CREATIVE BLOCK a place you don't want to be

I have to admit it now.  I have been struggling for weeks with creative block.  It is a terrible place to be.  But the reality is that at some stage, for whatever reason, some artists stumble into this place where we are frozen.  I don't even want to call myself an artist.  I can call myself a doll maker or crafter, but do crafters' get creative block?  It's not even about being creative it's about doing the thing.  So why, when I am 'in demand' with my market stall and needing to replenish stock, that I have 'lost it' ?  I have my 'studio' set up very efficiently.  I have my fabrics and lots of patterns.  But I have not been able to go into that room and start making stuff.
I thought maybe I should try a whole new tactic and maybe do art journaling.  You know, you get a blank page book and just paint, draw, paste, colour with no limits.  It seems like fun.  Could not do it.
Got the book.  Got my pens, pencils, glue and paints and did nothing. Nothing.  Could not even draw a doodle.  The fact is I have never done a journal.  I occasionally wrote in a diary when I was a teen, the usual frustrations, boys, school, friends.  Not volumes and volumes.  And as a doll maker, I would scribble a design on a piece of paper.  Work out the pieces and throw the sketching away.  I am not a sketcher.  I can't draw.  I did go to a couple of  art classes and found out I could draw a capsicum, but as for scale...............when I had to draw 3 things in the same place, they were so out of scale I gave up in embarassment.  So I just can't do that stuff.
I was a little heartened when I found Jennibellie's blog.  She is a wonderful art journaller, and she makes little videos and talks about art and life.
Please  go to visit her blog  at     jennibelliestudio.blogspot.com/
When you get to the page you will see she has a whole piece relating to creative block and the one thing you can do to address it.   I also found a video piece she did about being all right where you are.
I suspect she is going through some tough stuff too and at least she is proactive.
There is also another site I found on wiki-how   Overcome-Artist's-Block
I have also found some inspirations from author Keri Smith.  She talks about giving your work your personality here  keri smith .  She has written quite a few books and I need to make time to explore her ideas further.
She also suggests having a wish jar.  That is the next thing I will do.  Try the wish jar

Amelia and the Volcano

This is a story about little Amelia, who lives at the base of a Volcano in a town called Mount Gambier in South Australia.  The volcano is very famous because it has the bluest water ever seen.  Lots of scientists have visited the volcano to see the blue water and test it to find out why is is so blue.

Amelia lives here because her mummy and daddy are teachers at the high school and she was born in this town.  Luckily the volcano is no longer active, but it is a very very cold place to live.  Not cold enough for snow, but very cold and damp.

So poor little Amelia sometimes gets a very bad cold. She tries to stay happy and her mummy and daddy look after her very well.  But she sometimes misses her Nannies and Grandpas, and all her uncles and aunties and cousins, because they live so far away from Mount Gambier.  She would love to see her family visit with her, especially when she is sick.

So last week Nannie Pine decided to go and visit her, because not only was little Amelia sick, but her daddy was sick too and her mummy was very worried about all of them.

So Nannie Pine drove 

499 Kilometres from her home to Amelia's house.

It was very exciting, and Nannie was so happy to see Amelia and her daddy and mummy.

Nannie helped to look after Amelia and soon daddy and Amelia were feeling much better and mummy was happy too because having Nannie there was a big help.

Only problem was Nannie did not have any time to make dolls or teddy bears for a whole week.

But Nannie was very happy to see Amelia and visit with the family.

Now she is home again

Nannie seems to have a bit of a sore throat today......

The giant Crayfish at Kingston halfway between Adelaide and Mount Gambier