Creative Overload?
My friend Olga has volunteered to come to the studio in the afternoons and help out. Her offer came just as I was planning to create a line of quilted wallets and purses to sell at the Good Hope Art Exhibit in February. With Olga's assistance the idea has blossomed into a full-blown operation and we began by producing mini wallets/business card holders (I'll bring one home to photograph and post.).
Now I'm dividing my time between making art quilts on my own, and then working with Olga on these smaller items. This new arrangement brings forth a whole new array of ideas and decisions to be made. And I'm beginning to feel on creative overload.
Running the gamut of ideas through my mind is like window shopping, everything looks good, everything is a possibility. But selecting a single idea and committing to it requires a mental and emotional shift if it is to be successfully brought to fruition. So today I'm going to the studio and I will take a deep breath and sit for a while until I work out which idea has the strongest emotional pull to become my next project.
Now I'm dividing my time between making art quilts on my own, and then working with Olga on these smaller items. This new arrangement brings forth a whole new array of ideas and decisions to be made. And I'm beginning to feel on creative overload.
Running the gamut of ideas through my mind is like window shopping, everything looks good, everything is a possibility. But selecting a single idea and committing to it requires a mental and emotional shift if it is to be successfully brought to fruition. So today I'm going to the studio and I will take a deep breath and sit for a while until I work out which idea has the strongest emotional pull to become my next project.
Labels: Art, Art Quilt, Creativity, St Croix, The Creative Process
posted by Jamila at 9:32 AM
2 Comments:
Good morning, Jamilla! Your description of "running the gamut of ideas" and shifting to focus is so descriptive of the way I'm feeling about life right now. Back in Charleston, SC after a whirlwind 7 weeks in St. Croix, I find myself sifting through these experiences to decide which to pursue. For me, January 1 rather than Winter Solstice is an annual day of reconning.
Sending you a basket of love for Christmas...please share it with everyone you see.
Betsy
Ah yes ... welcome to my world. Hee hee ... i'm terrible, aren't I?
The thing about doing creative work you love is that you never run out of ideas, and there are always more ideas than time. But that's a good thing ... just a bit overwhelming from time to time.
Just start keeping a journal/notebook with all your ideas, and consider the ones you don't focus on right now to be 'incubating' for the future, and whenever you see/hear/think of something that relates to that idea, add it to the journal ... sort of like a bird picking up little bits for its nest. Then, when it's time to move on to that idea, it'll all be there. Maybe that can reduce some of the anxiety of feeling like you have to choose.
... I just wish I'd just follow my own advice, really.
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