This whole pandemic has been a big anxiety inducing creative block. I had huge plans to finish the impossible cities series back in April and get it submitted for all the summer exhibitions. Except now everything is digital and I can’t seem to get the creative juices flowing in order to finish. However, what I’m learning is that I have to work at my own pace and there is no one putting any sort of pressure on me but me. This period of isolation has been a weird one for sure. While I’m having trouble putting material down to create, it hasn’t stopped my future creative plans. I’ve continued to submit my current works to different exhibitions and while they may mostly be digital/not hosting opening receptions/limiting people inside the gallery, they are still happening. In fact, my work The Unexpected was accepted into the ‘Unleashed’ exhibition by the Gallery Underground in Arlington, Virginia.

So I guess what all of this has taught me is that even when the world feels like its burning down around us, press on. Use those feelings of anxiety and creative blocks to grow my craft in other ways. I’m doing a daily sketch notebook, I’m sculpting, and I’m jotting down random ideas that may or may not turn into something one day. I’m doing anything and everything to move my creative process forward and on days when its too much I turn to something else; baking, gardening, exercise. And as I’m finishing up the Impossible Cities series way behind my internal schedule I will remember to be kind to myself.