“I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.”

— Pearl S. Buck

As you may know, I've been away for a month - away from my studio, my materials and my 'in progress' paintings.

You might think that, after a month away, I'd be in a hurry to get back to work, but I didn't even go into my studio on the first day. I didn't go because I knew how it would feel and I needed to pluck up the strength.

That didn't happen until my third day back, when I finally took a deep breath, made a cup of tea, and walked over to the studio. It was a strange feeling to open the door and see all this artwork that felt nothing like me.

Strange, but also familiar. I've been here before.

This happens any time I have a period away from my work. Often that is when I am busy preparing to teach. (I might spend a month or two creating content and recording videos and designing marketing campaigns and all that means I don't get to make my art).

This time it's because I have been away. I haven't laid eyes on these paintings for four weeks. Now they feel like strangers to me.

There are the self portraits, which were so engaging to me just a month ago, and which now feel like something made by someone else.

And there are the abstracts; 10 panels I had just begun when I left. They are vibrant, textured, colourful - and I feel nothing for them.

I think this happens because we change. During our time away, we become different people. We have new experiences, we recognise new feelings, we feel the dawn of new ideas.

Now, subtle changes are happening all the time in our daily life - for example, something happens that slightly changes you, or someone says something that shifts your perspective.

Normally those subtle shifts are seamlessly incorporated into what we are making. But when we leave everything for an extended period, each little change takes us further away from the work we started. This happens on a physical level too - each day, your body sheds and replaces tens of thousands of skin cells. In just over one month, your body replaces every single one of those cells. You are quite literally a new person!

So, a month has gone by and here I am in my studio, a new person physically, and one who has changed psychologically, and there is my work, which was quite literally made by a different person.

No wonder I can't connect with it!

If you have been making art for any length of time, I'm sure you know this feeling, but what do we do?

My approach is to to slowly inch my way back into my work by simply playing with paint and other materials.

I won't have a goal. I won't be making paintings and I certainly won't touch any of my existing work-in-progress. I'll just gradually feel my way back into art-making. Concertina sketchbooks might be involved - I also plan to have a play with altered books. But I won't touch those paintings until I can connect with them again. (And if I can't, I suppose I'll just paint over them with something new).

If you ever find yourself in this situation (or if you experience any kind of creative block) , I suggest you take this same approach. Simply do whatever feels interesting to you. You might enjoy sketchbooks or journals. You might like to switch media or subject. Or you might prefer knitting or gardening. I don't think it matters what you choose as long as it is something creative (so that it keeps the juices flowing) and as long as it is something that feels fun and relaxed.

Just whatever you do, don't touch anything you don't feel connected to. It will all work out in the end. It just takes a little time :)