Here are some exercizes you can do to stimulate ideas and new ways of thinking- when your mind is feeling a bit limp.


By Beth Woodson

Breaking inhibitions
Using any dry medium, make a drawing in the worst way you know how. Make the drawing, composition and color as horrible as you can. Make it very ugly. Really think about what elements exist in a really bad work of art.

Purpose: by trying to make a bad picture, inhibitions you may have about drawing and art may unravel to give way to new thoughts, creativity and flow. If you feel energized after making the horrible picture, redeem yourself with your new creative flow. Remember that each work you do does not have to be a masterpiece, many works are to be done as experiments and ways of exploring and pushing new ideas further. When you have decided you have a good grasp on what it is you want to do, then think about making a masterpiece. But if you really think that what started out as an experiment is worth more work then continue. Just know that it is ok to make a bad picture. Just don't show it to any gallery owners.
Introspective
Close your eyes. Feel your own steady breathing. Look deep inside yourself at the inside of your stomach or heart. Imagine that there is a 3 dimensional scene of objects and forms inside your stomach that represents how you're feeling at this moment. What are those objects and how are they interacting? Draw a picture of what you see inside your own stomach. Think about how well your drawing conveys the feelings you saw inside yourself.

Purpose: drawing objects and forms that represent how you feel can lead to other ideas that express something personal about your human experience. It can lead to realizations about certain shapes or objects, how you relate to them and why. It can also stimulate creative ideas for an expressive or surrealistic picture.
Artistic State of Mind
Briefly set up a still life against a white or blank wall. Use diverse and interesting objects. Sit for a moment and look at the objects. Now, instead of looking at the objects, look at the negative space: the spaces around the objects. Look at the shapes of the negative space instead of the objects themselves. Draw the negative space that you see instead of the objects.

Purpose: to stimulate the right hemisphere of the brain. Since negative space has no name or preconception attached to it, we cannot name it in our heads with words. (language is one function of the left side of the brain- the left hemisphere is not good at drawing) Therefore, we are forced to really see it in order to draw it rather than drawing an object we have seen before that we assume to already know.

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