The Power of Motion: How Getting Started Unleashed a Day of Creativity

Yesterday was a gray day when I couldn’t settle on a task.

I kept reaching for my phone in an endless cycle of email/Instagram/Pinterest/Facebook/Threads. My weekly calendar directed me to organize my finances, lesson plan for a January class, mount some finished works into frames and prep some new panels. Not a single one of those tasks sounded interesting. I also had letterpress printing to do, but that seemed too big of a project.

I finally pulled on my overalls, down vest, hat, and fleece-lined boots and went into my basement studio. I turned on the space heater and directed it at my cat, sleeping on my chair. It’s a cold place to nap.

Out came my gelli plate, a few letter stencils, a stack of vintage paper, and two shades of black paint.

Ten minutes later, I had almost dry prints. I was finally getting somewhere.

The motion of making is the inspiration.

My prints quickly became a collage, which I didn’t think worked until I trimmed off the edges and turned it upside down.

I could have stopped there, but now I was on a roll.

The taxes got paid, I spent some time writing lesson plans, and letterpress printed fifty postcards.

All it took was those first steps of making something.

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.” Pablo Picasso

And today? I’m still in motion.