Creating Without Feeling Inspired

A Week of Solitude

A Week of Solitude

Every few months, I find myself alone while my partner travels for work. With three cats, a dog and the constant tending of the wood-stove, I had imagined a wildly productive, inspired week.

But… it didn’t quite work out that way.

Truthfully, my solitude brought very little inspiration this week. Winter is still holding on here in Nova Scotia, and I’ve been feeling the weight of months of grey skies, cold temperatures, and a sense of disconnection from the earth. The very thing that normally fuels creativity and ideas.

I think that’s one of the reasons why I love knitting. It doesn’t necessarily require inspiration or a creative spark to just pick up your project and knit. You knit, you create, you ground yourself all while producing something beautiful, comforting and practical. The days can pass, blistering cold and dark, and I’ll keep happily knitting.

Painting, drawing, writing, and developing new ideas… feel like they need that spark! A specific elated feeling, not the clenched dread of the thought of creating, because - what if I make something bad, or am just wasting my time? Proving the negative voice that tells me it’s not worth pursuing.

This week, with little other distractions, was a great time to put my knitting mindset into practice with my art. Somewhere in holding a pencil and carving out the time and space, that flow state would follow…

And so what if the end result isn’t something complete? I’m happy to have spent the time engaged in the practice, regardless of the outcome.

Of course, it took time to learn this. Don’t wait for inspiration! Put the work in and everything else will follow.

So, alone with three cats, a dog and a very hungry wood-stove, I painted, knit, dyed and sewed. Here’s a small peek at what that looks like!

Painting

Forcing myself to make art has been incredibly freeing!

One of the keys to doing this is making an environment that works regardless of how you’re feeling. Making sure there are no obstacles - your paints, brushes, paper all at the ready and having a good podcast or audiobook to carry you away.

The top piece is an Icelandic landscape that I’m going to start developing into oils for the shop, and our home. Art makes me so happy! I love having art in our home.

The birds are my style without reference photographs and I really am loving it actually. These are part of the development for a new banner for this Substack!

And below, my latest oil painting, a view from our woods that I’ll probably develop again and again.

Jamie made a custom maple wood frame for my latest oil painting, which makes it feel even more special. It can be found in the Etsy Shop.

Knitting

Tapestry sweater is nearly finished (after a bit of unraveling and silly mistakes on my part). I’m on the fence about whether this will be a pattern or just my working in the woods in cold weather sweater. I’m leaning toward the latter, but we shall see.

And the Nostalgia blanket continues! It’s incredibly simple (exactly the type of project I was referring to earlier in this post… no inspiration required except for the initial thinking of developing this pattern), slow and rewarding.

It’s one of my happiest knitting projects I’ve worked on in a long time. I tend to lean into it especially when I’m feeling that lack of a spark.

Sewing & Dyeing

A small batch of natural dyes (blueberries, onion skins and old man’s beard) to be made into the flying geese border for the quilt.

We have a lot more foraging to do for new colours and finishing up this quilt top!

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Next Time…

Hopefully, the snow will have melted in the woods and we can begin working in the woodland again. I’m ready for fresh, mossy air and spring water.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter ☾

xo

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