Episode 155: Why Your Creative Block Won't Go Away (And Exactly How to Fix It)
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What is a creative block and why is it considered a symptom rather than a diagnosis?
Artists will spend hundreds of dollars on supplies that they may never use, but they'll hesitate to do the one thing that could actually transform their work, which is taking a workshop. Yeah, you can watch lots of tutorials online, but you can't raise your hand and get real-time feedback or feel the energy of the room with the other artist or have someone help you break through that one thing that's keeping your work stuck that you might not even need. No. So that's the magic of an in-person workshop. And I just released seats to my next workshops. They sell out very quickly. I would love to meet you and help you transform your work. You can find out more at the link in the show notes. Welcome back to the Honest Art podcast, everyone.
I'm your host, Jodie King, and This is going to be a topic for you. If you are someone who has ever found yourself uh in a situation where you have stopped creating for a length of time. And when I say length of time, I mean whether it's been two weeks or two months or two years, you are experiencing what a lot of people call a creative block. But the thing about creative blocks or when we find ourselves stepping away from kind of the thing that we love so much, it just doesn't actually make sense. But when we find ourselves doing that I have noticed that a creative block is not the diagnosis, it's really the symptom. And um the symptoms can change depending on the situation. So that's why I think talking about this is so important because maybe you're not in a phase of life right now where you're you've stepped away.
Maybe you're you're in your most productive phase ever. But I can tell you from my own experience that there may be times that come up that you just feel like You know, stepping up to the canvas, uh, or whatever your creative practices just feels too heavy to do. So you step away and then all of a sudden lots of time goes by and it's even harder to start again. So if you've ever felt that way or if you're worried that might happen in the future, let's talk about it. Let's dismantle it and let's get you going again in your creative practice. So if you're ready, let's get messy.
Mm-hmm. Okay.
Okay, so when I say that this is more of a symptom rather than a diagnosis, it's really important to understand that because depending on what's causing um the creative block, and we'll talk about different things that can cause that, your remedy for that is going to change. Like, you know, some people uh need rest where other people need courage. So we're going to have to discern which one is which. And I'll tell you a story about uh one of the times that I stepped away for actually a few months. And that was when I was going through a divorce. This is back in 2018. It was just, and for any of you who have been through a divorce, you know it is just for me, it was absolutely crazy. crippling. It was it was um it just felt like m my whole
life was in shambles and it doesn't matter You know, if you were the one or somebody else was the one, um, you're you are in it, right? And and it just feels awful. So for me, you know, I had I had my a studio. It was actually at the time it was in my home and it was so my point is it was very, very accessible. Um but I found that just getting out of bed. was hard. You know, just picking my head up off the pillow was difficult. Um feeding myself nutritious food felt like too much of a chore. I might as well just grab a piece of turkey and a glass of wine. at the time. Um, but it life just felt so um unmanageable and and heavy. And so, um, from that perspective, like I didn't wanna pick up, you know, food, much less a paintbrush.
How do burnout, grief, and creative starvation each show up as different kinds of creative blocks?
And For that sort of situation, if you have stepped away from the canvas because of of grief, of deep debilitating grief, for somebody to tell you, you know, suck it up, um, stop waiting for inspiration, you know You know, basically what we're saying is get some courage and get in there and you do it. That's not helpful in that situation. We're we're gonna go through different things that you can do, but that is a different type of creative block, in my opinion.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is a creative block and why is it considered a symptom rather than a diagnosis?
0:00–4:46
2
How do burnout, grief, and creative starvation each show up as different kinds of creative blocks?
4:46–9:31
3
What personal experience does Jodie share that illustrates creative block caused by grief?
9:31–14:27
4
How can you recognize burnout and what simple practices help reset it?
14:27–19:04
5
Why does creative starvation happen and how can exposing yourself to other art revive your practice?
19:04–23:13
6
In what ways do fear, perfectionism, and comparison sabotage artistic work?
23:13–27:26
7
What self‑question checklist can you use to diagnose the root cause of your block?
27:26–32:12
8
What tiered return‑to‑practice strategies should you follow for a 2‑week, 2‑month, or multi‑year hiatus?
32:12–35:51
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Honest Art Podcast with Jodie King
Episode 161: Why Perfecting Your Art First Is Stalling Your Career
Episode 160: 6 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Investing in Your Art Business
Episode 159: Turning Grief Into Gold: One-on-One Coaching with Erika Person
Episode 158: What Five Years in Tuscany Taught Me About Betting on Yourself
Episode 157: How to Build Real Buzz Around Your Art (Without Chasing the Algorithm)
Episode 156: The Layering Mistake That's Making Your Abstract Art Look Flat (And How to Fix It)