Breaking Through A Creative Block

If you are the sort of person who enjoys writing, painting, or making music, you may well be familiar with the feeling that you are 'blocked' - whatever it is or was that normally fuels your creative fires seems suddenly to be in short supply and the flames are dwindling down to just .. embers.

There are a million-and-one suggestions as to how one can overcome these crippling symptoms, not least of all the much-lauded "The Artists Way" by Julia Cameron - an exhaustive and sometimes exhaustING 12-week programme that brings about real change in a person's life.

Perhaps there are easier ways to bring some changes, though? Here are some of my suggestions.

• A Change of Scene - get out of your usual office, workshop, studio; go somewhere physically different. Meet some new people. See some different things. Be somewhere where all the usual distractions and interruptions simply do not impose on you.

• A Change of Direction - start a brand new project and work on that for a set period of time. I know, I know; it;s perfectly possible to never do anything else. So set yourself a time limit and promise you'll return to the original project once you've had a bit of a break from it.

• A Change of Equipment - normally paint in oils? Go back to coloured pencils. Normally write at the piano? Try an accordion or a bamboo flute. Normally use a camera? Try taking audio recordings. In some cases you're not only changing the technical equipment you use, but also the sense you are using primarily to interpret your surroundings.

• Change of Inspiration - new books, new galleries, new views, new sounds, new conversations ... this can come as a natural consequence of everything suggested above.

A Bournemouth Creative Break can help you achieve all of these suggestions!

Life Drawing tutor, Trish Jubb.

The first Bournemouth Creative Break runs over a whole weekend between September the 30th and October 2nd at the Arlington Hotel, and features Life Drawing workshops with acclaimed local artist Trish Jubb. Trish's teaching style is especially inclusive and particularly good for both beginners AND those who already have some experience. The Early Bird price - if you book before the end of August - is only £199.00 per person.

Just what you need to bust through that block.

Book now by telephoning the Arlington Hotel on ☎01202 552 879, or visit their website

You can see more of Trish's wonderful work on her Flickr stream.