Little Red Mushroom of Five Minute Creative Acts

Not getting out to photograph anything was really starting to get to me.

I've been feeling down about my photography this year. I didn’t get out as much as I would like. I had Pinsta photos go very wrong. This year it has felt like everything photography related has gone sideways. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll make it as a hobby photographer let alone turn it into an income stream.

I miss making art. I’m not saying that photography isn’t art. It is. I miss creating something I can hold in my hands. I miss playing with encaustic + photography. I want to print or mount photographs in a way that gives me space to add words to them. I want to try using my photography to make art prints with a Gelli plate.

But this year, instead of making any of those things possible, has brought more time online trying to figure out how to pay for any of those things. Or pay bills. This is something that many artists experience. It’s normal. It’s not anything special or worth whining about. That doesn’t make it less shitty to experience.

I have no room to create the things that I want. Working with encaustic medium requires heat/flame and good ventilation. Things require printing photos out in various ways. While I have tried to turn my bedroom into an art studio, it’s mostly become a room stacked full of totes filled with art & art supplies and a bed tucked out of the way. I feel boxed in.

Crammed into a tiny space even though the room isn’t really small. It isn’t a place for creating or cozy sleep.

This feeling of being shoved into too small of a space, overflows into things that don’t require any space at all, like writing. When you’re in that space every day. It’s hard to shift that feeling. It makes it more and more important that I take my camera out, even if I’m only in my yard. Or knit or crochet something. Every small act of getting into creative flow, even for five minutes, is helpful. It creates tiny shifts.

Things to do if you are feeling constricted:

Photograph something with your phone. Something you find pretty or interesting or catches your eye for any reason. Notice what you are noticing.

Journal. Brain dump. If you find you are letting out a bunch of negative things, tearing up the paper or setting it on fire (safely) and dumping it in the trash is helpful.

Doodle. Make marks on paper. I suggest using something other than a pencil to prevent the temptation to erase ‘ugly’ bits. Try making one big scribble without taking your pen off the paper. Draw the same shape over and over again. Release yourself from trying to make ‘good’ art.

Ask yourself what small act of creativity/art/crafting can I do with little effort? In five minutes?

It might not be the big/main thing you want to be doing. That is ok. The point is to get that creative energy flowing. Even a trickle. Once creative energy is flowing it continues to flow and grow for as long as we allow it.

You might be in a space where you can only allow a little. You might need to grow your capacity to allow more. You might need to unlearn unhelpful beliefs around creativity. That’s ok. We all do. You can do it five minutes at a time.