I know I’m not alone in hitting a low point during the winter months and struggling to restore my enthusiasm for painting and for life in general. This year, it was made worse by a December 2023 illness and a recent loss.
This lack of energy, motivation, satisfaction is typical of these colder, shorter days. Sometimes I just want to hibernate: drink tea, munch a biscotti, and bask in easy-watching TV shows.
But as a painter (and small business entrepreneur!), just hibernating for weeks isn’t really a healthy option. My experience is the longer the blues go on, the harder it is to shed them.
So, what to do? (This recent Psychology Today article is a helpful starting point.)
For me, actually doing something, instead of thinking and obsessing over my situation, is key. Winter blues undermine creativity, so doing creativity is a way to reclaim my energy, focus, satisfaction, and joy.
My husband had a great suggestion: work on paper, including sketching, water colors, and most recently paint sticks. It works for me because I don’t have to set up, or clean up, an array of oil and acrylic paints, brushes, rags, mineral spirits etc. My interaction with the medium, especially a pencil or pain stick, is simple, easy and I can see immediate results. It’s low-investment, low-intensity artistic satisfaction. These can now be seen and bought on my SHOP — Gay P. COX page. I think my longing for the colors of Spring and Summer won out!
Working on paper also means that it’s easier for me to work on a half-dozen different pieces at once. Which helps me combat a tendency that my former Museum School instructor Miroslav Antic warned me about: “Don’t paint six paintings on one surface.”
With paper, I’m working in smaller sizes. So, I can practice keeping the works simple, letting the lines and colors just “flow,” instead of obsessing over each and every artistic decision in a vain pursuit of perfection. As my husband reminds me, “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.”
Cleaning up my studio afterwards, because it’s easier and faster, now becomes its own accomplishment, something from which I can take additional satisfaction.
And then…it’s time for tea, a biscotti, and a favorite show.
Do Winter Blues affect you too?