My #1 Trick to Overcome Creative Block
Dear Wonderful, Creative You,
For me, one of the biggest secrets to overcome creative block is repetition. This might seem counter-intuitive, because I think a lot of people assume repetition feels boring. But I don’t find repetition boring in art, on the contrary, I find it freeing and energizing. Repetition gives me space to play, make mistakes, and explore each technique in a million different ways. It’s a bit like being a scientist and asking a lot of What if? questions, but no one else gets to dictate my line of inquiry – I do.
I want to walk you through how this works, so let’s use my current project with watercolor and watercolor resist techniques as an example.
Current Project: Watercolor Resist Circles
Materials
2 and 3 inch watercolor circles
Masking fluid applied with a brush
Daniel Smith Watercolor: Indigo shade
Water
With watercolor and resist techniques, I’m keeping my work limited to one color. Why? I want to limit the variables that I’m playing with so I can push each technique as far as possible – this allows me to be as creative as I can.
Limitation feeds creativity.
Too many choices pull you in too many directions at once and can feel paralyzing.
Open Creative Doors With One Powerful Question
So much of making art and creativity is about asking one powerful question: What if…
What if I wrote a 5 line poem each day for 1 month? What if I started each poem with a random word from the dictionary? What if I found a thread to connect each day’s poem? See how asking – what if? – can open creative doors?
As you can imagine, you can apply What if? questions to any art form or creative endeavor.
So here’s my current What If? Question:
What if I created simple marks in watercolor resist and then painted washes of indigo paint on top?
Can you see how this one question contains so many more questions? It’s the starting point for potentially hundreds or thousands of questions and creative experiments.
You can join our workshop here.
Look at all the variables in this experiment:
Mark Making Variables
- Shape of the mark
- Size of the mark
- Number of marks on each circle
- Density or sparseness of marks on each circle
- Placement of marks in circle
Watercolor Wash Variables
- Amount of water in washes
- Number of layers of washes
- Order of layers of washes and resist
- Coverage of the wash over the circle
Material Variables
- Use additional resist techniques? On which layers?
- Vary the size of brush?
Variables with Finished Circles
Once the circles are done – I have so many choices about how to use them. I could use them in:
- Art journal page
- Pop-up book page
- Part of a collage
- As the subject of a greeting card
- In a collage that will hang on the wall
Can you see how endless the possibilities are even with this seemingly narrow question? This is why I find myself endlessly inspired: Limitation and repetition are the keys to creative freedom. If you are curious about learning this process with me, you can join our Can’t Resist Watercolor workshop.
Share Your Ideas in the Comments
I’d love to hear what keeps you feeling creatively free and inspired. Tell us about it in the comments.
Creatively Yours,
Amy
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Wow! So many wonderful ideas in this post. I want to try them all!!
YAY, I’m so glad Lauren! Which 1 or 2 most appeals I wonder?
This may be a silly question but how do you cut out your circles? Do you have a tool? Or do you draw them?
Hey Michele: That’s not a silly question at all. I have a circle template – I draw them in pencil, then cut out with scissors once my paint is dry. I hope this helps. Cheers!
Thank you! I won’t be able to attend the workshop live, but I just expanded my membership so I will be watching the replay, I can’t wait! I’m a little obsessed with this technique and with the Indigo color!
Oh Michele – that’s exciting! Wahoo! Yes I’m obsessed too – those are the best techniques – when we just want to keep testing more and more variations! Keeps us creating, right? xo
Good question Michele! Thanks for the reply Amy do you work on the circle on a page then cut out when you are finished
Hi Dorothy! Yes, I leave them in the page so that they are stronger. We will go over this and all the techniques I use in our live workshops this Wednesday and Thursday in The Gathering. Cheers!
I love the idea of using one color. Thinking of Christmas Cards and using this new class as a starting point.
Oh what a wonderful project that will be! Some shade of red or green? Or something unexpected? Cheers!
