Once again, a long dry spell of painting inactivity has impacted my productivity over the last several weeks. The ubiquitous culprit (work) can’t be blamed for all my creative blockage. I’ve found myself in states of uninspired and lethargic moods lately. It could be due to the excessive amount of work I’m consumed with at the moment, which has left me with very little downtime.
I’m the sort of person that needs healthy amounts of downtime in relation to professional work in order to get into my artistic “groove.” My philosophy on creating art is that one needs enough emotional and psychic space (or current day buzzword: “bandwidth”) in order to be inspired and/or produce work. I can’t create when my back is up against a wall (in terms of limited leisure time available).
The Thanksgiving (or T-Day as I like to call it due to the sociocultural foundation surrounding the holiday) break this past week allowed me ample time to decompress, reflect, and finally paint. As mentioned in my earlier post, I’ve reached a road block in my creative process where I far too easily slip into an overly analytical state prior to creating. The dreaded analysis paralysis has kept me from starting projects due to the unnecessary over thinking related to potential subject matter, infinite amount of color palettes available, and general composition of said elements. Classic artist’s anxiety right? Maybe. I think it has more to do with the lack of free time I have. Since it’s a scarce resource right now, I get hung up on wanting to produce a piece I’m happy with since I’m unsure when I’ll be able to paint next.
That’s a longwinded way to arrive at the composition above. I’ve always been a fan of Afrobeat music. So I was in my car listening to some Fela Kuti and I thought about painting an African tribal mask. I quickly googled images related to African tribal masks and came across Hopi masks instead. The amazing pastel hues immediately caught my attention and I changed plans right on the spot. This selection was wholly haphazard and unintentional. What’s ironic is that I finished the painting (amazingly in 2 days) on Thanksgiving. I took a step back and reflected on the idea that maybe I subconsciously painted this to make a statement about the historical and tragic significance inherent in the holiday. Or it could have been sheer coincidence. Either way, I got it done and didn’t let overthinking get in my way.
lostetfound.wordpress.com 
You’ve perfectly explained the very same struggles that I’ve been facing lately. Once in a while, I get a small spark of an idea, but that quickly goes away when I realize that I don’t have the time or energy to work on it. Hopefully this will get easier to manage as I settle into school, because I feel like the inactivity is really affecting my creativity.
This piece is really great! I’d never heard of Hopi masks before this; what a fascinating concept! I did sense some African elements in the painting before I read your post, so it looks like your original inspiration found its way into this piece as well. 🙂
p.s. Thank you for introducing me to Fela Kuti!