Usually, I work on weekends, at least part of the time. This weekend, I planned some studio time. All week, I eagerly waited for my uninterrupted studio time. Just as I headed to the studio, a call came–could I help? Sure. But still, after I came back, I headed for the studio.
Finally, I sat down and. . . nothing. I had no ideas. I didn’t know what to start. My tried-and-true method of leaving something unfinished and ready to work on didn’t work. No idea what to do next.
Grid over layers.
Why not some layers? An hour later, I had a muddy mess. Not a fan of layers-on-layers. I can’t see a clear reason for doing them. Doesn’t matter. Overtired, over-committed, not interested. How can that be? It can. It happens to every creative soul. What to do? I knew that if I left the studio, I’d find it harder to come back next time.
The last fun project was using Copic markers on coated stock. I decided to play with that, no objective, no pressure to produce. So that’s what I did. It was the equivalent of a Grateful Dead concert–an hour of aimless noodling.
Aimless Noodling
What was the purpose? Well, aimless noodling. It’s an end in itself. Coated stock is fun to work with. Some notes I took included a half-baked idea for another class, which wrote down to develop later. Today was not a development day. Another idea for experimentation is to compare photography paper and coated stock, to see if they react the same way.
I’m still not loving layers, but I am more sure that I want to do some more collage, which is always what I come back to. Good to know. To cover the layers, I stamped some circles, cut out some squares from my aimless noodling and combined them. Is it fabulous? Of course not. Not every day is fabulous. But I think I have an idea for a new class, I’m sure I want to continue in collage, and I have coated stock to experiment with.
Even a bad day in the studio is better than no studio time.
–-Quinn McDonald is a certified creativity coach who has her own bad days. She never admits that to her clients.
QuinnCreative 