This weather just makes me want to curl up and hibernate in front of the fire with a glass of wine and a good book. What's wrong with this you might ask? Alot, when I want to do it first thing in the morning, seven days a week!
I am convinced that it is a January thing, but considering I have to deal with this problem at least once every eleven months for a month I felt I needed a plan to combat this morose, depressed state of being. My wonderful, inspired sense of self from just two months ago is now a distant mirage... so the question now is how do I get my 'mojo' back?
I don't think that this state of mind affects me alone. In fact there are names given to this problem in other creative professions. Writer's block springs to mind and I even found an article called, "How to prevent art block and creative burnout"!
My biggest problem is that the inspiration and motivation that I felt before Christmas has just dissipated like a quenched fire and I really don't find staring out at the grey sky, the dead grass, and the dirty grey rain and sludge very helpful. Maybe this is nature's way of telling us to slow down and take it easy for a couple of months and just regenerate? Personally I call it being unproductive and wasting time so I set about trying to inspire myself.
Firstly I don't believe that 'Spring cleaning' should be done solely in Spring! Out with the clutter of Christmas decorations and excess ornamentation and in with a beautiful arrangement of fair-trade yellow/orange roses. This simple, cheap and beautiful bouquet makes me smile every time I walk through the hall. After all yellow is a smiling, happy colour.
I don't know what it is about River Cottage (it's not Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall) that inspires me but somehow Hugh's enthusiasm for all things natural and unspoilt gets my creative juices flowing. A few episodes of River Cottage and I start to feel right on track again; planning improvements to the house and garden and gaining ideas for client's projects.
Another source of inspiration for me is music. I am a bit scared of actually sharing the type of music that I find inspiring. Sharing tastes in music is almost like inviting a prospective client into your home - something I avoid at all costs! It is sacred and something that should not be judged. Given the fact that it might actually be of benefit to some I am going to share my special music muse with you- Leonard Cohen "Susanne takes me down..." Denis shudders and closes the door when he hears this coming on as he calls it 'wrist slitting music' however I find it oddly invigorating and in January I think that we should do what we have to do in order to remain inspired, upbeat and creative. So the end of the week sees me settling down in front of the fire (the children are quiet and sleeping soundly upstairs naturally) with a glass of red and the latest issue of my favourite magazine to see what is new and trending out there.