Amy – your approach and this trick saved me recently. I was hoping to find an opportunity to thank you and poof! Here was your post the moment I clicked the Circle app. I have a (very kind) friend from college who is a professional singer. Last spring she floored me by asking me to paint the background for the lyric video for her summer album release. We hadn’t spoken in forty years! I was so new to art-making. I barely knew what I was doing. She had seen the results of tutorials I’d taken, and I REALLY did not know how to make anything that was my own. It actually became a torturous experience for me, because as soon as I agreed to do it I froze. Walking to my art desk filled me with dread. I slept poorly for six weeks, and wanted so badly to quit, but I managed to get the job of making something – that wasn’t a copy – done, and swore I’d never do that again.
I dove into doing art and classes just for me. Although learning various techniques from different teachers (which was great), I became frustrated with making paintings that looked like the teacher’s. I wanted to learn how to truly CREATE.
I took your free class about how to actually do all the art classes I purchased done, and realized that your classes, your approach, and the members of the Gathering and Facebook group were showing me the way.
I knew I was a fledgling artist, but was so BLOCKED about how to connect with my inner voice, my unique perspective, my way that a ton of self-doubt was choking me. There were many interim steps, but my first big breakthrough came when I took your free class “Art Journaling 101”. Then the “Simplest Thing Challenge” started to really shake my block loose. Then I received your bonus slow drawing of “Bloom”. I was blown away by the things you said in that video. I took pages of notes in my journal. You said so much about simplicity and repetition. About how valuable practicing one simple thing is. You said that no one gets on a basketball court and plays a great game without ever having practiced and learning drills. Suddenly it clicked, and ideas came to me. At last I was CREATING not copying. Then there was a discussion in the gathering about not needing permission, and how you don’t have to do what the teacher says. Next I purchased your class “Paint, Pattern, Repeat!” and everything opened up for me. One shape, repeated countless ways, evolved into me really getting into those “What If” questions.
Good thing too – because my friend asked me to do the lyric background artwork for her autumn album. I hesitated at first, but you’ve been so instrumental in helping me find my way, keep it simple, connect to my voice, learn how to ask “what if”, play, practice, and learn to trust myself, that I thought just maybe I could do it. There have been a few anxious moments since, but I heard your voice asking, “What’s the simplest mark I can make?” “How can I limit the parameters of what I do?” This afternoon I felt really confident when I sent her five different images to pick and choose from, way ahead of deadline, and she thought they were beautiful. Every inch of them came from my unique point of view, keeping it simple, and trusting myself! I can’t wait to see what she chooses, and then do the final piece.
In case it sounds like I think I’m all that, and totally full of myself, I’m really not. I’m just so grateful and excited. This process has been “Mariculous” for me. (See what I did there?)
Many teachers can show us techniques, and help us do what they do, exactly as they do it, and I appreciate them. But there are a few rare, gifted educators, like you. They lead their students to think for themselves, practice simplicity and repetition, find their own voice, and learn to follow their hearts with confidence and joy. I join with so many others who deeply appreciate your gift, and your generosity with it. Thank you. I am so grateful.
Can’t wait for your Watercolor Resist event!
Wow, Doe, this is such a gift. Thank you so much for illustrating your process so clearly here for others. This is an outline of classes to unlock your creativity. And your words reach my heart. I work really hard to help students reach this point, and your words are generous and I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to share them. This is such an exciting time for your art practice. The doors are now open – your inner critic understands that she can relax and let you explore, and now the sky is the limit. Congratulations on the album covers, and moreso, on your new process. Happy, happy creating! xo – Amy
Doe – I also wanted to add that in the Gathering membership, I think you would really respond to the Inchie Watercolor Workshops that we did in June, if you haven’t done them already. Happy creating!
