Hello my fellow creative spirits, so today's topic is one of the really tricky topics that a lot of artists go through but we don't really talk about, that is art block. So just like everything in life, creativity, imagination and anything art related can come and go in waves. So a few months back when I had my solo show right afterwards I was going through this really big burnout period, you know, because you're creating so much constantly, it's a flame that eventually does kind of burn out a little bit. So naturally I wanted to figure out how to overcome this artist block. So here's a few tips that I've compiled so that you can ride the wave of artist block and get back on your toes. So my first tip is to do and draw what you love. This is a time that you really want to look for what really makes you happy. There's a time and place for projects that are extremely challenging and doing something that you might not really love too much. That is when you have a higher self confidence but when you have artist block it's very frustrating time period and I think during this time it's important to not pick up any commissions that you're not interested in and only work on projects on topics that you really like. I found that during this time I was going back to doing my really fantasy pops of realism because this is my comfort style. This is the style that I naturally gravitate towards and I have since I was a young kid. So I found that doing that until your self confidence pegs back up so that you can try those really challenging projects that you were putting off before is a good option to do during this time. My second tip is to try journaling and doodling ideas. So again some of these tips I have said in other videos if you do watch my other videos as well but I just found that this is something that works every single time for me. It's one of my go to tips that I like to follow. So what you're doing is essentially anytime you come up with any idea is dumb as it might sound now. You want to write it down, do to let out and do blob drawings if you can. I found that doing these blob drawings and then maybe going back and building upon it is so handy for when you go through art block. So this is kind of something that you have to prepare ahead of time that you have to constantly be working through when you're going through a creative high versus a creative low. You just always want to be writing your ideas because sometimes you're not going to have ideas and you can't count on always just coming up with ideas on this spot. Now having ideas beforehand can help you in the future. My tip number three is to change your environment. Sometimes being in the same exact environment every single day can also make your work suffer as well. So in the intro of this video I was actually at a beach and I hadn't been to a beach in a long time and it just really inspired me to do something that was nautical. So there's so many places if you don't live by a beach there's gardens, there's mountains. You can even go to a coffee shop and doodle in there and see what ideas you come up with in there. The change of the atmosphere and having a journal with you so that you can write down these ideas can help you so much in regaining that creative energy and that creative spark. And it's also a much needed break from just being in the studio and isolation all the time. My tip number four is to switch projects. I always try to have at least three projects circulating all at the same time. Sometimes as many as five or six projects as well. I found that when I get stuck on one piece which happens with all of my pieces it's helpful to know that I have other pieces that I can choose from so I can move on to the next one until I let that original idea for the previous work kind of ferment until I get an idea for that. So I just kind of move between each piece and this helps me to avoid getting bored of just working on one thing continuously. In addition to circulating projects you can also circulate different mediums so that maybe sometimes you're working on a drawing, sometimes you're working on a oil painting, a sculpture, an acrylic painting, having all of these different tactile mediums to work with can also be fun to circulate. Tip number five is to work on yourself. This is something probably the hardest for me personally is to work on myself and take care of myself. So in doing that I mean doing exercise, eating well, having better health and just taking care of yourself mentally as well. This will give you boundless energy to work with to tackle those projects even once that you don't really want to do. And again, this is the hardest one for me because I just love eating pizza and I just love drinking coffee and depending on that for my energy levels, even though you know sometimes I try to switch back to tea but I found that when I'm taking better care of myself, my mental energy and my mental clarity to stay on topic is just so much better. My tip number six is to just do it. It's kind of like working out. You're not always going to be motivated. So sometimes you just have to start and once you start doing something just naturally you'll just get into it as you go within the first you know hour you'll be so engulfed by the project that you won't even realize the time that's going by. But it just takes that first hour to get into the project that you're working on and getting settled into it. My next tip is to get into a relaxed frame of mind. So I know when you're going through a creative block, you're just getting frustrated all the time. It could be such a hard emotion to deal with because everything you do doesn't seem like it's working and you just kind of want to give up. But getting into a relaxed frame of mind is important to balance off this negativity. So it's really hard to get negative when you're in this comfortable state of mind that can be influenced by your environment. So to do this every morning, I kind of have this little routine where I get my cup of tea or my cup of coffee and I light my candle. I clean up the studio so that it looks nice and tidy and I don't have to worry about cleaning and just sit there and just start working. And I found that having this nice atmosphere really helps me to calm my nerves and just get into the drawing and I'm able to be more creative and play around more. My tip number eight is to immerse yourself in other arts. So this doesn't have to be only paintings or whatever medium that you're working in. You can find inspiration in everything. So maybe you could go and watch a movie somewhere. You could go to a theater performance. You can go see a dancer's title. You can go to all of these different places and look at the arts. And if you don't have access to go out or maybe you don't have money to go out to these different things, there's Pinterest, there's Instagram where you can save these posts and kind of make boards. I love using Pinterest and making pinboards for my ideas so that I can compile all of this inspiration so I can make a cohesive, coherent idea and bring it to life. So I found that this has been one of my favorite tips to work with because it gives me an excuse to just immerse myself in all of these arts and enjoy all of the amazing beautiful artwork that there is in the world, whether it is paintings or not paintings. And my final tip is to not stop. Just keep working. You will be able to ride this wave. As I said before, having a sketchbook that you just draw all the time in, no one has to see your messy work or your blob work, you know, you could just relax and take a deep breath and just know that the inspiration will come back and it won't fail you. It can be easy to get frustrated in this stage, but just know that it is a wave and next thing you know, you're going to be going through another creative high and you just have to wait for it. So I hope my tips helped you guys. If you have any tips for overcoming art's block, I'd love to hear them in the comments. I personally need to find out more tips for art block because I know I'm going to go through many different stages of art block throughout my life and just having more tips on my belt will help me so much and I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people in the comments who would also help as well. If you guys have any tips of your own, please share that in the comments and also if you don't already, you can follow me on Instagram or my Facebook. I'll put the links in the description for those. So there's a lot of work that I don't post on my YouTube that I do post on there and also the original of this piece as well as prints are available on my Etsy shop. I'll also have that in the description and I hope that you guys have a wonderful day and a wonderful week full of a lot of creations and I will see you guys next time. Bye!