Cassie Stephens: Taking my Creative Vitamins
Here lately I’ve been in a bit of a creative funk and I’ve not felt excited or interested in pursuing my usual creative outlets. I love to sew funky clothing to wear and have an endless amount of projects in various stages in my sewing room but each time I go in there, I just look around and feel…exhausted. Is it that time of the year? Although, if I’m being honest, this feeling of disinterest has been going on for a while (gee, I wonder why) and it’s starting to affect my teaching as well. Yep, I just said that out loud.
I know it’s not a good place to be so I’m trying to do something about it. I learned a long time ago that beating myself up and shaming myself about things just doesn’t work. It only makes me feel worse. So instead of feeling badly about not sewing, I decided to dry something totally different: painting.
I got out an old round frame found at the thrift store from my stash as well as some blank cards. I painted a dotted and flowery design on the frame just for fun…but then I had a lot of paint left over on my palette. So I kinda went nuts and started painting and printing on the cards. I got really excited about all of the colors and textures I created. Then I set up a little still life and drew and painted it on one of the cards.
I thought I’d just start creating one painting an evening before bed. I’ve been keeping them quick so I enjoy the process but…some of them I’ve slowed down and taken my time on.
I’ve been sharing the process on both TikTok and Instagram but got some requests for a longer video of the process. I also had someone mention wanting to share a video with her high school students. So I hope the one I created helps. For me, the key has been just enjoying the process, keeping the paintings small so I can do them in one sitting, using colors I like and creating a simple still life.
I have a lot of random things from the thrift store that have been fun to paint.
I’m not gonna say I feel so much better now or that I’m cured of my funk…I’m not. But at least I can say that I did at least one thing I’m proud of at the end of the day. Taking the time to create is something we creative types must do. Sharing my quick videos seems to have gotten some other folks creating too and that makes me so happy.