Amy – First thank you so much for your kind responses. I actually joined The Gathering in large part to do The Inchie Challenge (2025). My story about it has an amazing ending, but it was a challenge getting there. As I explained above I went through a period of being really blocked before taking your classes. I did not yet understand the value of working small, making simple marks, and repetition. I guess I could liken it to my how my daughter struggled with learning multiplication. She struggled to stick with the rote work until something clicked. I stuck with it, but when I saw others making truly beautiful art, my Inner Critic had a field day. I felt much worse about myself before the magic happened as a result of both Slow Drawing and The Inchie Challenge. I suddenly had an idea of my own when we began to “commit to the frame” (putting our Inchies together into a larger piece of art). Eventually (and with your blessing) that piece – with its environmental message – got submitted to a juried alumni art show through my alma mater. It was accepted, and in August I had the great privilege of seeing it hung in Pictor Gallery on 27th St. in Manhattan, where it sold at the opening. It is now on extended display at Hofstra University through December 15. A portion of the proceeds of the sale go to support a “guerrilla” art group sponsored by the university art department, and to help Pictor Gallery keep supporting artists with new exhibitions every two weeks. It completely stunned me, and it wasn’t really until I followed up with all the rest of the process that I really, fully had my breakthrough described above. The Gathering is full of so many wonderful artists, some just beginning, some struggling, and some making stunningly moving art. It’s a wonderful community that really fosters growth. I don’t ever expect to have the whole gallery thing happen again and I’m okay with that. Something that was locked away inside me has been freed, and that connection to my inner source can only grow and flourish from now on. So, yes, The Inchie Challenge has been a deeply significant part of my education and growth.
Yes I think you told about this in The Gathering, and I’m so happy to hear that story again because it’s so powerful. xo
What an exciting time in your life, Doe! Congratulations! Good Luck with all of your future endeavors!
Thank you Andrea! It’s an amazing experience, and makes me feel young and fresh again. I wish it for everyone.
This week I have nailed the reason why I am finding it so hard to select art for my next pop up book -I have too great a choice of colours. So I have reclassified my small art material from size to colour and can already breathe more easily! I will choose 2 contrasting colours to use in the book.
Going forward I shall restrict myself to one pigment of watercolour for the next 2 weeks and see where this restriction leads me.
Thank you for your insights and guidance Amy, they really resonate with me right now!
What a wonderful insight. YES!!! Limitation is powerful and I’m thrilled these lessons are speaking to you!
Amy, for your upcoming watercolor workshop using resist techniques (the one on Sept 24 and 25, I believe), what supplies are needed? I am so new to all of this and would like to take this workshop but not sure if I need to purchase any specific supplies. Thank you!
Hi Andi:
Yes, in terms of special supplies – the main things are a good quality cotton paper, such as Arches or something similar that will allow your washes to flow without streaks, and for Watercolor masking fluid –
Brand: QoR, Winsor & Newton or similar – there are lots.
Type of masking fluid:
Removable masking fluid, not permanent masking medium
Colorless or with a color, as you prefer
Bottled, not a masking fluid marker.
We would love to have you in the workshop and our membership, Andi! Cheers!
I want to try it all! So inspiring, Amy!
I know you’ll take it far Wei Li!
Aside from always appreciating your writing, I always appreciate that you share the value of repetition! Thank you, Amy.
Suzie Amelia – that always means a lot coming from you. Happy creating and repeating! xo
I got turned on to multiples via Jennifer Wilkin Penick’s weekly creativity jumpstart sessions. It frees you from thinking you have to make each one perfect, and turns you into a kind of experimental scientist. I am going to dig out my resist fluid and try this exercise!
Hey Chris: Oh I’m super excited to see that this was helpful. YAY!
I love the way this gives me both a plan and freedom and produces real learning. It’s more free than a class, where I am following along a path provided by someone else. But having defined variables and options ahead of time lets me start the experiments wherever I want, and choose what ONE thing to vary first, second, third, etc. I can’t wait to give this a try.
You totally get it Edith, I’m thrilled you are off and running. Happy creating!
Thank you for these tips. What helps me to boost my creativity is doing something new. Working with a new medium, talking a walk where i haven’t been, writing with my non dominant hand. These things help me keep my mind engaged.
What a wonderful reflection and share Rhonda – thank you for being here!