I'm feeling creatively uninspired these days. I have no compelling urge to write or take photos, two things I usually always want to do.
When it's been awhile since I've written something or shot some photos, or at least done some editing, I usually start to feel kind-of cranky and unhappy. But lately I just don't have the desire. And this doesn't
necessarily feel like a bad thing. The urge is gone and it feels like relief; like a monkey off my back.
And this has got me thinking about creativity and how it ebbs and flows. I've always gone through creative
phases. First I'd be absorbed with one thing, like knitting or gardening, and then I'd switch and it would be watercolor painting or play directing or whatever. But it was always
something.
I've been concentrating on writing for the last six years, and it's been three years since I discovered
Flickr. I've dabbled in other activities during this time, but writing and photography have been my major creative outlets. These were things I
needed to do, and my need to do them was strong.
So I'm wondering if what I'm experiencing now is just a lull, or if my need has been fulfilled? Maybe I've said what I had to say, shown what I had to show?
I don't know.
Spring is in the air and this complicates the issue. I want to open the windows and clean house. I want to paint walls. Do some
yard work. Exercise. Organize. Turn on the radio. Wash my car.
I want to go for a drive without a particular destination in mind.
"To do your best work as an artist, whatever the discipline, takes complete immersion in the work. You need to get caught in the slipstream, to draft along behind it as it carries you forward.
