Anti-Slump Artist Date

Today I went on a trip to the beach. Just a little, half-hour excursion, just me & my camera.

I've been in a slump the last two weeks - emotionally, creatively, spiritually. The Artist's Way talks a lot about slumps, creative set backs, and generally not feeling up to creating. The advice that is given, over and over, is that creating things, despite how you're feeling, will bring you out of the slump. Having read this advice (over and over) I thought, "Obviously! How many times have you told me? I will SO remember this when I hit a slump."

...I didn't. Until today.

I've been trying to feel better by "relaxing" - watching tv, lounging around - or by trying to "be creative" by working on homework and my show. But, the thing I was missing in all that "relaxing" and "creativy" was PLAY. I wasn't letting myself play around and really enjoy the things I was doing.

When my rehearsal for this evening was cancelled, I went home and started doing the usual, but then I was struck by a whim to get in my car and hit the beach. So I did.

A selection of the fruits of my labor today:

Taken from inside my car, at the stoplight.

I didn't realize as I was taking it, but it almost looks like the foreground is in black and white.

I love silhouettes against sunsets.

Really love them.

And then...I started playing with the functions on my camera. Longer exposure and a receding tide equals moooving pictures:

I had to include this, even though it's so close to the other shots I took (there are so many more versions of this shot in my album from today). The wave is just slightly blurred. Yay movement in still photos.

And one last one, also taken from my car. Sort of a Hail Mary shot. Stuck the camera over my shoulder and pressed the button. I just wanted to colors! I love blue and orange together.

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I also spent some anti-slump time playing around on Pinterest. I think that's what made me want to take my camera out. It's so great for vision boards and discovering new images that inspire you! It also made me realize that I've been avoiding writing, so it was good to allow myself to be creative in a few different visual ways so that I felt unblocked enough to write again.