When it all just flows

I don’t really have a problem with artist’s block (touch wood) but sometimes it takes a while to get into a brief, especially if you’re trying to do something that’s a little outside your comfort zone, or something that’s not really ‘you’. A lot of freelance and agency work involves pushing out designs quite quickly and in quite large quantities, which can sometimes wear you out a bit. I still love doing those, and hope I always will, but it’s so lovely to have an evening to just go in my own direction completely.

I’ve had a few evenings of being too tired to sit and draw or design (evenings and weekends are my main design times) and had very early nights. Last night I was very excited to have the energy to sit up at my desk and do some designing. There were a few ‘money designs’ I could have worked on (for print studios and some aimed at specific mailouts, for example) but, after a few off days, I needed the time to just go with the flow. And the flow took me to poppies and ogees (yes, ogees are definitely my thing at the moment – I just can’t resist them!).

Chris spotted this awesome book in a local charity shop the other day and I had a flick through for some pictures to inspire me and landed on the poppies.

I did a bit of sketching to work out what I wanted to do and I also gathered together some bright and juicy poppy colours – used a couple of poppy photos as a reference.

And then I loaded up Netflix so I could watch the first couple of episodes of the new ‘Better Call Saul’ series (loved it!), and got down to playing.

I may have also had a couple of glasses of Prosecco to lubricate the creative flow!

I had such a lot of fun and stayed up until almost midnight, but felt fine for it. Some late nights are more wearing than others, but if I’m painting or designing to please just me, then those are the best and the most relaxing.

Have you found some time to just create what you want to create recently? What are your best times of day for creating?