7 Fun Ways to Get those Creative Juices Flowing

Image by mikebaird via Flickr

You finally managed to carve out some precious time to get back to your creative work, but you find yourself staring at a blank page, canvas, lump of clay, hunk of metal... with no idea how to proceed. Creative blocks, are something every artist faces at one time or another. There are many techniques you can use to help shift yourself out of a blocked state.  Here are a few of my favorite techniques:

1. Do something mundane like vacuum or sweep your floors.  I find the sounds and rhythmic motions help shift my mental state allowing new ideas to slip right in.
2. Get back to nature. Get yourself out of the house or studio and go for a nature walk.  Your goal is to completely immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of nature.  If you live in a big city, find a large park with walking paths. Tune out as much mental chatter as you can

   Image by Cryztalvisions via Flickr

   and concentrate on taking in all the sights, sounds, colors, and textures around you.
3. Relax with a furry friend. Find your cat, dog, rabbit, guinea pig... buddy and a relax together.  There is something magical about stroking the fur of your animal companion that helps shift you into a more receptive mental state.  It's also great for lowering your blood pressure.
4. Seek out art in your community.  Go to a play, the museum, art gallery, a concert, a movie, a craft fair, etc.  It doesn't have to be something related to your own work, just exposing yourself to the creativity of others can help shift you into a creative state.

   Image by Daniel Greene via Flickr

5. Just do it!  Even if you don't feel the least bit inspired to create, spend some time with your medium and tools.  Painters and graphic artists, play with different color combinations and textures on the canvas; writers, just put some words down, it doesn't matter if it makes sense or not just write whatever pops into your head; crafters, get out your supplies and play--randomly arrange items together. What emerges may surprise you.
6. Creative Play. Play with a medium you don't normally work with.  If your a sculptor, try playing with paint, if your a painter try working with clay, etc.  Sometimes working with an unfamiliar medium can spark new ideas or even take you in a totally new direction.
7. Play some music. Put together a play list of music that really inspires you and gets you moving. Turn up the volume and dance with abandon.  Alternatively explore a new music genre using tools like Pandora.com, Last.fm, blip.fm 

You can also find some great and fun tools on the Internet to help you get back into the flow of creativity

Be Sure to Checkout the Following Online tools:

Visual Acoustics:  A canvas to paint reactive music and vision as a real-time artistic performance.

Flash Paint
Online paint application

Jackson Pollock
Paint like Jackson Pollock. Spend hours throwing paint

EyeWire Creativity Cards  Print out these cards and use them to spark your creativity when you are feeling less inspired.

Looking for more ways to spark your creativity?  Here are a few of my favorite books on nurturing your creativity:

What inspires you and gets your creative juices flowing?