Creative block

I have creative block. I'm tired of the work I've been doing, and I find I draw no satisfaction from my job anymore. I chose a career that is so NOT about the money and much more about quality of life (I'm a professional artist), yet my work has been led by money for the past few years, and the quality of life and meaningful work has fallen by the wayside.

I have a lot of outside pressure to perform, and the judgment is completely money-based - whether I have job satisfaction doesn't come into it. I find this completely frustrating and completely contrary to my belief system. Not only that, the pressure and stress is making the process worse. I need time to fall back, evaluate, discover, review. I need to destress and have a chance to open my eyes to the world and new ideas without criticism. This is what will bring back the spark - based on my previous experience with painter's block.

I have reached the point, after three years of increasingly meaningless work, that I need to refocus and rethink. I've put it off and put it off, succumbing to the pressure, and have reached the point now that I simply can't do it any more.

I so need the criticism and the pressure to go so that I can get to a state where I can create again. If my work becomes a production line, just for the money, I may as well be working on a factory floor - it would be the same kind of mind-numbing, repetitive, soul-killing work (but I'd probably get better pay & benefits!).

Ughhh, it's so depressing.

I need to find inspiration again so that I can be fulfilled in my work.

There isn't any easy answer - no go-to website or manual for overcoming creative block - it is a fickle thing. I have found that for me, time and unfocused thought work. By unfocused thought, I mean a sort of creative meditation - a period of taking things in, turning ideas over in my head, observing life, colour, weather, all the daily routines - a time to consider and wonder.

There are a couple of sites that I find are useful for inspiring random thoughts, an ever-changing set of jumping off points or sparks. It is the thinking about new things that inspires more new ideas for me, and these help:

• Science Daily - read about new research and discoveries in all fields of science, like the recent discoveries of previously unknown species in Laos (a new, bald-faced songbird, a rodent descended from a species that was thought to have been extinct since 11 million years ago, a striped rabbit), how noisy environments can affect language skills and vocabulary in infants, interesting articles about anything science.
• The London Telegraph has interesting picture galleries. This week the paper art of Su Blackwell is featured - lovely and inspiring.
• PaintBlog features a painting by a different artist each weekday. I don't always love each day's selection, but I do appreciate the eclecticism, and particularly the urban landscape artists that frequently show up on this site.
  
• Found (click on Finds and sift through each day and the previous days) - a compilation of found papers, mostly, sent in from all over the world. They tend towards the amusing or odd, and can be fascinating glimpses into the lives of strangers.
• PostSecret - another glimpse into life, in this case people have written their secrets on postcards and mailed them to an artist anonymously.
  
• Overheard in New York - this one's more for entertainment than creative inspiration, but can be fascinating.
  
• Etsy, of course, is full of creativity and can be inspiring - but there's a lot to sort through to find the gems that speak to you.
  

I'd love to hear about it if you have any recommendations of sites that inspire you.