took off for the day.  I won’t go into all the places we went but it was a fun time and at the end of it, he was startled to find his wall was dissolving. He had a new drive and energy that made focusing on the project a joy instead of a slog.

A lot of times we get so focused on the deadline that we loose the joy in what we are doing.  While I am a proponent of not waiting for the muse, sometimes we need to take a step back.  I talk about turning your work to a wall and not looking at a specific piece you are working on, but that isn’t leaving the studio.  Why would you need to turn the work to the wall if you weren’t walking out the door for a while?  This is different; a few hours, a day or even a week can help you gain a healthy perspective on what you are doing in your creative space.

You know when your Iphone isn’t working right? There is a glitch and you can’t seem to get it to do what you want and someone says, “when was the last time you turned it off?”  Yeah, we need that too.

This creative person came back the next day and solved a few problems that he had been fighting with (a couple parts were put on the wrong direction), he remembered more effective communication skills, and was suddenly recharged.  So consider this; when you can’t seem to create anything you like in your studio, the palette isn’t giving you the colors you want and you keep breaking the glass as you are framing….. maybe it is time to turn off your art self for a day.  It isn’t a crime, you aren’t doing anything wrong, you are actually doing something right.  You won’t stop being an artist, and it might even help you be more effective.

Here is to putting it down for a minute or more.  It won’t stop you from being an artist tomorrow, good luck!