Creativity/Artist Block & Sobriety

I’m like 11 or 12 days sober now. I paint murals and portraits and I’ve noticed I relied on booze a lot for creativity and ‘painting fuel’ even though I’m creative without it. But I haven’t felt like painting since I’ve stopped drinking

I’m hoping the art block goes away along with the brain fog from drinking. I’m getting used to working my 9-5, staying sober and finding hobbies outside of drinking and going out.

I’m really trying to get into the painting every day after work grind again but it almost feels like my body is getting used to all the newness of not being drunk 24/7 and I don’t feel like painting ever even though I love it!

Does anyone have any experience with sobriety and artist block and how to get over it?

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Yes! I am an artist at heart, I’m always creating something. Not visual arts mind you, but same deal here. I felt the same as you after getting sober.

And this is exactly what was happening. Your body takes time getting used to the new normal, and everything is a little out of whack for a while. Your brain especially needs time, and it can take months to get up to 100%. Creative expression is also low priority in the brain, because survival as well as meeting social and emotional needs tends to need addressing before we can be at our best creatively. So a big part of this is patience.

We also tend to have great expectations getting sober. It’s in many cases justified because sober we indeed become capable of much more than before. But sometimes what we expect just comes slowly or delayed, and that can be frustrating. Right there is where it starts for me — if I’m frustrated, I throw myself ever harder at my art with even worse results, and start a spiral. It’s enough to make me feel like I can never create anything worthwhile again. But when I take a break, voluntary or forced, and come back to it without pressure, the creativity starts to flow again.

You might consider trying a new twist, technique, form, or genre of art (optional). Don’t try to do it perfectly or even well, just let the newness and challenge spark brain activity, and let go of getting something you like out of it. Enjoy the process, or the relearning of the process. The newness may also help keep you from comparing yourself to things you’ve done in the past, and setting those expectations again.

If you don’t want to paint, don’t paint. If you want to paint but don’t feel like it, first pay attention to your needs. If your body or mind need something like fuel or rest, do that. If they are taken care of, and deep down what you want is to paint, then push through not feeling like it and paint, but leave expectations at the door. If you want to paint and feel like it, go, fly, play in it to your heart’s content.

You should not be a slave to your art, and your art should not be a slave to you. A healthy relationship with art will promote a healthy you and healthy art.

If I were you, in my first month sober, I’d be so eager to get it “working” again, so I can imagine how this must be disappointing or frustrating for you. You’ll get through it, though. It’s character building too, and I’ve had dry spells provide emotions that inspire works I create later.

I also want to tag @MandiH in here. Wonderful sober artist. I don’t know if she pops in much these days, but if she does and has time she might have some thoughts.

Also if you ever want to share some of your art with us, we’d love to see it in this thread! --> Show the artist within you

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Yes, go do a bunch of stuff you don’t usually do. Talk to people from a different country. Visit a mosque. Go hiking somewhere you have never been. Watch foreign movies. Start putting lots of new info and experience into your head. Do a project and build something completely outside of your area of expertise. Like a wood carving or build a simple robot. Hope some of that helps, good luck!

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Hi there, great job on your sober time! Keep up the excellent work! :heart:

For me, I had to get outside of my box and started trying new things. New hobbies, art forms, music, etc. Give it some time without the pressure, find your inspiration by doing other things you enjoy more at the moment and I suspect it’ll come back soon.

Something else that I tried was pour painting…never had an interest before but one day I was inspired to try it. I discovered that it was a medium I couldn’t control how I wanted and it was almost frustrating at first but I stuck with it and it actually ended up teaching me a ton about letting go of control in life and finding acceptance. Things turn out more beautifully than you imagine if you go with the flow sometimes! :heart:

Good luck love!

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This!
I’m fairly fresh into sobriety but I’m finding out now how much I relied on drinking to create. What’s becoming real to me is just walking away from things when I’m not feeling it, before I would just drink and struggle through it and produce sub par work, empty shit that I was just completing because I had to, or didn’t fix mistakes I very easily could have, or didn’t notice because I was drunk.
I have no advice, I’m just riding the inspiration when it’s there and letting it be when it isn’t, which at times now is getting tricky. I make art for half of my living, I’m getting better at saying no to projects I don’t want or have time to do, which is something I would have never done before l, I’ve agreed to so many projects with people while drunk that I just don’t remember, but the client/person always does, removing that stress from my life/work has started to show the benefits, I have more time to devote to projects I consciously agree to and I’m more excited to create from a dove of clarity.
But shit, I can’t figure it out, I woke up at 2 am this morning to start carving stone that I was supposed to do Sunday/yesterday, because I stayed in bed all day and quite enjoyed it!
I’m not sure if any of this is on topic or of any help, but as a fellow artist I really appreciate you posting this

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Out the blue this guy i know who does photographs of elderly people asked if i was interested after he seen my photos in instergram so i sent him one and he came up with this put it on his web site so wants me to go down to newcastle have amodel session lol 68 next week still life in this old scotsman yet photo proof

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Sobriety it is a source of inspiration for me. Takes time but my best drawing shows when I am time sober. I don’t believe that addiction made us more creative, we can say that we are creating despite our addiction. The demon of addiction is a liar and a parasite

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Thank you so much this is exactly what I needed to hear. I’m in tears of happiness because I feel like this was the message I needed!

I didn’t check this post since I posted it but in the mean time I naturally started doing what you’ve suggested.

I’ve done murals in the past and am now investing in an air brush machine to do murals on a smaller scale from the comfort of my home :slight_smile: I’m dabbling in watercolors for the first time and keep a small sketchbook. The change in medium and size has been exercising my brain. All these small doodles may lay the foundation for bigger walls later on.

You’re totally right about the pillar of priorities
It’s like my brain is so much more aware of my surroundings and my emotions it’s been an adventure of it’s own learning how to express myself again. being honest with my partner (who I met when starting to seriously try sobriety a couple months ago) about what I’m going through has been a milestone in itself because for the first time this has been a healthy relationship I’ve had because drinking destroyed so many other ones, and luckily this guy has been supportive and helps talk me through everything.

So I see what you’re saying. Navigating the newness of it all really is like starting a journey and getting acquainted with all the uncertainty along the way.

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I totally feel this. I painted murals for music festivals for two years almost but now that I’ve been more sober lately and have started a 9-5 to supplement my income while I regear my life into a different direction

I’ve been contemplating so much about how I’ve even been drawn to bring my art to these events for so long, these events started my art career and have helped get my name out there, but now that I’m sober I’m not as interested in that realm

Therefore my art will be changing; my social life, everything is changing because of this new preference in my life. And I wonder… and hope that this will be beneficial rather than detrimental to my art career.

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Your career will grow more and more with you being totally yourself. The world is waiting your new creations :heart_eyes_cat: