1. Clean out your closet! You won’t believe what you still own. take a trip down memory lane and simplify your life. give your discarded items to a charity and feel good about helping someone else.
2. Clean out your desk! straighten the drawers, buy organizers, get rid of the scraps of paper, put your cards in a filofax, get your address book in order.
3. Go through your art books and create a card catalog for them like the library uses. One by subject and one by author.
4. Take a class! If you are feeling blocked, being around people that are driven to learn is a great way to get inspired.
5. Read a biography of someone who is successful in the field you want to work in.
6. Take the weekend off! Don’t think about work or bills or responsibilities. give yourself over to entertainment and fun.
7. Visit a museum! Call ahead and be there for a docent tour. Docents are inspiring people!
8. Go to an art fair or craft festival. Go into every booth and make a point to say something good about the person’s work. You don’t have to like the work itself to be sincere. “You use color really effectively” or “It is obvious that you use high quality materials” will work. Using your powers of observation in a new way will cause you to look for good stuff — and get inspiration yourself!
Tera Leigh is an award-winning designer and author who has been writing, painting, creating collages and art journals most of her adult life. Tera is an attorney, and has run an internet marketing firm, taught New Media marketing for UCLA and Cal State Long Beach Extension programs, and provided marketing consultation services on how to reach women to some of the craft industries largest manufacturers. In 1999, she signed her first book deal, co-licensed a product line, and began to write for magazines. For more on Tera visit: www.teraleigh.com
