On one of my recent mentoring calls for my A Sense Of Place course, I was asked about artistic + creative burnout and how I buffer myself from it. I’ve been thinking about this question a lot ever since, and it feels like a really important one, so I wanted to share my thoughts on it, and offer some of the creative practices + mindsets I utilize as artistic burnout buffers.

It is true that I have not yet arrived at a place that I would consider to be true creative burnout, but I don’t think I am immune to it. It may come at some point. I’ve watched many talented artists that I admire go through that type of season. I have personal experience with parent/caregiver burnout for my hide-needs disabled kid, so I fully understand the experience of burnout, but I’ve just not yet experienced it as an artist. 

How I responded to the question were with some of the things that I do to keep myself creatively inspired.  And I’ve been thinking about what those things are ever since so I wanted to share with you my ideas/mindsets that I think support me as a creative:

Artistic Burnout Buffer #1: Allow For Fluctuating Seasons of Creative Output

To be honest, I think it’s quite natural to move through seasons of more production and seasons where you feel less inspired. So maybe burnout is actually a sign of a wintering season.  A time when things need to settle and rest before they can blossom again. I look at nature as my guide here, and winter is a cyclical season. Before the springtime explosion and bloom, a season of rest happens. I simply don’t feel it’s natural to constantly be producing creative output. Obviously I have to continue to produce for my income, and truthfully, during some seasons my work is more creatively inspired and I consistently produce work that is meeting my clients expectations but sometimes I’m just getting the job done and sometimes I’m in a more inspired place. It just is, and I don’t fight that.  

Artistic Burnout Buffer #2: Give Yourself Permission To Do Whatever You Want

One of the things I naturally do is I don’t like to make rigid rules for myself. Outside of the pictures that I’m being paid to create, for my personal work, I create when I feel called to create, and I don’t feel bad when I don’t feel inspired to pick up my camera. It’s kind of like the anti-365 project mindset (no hate to those that love that type of project, but it just does not work for the way my mind works). I also allow myself to take pictures of *all* the things. When I see beauty or something that interests me, I often take a picture. I don’t think that just because I make my living as a portrait artist that I can exclusively make portrait work. 

If I want to switch up my editing presets, I do that!  If I want to share landscapes or abstracts to my instagram business grid, I do that!  If I don’t feel like posting on social media for awhile, I don’t! I allow myself to follow my creative process where it takes me and I don’t let worry about the “right” way things should be done to overwhelm me.  Like lots of folks will tell you to be consistent on your instragram grid and stay on theme, don’t mix up your editing, post consistently, etc, etc.  I give myself permission to do whatever the heck I want, and it’s really liberating. I give you permission to as well!

Artistic Burnout Buffer #3: Be Inspired By Art

I am a bibliophile, and I love art books.  When I feel uninspired creatively, I sometimes like to go to the library or a bookstore and just look at random art books. I also like to go to art museums.  Books and museums tend to help put things into perspective for me.  For example, in a retrospective book or gallery, sometimes an artist has only one great work every few years.  I think social media has skewed our understanding of timelines and what it actually takes to produce exceptional works of art.  So retrospective books and galleries help me remember that art is something made over time with practice and patience and pruduction.

In contrast,  I also recommend that you don’t look at peers’ artwork (ie get off the ‘gram for a bit), if you are feeling in a lull.  When I am feeling uninspired or overwhelmed, I get off Instagram and social media platforms because  looking at my peers’ work or their seasons of deeper production usually does not help me if I am stuck.  That can easily lead into the dreaded comparison game rather than being able to recognize that I am just in a different season as them.  For some reason, with books and museums my relationship to artistic inspiration is different.  So be inspired by art, but don’t compare yourself. 

Artistic Burnout Buffer #4: Take A Class

This is probably the teacher in me, but when I am in a rut, I take a class.  I actually take at least one class every year rut or no rut.  Currently I am taking 3 –  one on self-portraiture, one on writing, and I just enrolled in ceramics!  So learning new things, or practicing old things, helps me stay creatively inspired. If you are interested in learning from me, twice a year I offer my signature class, A SENSE OF PLACE: Learning To Intentionally Incorporate Location to Enhance + Elevate Storytelling.

Artistic Burnout Buffer #5: Invest in New Gear or Tools

I am not a gear head, so this isn’t my go-to.  But if I really need something to shake my photographic work up, a new lens or new gear can sometimes do that for me. Lensbaby lenses are a fave of mine for creative exploration. Check out the 3 tools I carry in my camera bag to keep my work fresh and creative.

Artistic Burnout Buffer #6: Remember You Are Human and Humans Are Meant To Create

Just like the birds sing, humans are wired to create. I truly believe we are all creatives.  And I am not talking about creating for the output, or income, but just something that is in our DNA and part of our human experience.  I like to say that I’m a photographer of all the things because it’s true, I’ll take a picture of anything that interests me even if I know I’ll probably never do anything with the resultant image. It’s more an act of presence and living life through a creative lens. I also create a lot of very personal self portrait work.  I don’t share most of it but the creation of it is cathartic and healing.  It is the process of creating that feels important. 

So while I assume at some point I will get into the dreaded place of creative burnout that I have witnessed so many others try to navigate, I also am intentional about my approach and mindset around creativity. It is my hope that these serve as guideposts to help me maintain my creative life and I hope they help you do so as well!