As an artist it can be daunting when creative block happens, it’s like suddenly bumping into an invisible wall and not knowing or seeing how to get over or around it. As a woman I’ve noticed that my creative blocks nearly always happen on the fourth week of my cycle, I can pretty much set my watch by it. It’s almost like my body has its own seasonal thing going on and it really goes hand in hand with how I create now. So fourth week I call winter, I can’t work this week, my creative mojo gets up and leaves. The only way to deal with it is by accepting it for what it is and know that it will pass. On this week I read a lot, walk the dog, drink lots of tea and sometimes I down brushes and clay completely, or I just paint scraps of paper with colours, not to create anything, just to calm myself and enter a deep zen moment, it’s part of my whole process. I try and stay away from the internet as it sucks what’s left of my soul and instead I flick through mags.

Then my cycle arrives and it’s like spring! Suddenly I can’t paint or make quick enough, my creative ideas are spilling out onto the canvas and I’ll suddenly lay down the base layers for a whole collection on the trot. Shutting myself away and not coming out till I’ve got all my best work started, I feel so focused, so alive. My poor family doesn’t get much of a look in this week.

Then we roll into summer when I can peacefully create, organise my collections/stores and connect with friends and family again, plan my bizz and network before I go into autumn.

Autumn is the 3rd week and I feel the need to have everything organised and I tidy up my studio and finish work off. Then it goes around again. Understanding my body and knowing exactly what it needs has helped my creative career no end. I actually worked all this out by keeping a diary of where I was in my cycle and how I was feeling on each day. I did this for at least 6 months before I saw a pattern emerging and now I swear by journaling!

How do you get through creative block?