Well…your Eilee is still creative. It looks different sometimes! The creative well is indeed not dry. It’s experiencing a bit of a quiet renaissance, in fact. But I’m still in the building stage, not even ready to tease yet…but I will.
I wasn’t really sure what to call this post, as there are so many things it’s about, and I’m just stream-of-conscience here with no plan, but I think it’s an important topic to address as creatives, when we find ourselves challenged, that we also find ways to adapt.
I’ve written posts about how to accommodate the creative drive while incapacitated, but a new challenge has presented itself these past eight months, and we’re not done with it either. What does a creative do when their creative space is taken away?
My husband and I are in transition, housing-wise, trying to wait out this crazy market to get a bigger, better place to accommodate a family member, by staying with a different family member to save money up for that place. Time is a factor and so is money. Necessarily, 98% of our belongings have been in bags, boxes, stacks and storage all this time. Living out of a suitcase for months on end is very trying. I do not have my recording booth, my art studio, my desk, and some days, my sanity. There simply isn’t room. It has truly threatened my mental health at times. So I dive deeper into the art I have access to.
Since we’re saving, I can’t rent any type of studio. I just have to make do. So I’ve shifted the emphasis onto photography and digital art, as I have a camera case, and a laptop that don’t take up a lot of space, nor make a mess; this isn’t our home. Luckily I’ve long kept a religious record of everything I’ve created up to now.
I’ve been a photographer since the 80’s and I was a digital artist for many years, so this isn’t entirely foreign, but I was very into acrylic paintings (very LARGE ones) for the past 15 years or so, and the withdrawals have been intense. I’m still writing the occasional song, just not doing good recordings for the moment, but still have plenty of mixing and mastering to do with the over 200 I’ve already written – I’m far from hurting for material there either!
But as I alluded to before, my photography’s undergone quite the renaissance. I’ve learned a new (to me) camera, improved my composition and my thoughtfulness about narrative and context, learned new genres and techniques, and my skills have leveled up a few tiers to match my traditional and digital visual art and musical and writing skills. It’s getting very exciting!
And the reason why it’s exciting is that I’ve wanted to integrate my visual art, wordsmithing, musical and photography as well as digital-still and/or animated endeavors into sort of a creative fusion: singular pieces that incorporate several media and genres in harmony. I’m putting together amazing things and I think that the NFT space, with all its versatility, has only inspired my own versatility. I’m still acquiring skills, too!
I often say if I didn’t have to sleep I’d have a chance of bringing at least a tenth of my ideas to fruition. I feel that more than ever. It does take time, though. The more moving parts, the more considerations must be taken in maintaining (or improving) quality. I don’t believe in throwing things together carelessly.
Look for new things on the horizon….