A new variation of the Ark should be finished soon. I already painted something very similar in 2000 (http://gric.at/gallery/bild128.htm).
When I get stuck in a creative crisis, all I can do is look back and paint new variations of old ideas. Happens quite often lately...
As I see your work I am not amazed that there is a point where you are exhausted. Your paintings are painstaking detailed, there is so much work, idea, and emotion in every painting you create. Doing this for a living must be beautiful but taxing. I have no advice what to do... you know your working process and living conditions better...
And I am not a painter, I work as a choreographer and if I am hit with emptiness or stagnation I watch other people’s performances, because I am inspired by bad art (ahhh feeling really bad myself to write something like this) I know to rate something as "bad art" is not very nice (and everybody has different criteria to asses something like dance or theatre)… but in this short answer I will just label it in this way. So, I am inspired by performances which are boring, which are in my eyes kitsch, performances where dancers with perfect physical abilities have no content to present. Performances with bad sound or light and so on... all of this inspires me to think about a (in my view) better realization and mostly this leads for me to complete new ideas, which originated in other people’s works, but in the end, have nothing in common. My excitement/anger about the "bad art" probably kindles a wish to create something in me...
Because of my lacking language skills, this is a very simplified description of my technique to end a bad phase. (And I am a little bit ashamed about such processes in me... sigh)
I wish you all the best to overcome this phase or turn it into something helpful for yourself. Perhaps by transforming old ideas you are creating gradually again something stunning (by the way for me is everything stunning you do)
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Thank you @neumannsalva! You have a very positive and transformative perspective on creativity! I wish I had that too! I have often literally to force myself to paint. And I use all the tricks to finish the painting as fast as possible so that most paintings are then just a means to an end; to pay the bills. Whenever I try to let go of my routine I end up painting twice as long as usual on a piece before I have a satisfying result. Each experiment can be "expensive" and is therefore risky.
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uhhhh sh*** beeing in stuck in a daily grind is awful. On the one hand, I can see your pain, there is not much room for creativity if you are forced to produce certain things in a time limit without room to make mistakes or total fails. On the other hand, I admire you because living from stage-managing (in the field of contemporary dance) is nearly impossible. I have the room to be creative, because all the performances are self-exploitation. I live in a region where people cannot pay much for art and the official funding is not enough to pay actors and technicians. So, everybody works additional jobs. The bright side is, everyone is happy to be engaged in an (bad payed but payed) art project and is highly motivated. The negative side is everybody is overworked. Sometimes I wish I would paint... for me it seems to be so much easier, because I can make art alone and have not to pay/be responsible for/coordinate so many people (I know just a pink dream, being a painter is just stressful in different ways as I could read u. a. in your post)
hmmm I think I just won the whining contest :-D
I hope you have people who can support you to give you the free space you maybe need to regenerate. Or just start to destroy old artworks and sell the remains for even more money (just tried to make you smile :-D)
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I guess I'm just complaining on a high level. I don't have any old artworks to destroy, only a few unfinished.
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I know the feeling quite well and its only been a few weeks ago, that I got stuck wondering, if I could possibly ever find anything worth painting again.
I think, as we become more skilled and experienced, we also become more critical (of ourselves ;-) )
But on the other hand this also offers a lot of new opportunity. I think it can be quite rewarding to look back and be re inspired by Ideas that we once found fascinating... and to revive them in a new light!
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My problem is that I get bored and tired from painting. I don't see any progress since years...
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Again, I know the feeling... although I always saw you as "the hero of the Universe", if I may say so.
Are you coming to Szczyrk? Would be nice, if we could have a beer together...
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Me as "the hero of the Universe"? Don't push it too hard Reinhard! :-)
I think I'll go to Szczyrk. I always enjoy the time there! Looking forward to the beer!
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We plateau from time to time, it happens. I remember the piece. At least you retain your skills. I have episodes where I might have a ton of ideas, but can't paint worth shit! Glad I snapped out of it now, since I need to finish a painting for an exhibition. But I still feel more comfortable drawing. Done a large piece for a Slovenian collector and am now eager to start another one (my drawings are usually A4 to A3, but that one was 1,2 x 1 meter).
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I only can work efficiently as long as I don't leave my routine. If I do I literary loose money because I work too long on a painting, maybe like I did 20 years ago.
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I'm sorry you are feeling stuck. Like most others here, I also understand what it is like to feel creatively drained from time to time. For me, it helps to shift my focus on learning something new, unrelated to art, to stimulate my mind and remove the pressure to create. New books, new skills, new travels... anything that opens a new dimension for you and makes you feel alive... the creative side of you will inevitably take over again when it's ready. :)
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Yes, that's actually what I want to do! To travel, to fly my drones, to take photos and shoot videos. But all these activities don't pay my bills! :-)
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Haha- indeed. I do understand that as well. :)
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Motivation is necessary for success.
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Yes it is.
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You could do a challenge for ideas..... Hmmm or a collaboration here on steemit. Or make a brainstorm with keywords which define your ideals and values and pick one to manifest your own philosophy in form of a drawing or a painting....
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I'm afraid it's not that simple. I never was much into collaboration work.
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I've done a couple of "Exquisite Corpses" finishing work other artists had sent me, and now I feel bad, because I owe those artists a half drawing each. Thing is, I cannot do a half drawing. I have 'horror vacui' which means I cannot leave a drawing half finished .........
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Otto, you could take a sheet of paper and fill it with your drawing. Once you are finished, glue a similar size paper to it ;-)
Don't have such good experience with the "Exquisite Corpses" though. Embarrassed to admit, that I too owe the finishing of another half aaaand... this whole thing is how I met one crazy Lady from across the pond... and I don't think I have to mention any names 😨
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I know the crazy one you talk about. I try to steer clear.
I thought of something similar: cut a finished drawing in half, laminate each onto a full sheet and send each to the artists I owe - see how they will finish each half. Might be an interesting experiment to see these side-by-side; I don't think this has been done yet.
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Hehe... likewise
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Loved the original, so really looking forward to the update. Sometimes, it takes a revision to reboot ones creativity.
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Yes, it can help to revive the motivation.
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