The Creative Pit

I've noticed a pattern while at a month long residency, that almost without fail repeats itself. Currently I'm at the midpoint, where I feel that nothing is working, and I can't paint!

The first week is full of vim and vigor, as all the artists get to know each other, we set up our studios and get cracking. The second week builds on that momentum and the studio begins to fill up with, at least, works in process. Then the midway point happens - suddenly there is deep doubt, a feeling of stuckness, and a sense that the other artists are just happily cranking it out, while I wallow in stale air! Although, after sharing such thoughts with the others, it seems that most of them are in the same feeling of midpoint nowheresville. 

If I didn't know better after years of experience doing this, I'd think this was the end. But in fact, I know that this is a common cycle, and by the middle of the third week, the energy kicks in again, and things ramp up to a new level. I'm hoping this will be the case! But at it's worst, my time here will still be perfectly well spent, and I'll return home with so much more than I set out with.

Often my best work comes after I return, as I've had time to digest the creative nurturing, and the newness of the residency. The fallow afterglow allows for gestation of new growth and things boom again in my home studio.

In the meantime, here's a view of one of my painting walls in my studio here at Brush Creek Ranch. Despite my critical mind, the work is actually moving along, just maybe not at the pace I had expected!

If you want to know more about artist residencies, click the link below: