The Ebb and Flow of Creativity

Artists are constantly worried about their production. Am I producing enough work? Am I producing enough quality work? How can I be improving? How can I be pushing myself? I should be sketching more. Where did all the time go? And so on.

A lot has changed in my life recently, and I'm finding less time to work on art. The things that are currently filling my time are good things, but it's also more than that. 

Personally, I have several phases that I go through in my artistic endeavors. They are producing, learning, and hibernation. I am currently in hibernation. I have lots of ideas and I am letting more incubate. I am looking at other artists' work and seeing what I like and don't like. I am letting myself be inspired. 

I just got out of a learning phase, where I was devoting a lot of time to learning anatomy and honing my skills. Learning to really see. I have a feeling when I get out of hibernation I'll go right back into learning. 

Which is not to say that learning isn't producing. You learn by doing. But when I say I'm in a producing phase, I mean that's all I'm doing, is working, pushing through pieces to see where they go.

Disciplined, hard working artists are always working on something. At least that's what I believe and tell myself. So that is my goal. 

-MS