getting your groove back

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i'm an aspie with that visual spatial thing going on. i ended up with a focus in fine arts and have always had some super-focused project going on. Then i had kids, and they became my focus. Now some unpredictable life circumstances have it that i'm finding i need to get to that space inside my mind again.

However, i'm a very different person now then i was before. It's as if someone has rearranged the furniture without telling me. And, of course, the world has changed a bit too while i was away.

The topics that used to interest me now seem banal. trite. And when something occurs to me that i feel a need to record visually, i've found that my skills have eroded. I've been trying to find moments here and there to start really small -- just picking up a pencil and piece of scrap paper and sketching what's in front of me. But i end up zoning out.

how does one zone back in?

Inspire yourself by looking at what other artists are doing.
Look through classic art books.
Keep at it until you say "I can do better than that !" or "how did they do that?"

Books or magazines help sometimes, catching up with whats going on in the world.
Sometimes I find just simple excercises help at times like that (though I know you said your zoning out a lot) -
It might be a bit twee but this website has a few odd ones - http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com/index.php. Or, theres a book with simple documenting excercises called 'How to be an explorer of the world'.

thanks. good advice. i'll definitely pick up some books on my next trip to the library.

that website is cool. too bad they stopped the project.