One more thing.

I hardly got anything productive done today despite my best intentions. Not cool.

One thing that I did finish was this.

Dress somewhat inspired by this one on Prudent Baby - one of my favourite creation/inspiration blogs (though my dress is clearly not as awesome), and bunny is from this Martha Stewart pattern. As you can see if you click the link, the MS pattern makes a bunny that looks like it has to pee. That's why I added the dress - plus, my bunny fabric was not all that interesting. The colours came out kind of weird in the photo, but the bunny is ivory with yellow ears, and the dress is more turquoise with little carrots on it :)

If I do it again, I'll want to make a new bunny pattern. I don't quite like the way the legs bend towards each other. Or the shape to the head. Or the long skinny arms. The pattern is just a little unconsidered. Am I being picky? I have an old pattern from a bunny my mother made (her own design) for me as a child... I should have started there.

So now I have this bunny and am not sure what to do with it. Etsy it? (Can I do that with a Martha pattern creation?) Or... I have a pregnant friend (no idea what the gender is yet), and a bunch of friends with little girls - it could be a gift. Or... I could do a 200 followers giveaway here.

What do you think?

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.