Soo... Who's Stuck?

Have you been like me every once in a while finding yourself wondering what to do next? Or just plain running out of new places or ideas? When I find myself in these places I tend to go back to one of my school projects... and give myself an assignment.

There is a few ways to do this and by no means is this an exhaustive list, but it will get us started not to mention those creative juices flowing again.

Idea Number 1 - Containers

On slips of paper write out ideas in three or more areas. To start with let's try:

Colors - blue, purple, green, brown and the list goes on.

Fundamentals - contrast (light vs dark or big vs small etc), lines (horizontal, straight, squiggly,etc), textures (bumpy, velvet, ripped etc) or symmetry.

Locations - around home, local park, urban streets. This would be a good excuse for a day trip too if you are itching to get out of town for a bit.

This is just a start - you could use anything as your criteria. Other possibilities could be subject matters (i.e. trees, pets, children), different views (worms eye, birds eye, dogs eye), the Alphabet ( subjects starting with a specific letter) etc.

Once you have all your ideas written out and in their coordinated containers, pull one slip out from each container and your new assignment is images containing those three ideas in what ever context you can imagine. Keep the containers with your ideas though, then the next time you can just pull three more new slips and give yourself a new assignment. It's amazing how even going back to places that I frequently visit I end up producing something new again.

(Hint: keep a journal of your assignments, this way you can trade an assignment if a repeat presents its self. Also this can help you decide on whether to repeat an assignment at a different time of year.)

Idea Number 2 - Looking to Others

With this idea there are a few possibilities; here are a couple to try:

Friends - Go out with a fellow artist/friend; observe as well as bounce ideas off of each other. This falls into my last post quite well. If you are a mentor or are being mentored ideas often flow both ways when you get together regularly.

After all iron sharpens iron right?

Magazines - go through some magazines or even books of a favorite artist. When you finds some images that you like or that even speak to you, try and emulate the effect with something or someone around you and make it your own new creation.

Lastly, share your thoughts. Who knows there may be an idea struck when you least expect it. Or perhaps it might help someone else get their creative juices flowing.