The creative process.....

I received a wonderful email from a fellow artist, yesterday, and with her permission I am including it here.  Her question was about the creative process and I enjoyed thinking about how I would answer it.  And I agree that there may be others who might like to read this discussion, so I am posting it today.
**************************************************************************************************************
  As always, your latest sculptures are exquisite!!  Since finishing my last doll, “Catching Dreams”, (www.darlenejonesart.com), I have been patiently waiting for a creative nudge to get me going on something.....well, at this point...anything!  I don’t know why I am so frustrated this time around but the muse has definitely gone to sleep and she doesn’t seem to want to wake up!   As you seem to always be creating the wonderful, are there any helpful suggestions you could share with me, to shake me out of this limbo land I am in?   I follow your blog continuously and I love the way you share your process of doll construction, etc., but could you speak some time, about how your personal ebb and flow manifests, and how you handle that......I know there must be many others that would like to hear from you on this subject.   Thank you so much!
Darlene 
**************************************************************************************************************
Hello Darlene
 Thank you for emailing me and for your question.  At this point in my life I'm happy to share my creative journey and this is a great question that I would be happy to share with you, as much as I can.  I wish I could give you a straight 1 2 3 answer, but I don't have one.  It's really a complete mystery to me, but I can say that I've walked both the path of being abandoned by my muse, and I've flown on wings on her inspiration.  And it's certainly more fun to fly!  I do hear your frustration.

It's interesting that you should ask this now, as just this week I seem to have rediscovered my passion for sculpting.  It's been about 5 years since I've been in this space.  I've found some inspiration along the way, and have created during this time, but it never was on full wings of inspiration, and many times it was just putting one foot in front of the other....longing for that space.   I think this disconnection with my muse coincided with the disappearance of all the galleries that sold my work and pretty much my entire collector base.  So from the experience of selling every piece I made, as soon as I made it, to having no where to put my creations, ( so why make them? the mind says....)has been hard.  It's not about the money, but it is, for me, like singing into the wind and not getting any response.  Why sing?

So what have I done during this 5 year stretch of very little contact with my muse?...... one thing that has helped me is to take some classes.  Not necessarily in doll making, but in creative arts that stimulate me....like my discovery of the use tempered glass.  The teacher of that class does big wall installations and wonderful orbs of tempered glass, and I was thrilled to learn the technique from her.  I interpreted it onto my art dolls and loved the look.  I took it into wall art and combined it with my energy studies and that was fun.  So I think classes do stimulate one's creative mind. I took an online painting class and loved that too.  I've played around with ceramics also.  Diversify, as you will bring it back into your own self expression.

Another kind of odd thing also happened for me.  I couldn't seem to get ahold of my preferred "soft" Prosculpt clay.  Every batch I ordered was very firm, and I am very impatient and hate the time it takes to condition and put clay through a pasta machine.  So I believe that was one of the reasons
I stopped sculpting a lot.  Just this week I received a new batch of Prosculpt and.... surprise.....! it is very soft.   I've already sculpted two new pieces and I am, for the first time in years, completely content in my absorption and intense focus of the process of sculpting.  I LOVE that space.  I believe it to be a meditation.    So as odd as it sounds, perhaps too, not having the right supplies can take inspiration away.

For me now, I'm intent on getting some pieces into my Esty shop and stimulating some sales.  I'm going to list my pieces at prices below what I wholesaled my work for, years ago, just to get this energy moving again.  There must be someone out there who wants my pieces. :)

What have I learned from this period?   I've dipped into it before, and so I know from experience that it is a cycle and it does end.  Inspiration will come again, and I continued to tell myself that this period of my muse not singing to me was a period of inner growth....and I believe that to be true.
Seeds were sprouting.  Although I have no idea where they will take me.   I do trust in this process.
My advice is to make friends with this cycle and find value in it.   One thing that began in this dry period, for me,  was that I began teaching classes online and I've come to love that.  Even more, I've come to love the space of mentoring.  I've learned a lot over my 66 years and it makes me happy to share that with others.  I've had a great career and without these 5 years of not being driven, I would not...perhaps...have had the time to find out how wonderful it is to share my process, tips, classes, and learned lessons with others.  I am very grateful for this.

So since this time of cycles really speaks not about doing...but rather about being....the question is.... there any "to dos" that will help? 
Yes, I think so.   As I said, take some classes in random creative processes.....walk in nature....go to museums....go onto Pinterest and create boards of things you love.....but most of all, keep the muscle of creating moving, for your own piece of mind.  For artists, it is as necessary to create, as it is to  breathe.  Just walk the walk, and know that your seeds are working into very fertile soil within, and yes, they will sprout and it will be ever more wonderful when that happens.   And know that you're not alone.  As an artist you belong to a large community of very special beings.  The gift of blogging allows us to share with each other, and to hold spaces for each other.

Thank you again for contacting me.  I love the connection of artistic souls. :)

Sending you sweet aloha,
Marilyn